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Thank God it's Monday Devotional 29

by David Joynt on October 02, 2022

Thank God it's Monday Devotional 29

PSALM 23:1, 3a | 1The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

3aHe restores my soul.

EPHESIANS 4:11 | 11He himself granted that some are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.

JOHN 10:11 | 11I am the good shepherd.

There is one Great Shepherd of the sheep—the Lord Jesus! But He shares the ministry of guiding and helping people deepen and grow with us. Some of us may have a specific calling to work as a pastor in a church or parachurch ministry, shepherding the people of God.

Like the Shepherd in Psalm 23, the pastor accompanies his or her flock on their life journeys aiming to help God help them flourish as their souls are restored and made new. Soul care is at the heart of guiding others. Since people are mysterious and much is hidden in all of us, this means we must work to know those we want to guide. Patient listening, acute observation, and determined praying all are key to get right the people in our care and to discover all that is precious and in need of encouragement and all that is problematic and in need of reform.

Is there anyone you are guiding and shepherding?

Who is your shepherd? Do you sense they are helping you grow closer to the Great Shepherd?

Tags: shepard

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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