Seven facts about your Shepherd
3. Your shepherd is your guide.
Somebody sought my advice on an issue within the week. I spoke with him few days later and he told me that he carried out my advice to the letter and as a result he made so much money. You can have the best guide but do you recognize him? Are you ready to be guided? You can have the best shepherd but are you ready to be led? It is to the extent you are ready and willing to be led that anyone can shepherd you. Everyone wants to be their own lord, yet, they are very quick to recite Psalm 23. One word that people hate most today is submission. It takes submission to be led. As many as are led by the Holy Spirit are the sons of God (Rom. 8:14). It is not an all comers affair and it is not automatic. It is becoming more and more difficult to be a true man of God; it is not an easy profession. And the problem is never with God but with man. There are people who have fallen into the deepest part of a ditch who don’t want to be helped because they are very comfortable with the stench and looking for how to pull their pastors there. One of the prayers I pray regularly is – Lord, do not allow me to pastor those you have not called me to lead. I have been in ministry for over two decades and I can say categorically that it is very difficult to lead people because you cannot violate the will of anyone. Parents will agree with me that it is not easy to raise godly children now. It is not a tea party. What your shepherd sees while sitting down, you cannot see even if you climb the tallest tree in the world.
4. Your shepherd is the one who gives direction.
This is the greatest need of leadership – go this way, don’t go this way, follow this path. Your shepherd knows the way, he knows the terrain. The Psalm goes on to say, ‘thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me’. If the rod and staff of your shepherd do not comfort you, he is not your shepherd at all. What does rod represent? The shepherd’s rod is the instrument of correction. Rebuke is part of love and it is part of the mandate of being a shepherd. “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him” (Prov. 22:15). The staff is a symbol of authority. The bible states “And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.” (Heb 5:4). The staff is your office. Pastor is not a title, pastor is an office. If you are a Pastor called and established in that office by God, you have a responsibility to fulfill it. It is not a small call. When I see people drop the highest call of God to pursue lower calls, I believe they are not called in the first instance. It is a demotion. Some people devalue the office of a pastor and mislead the flock. The greatest necessity of leadership is direction. Husband, where are you leading your family? You are the head. Whenever any of our young ladies who is about to get married comes to introduce her fiancé to me, I subject him to my hot seat where I ask very important questions. One of the questions I ask is – will you hold the hand of this precious sister and the children that the Lord will bless you, to make heaven at last? Any connection that is not leading you upwards is not leading you towards God. Husband is not a title, it is a ministry. There are two classes of leaders today – shepherd leaders and hunters. The carnal man is a hunter. When such people approach a sister in Church saying, “I love you”, what they actually mean is “I lust after you” and it will be stupid for any sister to fall for that. May the Lord deliver you from the hand of hunters in the mighty name of Jesus. Be careful who you follow.
Pray –
- I come against any destiny hunter released on my destiny path in the name of Jesus Christ. I raise the blood of Jesus against any destiny hunter on my destiny path, let that destiny hunter be completely exterminated in the name of Jesus Christ.
- I will walk in dominion and fulfill the purpose of God for your destiny in Jesus’ name.
TO BE CONTINUED…….