Psalm 23, the good sheperd. Verse 2 and 3

Continued from yesterday on the famous David Psalm. Verse 2, He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me by still waters.


When I think of green pastures and still waters, it really is an image of peace and serenity. A place of comfort and a place which is safe from danger.
Clearly, a sheep being a sheep is often susceptible to being lost, led astray or even vulnerable to danger.

Much like us in society or in the world today. We the sheep are also easily lost when we do not follow the sheperd.

The way I saw this verse is that, there's the blessing of peace and security when we allow the sheperd, Jesus Christ to lead us in our daily walk with Him.

Similarly, Verse 3 He restores my soul and He guides me in the path of righteousness for His name's sake.

The first part of Verse 3 is very relevant in our lives. Ever felt like you had 10 things on your to-do-list, 10 things to do when you get home, or 10 things to do about your career, 10 things I need to do to prepare for this examination, 10 things to do for church, 10 songs to prepare for cell group or worship.
How about 10 minutes to spend praying and meditating on God's word?
I personally experience peace restored to me when I begin to shut out these worries.
I begin to feel empowered, that God is control of my life and not me.

The other part of the verse reminds me of Ezekial 36.
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

I dont want to expound on ezekial 36 now or else i'll never end. My point is the 2 similarities He guides me in the path of righteousness.
Eze 27: I WILL put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees.

Then it occured to me why people often struggle and lament that Christianity is a rule book and a control mechanism to keep our life under control.
But notice that God says I WILL, and the good sheperd, HE GUIDES. When we follow the good sheperd, I believe firmly that God guides and helps us to keep or follow his decrees. This cannot be done by man alone.
However, with God's spirit empowering us as we follow Him, the promise is he will move us to follow his decrees and keep his laws.

Again, its great to know that we are never alone when we try to follow in the footsteps of our sheperd because God promises that he will help us and lead us each step of the way.

Psalm 23, the good sheperd.

Just a sharing of my devotion which I posted on my personal blog. Thought it would be good to share.

Ok, I'm going to try to write psalm 23 based on my memory on the train.

Let's go.



Psalm 23
1 The Lord is my Sheperd, I shall not want.

2. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me by still waters.

3. He restores my soul and He guides me in the path of righteousness for His name's sake.

4. Even Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, For YOU are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

5. You prepare a table before me, in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.

6. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.

Hey I think I did a pretty good job here right? (Applause) haha Ok here we go.

This psalm of David speaks so much of the Lord and How much He means to me.
Its a beautiful representation of The sheperd who watches over his sheep.

Sheep are pretty helpless and always in danger of being attacked by predators, disease etc.

Verse 1 is amazing. The Lord is my sheperd, I shall not want. It tells us, we don't need anything apart from the Lord.
This made me think of 2 other verses in the bible where Jesus was in the desert for 40 days. Man does not live by bread alone but by the word of God.
Also, when Joseph was a slave. He had nothing but yet the word says he was successful in all that he did and the Lord was WITH him.
I think its really hard to apply what it means to live by faith but this is christianity. The journey of faith makes it so exciting and so amazing.

When AE told me that she had the best sales in december. We were left scratching our heads. How can that be, with all the christmas preparations, her Grandfather's funeral etc. We realised, When we follow the sheperd, we do not need anything. Seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and ALL these will be added to us. Similarly, verse 6, Surely GOODNESS and LOVE will FOLLOW you. Where we follow the sheperd our Lord Jesus Christ. GOODNESS and LOVE will follow us. We do not need to chase these things. They come looking for us.

I think I'll talk about verse 2 tomorrow as there's like so much to talk about and followed by the reading on the book of Joshua. Another amazing journey of faith and conquest which comes perfectly as a devotion to preparing to start alpha.

Logan makes a call to his local christian radio station

(A FrankLozano.com Production) Little did I know when I was given the audio to this phone call that it would become SO HUGE. When I produced this video, I knew it was special to ME, but never would I have guessed when typing the text and editing the music that it would literally touch MILLIONS. I am proud to have put this video together for the world to see and hear. We have had a lot of requests to replay the phone call that Pastor Mike shared during our church service on Sunday, Nov. 11th, 2007. Here you'll find the video clip that I created just for you. After our church service I placed the video on YouTube so that you can watch it and share with family and friends.Logan is a 13 year-old boy who lives on a ranch in a very small town in Nebraska. Logan listens to Christian Radio station 89.3FM KSBJ which broadcasts from Houston, TX. Logan called the radio station distraught because he had to take down a calf . His words have wisdom beyond his years.Since airing the audio of the phone call and now the making of the video clip, it has taken on a life of its own. People are forwarding it all over the world. We encourage you to share the love of Christ with anyone you can.(**Sky Angel is a family safe broadcasting service that is offered on satellite. KSBJ is a local Houston Christian music radio station. Video clip produced with love by me, www.FrankLozano.com Hear the entire message at www.ValenciaHills.com)

sermon on the com

I think I type better, faster and at least it flows with my thoughts. So there are a few stuff that stand out to me from this passage — John 2:12-25

First one is that it seems that Jesus lost self-control? So it’s probably possible to be consumed but in control of one’s emotions. But Jesus was ruled neither by mind, by body or by His soul. He was ruled by His spirit that was in high frequency with God. So even though his emotions were consumed by zeal he was still under control because he ruled his actions with his spirit - not sure if you know what i mean. (It's quite amazing how God reveals stuff through the Holy Spirit. I mean just a minute ago I had no answer to the question about being consumed & having self-control and now there's an explaination. )

The second thing that struck me was that in John, he actually points out which the phrases or things that Jesus said that the disciples later remembered and then believed because what Jesus said comes to pass. This shows that we need to be listening to Jesus even though we have the scriptures. The word of God is good, it is God’s gift to us but it should not be an end in itself. We should be listening to what Jesus says. That was how the disciples confirmed the scriptures because they remembered what Jesus had said. It’s like you read a person’s letters but you never talk to the person – that’s retarded, not a relationship & hard to believe.

The third thing that stood out from this short passage was a weird one. One where Jesus didn’t want to enstrust Himself to a group of people who put their faith in Him because Jesus knew their hearts and knew that they put their faith in Him only because they saw the miracles. Weird…interesting…It’s interesting in two parts that one, Jesus actually likes to make sure that we trust Him because of Him. You know, like how a boy likes to make sure that a girl loves him for him and not for the gifts that he gives her especially if he’s like Dao Ming Si or something. Secondly, it’s another weird and new fact that Jesus entrusts Himself to us!? Wow, you mean Jesus entrusts me? Or would consider that? So am I entrusted by God? And what is it that God wanted to entrust to the people? To do the will of the Father like His disciples? I probably think so…Maybe that’s why some churches has so many people coming in to receive Christ because Jesus knows that if He leads them to this church or this person that new believer will be taken care of properly. Am I entrustable? Is the church entrustable?

Yikes, from this passage it’s like a mini sermon. Thanks God, I learnt ALOT today. Hope you will too ;)

the first steps

Today's passage is really interesting (click -- John 1: 43-51) ! Each story or passage telling me more and more about the character of Jesus/God. Don't really like the read through the Bible in 2 years thingy. It's so rushed! Missing the whole point of reading the Bible. Anyway, today's story is really kind of cool. First there's Phillip.

Phillip - He completely understood what the scriptures said and what the prophets foretold. Like the Pharisees he had the same information but he concluded a different result. Then he went on to tell his brother I think Nathanael saying that he has found the one that the prophets spoke about.

Nathanael - Then there is Nathanael, he's probably the more prudent one who is cautious in jumping onto the bandwagon. He goes to see if this man is who he truly claims to be. He meets Jesus and there's a change in his attitude as he realizes that Jesus knew him before he even knew Jesus. That God seeks out the ones he loves and not the other way around. Sometimes we think we found Jesus or we go to Jesus. But no. Many times we don't see that God first reached out his hand to us. God first sent His prophets, first sent His Son, first died for our sins and first loved us. His hand always there outstretched for us...

Daily Devotion

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”- 2 Peter 3:9

Isn't this verse amazing! I just sort of learnt this yesterday and now God confirms my thoughts with this awesome verse. I ask God for a stamp of approval that I'm going in the right way and He answers. Let me explain a bit more. This week right, I keep claiming God's promises that my business will be successful. Well, I thought there was a period of drought because nothing was happening. So I get spurts of "down-ness" but then when I sing songs of worship I just knew that even though I don't feel like worshiping that my God is wonderful even though He may not have answered my prayers. I know deep down that my God is not one to disappoint, that whatever decision He makes it's for my best and God knows the best and He loves me. Turns out that when I checked my documents yesterday that God actually did grant me success! It's just that there was something wrong with the google alert and it didn't inform me about it. Then comes this verse on Monday morning that God is not slow in keeping His promise. The Lord never fails, He is faithful to the end. Am I faithful ?

selina's cake

happy belated of uploading birthday selina :) hee hee, think this one haven upload yet!