THE AMAZING TRANSFORMATION 3 By Aleele Paago

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Ps23: 3a

You become what you are yoked to. It is a fundamental biblical principle. You achieve the same results as the one to whom you are yoked. If you are yoked to healing minister, you become a healing minister. If you are yoked to a kingdom financier, you become a kingdom financier. That is pretty obvious.

 

Why does the Shepherd yoke his sheep in this Psalm? He wants the sheep to attain the same results as the shepherd. He wants the sheep to become the shepherd. He wants to transfer his attributes and this can only be done through a yoke and a taskmaster.

 

The story is told of  young lawyer who was struggling in his practice. He had no clients and was on the verge of closing down. He decided to meet his father’s friend (his mentor) for advice before quitting the practice. It happened that this family friend was a retired Chief Justice (CJ) of the country. He was given an appointment for a Monday evening. On the day of the appointment, the young lawyer came in rather early and the retired CJ was just about going out for a walk. He asked the young man to join him. As they walked round the neighbourhood, they talked about every other thing but what mattered most to the struggling lawyer – his failing business. Eventually the retired CJ asked him to come back in a week’s time and they will discuss that issue.

 

The following week, a perplexed young man stood before the retired Chief Justice and demanded to know what he had done to him or if he spoke to anyone. The elderly man said he never spoke to anyone. “Then how come my business became transformed overnight in just one week? I have more clients that I can even handle.” 

 

The judge smiled. “That evening when I took you round the neighbourhood, I rubbed my influence on you and people began to see you as they see me. They believe what I can do, you can do.”

That is the power of the yoke worn with the right person on the right path. The struggling lawyer was transformed into a success because he took a walk with the right person. No wonder Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matt 11:29,30 (KJV)

 

Lord, I know you said your burden is light, but it is still a burden for me. Please help me bear mine and achieve the same results as you. Amen.

© THE LAMB OF GOD

DeepWords Devotional

THE AMAZING TRANSFORMATION 2 By Aleele Paago

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Ps23: 3a

 

We have seen that the word translated “leadeth” here means transporting into exile as a colonist or “to govern.” It means the sheep is constrained against its will and desire into a place that is not its natural place. The sheep may eventually come to love this new place, but the tendency is to run away if it is freed. Colonists use taskmasters with a particular mindset or given a particular mandate to achieve a particular result in their subjects.

 

Example:  In Egypt, the taskmasters wanted to build inferiority complex and a slave mentality into the Israelites so they were treated in a particular way. This method was so effective that even when the Israelites left Egypt, that mentality remained in them for many generations.

 

Now who are the taskmasters that the Shepherd uses to constrain the sheep into the path of righteousness? It is mentioned explicitly in the bible:

I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness. Isa 60:17

 

The ISV says, ‘I will appoint peace as your supervisor and righteousness as your taskmaster.” The taskmaster assigns the burden you carry. The taskmaster of righteousness gives you a burden of righteousness. A desire to walk the right path, do the right things, say the right words. It is a burden. It does not come from you, but it is assigned to you. You don’t feel comfortable with it, but you are compelled to do it. And you feel a relief of peace when you obey the burden. The supervisor is superior to the taskmaster. So the supervisor here is peace. Even your hard tasks are subjected to the peace of God. The demands of righteousness comes with the peace of righteousness.

 

Notice what happens in this verse under the influence of the taskmaster and the supervisor. The word “bo” translated as “bring” in Isaiah 60:17 also means “to attain to” which implies a change of status. So Bronze attains to Gold, iron becomes silver, wood becomes bronze (which becomes gold) and stones become iron (which becomes silver).

 

Wood, iron, bronze and stone were used for labour and instruments of war. Gold and silver were used as measure of wealth.  Your battles and labours will be turned to unspeakable wealth under the transformational power of the taskmaster of righteousness. 

In modern day Christianity we have assigned a negative meaning to the word “yoke”.  But a yoke in itself is not bad. It is the instrument of productivity. It is what you are yoked to that is the problem. You attain the same results as the object to which you are yoked. We will consider the yoke of righteousness and its fruit of transformation tomorrow.

 

And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.Isa 32:17 (KJV)

 I wish you righteousness today.

©THE LAMB OF GOD
DEEPWORDS DEVOTIONAL

THE AMAZING TRANSFORMATION By Aleele Paago

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

And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith Phil 3:9

If the shepherd wants the sheep to be like him, how does he plan to achieve such an impossible task? From a sheep’s point of view, to be like the shepherd, it will have to walk on two legs. That is against its nature. It will have to stop eating green grass in the wild. That too will be against its nature. The sheep may try for a moment or a day, but eventually its nature will compel it to go back to its usual ways. At such times the sheep will conclude that it is impossible to be like the shepherd.

But this sheep is missing something. The sheep has no capacity within itself to change itself. Take the issue of feeding for instance. If the sheep wants to eat like a man, will the sheep go into the kitchen and prepare rice and stew? It is beyond its ability. The shepherd will have to bring the cooked food for the sheep to eat. God will have to do certain things for us if we ever have to  be like him. There is a limit to what we can do for ourselves.

Righteousness and Holiness are natures of God that the shepherd wants us to attain and live out. Yet by our attempts we fail woefully. Paul says he does not want to have that kind of righteousness that looks like a sheep walking on two legs because it wants to walk like a man. Rather he wants to have that righteousness that is conferred by the Shepherd. If the Shepherd carries a lamb and walks with it, invariably, that lamb is walking like a man! Phil 3:9

Lord,  I don’t know how you do it but please take away my righteousness and give me yours.  Amen

THE LAMB OF GOD
DEEPWORDS DEVOTIONAL

THE SHEPHERD IS LOVE, THE SHEEP IS LOVER By Aleele Paago

One outstanding nature of God that we cannot dispute is this one boldly stated in 1 John4:7-8

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; FOR GOD IS LOVE.

 

Go underline those three words in your bible – GOD IS LOVE. The entirety of God is love. The essence of God is love. The definition of God is love. Love is all the shepherd is. Love is all the Shepherd does. Love is how the shepherd sustains the sheep. Love, love, love.

 

We all may not glow like Moses or Stephen. We all may not enjoy angelic transportation like Phillip or Ezekiel. But we are all called to become lovers. There is no living human being that does not have the capacity to love. It is just what you love that may be different. But we all have that God-capacity. We can all be like the shepherd in this one respect. And believe me, if this is the only God-quality that you can develop in all your years in the path of righteousness, then you have gotten all there is of God. You have come to the peak of the experience of godhood that a sheep may experience.

 

Love is the Christian’s defense. Love is the Christian’s greatest weapon. The whole commandment boils down to this one word: LOVE…Love one another. Love God.

 

Why then do we find it so difficult to love? It is against the nature of the sheep to love what the shepherd loves. The sheep loves raw grass, the shepherd wants it cooked! The sheep loves to be wild, the shepherd loves to be orderly. The challenge is not the lack of love, but the object of the love. That is why we are placed in this path of righteousness. Because it is through His righteousness that we begin to love the same objects. We will see how this transformation takes place tomorrow. It is breathtakingly amazing.

Daddy – make me a lover like you. Amen.

© THE LAMB OF GOD

DeepWords Devotional

LIKE SHEPHERD, LIKE SHEEP By Aleele Paago

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

How can the sheep be like the shepherd? How can man take on the qualities of God?

 

One of the most defining natures of God is Light. He dwells in inapproachable light. Ps 104:2 says God covers himself in a garment of light. Verse 4 says, he makes his ministers (the sheep) a flaming fire. You will be tempted to think that God is speaking poetically and these things are for the spiritual realm. But Moses glowed with such light that he had to cover his face. In Revelation 1, John described the glory of the enthroned Jesus and he said, “his countenance was as the sun shinneth in his strength.” Rev 1:16. That is the Shepherd. Acts 6:15 says Stephen’s face became as bright as an angel’s. The earthly sheep was emitting light like an angel. He was standing in the path of righteousness.

 

How does God transport himself? Ps 104 says he takes the winds as chariots. Maybe that was poetic. But Elijah rode in a chariot of fire and people saw it. Most times God and angels (spirit sheep) do not travel with the chariot of fire. They cover vast distances in fractions of a second. It will be safe to say that they travel at the speed of light or even faster. Elijah experienced it when he ran ahead of the King’s horses. Ezekiel too experienced it. God transported him severally to preach to the captives in Babylon. These are not Old Testament theories. Phillip in Acts 8 met an African Eunuch, preached to him and got the man baptized. The moment he stepped out of the water, he disappeared and reappeared in another town Azotus. That is sheep becoming like shepherd.

 

God wants us to partake of His divine nature. One nature of our shepherd that is intriguing is that the Lamb of God is also the Lion of Judah and he expects his sheep to act like cubs! But that is still way ahead in this awesome Psalm.

Lord, I am just a sheep, but help me be more like the shepherd.

 

© THE LAMB OF GOD

DEEPWORDS DEVOTIONAL

DIVINE HUMANITY By Aleele Paago

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

Please permit me to talk like a sheep  trying to figure out what the shepherd looks like. We have established in our study that a primary reason the sheep is constrained to the path of righteousness is so that it can begin to acquire the nature of the Shepherd. This concept of transforming a four-legged creature that is considered one of the most vulnerable and dumbest species into the powerful thinker-strategist-inventor called the shepherd is one that God intends for every believer to study, understand and practice. That is the only reason it is placed in the open in this most popular Psalm.

Can a sheep attain the nature of the shepherd? Against all odds, the answer is a resounding yes.

As impossible as it sounds, man can attain the nature of God. In fact the bible in many places encourage us, even demand it of us to take on the nature of God. (Lev 11:44; 1Pet 1:15,16; Heb 12:14 etc).

We need to start by considering this passage:

2Pe 1:3-4  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things thatpertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye MIGHT BE PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

C. S. Lewis understood this concept and expressed it compellingly in “Mere Christianity:”

The command “Be ye perfect” is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were “gods” and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him—for we can prevent Him, if we choose—He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, dazzling, radiant, immortal creatures, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to Him perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful; but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what he said. (Macmillan, 1952, p. 174)

What is the divine nature? Or what is the nature of God? The scripture gives us a mosaic of the nature of God from which we can build a picture good enough for the lamb. But from the onset, let it be clear that God’s nature cannot be defined, for to fully define it, means to fully comprehend God. We will therefore restrain ourselves to the things that are revealed but no question will be off limit. At worst, we will admit that we don’t have the answer but asking is a necessary first step.

God’s nature is revealed in his creative work, his acts of providence and redemption. God is holy. He is righteous, he is infallible, He is all-knowing, all powerful and omnipresent. God is immutable (never changing), invisible, and eternal (ever living and incapable of dying). God is a spirit. You will be surprised if you ever do the study, that God shares these qualities to us according to the measure of our faith. We will consider a few examples tomorrow.

 

©THE LAMB OF GOD
DEEPWORDS DEVOTIONAL

DIFFERENT PATHS FOR DIFFERENT LAMBS By Aleele Paago

In the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Did you notice that it mentioned PATHS and not a path? God does not put us all through the same training. On the straight and narrow way, there are different paths. Some paths are more strenuous than others. Some paths are more famous than others. Some paths are for people that will stay in the limelight and there are paths for people who will support them without anyone ever getting to find out.

Some preachers are called to be poor, others are called to prosperity all of them for the sake of God’s name. Some churches are called to evangelism, others are called to training, yet others are empowered to raise political leaders – all for God’s sake.

We miss it when we begin to compare ourselves and begin to judge and devour each other. Even dogs don’t eat dogs, so where do sheep learn that habit from? Certainly not from our Shepherd. Because he boldly declared:

I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.  AND OTHER SHEEP I HAVE, WHICH ARE NOT OF THIS FOLD: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. John 10:14-16.
Lord I repent from the sin of devouring sheep that is not in my fold.
Help me live in love with my fellow Christians in Jesus name. Amen

THE LAMB OF GOD
DeepWords Devotional

THE LAMB ON EXILE By Aleele Paago

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Ps 23:3b

The Hebrew word translated ‘leadeth’ here is very different from that used in verse 2 where the leading is beside still waters. “Nachah” means to transport into exile or as colonists. It also means to govern, straiten or guide.

This lamb will not live in the quiet pastures or gentle streams forever. When it has grown enough and gathered some experience, the Shepherd begins to lead him away from the state of absolute indulgence to a place of responsibility.

The path is  called the path of righteousness. It is against the nature of the lamb to stay on this path. It is against our nature to attain the righteousness of God. But for God’s sake (not yours or mine) he constrains us in this path, for this is the only path that leads to our true destination, our highest aspiration.

Here David uses a very powerful metaphor that is alien to the sheep. When people are led into exile they are bound with chains either on their necks or legs to each other, the leader often in front. A dog may be bound in a chain and it remains comfortable, not a sheep.

But when you embark on the awesome journey as the lamb of God, you must at some point be bound to more experienced sheep and kept on the path of righteousness no matter how painful the experience may be to you.

Father bind me to the sheep that is going in my direction and never leave me to myself.  Amen.
© THE LAMB OF GOD
DeepWords Devotional

IN THE PATHS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS By Aleele Paago

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name sake.  Ps 23:3b

There are different paths (highways) mentioned in the bible. Here the focus is the Path of Righteousness. Why the path of righteousness? The simple answer is that God wants to teach the lamb to be righteous. But it goes a lot deeper than that simple answer. First, righteousness is a nature of God. and man must strive to become like God. It is as hard as a sheep striving to be like a man. Now we know that the sheep cannot change its shape, it cannot change its diet, it cannot change some of its basic habits, so how can the sheep be like the shepherd? How can man be like God?

There is only one possible way the sheep can be like man it can be trained to think like a man. God is here placing the symbols before us, We can think like God. This is the fundamental challenge man has. It is the challenge the sheep has.  This is why God (the shepherd) took us to the pool.

Isa 55:8-9  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

The gap in our thinking and that of God is clearly replicated in that between a man and a sheep. Yet the most important way the sheep can be like the shepherd is simply in thinking. Religion has taught us that we cannot be like God, even though the entire bible says contrary to this. I have even been taught that you cannot know the mind of God, so why was the bible written? Why do we have the gift of revelations  and prophecy? Is it not to reveal the mind of God? Friend, the sheep may think it impossible but the shepherd knows it can be trained to think the way the shepherd is thinking. That is why the shepherd brings the sheep to the path of righteousness. It is the place of training.

Lord help me to think like you do. Create your thoughts in mine every day in Jesus name. Amen

©THE LAMB OF GOD
DEEPWORDS DEVOTIONAL

A RESTORED LAMB By Aleele Paago

He restoreth my soul…

The highest meaning of this phrase comes from the comparison of the Word of God with the Water of this psalm. There are times when the picture you have seen in the word becomes broken. There are times when the reflection is thwarted and distorted because of the ripples or waves around you. At those moments you need the images to be restored. You need the picture to be shown to you again. Even John the Baptist, the greatest person ever born of a woman, got to that point where he needed to look into the word again to be sure of his own prophecy. You will get to that point in your life and that is what David is referring to here.

God will restore the picture and the image of your soul just as He desired it. But still it gets better.

Jacob was faced with a very challenging career in Laban’s house. His wages were always reviewed downwards. Until one day, God took Jacob to the waters and restored his soul. That day God told him, “look you were not created to be a slave, you are a king. I am only blessing Laban because you are here. Stop thinking as a servant. Offer your services as a consultant or a partner otherwise only a trickle of the blessing that I am directing towards you will get to you.”

That evening Jacob sat Laban down and told him never to pay a dime again, rather he will take care of the animals and any one that is born with a spot shall become his payment. Laban knew the genetic constitution of his animals. He knew that it was a rare chance to have the animals having spots. They were either all black or all white or brown. He agreed. In his mind Jacob had just nailed his own coffin.

But during the breeding season, Jacob took the animals to the WATERS – and as they looked into the mirror of the Word of God, they were compelled to restore to Jacob what the world has stolen from him. They gave birth to animals with spots! It happened because the restoration took place when the animals drank the waters and beheld the picture as shown to them by Jacob.

You deserve that kind of restoration today! I decree that your dreams, the fruit of your labour and  tears be restored a thousand folds this year in Jesus name. Amen.

©THE LAMB OF GOD
DEEPWORDS DEVOTIONAL