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Many consider that when David uttered the phrase, ‘Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life’, he was simply being poetic and not proclaiming a solid fact. They say: ‘It’s easy to repeat this statement and believe it when everything is going well, but what about those times when health fails, or income falls and troubles come not as single spies but in battalions?’ And what about those times also when we have to watch a loved one suffer the agonies of unrelieved pain, or when close friends prove false and disloyal? Can we really say at such times: ‘Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life…’? I believe we can, it all depends on how much of our God you know and how much of His ways of doing things that you know. When you know our God very well the way He wants Himself known, you will know that all the thoughts and plans He has for us are all thoughts and plans of good and well being, it is us who by our limitedness shape things out of God’s way and then we experience ruin, disappointments, failures, bad health and ultimately death! Then we complain and murmur instead of blaming ourselves for our shortsightedness and limitedness in everything in relation to our God which is why His aim for us is that we depend, trust and believe in His Power and ability to accomplish all things for us, but do we do that, No! As I look back over my life, I can remember many events and circumstances which I viewed at the time as disastrous. I can recollect one particular occasion when, as I looked forward into the future, things looked so black and blank that I considered leaving the ministry said the narrator. Now, with hindsight and more understanding in God, I can see that those hours of darkness was one of the great turning-points in my life, a time I started seeing things from the perspectives of God, and it moved me, not towards a contracted or smaller ministry, but a wider one, one with what I normally call with ‘world view’. Goodness and mercy of my God followed me, and turned what looked like despair into a door of greater opportunity for me. It is my firm belief that God does not engineer what we might describe as ‘tragedies’ or ‘disasters’, but that they happen as the consequence of sin, of our erroneous lifestyle with lack of understanding or even carelessness in everything concerning life different from the way God willed that we should live our life. Such is God’s skill and way of shaping us up away from our errors of life that ruins us, however, at turning tragedy to triumph and loss into gain that I can understand why some believe God sent the tragedy and devised the disaster –so marvelously does He bring good out of evil. So know it today that God never plan any ruin, tragedy or disaster for us, rather God graciously intervenes in order to bring good out of it for us! Know this divine principle that comes our way out of God’s mercy and grace and always be thankful!

Now let’s consider the phrase: “Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.” Even the most casual reader cannot help but be struck by the fact that throughout this Psalm David has placed a continuous emphasis on the care and diligence of the divine Shepherd. He has made it abundantly clear that all the benefits enjoyed by the followers of Lord Jesus are due in no small measure to the skill, attention and care of the Good Shepherd. With such a good Shepherd, we need never fear, for no matter what difficulties and problems we may encounter; He follows hard on our heels to graciously redeem every single event and situation which we are into in life. The word ‘follow’ in this phrase literally means ‘pursue’ –thus it could just as well be translated: ‘Goodness and love will pursue me all the days of my life’. David is saying that although his enemies are pursuing him to dethrone and destroy him, God is following or even pursuing harder on His heels to dispense the twin qualities of goodness and love unto us. Francis Thompson, in his memorable poem entitled The Hound of Heaven, put the same thought in this way saying: …. Those strong Feet that followed, followed after. But with unhurrying chase And unperturbed pace Deliberate speed, majestic instancy They beat –and a Voice beat More instant than the Feet ‘All things betray thee, who betrayest me.’ So being a child of God is an assurance that in whatsoever situation or problem that you are your faith in Him makes Him follow everything concerning you in other to graciously grant you victory and solution so permanent so that your joy be made full and complete! Let us believe in God with unwavering love and faith.

So we can see that everything concerning Christ is all about Anointing. When you are anointed with the Holy Spirit, then Christ dwells in you, He can teach you all things and can guide you to know things that the ordinary man cannot know but anointing is always in measure and to what measure you are anointed with Christ is the depth of revealed knowledge and wisdom that you can have, no more no less! Today, we ask ourselves: just how does Lord Jesus go about the task of responding to our petitions to be delivered from wrong or distracting thoughts? He does it through the gentle, yet powerful ministry of the Holy Spirit. The words ‘oil’ and ‘anoint’ are used in Scripture to depict several things, not the least being comfort, gladness and consolation as we always see it to be, “7 You love righteousness, uprightness, and right standing with God and hate wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows.” as we read in Psalm 45:7. It is this thought, of course, which the Psalmist had in mind when he wrote, “You anoint my head with oil: my cup overflows.” When Christians are driven almost to distraction by the obsessive, wrong or unhelpful thoughts that buzz around in their heads, the most important thing they can do is to approach the Shepherd and say: ‘O Lord, help me –apply the soothing oil of Your Spirit to every area of my mind.’ And you know what? He will! It will surprise you how speedily and efficiently He complies with such a request when it is made in deadly earnest, zeal and sincerity of purpose. Some Christians make it their daily petition to ask God for the anointing of the Spirit upon their minds. Coolness in place of heat, and peace instead of torment are the rewards of those who are swift to turn to the Shepherd and invite Him to minister to them in this way. So when thoughts seem to niggle at you and almost drive you up the wall, draw close to the Shepherd in your heart and let Him apply the oil of the Spirit to your troubled and anxious mind. And you need have no fears that His supply of oil is limited in any way. He draws from a cup that never runs dry: ‘You anoint my head with oil: my cup overflows.’ You see the anointing of the Holy Spirit is a thing that many people like claiming, they wish they have it but I tell you the truth, there are conditions that we must have to meet or attain before we can have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and you can see some of it in the very passage of Psalm 45:7 that we read above: love righteousness, uprightness, right standing with God and hate wickedness…if your stuff of person does not have some elements of these good attributes and traits, the anointing will find it very difficult to dwell in your heart and mind because it means that your heart and mind is likely to contain the opposite or its oscillating! Even in the book of Hebrews 1:8-9 we have this same words even with a plus ’ 8 But as to the Son, He says to Him, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever (to the ages of the ages), and the scepter of Your kingdom is a scepter of absolute righteousness (of justice and straightforwardness). 9 You have loved righteousness [You have delighted in integrity, virtue, and uprightness in purpose, thought, and action] and You have hated lawlessness (injustice and iniquity). Therefore God, [even] Your God ([e]Godhead), has anointed You with the oil of exultant joy and gladness above and beyond Your companions. So anybody who aspires to be indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God must live a life style that embraces all of these and more.

Last week we studied what the word of God in the Bible said when evil thoughts molest out minds and heart, so this week here we are to learn how we can outmaneuver wrong thoughts for us not to fall victim. As we continue meditating on what we can do when wrong and unhelpful thoughts buzz around inside our heads and hearts like the flies around a sheep’s head, we said that one of the first things to do is to learn to build a clear sincere picture of our Lord Jesus Christ in our minds or hearts. Once the minutest wrong or obsessive thought comes into our mind and is recognized, we should look immediately to Lord Jesus Christ by seeking what His word says concerning the issue or situation and do it exactly with our mind fixed on Lord Jesus. Our peace depends on the skill we develop in quickly turning from the wrong thought to focus on Lord Jesus Christ and find what His word says we should do. We cannot do this quick turning or Outmaneuvering except we are an embodiment of God’s word especially in the Gospel of Lord Jesus Christ, this is the reason why whenever we are being given the word of God Lucifer and his agencies work very hard to create distractions and sleep waves to make you not to listen or hear God’s word so that you cannot be free from his evil snares; so it is our responsibility to make sure we resist this evil of distractions/sleep waves and keep learning and living or practicing all what Lord Jesus Words says. A second way in which some Christians have learned how to manage unhelpful and repetitive wrongful chain-thoughts is not only to fix their minds on Lord Jesus, but to use also, as lesser helps, any wholesome subject in which they have a keen interest. For instance a university graduate tells how, once he realized that the battle against intrusive wrong unhelpful thoughts had to be won where it had begun –in the mind –he could quickly stop a train of wrong thoughts by thinking about the graduation ceremony at which he hoped to receive his degree. He said he focused also on other wholesome things –such as his hobbies, or an intriguing sermon he had heard –and he proved by experience that with practice and determination he could divert his mind into interesting and more helpful thinking. It is all about warring against it by all the means handy to you! All of the above are good but remember we are told by Prophet Isaiah in [26:3] that our soul’s peaceful mind/heart can only be realized or attained when our mind/heart both its inclination and its character is stayed on God! As you can see, much of the success in overcoming wrong unhelpful thoughts depends on how one prepares for the conflict –for in reality conflict it is! When Paul encourages us to reflect upon things which are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, peaceful and admirable, he is giving us good advice that will help us overcome our evil thoughts that always originates from our hearts/mind. To think and keep on thinking of these things that Paul gave, with a picture of Lord Jesus Christ at the centre of them, is the only adequate preparation for the fight/war against troublesome evil wrong unhelpful thoughts.

We saw last week how flies and other winged parasites buzzing around the head of a sheep can often drive it to distraction and unrestfulness which is similar to when our troubles and life challenges faces us in life. Relief comes only when the shepherd is able to bathe the sheep’s head with soothing oil which he carries with him for this purpose which is why for us humans, only the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds can calm our troubled heart. Let us always allow God’s Holy Spirit to be in our heart and mind, transforming our life to conform to that that of Christ our Lord so that things will and shall be well with us! What a striking picture this presents of the way in which God ministers to us in the midst of life’s irritations. A motto on the desk of a high school principal reads: For every irritation under the Sun There is a remedy, or there is none. If there be one, try to find it. If there be none, never mind it. This is what life on a cursed earth is all about, until our Lord Jesus does something in lifting off the curse on the face of the earth, and give man real peace! The suggestion, regarding an irritation for which there is no remedy, to ‘never mind it’ is good, but not quite good enough. The irritation may be so present and insistent that you cannot help ignoring it but mind it. Take, for example, those irritating, disruptive, unhelpful and persistent thoughts or thought-chains that sometimes buzz around in our heads and minds. It is impossible not to mind them. What is to be done? Several things are possible. First, build a strong picture of Lord Jesus in your mind, that is to say try to always anchor your mind and heart on Lord Jesus, allowing your heart and mind to always be occupied by thought of things concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. In your reading, meditation and personal prayer time, seek to develop a clear picture of your Savior Jesus Christ in your mind and heart. Then, when a wrong thought strikes, focus your mind, not on the thought, but on Lord Jesus. Wrong thoughts can be outwitted by swiftly directing the mind to a more absorbing theme especially in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And what better theme is there in the whole realm of thought than Christ? None!