He leads me beside still waters..

IN AN ENDLESS TRADITION OF GOD'S WORD AND THE MIRACULOUS!!!

I was by the ocean once.
I feared it once. I still do.
I could hear its distant sound as we drove miles away towards its bed.
It had its voice. It refused not to be heard. Its language, no matter how vague it was, commanded the arrest of all creatures. If I were so bold enough to put words to its eloquence I’d say, “Hear me- a defiant of all boundaries; a crash of mighty thunders. Indeed I, must be heard.”

18 yrs later. Fully grown and masked with unequalled depth, God leads me back to my fear. The torture of my soul. The echo that chills my bones.
He laid me down in green pastures once. It was time to walk the waters.
Peter had the courage to take a few steps on the tremulous sea. Yet, my soul, how decadent it is, drowned in the sands.

GO.

It was a command. My sufficiency-the precious Holy Spirit of grace-ushered on.
I could have sworn I saw, in the distance, the Leviathan rise and submerge.
Sea creatures crawled out in flight of such terror.

“Why must I go?” My soul asked God.

LOOK UNTO ME.
‘TIS BURDEN MANKIND MUST TOW.
HENCE, ALL FEARS FLEE.
‘TIS PATH MANKIND MUST TROW.

I heard Peter cheer in a cloud of witnesses, “Go. Son. Go. Let not my letdown be yours to know.” I had journeyed with two pairs of footprints. Without looking down, I knew there was only a pair as I walked on.

Eyes steady…Faith ready...
From sunrise… To sunset…

The only hold the great waters had on me was a soothing caress of my worn-out feet.
The same waters, of which the skilled of sailors melt at its fierceness, became still.

My problems’ bigness decreased; so did I.
My Christ’s vision increased as my praise went high.
Temples relaxed; shoulders collapsed. Man proposed it falters;
God disposed as he led me beside still waters!

The prisoner of Christ!

HE MAKES ME LIE DOWN IN GREEN PASTURES

IN AN ENDLESS TRADITION OF GOD'S WORD AND THE MIRACULOUS!!!

It was one of those nights that claimed its displays of both good and evil. A tired soul walked past a couple of guys perpetrating atrocities under a tree on his way to the tennis court. His destination was saturated with an atmosphere filled with cries of fellow crusaders. Every night he would come, like a sheep in obeisance to his shepherd, for the nourishment derived from green pastures. Once he crosses the dangerous bushes, his heart would find such soothe as his feet felt the coolness of graveled grounds.
Samuel would walk the first two courts before stopping at the third. He would lie down on the gravels and use his slippers as pillows. Many crusaders would walk by, pause for a second and stir at the absurdity of this fellow countryman before walking away with a disapproving nod.

After a while of intense prayers, the Shepherd came to visit along the courts' garden. The first stop He made was by a young crusader who had rested on the wall in slight slumber.
“Dear sheep of mine,” said the Shepherd, “where would you seek to lay down?”
The young crusader stirred and replied, “Master, set my feet on easy grounds were solace is not what is sought for but wherein lies in excess; where I no longer twist and turn in the beds of life seeking comfort where there is none.”
“Son,” replied the Shepherd, “why haven’t you asked me for the very thing that provides sustenance to your weary soul? Why doesn’t your spirit thirst for the soothing waters that streams from wellsprings of life? Why doesn’t your existence hunger for the feeds that give strength to the many sheep? Wait a while here. Let me ask your brother and find out his desired pasture.”
The Shepherd moved closer towards the tired soul that found rest on prickly grounds.
“Dear child, why have you found peace on such bristly surfaces when your brother rests his back on Jericho walls?”
Samuel, the tired soul, stirred from his slumber. “I have sought solace before in places of human rest and found my soul robbed of calm; I have once rested on the Jericho walls, in pride and wealth, but have suffered a lasting wound as the wall came crushing down my back. My feed is to eat from the bare shrubs that scantily grow on the dry earth and I have now found solace in the prickly grounds of life’s persecution, derision and scorn. Master, I beseech thee, let me dwell in the sanctity of thy Truth for therein lays liberty.”

The Shepherd called the young crusader and declared: “You have asked me for easy grounds. Well, here they are. Lie beside your brother and learn;

You asked for beds of rest. Well, don’t look far. Lie beside your brother and yearn.”
He then turned to Samuel and said, “Come my child. You now fully understand what it means to abide and be faithful in all things. Come. Lie down in green pastures, for the grounds you stand up from is now your former pastures. I have lain with you, the whole time, and will always be with you.”

Samuel looked up as the young crusader joined him on the floor. He looked unto his master and said: “Master, I beseech thee, let me stay with my brother, for surely we travel the same course and therefore will lay in green pastures together. I have come to realize that your never-ending provisions abound even on prickly grounds. Pls hear my request and grant the desires of thy servant's heart.”
The Shepherd looked at him proud to have a sheep like this in His camp. “Then I shall watch over you as always in case the enemy tries to rob you of your joy for I am the Lord who watches, the Lord who saves.”

“…for I have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content.” – Phil 4:11b
No matter what I go through, my heart still speaks that God's grace affords providence in all things. Whatever situation I find myself, I regard all as my green pastures
… He makes me lie down in green pastures.

The prisoner of Christ

...I SHALL NOT WANT

IN AN ENDLESS TRADITION OF GOD'S WORD AND THE MIRACULOUS!!!

I was privileged to know my father before he was pruned from this world. My lovely sisters would be sent by we miscreants (my brothers and I) in request for a favor. This request ranged from going out to rent a movie or play games to visiting the country club where we, as kids, had so much fun. Irrespective of the number of times we'd had more success than failures at this, our hearts raced with either the same or a greater anxiety as we waited in anticipation for our sisters to return with the verdict. I remembered the last time the room to my father's door slid open and my sisters came out with a gleeful face. "Dad said we should all dress up cos we leave at five."

It felt great to have a father who was always there for us.

It felt great to have sisters who advocated and stood in the gap for us.

It felt great to have a family who stood as the Great Wall for us to relax our backs on, anytime we wanted.

Food was always on the table; clothes, on our backs; tuition was always paid, and life felt so good.

I SHALL NOT WANT!

The fact that my father was always there to provide for us made me feel like, for the rest of my life, my lot would be laid with beds of roses. The presence of his love convinced me that in the toughest of times, I would have someone to count on at all times. My father's nightly inspection of his kids while we slept stirred me into deeper slumber all the time.

I SHALL NOT WANT!

A powerful observation was that sometimes my father denied me of my demands from time to time but I knew I was denied for my good, and my good only. He never gave me a stone in exchange for food. He never gave me a rebuke in exchange for encouragement. He never spared the rod in exchange for abuse.

...Because he was my father I never lacked what I needed.

Nature has granted me the right to infer that if my earthly father cared this much, and if the Lord is indeed my Shepherd, then I can say I Shall Not Want.

"If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you." -Jn15:7

I SHALL NOT WANT!

As kids, we needed to send someone to go for us and advocate for us; so also, His "Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be uttered..."

As we got our desires met just because of our earthly father's presence so also our needs are met when we ask the Lord.

The true test to verify my sonship to my earthly father is a positive paternal test.

The true test to verify my sonship to my Heavenly father is the Word that abides in me!

I don't receive everything I ask for from my earthy father. Why? He knows when to deny and when to provide. Simple.

I don't receive everything from the Almighty God. Why? He knows me more than I know my self and sometimes "I ask amiss to consume it upon my lust."-James 4:3.

...

Five minutes later. Fully dressed and ready to go out. My father came out of his room. "Come on kids. Its time to go."

THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD; I SHALL NOT WANT...

The prisoner of Christ

THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD

IN AN ENDLESS TRADITION OF GOD'S WORD AND THE MIRACULOUS!!!

I thought of how best to dignify the Lord with one of the rarest, most beautiful, artistic write-up about His shepherdry (if there is such a word), but the Holy Spirit hit me with a bombshell: no human vocabulary can ever qualify the selfless sacrifice; the loving grace; the encompassing shadow of His watch as the Lord of our lives. My intent is to try and delve deep into the unrevealed mystery of Psalm 23 and try to feast upon the deciphered keys of Christ – our Lord and our Shepherd.

The Lord is my Shepherd!
Eternity is quite challenged by my loss of counts of the times I’ve read this particular Psalm without stopping for a second to ponder on its treasury or be engulfed by its richness of Truth.

The Lord is my Shepherd!
I remember, not too long ago, when I would see, from time to time, nomads who would travel far and wide to find enough feeds for their cattle and sheep. From a distance, it seemed their lives were totally dependent on the welfare of their herds. When night would come they would build hatches and watch the herds with their lives. If there be, by any chance, a predator in search of fresh meat, it would have to go through these nomads who equate the lives of their animals with the cost of theirs.

The Lord is my Shepherd!
It’s quite remarkable how such a simple story could hold such great ounces of foolishness that defies the mightiest of worldly wisdoms. There hasn’t been any well-written story by the profoundest of script writers that has such resounding wellsprings of life like the story above: an unknown African nomad who watches his sheep with his life.

The Lord is my Shepherd!
Now I know what stirred the mind of David when, by the inspiration of the Spirit, penned down these great words: The Lord is my Shepherd. Why wouldn’t he when it was The Lord who saved him from the mouth of the bear in the fields; why wouldn’t he when it was the Lord who provoked him to pursue the beast that took his sheep from its shelter.

The Lord is my Shepherd!
There are no complexities in this! Dwell on its simplicity. Christ will watch over you. Why? He is your Lord. It comes natural for the Spirit to guide and love you. Why? He is your Shepherd.
I sleep with such sweet release! I slumber at His watch! My heart rests because I know, without a doubt, the Lord watches; the Lord saves!

The Lord is my Shepherd!!!

Selah

The Prisoner of Christ