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
I shall not Want
When Peace Feels Impossible — Psalm 23 and the Shepherd Who Never Fails
How do you find peace when your world is falling apart?
King David didn’t write Psalm 23 from a place of comfort. He wrote it while fleeing for his life—betrayed by his closest friend, hunted by his own son, shamed in public, and exiled from the very kingdom he once ruled. And yet, in the middle of that darkness, he declared: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
That wasn’t dreaming. The Hebrew behind “I shall not want” speaks of total certainty—David is saying he hasn’t lacked, doesn’t lack, and will never lack what truly matters because his Shepherd is faithfully providing.
This changes everything. Instead of obsessing over what was falling apart, David fixed his heart on who was holding him together. He looked past the chaos and saw the Shepherd. And in doing so, he found the kind of peace that makes little sense unless you’ve met the God who walks with you through the valley.
Psalm 23 invites us into that same perspective. Most of us live like everything depends on us—always calculating, planning, controlling. No wonder we’re anxious. But sheep don’t live like that. They don’t worry about provision—they stay close to the Shepherd.
God’s care isn’t theoretical. It’s personal. Just as He gave manna in the wilderness, He meets your needs today—not always how you expected, but always enough.
So, what are you facing right now? What fear, what weight, what pressure is trying to own your thoughts?
Cast it all on the One who’s already carrying you. Let Psalm 23 reset your focus—from the problem in front of you to the Shepherd beside you. When the Lord is your Shepherd, lacking what you truly need becomes impossible.
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I'm excited to come back to you today with Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. We've gone over that and what that means, and the entire psalm is based on this truth. The Lord, the Lord, got to know who he is. We've talked a lot about that. You need to meditate on that constantly and you need to fight everything in your head that paints a different picture of God than what the Bible says. Fight that.
Austin Gardner:The Lord is my shepherd, the Lord I am, yahweh is shepherding me. He is my shepherd, he is my shepherd, my shepherd, and he is working in my life. And by shepherd, he's the owner, and by shepherd he's the owner, and by shepherd, he's in charge. So by shepherd, we have a very strong relationship. And since he is my shepherd, we get to the next part of the psalm, which is I shall not want. I shall not want. What a tremendous thing. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. There's something beautiful in the Hebrew word for want or lack. It's not in the future tense in the Hebrew In fact, in Hebrew they don't have a future tense it's in what's called the perfect aspect, which emphasizes not future but completed action or certainty. He is stating that he does not want, he will not want, and he cannot say that with absolute confidence. He hasn't wanted, doesn't want and will never want. That's pretty beautiful. I shall not want, I will not want. It is done, fixed, finished, that he will not want because his shepherd is taking care of him. It'd be impossible for him to be lacking what he needed, because the Lord is his shepherd and David is speaking from experience and sees God's provision as unbreakable reality. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. It's unthinkable to believe that God, his shepherd, will not be dependable. Now I need to stop here and just remind you of fantastic truths that are going on here.
Austin Gardner:David is in the middle of chaos. His life is falling apart. He has literally no human hope. Majority of his kingdom is turned against him. His best friend has betrayed him. His son is leading an army against him. His son has publicly humiliated him by putting his ten wives up on the rooftop of the house and had relations with them.
Austin Gardner:And David's in trouble. Where do you turn? I know you're maybe facing trouble. You may be dealing with junk in your life and maybe it's marriage problems, or or maybe maybe it is financial problems or emotional problems or problems raising your children, and you begin to feel like you're abandoned and you're alone. But that's simply not true, because the Lord is your shepherd. If you're a believer, he is your shepherd and you shall not want. And what David does is take the focus off of himself, the focus off of his circumstances, the focus off of his problems, the focus off of his pressures, and put them on the promises of his Lord, the promises of his shepherd. He doesn't see circumstances, he sees Christ. He doesn't see obstacles, he sees opportunities.
Austin Gardner:I know we say that kind of stuff all the time, but that is so very true in this particular passage. So what you want to recognize right now, first, as we begin, is that the shepherd is all you need. He's the source of all you need, he is all you need. The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. Everything I have comes from the Lord. I need to understand that.
Austin Gardner:The Bible says in 1 Chronicles 29, 14,. I love this when King David the same David that is writing Psalm 23, probably prior to this writes and says who am I and what are my people that we should offer so willingly? For all things come of thee and of thine own. Have we given thee. David recognized that even the offerings he offered to the Lord came from the Lord, that he gave back to the Lord, because the Lord is the source of everything. You're not the source. You're not the source, you're not the answer, you're not the solution. The Lord is. The Lord is my shepherd. What are you dealing with? What are you facing Today? Cast all your burden on him, because he is the source of everything. He's the creator, our creator. He's the owner. He owns everything. He owns all people. He owns everything.
Austin Gardner:In 1 Corinthians 8, verse 6, it says of whom are all things? Of whom are all things? Everything comes from God. Somewhere along the way, I made the mistake that I'm afraid that you have made and I became the center of my own universe. I began to think I was doing stuff and I was somebody. But it's never us. It's never us. Of whom are all things and by whom are all things? And we by him. 1 Corinthians 8, 6. By whom, jesus Christ? By whom are all things? And we by him.
Austin Gardner:I didn't make God, god made me. I don't own God, god owns me. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. That'll give us great comfort, but it'll also give us great promises. It'll also help us to turn away from the anxiety that's keeping you awake at night, the pressures that are bothering you, the bitterness that you're holding on to. You can get rid of all of that.
Austin Gardner:James 1.17,. James said every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. Do you realize? The Lord is the source of everything? The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. So what am I to do in the equation? What's my part in the story? Trust and believe. Have confidence in your shepherd. You know you wouldn't have talked to any sheep like this. A sheep is not over there logically reasoning out, figuring out how much food they got left, how many bills they got left and figuring out who they got to please and how they got to please. They just got their eyes on the shepherd. I want you to understand that what he's saying I shall not want is a permanent denial that he could ever lack. That's super personal to me. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.
Austin Gardner:We're not talking about theoretically, what God does for people. We're not talking about what you read or hear about. We're not talking about great heroes of the past. You are his sheep, he is your shepherd and you shall not want. We're not talking about a general case. We're talking about you personally. What are you dealing with? What are you fighting with? What issues are you confronting?
Austin Gardner:Lack means to be diminished, to be in need. It means to be reduced or deprived. It means to have insufficient funds. But God is my shepherd, the Lord Yahweh. I am the relational. God is my shepherd.
Austin Gardner:I think about how the Lord the shepherd provided in the wilderness. When the children of Israel are not doing what he wanted to do and they're wandering around in the wilderness, he provided everything they needed. He gave them everything they needed to be able to make it and everything they needed to be able to enjoy what he had for them. The Lord is my shepherd. He gave them shoes that didn't wear out. He gave them food that fell from heaven. He gave them shoes that didn't wear out. He gave them food that fell from heaven. He gave them clothes that grew with them. He gave them water from a rock. They lacked nothing. You read about that and you think well, that was a pretty neat thing, god taking care of them. But God's doing all of that for you and you need to acknowledge that God provided for Elijah by having ravens come and feed him. At the brook, a widow from Sherephath cared for Elijah and his family, and God made miraculous provisions, and he's doing that for you.
Austin Gardner:David writes in the Psalms 37, I have been young and now old. I have not seen a seed begging bread. I have not seen a seed begging bread. I have not seen the righteous forsaken or a seed begging bread. So I just want to challenge you today to know the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. What is it you're dealing with? How are you hurting? You listen to me, take your cares and lay them on the Lord and decide. In the middle of the chaos, in the middle of the attacks, in the middle of all the anxiety that's coming your way, you will not focus on the problem. You'll focus on Jesus. The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd.