Scriptures that help you follow the Lord

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"Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." ~John 14:23

 

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[John 1720]

Matthew 11:28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Psalms 23 The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell[a] in the house of the Lord
Forever.

Just a testimony about the 23rd Psalm that should edify
My wife's mom and dad came to live with us when her mom had blood pressure issues which made her dizzy and at risk for falling. It gave us good opportunity to share Christ's love for them in a deeper way. This time was a great blessing for the whole family.

A year later she did take a spill and broke her wrist and was admitted to rehab. My wife's dad was still in was in good shape but one morning after our son had gone to school and my wife to work and I was upstairs taking a shower, I heard a loud thud. I yelled down to see if everything was okay but got no response so I threw on my clothes and ran down there to find dad sprawled on the floor by the breakfast table. He was unresponsive so I cleared him out to the open in case I needed to do CPR. He could not speak at all but his eyes were responding to my questions and told me all I needed to know. It was a stroke but he was breathing okay. I called 911 and immediately began to reassure him and pray for him. The fear I saw in his eyes began to subside and pretty soon the ET's arrived. He was in the ER within 20 minutes from the stroke but the doctor's still could not reverse the stroke. It was massive and he was fighting for his life. The family was there for him 24-7.

After some early touch and go moments, much prayer and rehab we could see dad had permanently lost the ability of verbalizing language, which was so much a part of him since he loved conversation. He was also completely paralyzed on his right side , arms, legs, hands and feet were limp. However, he could understand language and respond by shaking his head. He was a bit depressed about his situation but he soldiered on and never gave up. We told him we were going to get him home after rehab but I'm not sure he believed us at that point. We just kept praying and telling him that God would make a way to get back home and God did make a way. The way was through some excellent Kenyan caretakers who came in twice a day in six hour shifts to help us out.

This whole group was comprised of some very strong Christians. Even though the agency we hired was secular God had taken care of that part too. Dad learned to love these guys and so did we, especially the one who was there the most - Steve, who became his best buddy. We played games, told jokes, watched movie, prayed, ate meals, celebrated birthdays and holidays and dad began to flourish and enjoy family life again. The Kenyans still to this day are family and our brothers in the Lord.

So the house was full of Christian witness and this was the hand of the Lord at work- truly it was answered prayer. One night we were deciding what movie to watch and I recommended the Hiding Place. I explained to mom and dad who Corrie Ten Boon was and the basic story line of how they considered it their Christian duty to save Jews from the Gestapo and SS. Dad was a WWII vet and I thought he and mom might be able to relate to that time in history. When I asked him if that sounded like a good story he nodded approval. They both really loved that movie and at the end Corrie gave the Gospel and had have a deeper discussion then usual about it and when we asked dad if he received the message of the Gospel and wanted to receive Christ as his Savior he nodded his head yes. We couldn't have a two way conversation but that was a very good night for all of us.

Over the next 3 years dad did pretty well. While he couldn't speak words he could smile and even laugh at my dumb dinner table jokes. He would respond well when we talked about the Lord and prayed, always shaking his head yes in affirmation. Always one with a sharp eye, even after the stroke, he saved my mother in law from taking her pills twice when no one else caught it.

Ultimately in the end it would be his heart because of congestive heart disease that would bring about his physical demise. On that last ambulance ride we knew intuitively that he wouldn't make it home. My friend, Pastor Jeff came to visit very close to the end and he began praying for dad with his family around him. Then Jeff read the 23rd Psalm aloud with family and medical staff all around him in the ICU. My wife was holding his left hand, which was his good hand and arm, while her sister was holding the right limp hand. As Jeff reached the point, 'Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me', he began to grip my sister in law's hand with his paralyzed right hand. When Jeff finished she told everyone, you are not going to believe this but dad has a tight grip on my hand ever since the middle of that Psalm. My wife said, no way it's been limp for years but sure enough she went over and he gripped her hand with his right hand as well. He then proceeded to grip everyone's hand with his right including my mother in law who arrived late. We asked the doctor's and nurses if this was possible and they said no. God had shown us and given us something and we knew that God had been in that prayer circle with us. Jesus had dad's hand and dad had our hand. He knew he was dying but the Lord's rod and staff strengthened him for that journey and our journey through this with him. It only lasted a little over an hour but that miraculous event so greatly encouraged us that Jesus had his hand. He passed away the next day but in my eulogy I made sure to tell everyone in that room about how Christ had intervened and blessed us all through Psalm 23 that day and how the divine hand had touched all of us through dad's paralyzed right hand.

I thank God for making the 23rd Psalm into a physical expression of His endearing and faithful love towards all of us. 'Death where is thy sting' when we abundantly possess this great victory of love through Jesus Christ our Lord. Praise God! Selah!

In Christ, Patrick
John 17:20