TODAY’S DEVOTION (SATURDAY 9TH May 2026)
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
Yea, 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. Psalm 23:1-4 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 129TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF STRATEGIC VICTORY.
This is the day the LORD has made, we shall rejoice and be glad in it. We have seen His goodness, His mercies and compassion, and we are glad.
A life without its LORD over its affairs will be greatly controlled by its other tendencies. It will also be controlled by its enemies and influenced by its environment. It will be like a ship that is tossed by the waves of the sea, here and there, and will never arrive at its ideal destination.
That is why the LORD of our lives must be in control, firm control, of our lives, else our arrival at God’s pre planned blessings, purposes and programs for our lives will be impossible or greatly altered. It is the absence of His control that allows other factors to control and eventually ruin the lives of many.
The Bible says:
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. Do not be like the horse or like the mule, Which have no understanding, Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, Else they will not come near you.” Psalm 32:8-9 NKJV
These words are from the ONE that should be the ideal LORD of our lives, the one that should be in firm control of our lives. He wants us to not just come near Him but live in Him. He said His plan is to instruct us and teach us in ways we should go, because there are so many ways that we should not go.
MOST OF THOSE FORBIDDEN WAYS LOOK PROMISING AND ATTRACTIVE, BUT THEY ARE WAYS WE SHOULD NEVER GO.
Many have gone those ways and are in hell now. Others have gone those ways, and all are sick now in the hospitals and cannot be cured. They are just waiting for their death. Some others have gone those ways and have become poor now. They have lost everything and need great help.
Others have gone those ways and are now struggling with addictions, perversions, and intense demonic oppressions. Some others have gone those ways and have lost their marriages; they have also lost the joy and the will to even live to see the next day. Life has just become a misery to them.
These forbidden ways we should not go do not look forbidden when they appear. They look pleasant and promising. They are usually appealing to our flesh, cravings, and desire for pleasure. That is why they are dangerous. They are sometimes never known to us. They are only known to the One that should be the ideal LORD of our lives.
They are not known to us because our minds are finite, weak, and human.
Our minds are very limited and cannot see into the invisible world that controls most of humanity. They cannot also see the final outcomes of some of our decisions and actions. So, until the One that should be the ideal owner of our lives speaks to us, we will never know the way we should not go.
Until He instructs, teach and guide us with His eyes, we will always follow ways we should not go, and regret ever following. But sadly, His controls are absent in so many lives, including the lives of some of us who call upon His name.
He is not the one teaching, guiding or instructing us in the way we should go. Our desires are the ones. For some, other influences are the one. Many of us have become like the mule or donkey that lacks understanding, carrying so many burdens of life with few hearts tuned to the ideal LORD to guide them with His eyes, teach or instruct them.
GOD’S PLANS IS TO PUT THE IDEAL LORD OF OUR LIVES IN FULL CONTROL SO THAT HIS WILL CAN BE DONE IN IT AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.
His plan is that the ideal LORD of our lives, instructs us and show us ways we should go. His plan is for us to be guided through life so that we would not be submerged by the floods of the evil one, the winds from the pits of hell, and the rains of destruction from the kingdom of darkness.
It is when a life has the firm control of its Ideal LORD that no evil will successfully befall it. It is when a life is in firm control of its ideal LORD, guiding it with His eyes, instructing it by His mouth, and teaching it by His Holy Spirit, that no evil floods, winds or rain can destroy it. The Bible says:
“Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.” Matthew 7:24-25 NKJV
These are the words of the One that should be the ideal LORD of our lives. This is His description of how a life He is in firm control over will fare in a wicked world. The rain, floods or winds from the evil one will not be able to destroy it because it is in His firm control.
This scripture contains how we can put our lives in His firm control; it says we do that by doing what He says.
There is a lot He has already said in the Holy Scriptures, through the lives of the nation of Isreal, the lips and lives of Bible Characters, the lips and lives of His prophets, the lips and lives of those who put their lives in His firm control in Bible days, and the lips and lives of those who constitutes the New Testament books.
Evil is befalling many today because the control of the One that should be the ideal owner of our lives is completely absent; it is absent in the lives of most of humanity. It is absent because many do not really know who the ideal LORD of their lives should be. There is a lot of confusion about that, all from the pits of hell and the souls of the depraved and influential.
SOME OF US, ESPECIALLY IN CHURCH, SEEMS TO KNOW BY OUR LIPS, BUT BY OUR LIVES WE DO NOT REALLY KNOW.
While all outside the Church do not even know and are not willing to accept who the ideal LORD of their lives should be, some of us in church have chosen us to be the ideal LORD of our lives. We have chosen our flesh, appetites, desires, cravings, and feelings to be our lords, leading us to destinations God never preplanned for us.
The one that should be the ideal LORD of our lives is Jesus Christ. He is the LORD that should be our Shepherd. If He is our Shepherd, the Bible says, we shall not want. Our devotional text says:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
Yea, 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. Psalm 23:1-4 NKJV
As we bring this to a close, I want to admonish that we all allow the LORD to be our Shepherd every day.
If we allow Him to be our Shepherd; to teach, guide, and instruct us, especially through the lives and lips of the nation of Isreal of Bible days, the lives and lips of Bible Characters, the lives and lips of His Bible prophets, the lives and lips of those who put their lives in His firm control in Bible days, and the lives and lips of those who constitutes the New Testament books, we will be fine.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!!
“Yea, 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.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.” Psalm 23:5-6 NKJV
