The Lord is My Shepherd (Psalm 23) Pt. 1

Time With The Evangelist

Have a Shepherd

David was a shepherd and could understand the role of a shepherd in the life of sheep, thus he best explains the concept of shepherding far beyond anyone else.

Jesus is the chief Shepherd and the pastors are the under shepherds that He has appointed.

You need both an under shepherd and a shepherd

Once you are a shepherd, you must also be shepherded by an under shepherd above you. Above all there is Jesus Christ who is the chief Shepherd. Do not trivialize this because it is a very important key.

In as much as you have a personal doctor, or a family lawyer, or personal mechanic, or preferred family school, please keep in mind that you need a shepherd in your life; under shepherd.

Jeremiah 33:15

15 In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.

God wants to give you a shepherd or pastor that you are accountable to and you can call your pastor.

Psalm 23

Psalm 23:1

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

This in other words means that i shall not lack

Having made the Lord his shepherd, David understood that if a man like he was could take good care of his sheep, how much more the God of heaven, He would take better care of him.This gave him full assurance for him to be able to declare that “I shall not want, because He is my shepherd.

You shall not want! Sometimes we get confused about needs and wants:

If a person has two cars at his disposal and wants an extra for luxury sake, that is not a need. That is just merely a want, so the person at that time is not in a place of lack.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: (Psalm 23:2)

The reason why you will not want is that, He will make you to lie down in green pastures. It is God who will make you lie down, and not in the desert or in poverty but in prosperity.

May God cause you to lie down in green pastures in Jesus Name.

To “make you…” means that when God is your shepherd, He imposes it on you.

Make no mistake, this does not refer to only material things, but every thing about you including your peace, healing and joy. There are many people on earth who may have money, cars or houses and yet have no peace or joy in their lives. However when God is your shepherd, He imposes joy and genuine happiness on you.

Many years ago in college, my friends used to call me “Happy Christian”. They marveled about the fact that I was always happy. This is because I allowed The Lord to be my shepherd many years ago.

The Lord, the good shepherd,

knows you must graze

knows where you must feed

knows where you must prosper

many a time we search and search and try to find our own ways of succeeding and yet we keep failing and wasting away time, ending up in all manner of frustrations. I declare to you that the days of struggle and toil are over because today the Lord has become your shepherd.

Dear reader I speak into your life that, you will prosper, you will make it, you abound in good things without having to apologize for it because it is The Lord making you.

If God has blessed you relatively compared to others, do not be guilty about it, but rather acknowledge that it is not by your strength, wisdom or knowledge but it is the Lord, God almighty who has caused you to lie down in green pastures.

You must serve God with your wealth and your resources; you must acknowledge by your service that if it was not for The Lord, you will not have come this far.

It is wonderful to see blessed and wealthy people serving in God in the church wholeheartedly in acknowledgement of God’s goodness upon their lives.

Luke 12:20

20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

I pray this day that special grace and unction come upon you that whatsoever you do propser.

he leadeth me beside the still waters.

(Psalm 23:2)

Why the still waters?

No normal sheep will ever go near troubled waters. Whenever sheep come near a water body, if they hear the least disturbance, they stay back; this is because they so not know that is beneath the surface. It could be a snake or a crocodile or something else which is dangerous. Nobody wants to go near troubled water.

Still waters means that God is going to lead you through trouble-free relationships. Whether marital, business, church, school or family relationship, God will never lead your through troubled waters. This is why the church must always be still.

It is not good for there to be trouble in the church. Refrain from infighting, backbiting, backstabbing, undermining, undercutting and all forms of malice that causes distort and troubled in relationships.

Psalm 23:3

3 He restoreth my soul:

You may have lost something precious or valuable; maybe you lost your relationship with God. After giving you greener pastures and still waters, He also restores your soul.

Mark 8:36

36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

Today God is ready to restore your soul no matter what you have done or been through:

if you offended your fellow man

if you lied

if you cheated

if you were unfaithful

if you murdered

if you consulted other gods

if you worshipped idols

if you broke people’s hearts

if you stole

if you committed adultery

if you committed abortions

God will cleanse you from every unrighteousness and restore your soul; all you have to do is acknowledge Jesus as your personal savior.

Assuming that a house got burnt into ashes and the insurance company came and said, we are going to resort the house, what it means is that, the house would be brought back to the state in which it was before getting destroyed.

Joel 2:25

25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the canker worm, and the caterpiller, and the palmer worm, my great army which I sent among you.

Restoration means to bring back an entity to it’s previous state.

Psalm 23:3b

3 he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

God restores you not because of your family name’s sake but because He has placed His name on you.

Joel 2:17

17 Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?

Why should people point their fingers at you and say, “you claim to be a Christian, but where is your God”.

God says that henceforth, He will lead you for His names’s sake onto the path of righteousness. This time around it is not just about you, but about God’s name and He will not allow His name to be dragged into the gutters and.

Wherever you fell, rise up and be restored. Rise up and go back to your father, it is never too late because like the prodigal son, the father is waiting for you to come back.