Singing Psalm 23 you have all you need

“The LORD’s my Shepherd, leading me;

    I will not be in need.” ~ Psalm 23:1

Do you have all you need? How do you know when you are in need?

There is one who leads you so that you actually won’t be in need. As long as he’s leading you, you continually have all you need.

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” ~ 2 Corinthians 8:9

Jesus provides you with all you need. He meets you where you are, prompts you to trust and follow him, and brings you to real friendship and lasting well-being.

Singing Psalm 23 you have all you need today

Want peace? Sing this first thing upon awakening: “The LORD’s my Shepherd, leading me.” Then, live with that truth in mind with each breath you take and each choice you make. Jesus’ presence will become real to you and bring you rest. When his nearness takes precedence over every other thought, word, and action, you are so glad that it’s him leading you and not yourself.

In fact, he is leading you to choose wisely and be thankful for all you get to do. If you think otherwise, you might need to assess your dueling realities side-by-side until the truth comes to the fore and the imposter fades into the background. Do this until your view of the world accurately represents the true and only reality that Jesus is in full control over all things and is leading you. Then and only then will you perceive that you have all you need in him. Trusting Jesus’ care for you is the crux of training yourself to be godly. Following Jesus with the understanding that he supplies whatever would benefit you and withholds whatever would harm you is what it means to renew your mind.

Once you get him, you want to run by Jesus every thought, plan, responsibility, and concern before you run with it. When you don’t, you wonder what you were thinking or rather if you were thinking. He is your savory breakfast, lunch, snack, and supper. Don’t wolf it all down without thinking. Be thankful for every bite he gives you to nourish you, sustain you, energize you, and lead you forward. Jesus is meaningfully the bread of life and the living water. Don’t brush him aside and go your own way. Rather brush opposing or overly familiar thoughts of him aside and resolutely go his way. Anchor your affections on Jesus so they won’t get lost at sea. You will never look back because he makes you steadfast, eyes laser-focused on him as he helps you avoid following wolves in sheep’s clothing. You will not fall prey to those who look for answers within themselves while claiming to see visions from the Lord.

“Thus says the Lord GOD, Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!” ~ Ezekiel 13:3

Singing Psalm 23, it's fascinating to recall how Jesus continually makes the ordinary extraordinary. The Samaritan woman who set out to draw water left her jar after conversing with Jesus for a few minutes. She went into town telling the people there that they had to come and see Jesus after he had given her an accurate inventory of her relational closet.

At last you have found the one you can trust who isn’t concerned with pleasing people but pleasing God. Jesus says, “I do not receive glory from people.” You don’t have to look for anything else. You can begin from wherever you are. “He leadeth me, O blessed thought!” Jesus meets you where you are in the humility-inducing, eye-opening process of giving you all you need every time you come to him.

What does that righteous path where he guides you look like? Truly, it is a path of thought where you think right thoughts about God, namely, that he truly cares for you, and you trust him implicitly to do just that. Stay on the right path of trusting Jesus. Stay off the wrong path, the wicked path that is relying on yourself, not trusting that Jesus provides for you and protects you, or relying on other people or things to provide and protect in ways that only God can.

“I want it. I get it.” Does this resonate with you? I want it. I get it. Do you shop without questioning or assessing whether or not the desire or the action you take to get what you want is in line with God’s will, whether it is wise? If so, this thinking can be replaced with balanced self-denial while enjoying daily needs as the good things that they are. You can enjoy them as gifts from God for his glory with a thankful heart. Singing Psalm 23 from the heart is a sure cure for overruling desires.

Singing Psalm 23 you have all you need for relationship

As Jesus was never really alone you need never be alone either. A father and mother shepherd their child by addressing lies and applying consequences. They remember how, as sheep, the Lord loved them through his discipline that served to correct their sinful behaviors. If the Lord is truly your shepherd, he is whose you are. As you listen for his voice, you start and stop. Jesus teaches you the futility of going after and gaining the whole world and yet losing your very soul in the process. Although you deny yourself to follow him, as part of his flock, you lack no good thing. Jesus is attentive to each one of his sheep. You have all you need to be there for those the Lord places in your life.

Singing Psalm 23 you have all you need for work

The person who wrote “The Lord is my shepherd” was a shepherd himself. That was his vocation. How significant is this? Whatever you do for work, would you attribute your work as an underwork of his work?

You learn friendship in your work as you perceive that Jesus goes before you in whatever you do. He is humbly and gently leading you to work with integrity in a sincere and considerate way with and for the benefit of others. You see your need for the very service you seek to provide. Although David was a shepherd, he did his work with Jesus in mind and saw himself as a sheep in his fold under his care first and foremost. I can imagine that while David was doing his job shepherding the sheep, he might’ve thought to himself, Hey wait a minute, this is what God does for me. He leads me to nourishment, protects me from harm, and goes after me when I stray. I am a shepherd, but first, a sheep.

Lawyers work with the understanding that, “The Lord is my lawyer and judge.” Writers write with, “The Lord is my writer.” in mind. It is the Lord who has written your story. Nurses keep before them, “The Lord is my nurse.” as they care for patients. Doctors think “The Lord is my doctor.” while remembering that Jesus is the great physician. Construction workers have before them the master builder. Customer service representatives represent the greatest servant. Engineers, pilots, and drivers know they are actually passengers in the Lord’s trains, planes, and automobiles. Economists think about how the Lord runs his universe in his economy without any money. Sales people marvel at God‘s provision for our needs as we will buy without price.

The Lord is my landscaper. I need him to make me beautiful from the inside out (root to fruit). The Lord is my gardener. I need him in order to grow. The Lord is my manager. I need him to organize me. The Lord is my president. I need him to call the shots in my life. The Lord is my pastor. I need him to lay down his life for me. The Lord is my counselor. I need him to renew my thoughts and give me a new heart. The Lord is my janitor. I need him to wash me and make me clean and pure. A custodian or homemaker could say this while cleaning commodes. Hey, this is what the Lord does for me. He cleanses me from my sin, takes me out of the muck and mire and protects me from sickness.

Unemployed? The Lord is my helper as I serve, volunteer, and wait. He leads me in hope. Retired? The Lord still has good things for me to do. He leads me restoring my youth like the eagle’s.

Indeed Jesus is your all-in-all, gentle and lowly in heart. He beckons us to learn from him because he is humble. We need humility to admit that we need to be led by him for every task, word, thought, and breath.

He has prepared in advance all that he would have you do. He is responsible for your vocation and in a sense, he is your vocation and is certainly with you in it no matter what your vocation. How would knowing this impact the way that you do your work or the way you serve others? Certainly, this thinking would move you moment-by-moment to be the best you can be at whatever it is you do as you learn friendship from Jesus who is ready to help and serve as he listens for you to call on him in every circumstance. Jesus came to teach you how to live. He died to give you life so that you might learn friendship. The Lord is your friend at work supplying all you need for today.

You can count on him without fear. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Singing Psalm 23 you have all you need for remembering

When you begin to forget, you need to remember that the Lord is with you. To tune into him, I sing Psalm 23. That can sometimes be several times in a day. Nothing resets a perspective that is going or has gone awry quicker than singing the psalms. If ever there would be a song in your heart, let it be one of these. You can sing them out or sing them in your mind as you go about whatever it is you are doing. They show you how to discern what it looks like when you set out to please God as opposed to pleasing yourself. Singing the psalms is not cathartic, not a releasing or purging of emotions, but a processing of each emotion, milking every drop of goodness from each feeling each day. Each emotion is a gift given to be used and enjoyed. Each emotion is an intentional path to draw you to the Lord in your affections to bring about an intimate relationship between you and God. You have all you need to love and forgive as your heart is led and protected from the rancidity of bitterness. Each psalm is a vehicle on a highway where your emotions can ride safely from your heart to the Lord’s heart. This is what you, as a man or woman of God, are deliberately after. Your feelings make great gifts but lousy rulers. God rules. Feelings aren’t equipped to rule. Whether your emotions are high, low or neutral, Jesus continuously restores your soul, true to his promise, giving you all you need to follow him wherever he would have you go.

“And He restores my soul again;

    He guides the steps I take

To walk along a righteous path,

    All for His own name‘s sake.” ~ Psalm 23:3

Singing Psalm 23 you have all you need tomorrow

Jesus prompts you to trust and follow him since he is all you need. While you might think you must travel the globe looking high and low for it, he provides rest and relaxation for your mind and body right where you are and secures all your tomorrows.

“He’ll make me lie in pastures green;

    By quiet waters lead.” ~ Psalm 23:2

The idea of the Lord leading me began as too good to be true. Mostly I was unconvinced that it is true. At first, all it amounted to was wishful thinking. Because Jesus shines so brightly, my sins were exposed by his light and seemed unforgivable to me. But he is gentle. When he in his grace and mercy became real to me moment-by-moment, I began to walk with him as one forgiven and relationally restored. He enables me to rearrange my schedule and be at peace with it, convinced that it is right to pivot when the Lord is leading me around the corner and not straight through.

    “He will tend his flock like a shepherd;

        he will gather the lambs in his arms;

    he will carry them in his bosom,

        and gently lead those that are with young.” ~ Isaiah 40:11

What naturally follows is that you lack nothing. You don’t lack anything that would be good for you, that is. You no longer have to feel anxious that you didn’t get a certain thing done on a particular day. You trust that he’s leading you and that what he wants you to get done, you will get done.

That’s why it’s okay for you to not get done whatever it is that you don’t get done. Those things, you will get done if he wants you to. And if he indeed wants you to get those things done, you will get them done when he wants you to get them done. The peace that you will have from this is beyond understanding.

Trusting him, life is blissful and only gets better each day. Not only will the day you die be better than the day before, but for all eternity, each moment in the gracious presence of the Lord will be better than the one before. He restores your soul continually forever. If you think it might not be possible for him to be up to that, remember that this is the one who created trillions of galaxies that we know of, not counting the galaxies we don’t know of.

Throughout the psalms, we’ve sung about how the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, juxtaposed with how the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. You have all you need forever because in eternity past, before you were born, you were thought of. A feast was planned and prepared for you back then. The enemy cannot deprive you of your seat at this table. Jesus provides food, fellowship, and honor such that you are not only satisfied but are overjoyed with an overabundance. 

Since today is yesterday’s tomorrow, whatever trouble tomorrow has of its own, you have already overcome it having all you need. That's because your good shepherd is with you and is leading you. You are in Christ who has overcome the world. Singing Psalm 23 from the heart is a sure cure for worry.

Singing Psalm 23 you have all you need forever

“A feast You have prepared for me

    In sight of all my foes;

And You anoint my head with oil,

    My full cup overflows.” ~ Psalm 23:5

I know with whom I want to be sitting at the Lord’s table and you know who you want there with you. Imagine being with them in the presence of all the satanic influences who worked so hard to try to make it so that all of you wouldn’t be there at the Lord’s table. Yet it is the Lord, not you, who has prepared for you a feast in their sight. Will there be something like one way mirrors? Better yet by far, imagine that your former foes have since trusted Jesus and now sit with you around the Lord’s table as friends.

He honors his people anointing their heads with oil and pouring their cups so full that they overflow. Certainly there is no want here. You are utterly fulfilled. Not ashamed. Not uncomfortable. And there will never be a letdown. No more dread. No more waiting for the other shoe to drop. No uncertainty. No more wondering if you are doing the right thing or not. You have overcome. You are perfectly at home. Relaxed. You will live in the Lord’s house peacefully dwelling there with him forever.

Jesus brings you to real friendship and lasting well-being which is truly all you need.

We live with the unspoken assumption that death is the worst thing that could happen to us. So if that’s true, then the worst thing leads to the best thing since death is the door to abundant life that never ends. What is there to fear? Because Jesus is with you befriending you, you have all you need. Singing Psalm 23 from the heart is a sure cure for fear of death.

“Though in a valley dark as death

    No evil will I fear;

Your rod and staff, they comfort me,

    For You are always near.” ~ Psalm 23:4

Jesus is the true friend who finds you in a hole and lifts you out of it. He relocates his sheep from sinking mud to a joyful home. Singing Psalm 23 you learn friendship through God’s comforting presence.

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” ~ John 10:27-30

Come to Jesus whose grace is sufficient for you. He is strong where you are weak. Paradoxically, his power is made perfect in your weakness. Do you have all you need? Just think. As you follow Jesus, what follows you?

“What love and goodness all my life

    Will follow after me;

And in the LORD’s house evermore

    My dwelling place will be.” ~ Psalm 23:6

https://psalter.org/

January 8, 2021 - October 25, 2024

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Heart ♥️ reflection

January 26, 2025

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” ~ Philippians 3:12

Question: How can I press on with a growth mindset in the face of failure and obstacles?

Heart reflection: The heartache of failure, missing the boat on communicating love, the blindness that results from self-interest. It’s all too heavy and burdensome to carry on your own. Make room for your imperfections that reside with you. Resist the pull to deny them. These will drive you to take Jesus up on his offer to come to him for rest. These wearisome burdens are with you for an express purpose; they are tools to help you see yourself as a sheep that needs to connect with the Good Shepherd who has made you his own! You are learning to rely on him and not yourself as you give him your burdens. You see that he is able to and happy to carry them for you. Instead of waiting for the other shoe to drop, what you find is God’s love and mercy literally chasing after you.

“What love and goodness all my life

    Will follow after me;

And in the LORD’s house evermore

    My dwelling place will be.” ~ Psalm 23:6

https://psalter.org/

https://www.abcsconnection.com/post/singing-psalm-23-you-have-all-you-need

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The Psalms—Q&A

“But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates,

    “‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;

        we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’

    For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.” ~ Matthew 11:16-19

How can singing Psalm 23 help me grow in my affection for God and in my connection with others?

“The LORD’s my shepherd leading me;

    I will not be in need.” ~ Psalm 23:1

What’s my excuse for coming to Jesus and then dismissing what he says or not coming to him at all with my every care?

My skewed perception made it so that Jesus was both too down to earth to worship and too supernatural to relate to. My fickle mind switched back and forth between thinking of him as either all man (nothing to write home about) or all God (leaving you numb in frightful awe). Instead, he perfectly relates to you. He doesn’t keep you in the dark, and he’s not detached. Transcendent but not unapproachable. The God-man calls you friend! Yet his ways are far above your ways and supernatural. Jesus lowered himself to relate to you to lead you to his better ways, all the while able to forgive your sins and save your soul. You are right to worship him, your good shepherd. Goodness and love are his rod and staff that nudge you along, lighting the way to a new and right path where you finally land at home in God’s house. Whereas other people and things that you tried to make your all were out of joint, Jesus is your all who perfectly fits. You resist the urge to make him into your image or equate him with detached, false gods. In following him as he is, you have fullness of joy both in friendship and in awe.

He [Peter] was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. ~ Matthew 17:5-8

There will be times, as with Peter, when your good shepherd will lead you where you do not want to go. Will you remember who your real lover is, the one who came to rescue you, whom you trust with all your heart, the one who made you a part of his bride, who exhilarates you, the one who meets your every need, who forgives all your sins and who will never leave you? Will you stop the hunt for a dream lover when it is only Jesus who can make your dreams for perfect love a reality?

“Though in a valley dark as death, 

    No evil will I fear

Your rod and staff, they comfort me, 

    For You are always near.” ~ Psalm 23:4

Engage and grow together!

 “Iron sharpens iron,

        and one man sharpens another.” ~ Proverbs 27:17

September 5, 2025