Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

by Dallas Willard

we cannot be someone we are not, and we won’t find God’s blessing there anyway because God has yet to bless anyone except where they actually are.

You—the right-now you—are the person Jesus desires to be with. If you doubt this, ask God to give you the faith to believe it.

All the types of people that he mentions as being blessed—the poor in spirit, the mournful, the meek, the oppressed, the tenderhearted, and so on—are those the world considers to be the not-okay ones. Clearly Jesus has a different opinion about their standing with God.

From his perspective, such people—indeed, all people—are able to receive God’s favor and companionship, just as they are.

Fact 2: What is true about you as a person is also true about your work. Unless you are engaged in activities that are harmful to people, your work is valuable.

The main thing that will ruin any possibility of staying with Jesus throughout one full day is the feeling that it is not okay to be who you are or to do the work you are doing.

“As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21). Every follower of Christ is sent by God to be Christ to the world in the concrete circumstances of their life. On the basis of hearing this message and trusting it to be true, you come to understand that it is good that you are alive: your life is good, it is good that you are who you are, and it is good that you do the work you do.

You cannot drift into a life of constant companionship with Jesus any more than you can drift into marriage. You must make the decision to have Jesus with you.

A decision is an inward resolve to do whatever is necessary to bring something to pass.

Of course, if you make this decision to invite Jesus to be with you always and do all the necessary things to make it happen, you may find yourself feeling a little claustrophobic. It may feel like someone has invaded your space.

At times you may feel the need to ask Jesus to give you a little more room to “be yourself” and to live on your own. You may want to reserve the option of taking a few little “vacations” from God so you can do a few things that might be embarrassing if Jesus were sitting beside you.

If we want him to stay with us, he will stay with us, even if we choose to do something displeasing to him. Remember, Christ receiveth sinful men.5 He receives sinful men and women and boys and girls.

He receives us and is glad to spend a day with us—all our days, in fact. Of course, when he receives us, it puts tension on us because we want to do what pleases him. We must learn how to deal with this tension by applying his grace when we fail. But in a day spent with him, we can expect to be receiving his strength to do those things that will please him, and avoid those things that bring him pain.

The strength you experience in this day with Jesus will be followed by a deep sense of joy and confidence.

Joy brings with it confidence. It is, in fact, mainly a matter of confidence. It is not some kind of superecstatic state. Joy is a pervasive sense of well-being that claims your entire body and soul, both the physical and the nonphysical side of the human self.

One final and wonderful experience you can expect during your time with Jesus is that there will be a lot of communication between you and him.

You cannot spend a day with Jesus unless you intend to do so, and if you truly intend to do something, you will make the necessary plans to accomplish it.

Since this is going to be a special day, you may begin by thinking about it in a special way, a biblical way. The biblical day begins at sundown—the early evening, we might call it.

Therefore, at the end of the day, you gather together as humankind has done for centuries; you recollect, praise, dream, confess, and prepare for tomorrow, all in the security of God’s love. So clear your calendar ahead of time, making sure to leave the evening free as the start of your time with Jesus.

If there is conflict within your family or between you and another person, this is the time to resolve it. There should be nothing between us and the other members of our household

Spiritual practices such as Sabbath, rest, solitude, and silence are essentially “casting all your care upon Him” (1 Peter 5:7). When you’ve done this enough to convince yourself that the world will be able to function without you, you will find true rest.

one of our primary temptations is to not get enough rest. This is one reason we have so much addiction and abuse. People can be very hard on one another because they are tired and frantic. They unintentionally hurt the people they love—usually their own family members.

So make the necessary arrangements to get the rest you need, planning to begin your morning with Jesus on the foundation of a quiet evening and a good night’s sleep.

include this simple prayer of faith: “I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety” (Ps. 4:8).

The morning was made for the praises of God’s people:

Assuming you are rested, you are able to get up in time to enjoy the freshness of the new day. You may walk out in your backyard or on your veranda where you can look upon the goodness and greatness of this world.

Seek seclusion, and if you are able, kneel for five or ten minutes and welcome the presence of Jesus.

you pray, give the day up to God, renewing your invitation to him to be with you each moment.

Having risen in praise and thankfulness, then you pray for yourself, for the people in your life, and for the things you are facing that day.

Declare your dependence upon God, asking him to remove all fear and to fill you with his love for your life and all that enters

This can also be a time of confession, in which you ask for the strength to deal with the failures you experience day by day. Ask in particular for the faith, death to self, and love that make the Shepherd’s sufficiency your own.

It may be your usual practice to get up, fix your coffee, and spend some time reading the newspaper. You might simply invite Jesus to read the paper with you,

Transform your normal activities into opportunities for communion with your Lord.

“Can I bring God back in my mind-flow every few seconds so that God will always be in my mind as an after-image, shall always be an element in every concept and precept? I choose to make the rest of my life an experiment in answering this question.”

your day should involve scheduled times of meeting with Jesus.

An emergency is like getting tagged, “You’re it!” You are instantly on the spot. But the time you spend off the spot, practicing God’s presence, will allow you to discern whether to refuse to be “it” and then act with trust in God. Emergencies are opportunities to bring God into the realities of your life.

invite Jesus into each new situation or interaction. Watch for him to accomplish God’s loving purposes in these occasions, and give thanks.

As you engage with others, ask Jesus to bless them.

Everything that comes into your day—every person, every activity, and even (or especially!) every interruption—is an opportunity for you and Jesus to bless.

If you’re going to make biscuits, bless them. They will taste better. No matter what you are doing, try to remember to bless it. Whatever it is, say, “The Lord bless you. The Lord cause his face to shine on you. The Lord make you to be the best you that you can be!”

Train yourself to use each change of person or event to remind you to pray and to bless, so that mere change becomes a signal to turn your mind back to God.

The world of men is made of jangling noises. With God it is a great silence. But that silence is a melody Sweet as the contentment of love, Thrilling as a touch of flame. When I enter into God, All life has a meaning. Without asking, I know; My desires are even now fulfilled, My fever is gone In the great quiet of God.

may you know increasingly, by joyful experience, a life abundant in rest, provision, and blessing—a life without lack.