BEING A SHEEP
Psalm 23

The relationship between sheep and their shepherd is not enough to communicate the love and care of God for us, but it does go a distant to let us know that God’s care for us is deeper than we have taken to Him. Psalm 23:1-3, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.” For those who have accepted the great Shepherd as their Lord and Savior, they become His sheep. In Him, there is no lack and every need is available except when we make the wrong choice, such as entering into fear and not looking up to the Shepherd for all our needs according to His riches in glory. The Psalmist stated in verses 1-3 of Psalm 23 all that the Shepherd made him to do and the Psalmist concluded in verse three the reason why the shepherd made him to do was “For His name’s sake.” The Name of God is all that is needed for those that have accepted Him as Lord and Savior and those who understand whom they are in the hand of God. Once in the wilderness journey of the children of Israel, God responded to the disobedience of the children of Israel. “I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.” (Numbers 14:12) Moses responded to God’s plan against the children of Israel by speaking to God. “Now if You kill these people as one man, then the nations which have heard of Your fame will speak, saying, 16 ‘Because the LORD was not able to bring this people to the land which He swore to give them, therefore He killed them in the wilderness.’” (Numbers 14:15-16) Moses’ response is like telling God that, “Your name is at stake here Lord.” With Moses’ response, God declared in Numbers 14:20, “Then the Lord said: ‘I have pardoned, according to your word.’” The point here is that because of His name, He will deliver those who He has decided to carry through as sheep. It was because of His Name that, “…He made His own people go forth like sheep, And guided them in the wilderness like a flock; 53 And He led them on safely, so that they did not fear; But the sea overwhelmed their enemies.” Time and space will not permit writing all He has done because of His name for those who know Him and know how to remind Him concerning the work of His hand. The Great Shepherd has laid His life down for His sheep. Until His sheep give their life to Him, the sheep will not know how to take the life He has come to give more abundantly.
Being His sheep is becoming a winner.

THE WORD FIRE
Psalm 33        

“By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. 7 He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses.” (Psalm 33:6-7) The word of God is right and righteousness is the word of God. Looking around and seeing all things He created is evidence of the fact that the word of God is right and also true. His Word is living and alive. God has not changed and He will not change, but He alone is the unchanging Changer; the only One who can reverse the irreversible. Psalm 33:4, “For the word of the LORD is right, and all His work is done in truth.” The word of God is true and right and we are hold on to the truth. No weapon formed against those who hold on to the truth in the word of God shall get hurt neither shall the word fail them. The word of God is fire and it cannot be played with neither should it be disregarded. God declared in Jeremiah 23:29, “Is not My word like a fire?” says the LORD, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?”” Indeed, His word is like fire, but how you have received it is how it will work for you. He has put all in place to work for us but because of how we have replaced it or how we are replacing His word, the power in it cannot be activated. It is like a man carrying a loaded handgun and running away from an enemy with no weapon but only carrying noise making. How have you received the word of God? The word worked for Jeremiah after he allowed the word to burn in him. “Then I said, ‘I will not make mention of Him, Nor speak anymore in His name.’ But His word was in my heart like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, And I could not.10 For I heard many mocking: ’Fear on every side!’ ’Report,’ they say, ‘and we will report it!’ All my acquaintances watched for my stumbling, saying, ’Perhaps he can be induced; Then we will prevail against him, and we will take our revenge on him.’ 11 But the LORD is with me as a mighty, awesome One. Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and will not prevail. They will be greatly ashamed, for they will not prosper. Their everlasting confusion will never be forgotten.” (Jeremiah 20:9-11) The above passage documents how the word worked as a fire for Jeremiah in a challenging situation. The same word is working the same power today. With the fire nature of the word of God burning and alive inside a believer, all that takes a stand against such believer will stumble. The Word of God is God and God is His Word. This confirms the word of Hebrews 12:29, “For our God is a consuming fire.” Pray that the fire nature of His word will burn off all that does not represent Him in your life.

PLEASANT LIFE
Hebrews 11

When we please Him, we are bound to have a pleasant life. We are set for great exploits and we shall be operating Heaven on earth. How then do we please Him? Pleasing God is phasing out fear in every walk of life and not limiting God in every phase of life journey. Where fear operates, God is minimized and sinking is the evidence. With fear, God is denied His glory and the devil becomes elevated. Fear can operate loudly or silently; it can be regarded as the dangerous enemy of faith. By ignoring fear and holding on to faith, Abel did not fail and never doubted when he offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. Despite the fact of not knowing what harvest will later produce, he did not reduce in giving to God sacrificially. Noah decided not to give into fear when he received the instructions of deliverance. Noah acted by building an ark where it hardly rains in preparation against flood that was to overtake the world. Noah could have chosen to give in to doubt and not respond. Doubt cannot be separated from fear because doubt and fear are the part and parcel of each other. To exercise doubt is a demonstration of a silent fear. Hebrews 11:8-9, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.” The Bible declares that it was by faith and not by fear when Abraham obeyed God. The choice is either you move by faith or you are moved by fear and there is no neutrality or middle ground. Have you been stunk by lack of mobility in any area of life? As an acclaimed believer, it is time to let faith rise in you and have fear sink. Until then, your vehicle motion will remain stagnant. How do we please God? Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” You have come to God by His grace, but do you believe that He is the center of your life? To believe Him is to be living the word and that is behaving the word of God. To be living or behaving Him is in seeking Him from inside to outside and God will not fail in honoring His word. Seek Him diligently and He will evidently see you. Pleasing Him will make Him to always be with you. Think of it, He was with Abraham, Noah, Enoch and every other faith giant in the Bible. Above all, Jesus said, “And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” (John 8:29) Keep your eyes on Him and not on the fear-generating situations that you are temporarily in. The end result will testify that He was and He will always be with you.

NEGATIVE POSITION  
2 Samuel 17

Have mercy o Lord; deliver me from any form of disaster that is set against me. Have mercy in anyway that I have mistaken. Let all who are set to bring me down not have its way in Jesus name. Redirect my steps from every form of disaster into deliverance. O Lord let every good advice that has been released in my direction be activated for your name to be glorified. Also, the good advice that is on the way for me, O Lord let it have its way in my life. To miss a good advice is to be messed up and it can lead to permanent termination. Ahithophel, the Gilonite, was King David’s counselor before Absalom sent for him as a counselor. (2 Samuel 15:12) Ahithophel was described as one whose advice and counsel was like that of the ones who inquired from the oracle of God. 2 Samuel 16:23, “Now the advice of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if one had inquired at the oracle of God. So was all the advice of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.” This is a testimony that the man Ahithophel was operating a great gift of giving a precise and accurate advice as if it were coming directly from God. It was Ahithophel whom Absalom called on for advice at the peak of his rebellious attempt to knock his father David off the throne. As God will have it, Absalom refused to take to Ahithophel advice but called on Hushai the Archite. Absalom did not hesitate to disregard the advice of Ahithophel and took on Hushai because it is recorded in 2 Samuel 17:14, “So Absalom and all the men of Israel said, ‘The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than the advice of Ahithophel. For the LORD had purposed to defeat the good advice of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring disaster on Absalom.’” All things are open to God and nothing is closed that He does not have access to. He alone is God and forever He will be God. The Lord purposed to defeat the good advice that came in the direction of Absalom through Ahithophel. Absalom was moved to take onto an advice that was set for his destruction instead of the one that would have granted him the kind of result that he wanted. Absalom missed it because he was not directly in line with what God wanted for him and as a result, there was no good advice that could have bailed Absalom out of the way that seemed right to him. Are you in the way that seems right to you? Proverb 14:12, “There is a way that seems right to a man but its end is the way of death.”  It is worthy to look up to God and ask Him in prayer: Lord whatever I have done or that I am doing that will place me directly in a negative position to Your plans and purpose, have mercy and let me not be found in any position of negativity in Jesus name.

PASSING BY
Luke 10:29-37
 
As an acclaimed born-again Christ-like believer, is there anything besides going and coming to and from different fellowships, quoting the Word of God, and singing the songs as they are recorded in hymn books that you can account for as a Christ-like believer? Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, lived His entire journey on the face of earth as an example for us to learn and to emulate as a believing believer; not as unbelieving-believer. In His entire passing by, there was visitation onto every one that encountered Him. Jesus never passed by without looking and touching the lives of all who were on His way when passing by. Jesus, through His passing by, healed sickness and diseases; lame gained motion; paralysis gave way; sinners received salvation by His witnessing and blind received their sight. John 9:1-2, “Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’” In His passing by, He was able to reverse the irreversible. In your passing by, what have you done as a Christ-like believer? In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus pointed out to us the possibility of passing by on the other side. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, a priest and a Levite, which are in the category of Christ-like, were presented and can be likened to represent Christ-like believers. They were in position to present Christ in their way of living life, but they failed while a sinner like citizen of a sinful nation could not pass by without being compassionate. Luke 10:30-33, “…A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.” How often have you been passing by on the other side? Have you ever thought of a fall on the side where you are passing? The Christ that we claim to be like is the Compassionate One who will not passed to the other side without touching the current side. There is no excuse that counts; neither is there any excuse that is excuse-able before the Almighty God. It is worth it to call on God and ask Him for the grace of being compassionate enough not to pass to the other side without taking care of the current side. We can only deceive ourselves because God cannot be deceived. Let us run this race with a mark that glorifies our Lord and Savior. Look around! There is always a waiting list in our passing by.