Followed By Mercy
The Followed By Mercy Podcast
Real Grace, Honest Hope
You might notice a new name and a fresh look, but the heart behind this podcast is the same. After years as the World Evangelism Podcast, I sensed God leading me to a deeper, more personal path centered on His relentless mercy and the kind of honest hope that can reach into every hurting place. That’s why this show is now called Followed By Mercy Podcast. The format may shift, and the tone may be a bit more personal, but my mission hasn’t changed: I still believe the world desperately needs to hear the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ. You are welcome here if you’ve been with me from the beginning or just found us now.
What if God’s love is more personal, stubborn, and relentless than you ever imagined?
Welcome to The Followed By Mercy Podcast, where we get honest about pain, hope, and the kind of grace that finds you right where you are, five days a week. This isn’t about religious performance or church routines. It’s for anyone who’s ever felt worn out, unseen, or unsure if they belong in the story of God’s love. Every conversation is rooted in this reality: God loves you right now, just as you are, and He isn’t giving up on you.
Here’s what you’ll find in every episode:
Experience God’s Relentless Love
Every show starts by reminding you that the Shepherd knows your name, cares about your story, and isn’t offended by your failures or questions. This is personal—it’s about God’s unwavering affection for you.
Find Your Place in His Heart
Once you grasp how fiercely you’re loved, sharing that love with others doesn’t feel forced. It becomes the most natural thing in the world. Real grace overflows.
Prayer That Changes You
We pray together—not just for the world “out there,” but for the battles and hopes you’re carrying right now. These prayers are honest, rooted in Scripture, and meant for hearts that need a gentle touch from the Shepherd.
Discover Your Unique Role
Whether you’re called to go, give, serve, or show kindness in your corner of the world, God’s mercy meets you where you are. You’re not just a bystander. You are His beloved, invited into the story He’s writing.
When life knocks the wind out of you, this is a place to catch your breath. You’ll hear the encouragement that meets you on your hardest days, and your honest questions will be welcomed. No pretending, no heavy-handed advice—just the reminder that your Shepherd is right there with you, walking every step with you, even when you feel like giving up.
Why does this matter? Because some days, it feels like nobody sees you or cares what you’re going through. But the truth is, you have a Shepherd who never takes His eyes off you, lets you slip through the cracks, and never gives up on you. That kind of love can put you back on your feet, and it might be the hope someone else is waiting to see in you, too.
If you’re longing for more than just religious talk—if you want to know you’re not alone and that God’s mercy is following you all the way home, you’re in the right place. Whether you listen in the car, on a walk, or in a quiet moment, let every episode remind you: God’s mercy is after you right now, ready to bring real grace and honest hope.
Subscribe today and join a community to discover what happens when loved people become loving people. The journey’s just beginning, and there’s a place for you here.
Followed By Mercy
Who is the LORD Merciful
Mercy Is My Shepherd
What if misunderstandings have shaped your entire view of God? The opening line of Psalm 23—“The Lord is my shepherd”—isn’t just comforting; it’s confrontational. It asks: Do you really know who this “Lord” is?
David wrote those words while on the run—likely hiding from his own son Absalom, who wanted him dead. In that moment of fear and betrayal, David didn’t just believe in God—he knew Him. And not as a distant force but as someone deeply personal and trustworthy. That’s a far cry from how many of us see God: we say He’s good, but deep down, we wonder if He’s disappointed in us or just waiting for us to mess up again.
The Hebrew text helps clear the fog. When you see “LORD” in all caps, it’s translating Yahweh—God’s personal name. The name He gave Moses at the burning bush: “I AM.” Not I was, or I will be. Just I AM. Unchanging. Not bound by time. Not swayed by circumstances. This means Psalm 23 could just as well read: “I AM is my shepherd.”
Let that sink in: The eternal, self-sustaining Creator of the universe has made Himself your guide, protector, and caretaker. Not out of obligation. Out of choice.
And here’s the most revealing part: when God defined Himself to Moses in Exodus 34, the first word He used wasn’t powerful, holy, or just. It was merciful. Before anything else, God wanted us to know: I’m full of mercy.
This is the same heart we see in Jesus’ story of the prodigal son: a father running full speed toward his broken, shame-filled child before a single word of apology is spoken. That’s God. That’s Yahweh. His mercy outruns your failure, your fear, your shame. He loves with more tenderness than a mother nursing her newborn.
That flips Psalm 23 on its head. We don’t just have a shepherd. Mercy is our shepherd.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve blown it as a parent, a partner, a believer, or a human being. Mercy is still walking with you through the valley.
So here’s the question: When was the last time you let God tell you who He is—instead of projecting your past experiences, guilt, or doubts onto Him?
Take this truth with you today: Mercy is your shepherd.
Let it rewrite the way you see Him. Let it change the way you walk through your life.
Key Takeaways:
- Psalm 23 centers on who God is, not on what we do.
- “LORD” translates to Yahweh, meaning I AM—eternal, unchanging, self-existent.
- When God introduced Himself, He led with mercy—not power.
- His love is more dependable than even a mother’s love for her child.
- We often assume God is like human authority figures—but He isn’t.
- The prodigal son story shows a God who runs toward us, not away.
- “Mercy is my shepherd” reframes how we read and live Psalm 23.
- God doesn’t need us, but He wants us—purely out of love.
- Mercy doesn’t abandon us when we fail—it stays, leads, and heals.
Let that truth lead you today.
Thanks for listening. Find us on YouTube, Substack, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Well, psalm 23 starts with two words the Lord. And that's the question I want to delve into a little bit with you today. Who is the Lord? The whole psalm revolves around the Lord. You've probably never paid attention to it because you know, you say it out of memory and you think about it and you don't think about it at the same time. It says the Lord. Then in verse 2, he, he, verse 3, he, he, verse 4, thou, thou, thou, verse 5, thou, thou, verse 6, the Lord Starts with the Lord and ends with the Lord. Who is the Lord? The psalm revolves not around you, hands of the Lord. Who is the Lord? The Psalm revolves not around you, but around the Lord. That's important.
Speaker 1:Now, as we've discussed this, david is probably on the run, fearing for his life because his son Absalom is trying to kill him. And he knew something. He knew who the Lord was, and I'm afraid we don't know that so often. We don't know God. We intellectually know God, but we don't know him in our heart. When we're terrified, we actually think God might be a little bit angry with us, a little bit bothered with us. So I want to take you through who is the Lord? And I just want you. You got to know him. He is your Lord and he is your shepherd. The Lord is shepherding you Now.
Speaker 1:In the Bible, when it has Lord in all caps capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D that's referring to Yahweh. Yahweh is the proper name of God. That's the name that God told Moses. That's who he was At the burning bush. When Moses says who are you, he says he's Yahweh. He says I am. So we'll deviate just a while from Psalm 23, because we want to understand who the Lord is.
Speaker 1:And the Bible says in Exodus, chapter 3 and verse 13,. And Moses said unto God behold, when I come unto the children of Israel and shall say unto them the God of your fathers has sent me unto you. They shall say to me what is his name? What shall I say to them? God, they're going. I'm going to tell them, you're sending me. I'm going to tell them that it's about you, but I don't even know your name. I want to know your name. I want to know that I know who you are and I want to be able to tell them. And God responds in verse 14,. And God said to Moses I am that, I am. I am that I am, what a name I am that I am. And he said thou shalt say unto them I am. What a name I am that I am. And he said thou shalt say unto them I am the I am. That's who he is, I am. Has sent you. God said to Moses thou shalt say unto the children of Israel the Lord, god of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me. This is my name forever. This is my name forever and this is my memorial unto all generations. Now I just want you to consider with me what he said his name was. He said my name is I am.
Speaker 1:Now, what does I am mean? Well, I am means that he is eternal. He's eternal, see, he is. I am Not, I was Not, I will be. He's not changing, he's self-existent, he is independent. He says I am, I don't need you to be I am. And he's unchanging. He's the creator and sustainer of all life. He doesn't need us. You need to mark this down. He doesn't need us, but he wants us. So his name is I am.
Speaker 1:So you could read Psalm 23 like this the Lord is my shepherd. Or you could change it to Yahweh is my shepherd. Or you could say I am is my shepherd? The great I am, that I am is my shepherd. That's who he is.
Speaker 1:Now, you know, I'd like to know who he is. You know, people have an opinion of who you are, who I am. They don't know you, they don't know you, but they suppose they believe, they hear, they see, and that's who they think you are. But I know who I am. I can tell you who I am and God's like. I know y'all have this thought of me as being a righteous, indignant judge and somebody who's ready to throw lightning bolts at you. I know that you feel like all this is going on, but can I tell you who I am? Would you let me have the chance to share with you who I am? And so he does that.
Speaker 1:He talks to Moses, and this has got to thrill your soul. In Exodus 34, 5 through 7, he says and the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him, moses, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. He proclaimed the name of the Lord, and the Lord passed by him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord, god, the Lord. God merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. That will by no means clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children until the third and fourth generation. He says I am, I am God, I am the Almighty, I am God, but let me tell you who I am.
Speaker 1:Now I want you to stop a minute and I want you to just kind of put your church mind on hold. I want you to put your religious mind on hold. I want you to put on hold all the things your parents have said. I mean, you kind of have the idea that God may be a policeman and he's watching you, or that he may be a judge and he's criticizing you, or he may be a teacher and he's kind of after you. You may have all these weird opinions going on in your mind without meaning to, because it's what we've been taught. We suppose this is how God is. We take our feelings about our own dad often and put them on God or our parents or our teachers or our policemen, and we don't ever let God tell us who he is. And so I want to take the time over the next several days for us to understand who the Lord is because Psalm 23 won't make sense until you understand who he is.
Speaker 1:He says I am is shepherding me. The Lord is my shepherd, yahweh is my shepherd. Who is Yahweh? And the very first thing he says in the whole thing is I am mercy. Now listen to it. The Lord passed by before him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord, god merciful. Do you understand what God is? He's merciful. When he chose to explain to you and to explain to me who he was, the very first thing he said was Now, how do you get any better than that? I am merciful. Now, what does that mean? What does that mean I am merciful? It means that I am compassionate. It means he genuinely cares about us. He holds a tender attitude of concern for us. I am merciful, I am merciful.
Speaker 1:It's kind of explained in the story of the prodigal son when in Luke, chapter 15 and verse 20, it says the son arose and came to his father, but when he was yet a ways off, his father saw him and had compassion that's that word, mercy and he ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. The old man, who shouldn't be running, took off running and grabbed his son and hugged him and kissed him and had compassion on him. The old man, who shouldn't be running, took off running and grabbed his son and hugged him and kissed him and had compassion on him. He didn't wait to hear a whole litany of things that the son knew he had done wrong. The son did wrong, without a doubt he was wrong, but the father wasn't saying I am judgment, I am going to punish you. He didn't put any conditions. He said I have compassion.
Speaker 1:Can I tell you what it means to say I am merciful? It means he said I will not abandon you, I will not destroy you. You are my people, you're my sheep, I will not destroy you. When he said I am merciful, he said I love you tenderly, I love you fondly. It's saying I love you tenderly, I love you fondly. It's saying I love to caress you. I love you like a mother loves her children. I am merciful, I am merciful.
Speaker 1:Now, this will shock you a little bit maybe, but in Isaiah, chapter 49 and verse 15, this is what God said Can a woman forget her sucking child? Could a mama forget her baby who is on her breast? That she wouldn't have compassion on the son that was born from her womb? Yeah, they might forget. They might forget, but I will not forget. He's basically saying let's think about it. When a mama's got a baby on her breast that came forth out of her womb, you can almost be assured she will not forget. God says they're sooner to forget than I am. They will more likely forget than I will. I don't forget.
Speaker 1:I am merciful.
Speaker 1:I am mercy, I have sympathy. I feel compassion. Have mercy, I have sympathy, I feel compassion. He said in that verse I protect and preserve life like a mother does the life. You know, sometimes you kind of think a daddy has been judgmental and harsh, but mama being sweet, god said I'm merciful, I show favor. I'm not here to punish. I show kindness, benevolence and goodness. I am merciful. That's who our God is.
Speaker 1:So I want you to think with me today. I want you to spend the day thinking this boy. He loves me. I am is my shepherd. Change it. I am is merciful, so put I am is my shepherd. I won't change it. See, I am is merciful, so put this. Mercy is my shepherd. Did you get that? Mercy is my shepherd. I don't deserve anything. I have really messed up. I have not been a good father. I've not been a good husband. I mess up as a Christian. I messed up in business. I messed up. I've not done what I ought to do, but mercy is my shepherd. You take that with you today. You meditate on that. Mercy is my shepherd.