The Holy Spirit inspired our blog.
Memorial of Saint Pius X, Pope
R. (1) The Lord Jesus is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
The LORD Jesus is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
Beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
With Your rod and your staff
that give me courage. Protect me.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes; enemies
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Only goodness and kindness will follow me
all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
Forever. years to come.
(Emphasis, Changes, and Color Mine) Psalm 23
A few years ago, the Holy Spirit encouraged me to learn and say this prayer every day.
As I learned the prayer, I realized it was written by King David, who didn’t know Jesus, so he could only say The Lord is my Shepherd.
I know Jesus and decided to change from The Lord to Jesus because that’s who I want to be my Shepherd.
By doing this, I believe we are also building our relationship, Jesus is my Shepherd, and I am one of His many Sheep. What else would I want to be?
What is interesting is how that one change for me made this prayer very personal.
The New American Bible Revised Edition (2016) also said, that give me courage, sorry, I will take protection over courage, protect me from my foes, I think enemies is stronger, and shall dwell in the house of the LORD for years to come.
What?
I don’t want many years; I want forever! Courage, Enemies, and Forever were how I learned the prayer in my youth.
And Forever starts now!
If I am living in the Love, Joy, and Peace of The Holy Spirit, I am living in the House of the Lord now. What else would you call it? I am living in the “Spirit World.”
We pray the Our Father and ask for Their Kingdom to come,
When, now!
Where, here, inside you!
And
Interestingly enough, this ties into the Sidebar.
Change in one of our Prayers:
Thank you, Father, for the Difficulty of ………… Name the DIFFICULTY…… I have FAITH that you will take care of me.
Sidebar:
When I grew up in the Catholic Church in the forties through the sixties, Purgatory was prominent in our Church. Basically, you do the crime, you do the time.
Then, as we reported, I learned recently from Dr. Tim Gray that Pope Benedict and others feel it’s a Process, which changes everything for me.
Question, how does one explain the word Process?
On Wednesday, August 7, 2024, I met with Jim Russell, as we always meet on Wednesdays, and we were talking about this. The Holy Spirit brought to mind an experience I had fifteen or more years ago.
Briefly, I am not a great shopper for Gail. One year, I prayed for help, and the Holy Spirit suggested I ask Gail what she wanted, go with her to get it, and then go to lunch.
Well, Gail was excited, so we went shopping, got what Gail wanted, a bracelet, which she wears every day, and went to lunch.
As we walked back, I left Gail at the corner. She went to her office, and I continued to walk down the street, FILLED WITH JOY!
Actually, I don’t think my feet even hit the ground.
I looked down the street and saw Jesus sitting on the sidewalk with a cup for money for food.
I knew it was Jesus!
I had just bought Gail a beautiful Bracelet and lunch. All I had to do was reach into my wallet and give Jesus some money.
I didn’t!
The moment I walked past Jesus, I lost all of the Joy I had experienced just a few moments before.
“Turn around and change,” The Holy Spirit whispered in my ear.
I kept walking, and even today, I don’t know why I wouldn’t go back.
It took a week to start feeling my Joy again, but it was nowhere near what I had experienced after lunch.
A year later, we repeated the same Christmas idea: Go shopping with Gail and then have Lunch.
Once again, I left lunch, and my feet didn’t hit the ground.
I was filled with Joy!
We separated, and I looked down the street, and there was Jesus. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my wallet, almost tearing my pants, and gave Jesus some money.
I am not the brightest bulb in the room, but I am also not the dimmest.
What happened next, I don’t have the vocabulary to fully explain.
The Holy Spirit gave me such an overwhelming amount of Joy I was almost gagging.
The Joy overwhelmed me. I prayed that God would take some of the Joy away. ( I never thought I would say that prayer)
God did, and I thanked God.
I also realized at that moment that God does give each of us only what we can handle.
God is truly merciful.
Question: this is the question that I posed to Jim.
I sinned. The PROCESS of the Purging of my sin started when the Holy Spirit took away my Joy and truly ended a year later when I experienced an overwhelming Joy, which God then adjusted.
I read a book years ago that said when a child does something wrong, you should punish them immediately because they will know what the punishment is for. Wouldn’t the same be true with God?
If God had waited until I died and then said I would be punished for that sin instead of punishing me at the time of the sin, what would I have learned? Frankly, if I had kept my Joy, I wouldn’t have even known I had sinned.
I would have learned Nothing!
This is why we believe—thank God we are out of the I’s. It is so important to always be working at building a relationship with God and to live as much as possible in the Love, Joy, and Peace of The Holy Spirit.
God can’t take away what you don’t have.
Interesting how one comment by Dr. Tim Gray has had such a profound effect on my life, and we pray yours.
Picture:
Clay Pitts Road last Saturday night at dusk. As I reflected on the first image when I got home, I was intrigued by the reflection in the water. The more I focused on it, I began to see an arm with the hand reaching out. So I decided to crop the image and just have the reflection. Picture by Richard Sawyer
Note: this is the cropped picture
Please keep Snapping!
If you want a copy of the prayers we discussed, email me.
fprince101@gmail.com
Remember, if you want to submit a picture, no people, please, because we have to get permission from that person to use their photograph.
