Christ Shepherds us to Enjoy Him, Drink the Spirit, and Walk on Paths of Righteousness

The Lord Jesus is our Shepherd and we are His sheep; Christ shepherds us to enjoy Christ as green pastures and the Spirit as the waters of rest, and He also shepherds us to revive us and transform us as we walk according to the spirit on the paths of righteousness.

Hallelujah for Christ as our Shepherd!

We are all familiar with Psalm 23, a very dear psalm to all believers in Christ; in this psalm we see how the Lord Jesus as our Shepherd takes care of us.

As we go through the Gospel of Matthew and deeper into some aspects of what Christ is to us, we come to Matt. 9:36 where we see that the Lord considered Himself as a Shepherd to those in the house of Israel.

He looked at them and was filled with compassion, for they were like sheep without a shepherd. Oh, Lord!

He came to the Jewish people and they were like lepers, paralytics, the demon-possessed, and sick ones, and He ministered to them not just as a Physician but also as a Shepherd.

They were in this situation and their condition was such because they had no Shepherd.

It was prophesied in Isa. 53:6 and 40:11 that He would come to be the Shepherd of His people, and here He was: the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, was the Shepherd to His people.

Even though His people were like sheep beaten and mistreated by their current so-called shepherds, the leaders of the Jews, the Lord still came to them and even laid down His life for them.

He is our wonderful Shepherd. He came to shepherd not only the Jewish people but even more, we who are among the Gentiles.

He had compassion on us, for we were not even part of His sheep but He wanted to bring us among His flock, so He came to seek us out, put us on His shoulder, and bring us to the flock.

Thank the Lord for the compassion He exercised as our Shepherd to take care of us.

We need to experience, enjoy, and express Christ as the Shepherd.

First, we need to experience His shepherding; we experience it as He cares for us and gently guides us toward Himself for us to believe into the Lord and receive the divine life.

The Lord shepherds us according to what He sees our need to be.

We need to learn to enjoy His shepherding. He takes good care of us, and He cares for our troubled soul to bring it to waters of rest.

Furthermore, as we experience and enjoy His shepherding, we need to learn from Him and be one with Him in His heavenly ministry to shepherd the sheep of God, the saints, and even to seek out to bring other sheep into the flock of God.

May we be those who know, experience, enjoy, and express Christ as our Shepherd today.

As our Shepherd, Christ Shepherds us into the Enjoyment of Christ as Green Pastures and of the Spirit as the Waters of Rest

Christ is our Shepherd. The whole Bible shows us that He is the Shepherd who cares for us, His sheep, in a tender and all-inclusive way.

Psalm 23 in particular shows us how Christ is our shepherd in five stages.

First, He shepherds us in the pastures and leads us to waters of rest; this is to nourish us and to cherish us so that we may enjoy Him and go on with Him.

Second, Christ shepherds us on the paths of righteousness; in our daily living, He shepherds us to walk not in a loose or wild way but on the paths of righteousness.

Third, Christ shepherds us through the valley of the shadow of death.

Fourth, Christ shepherds us on the battlefield, where we fight against the enemy; there, He sets a table before us for us to feast with Him before our enemies.

Finally, in the fifth stage, Christ shepherds us to dwell in the house of God all the days of our life. Hallelujah for the Lord’s shepherding!

First, Christ shepherds us in the initial stage of the enjoyment of Christ as the green pastures and of the Spirit as the waters of rest (Psa. 23:1-2; 1 Tim. 1:4; Phil. 1:19b; John 21:15; 1 Thes. 2:7; 1 Cor. 12:13).

As our wonderful Shepherd, the resurrected Christ shepherds us to pastures so that we lack nothing.

He leads us into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ for us to just partake of His riches.

Christ is our rich pasture, and the Lord as our Shepherd brings us into the enjoyment of Himself as our pasture.

In Him, we lack nothing, and He makes sure that we enjoy Him as our everything.

He feeds us with Himself as our pasture. He is the door and He is also the pasture (John 10).

On the one hand, He opens the way for us to enter in and enjoy Him, and on the other hand, He Himself is our pasture for our enjoyment day by day.

As we enjoy Him and drink of Him, we become one with Him to also shepherd others.

In John 21 the Lord Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him, and then He charged Peter to feed His lambs (v. 15).

If we love the Lord and enjoy His shepherding today, partaking of His riches in spirit to be richly nourished with Him as our pasture, we are qualified to bring others also into the enjoyment of this all-inclusive Christ.

We need to not only enjoy the Lord’s shepherd ourselves but also cooperate with Him to be like nursing mothers to cherish and feed the little ones under our care (1 Thes. 2:7).

As He shepherds us, the Lord leads us to waters of rest (Psa. 23:2; 1 Cor. 12:13).

On one hand, the all-inclusive Christ is our rich pasture; on the other hand, the Spirit is the waters of rest.

When we enjoy the Lord’s shepherding, we are led into the enjoyment of Christ as our rich pasture and we are also brought to drink of the Spirit as the waters of rest.

As we eat and drink Him, we can also help others to eat and drink the Lord.

We can bring them to call on the name of the Lord and pray to contact Him so that they would eat Christ as the rich pasture and drink the Spirit as their spiritual drink.

This is the Lord’s shepherding us in the first stage, the initial stage.

We enjoy His shepherding in this way today.

He wants us to be comfortable and at peace, and He wants our soul to be at rest; therefore, He is leading us to waters of rest and bringing us into the enjoyment of Himself as our pasture so that we may be filled with Him.

As we enjoy the Lord’s shepherding and eat, drink, and partake of what He is, we cooperate with Him to also shepherd others, bringing them to call on the name of the Lord and pray by exercising their spirit so that they also may enjoy the wonderful Shepherd and His wonderful shepherding!

Lord Jesus, You are our Shepherd. We love You. We open to You. Thank You for coming to us where we are to shepherd us. You are the One who takes care of us in a tender and all-inclusive way. We open to Your wonderful shepherding today. Thank You for opening the door for us to come into Your flock and be one of Your sheep. We love being here, in the flock of God, enjoying the wonderful shepherding of Christ. Amen, Lord, lead us into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as our rich pasture. Lead us into partaking of the riches of Christ for our nourishment day by day. Oh Lord Jesus, we open to You and we let You lead us to restful waters. We exercise our spirit to drink You as waters of rest so that we may be filled with You and have rest in our soul! Amen, Lord, we love being here, under Your wonderful shepherding. We want to cooperate with You in Your ministry to also shepherd others by bringing them to eat the all-inclusive Christ and drink the Spirit by calling on the name of the Lord and praying with the exercise of their spirit!

As our Shepherd, Christ Shepherds us by Restoring and Transforming our Soul as we Walk on the Paths of Righteousness in Spirit

The second stage of the Lord’s shepherding as seen in Psa. 23 is in v. 3, “He restores my soul; He guides me on the paths of righteousness / For His name’s sake.”

This is the stage of revival and transformation. In this stage we not only enjoy the Lord by eating Him as the pasture and drinking Him as waters of rest; we are restored and transformed.

The Lord restores our soul; He revives us. To restore includes reviving, renewing, and transforming.

We see this in Rom. 12:2, that we need to be transformed by the renewing of our mind, the leading part of our soul.

After the Lord feeds us and leads us to waters of rest, He works in a certain way to guide us on the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

As we eat the Lord and drink Him, we will also flow Him out; we will flow out many rivers (John 7:38).

We will flow out rivers of proper humanity, kindness, love, patience, joy, etc; many rivers flow out of our innermost being as we drink the Lord as the Spirit.

Thank the Lord for His shepherding which results in our being revived and restored! His shepherding causes our soul to be transformed and restored.

He knows our soul. He knows our problems. He knows our weaknesses.

He sees where we are and what our need is. So He restores our soul.

We need to open to His work of restoration. His work of restoration will cause us to be renewed, revived, and transformed.

Our soul needs restoration and revival. If our soul is untransformed or unchanged, this means it was not restored, and we cannot walk on the paths of righteousness.

So the Lord keeps shepherding us until our soul is transformed.

He guides us to walk according to the spirit on the paths of righteousness.

How can we walk on the paths of righteousness and fulfill God’s righteousness? It is only by walking according to the spirit, that is, walking according to the mingled spirit (Rom. 8:4).

We are not righteous nor can we fulfill the righteous requirements of God; however, Christ as our Shepherd guides us on the paths of righteousness.

We can all testify that Christ is our Shepherd not only when He leads us to waters of rest and brings us into the enjoyment of Himself as our pasture but even more, when He guides us to walk on the paths of righteousness.

He wants us to walk in certain paths, the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

For the sake of the Lord’s name being sanctified and magnified on the earth, He leads us, His believers as His sheep to walk in our spirit on the paths of righteousness.

As we walk in our spirit and according to the Spirit, we live out Christ, and we spontaneously fulfill the righteous requirements of God.

We can testify that in our daily living many times we are led by the Lord to simply walk according to the spirit so that we may walk on the paths of righteousness.

It is only when we walk according to our spirit that we can live in righteousness.

We are made of three parts – body, soul, and spirit (1 Thes. 5:23).

If we walk according to our fallen body, we will be full of lusts, for our body has become the flesh, which is at enmity against God.

If we walk according to our soul, we will be full of opinions and emotions, for our soul has become the self declaring independence from God.

But if we walk according to our spirit, we will walk on the paths of righteousness for the sake of the Lord’s name, and He will be expressed through us.

May we remain under the wonderful shepherding of our dear Lord Jesus until we are not only nourished and supplied but even more, restored, revived, and transformed, and we walk on the paths of righteousness!

Lord Jesus, we love being here under Your wonderful shepherding! Thank You for restoring our soul. We open to Your shepherding today. We open to Your inner restoration. Revive us. Restore us. Work Yourself into us and transform us from deep within. We want to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Amen, Lord, may today be a day of much inner restoration, reviving, and transformation! We set our mind on our spirit and we want to seek the things which are above, not the things which are on the earth. Transform us in our soul. Restore our soul today. Guide us, dear Lord, on the paths of righteousness for Your name’s sake. Guide us to walk in our spirit. We exercise our spirit and we choose to walk according to our spirit. We do not want to walk in our flesh or according to the self but in our spirit and according to the Spirit! Amen, Lord Jesus, shepherd us to walk on the paths of righteousness for Your name’s sake! We open to Your wonderful shepherding today!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Minoru Chen in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of the Psalms, msgs. 11-12, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (2024 July Semiannual Training), week 2, Christ as the One with the Heavenly-ruled Deeds, Our Shepherd, Our Rest, and the Sower.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Christ Our Physician, Bridegroom, New Wine, and Shepherd, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – Peter’s impression with the Lord’s commission to feed His lambs and shepherd His sheep, a portion from, Crystallization-Study of the Gospel of John, Chapter 13, by Witness Lee.
  – How Should Christians Respond to the World Situation? Jesus is the good Shepherd, the Almighty God Himself who became a man and lived a perfect, sinless life. He then laid down His own life for us, the lost sheep, to redeem us and bring us back to God. More via, Bibles for America blog.
  – Selected Ministry on the Apostles’ Ongoing Role in Established Churches, The Collected Works of Watchman Nee [CWWN], vol. 22: The Assembly Life & The Prayer Ministry of the Church, via, Shepherding Words.
  – My church life experience: how I was shepherded by the brothers and sisters, via, Living to Him.
  – Psalm 23 – Christ in His shepherding, a portion from, Christ and the Church Revealed and Typified in the Psalms, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee.
  – The Lord’s Shepherding to New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – The Lord Jesus Is Our Shepherd, via, Bibles for Europe blog.
  – How Psalm 23 Reveals the Organic Shepherding of the Pneumatic Christ, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – The Lord is my Shepherd forever, / He maketh me down to lie, / He leads me beside the still waters / O how He does satisfy! / My Shepherd Himself is my pasture, / My Shepherd, the waters of rest; / I eat of His riches in spirit, / I drink, and O how I am blest! (Hymns #1170 stanzas 1-2)
  – The Lord’s my Shepherd, I’ll not want; / He makes me down to lie / In pastures green; He leadeth me / The quiet waters by. / My soul He doth restore again, / And me to walk doth make / Within the paths of righteousness, / E’en for His own name’s sake. (Hymns #527 stanzas 1-2)
  – Jesus, our wonderful Shepherd / Brought us right out of the fold / Into His pasture so plenteous, / Into His riches untold. / Glorious church life, / Feasting from such a rich store! / Here where we’re dwelling in oneness / God commands life evermore. (Hymns #1221 stanza 1 and chorus)