My Sheep Hear My Voice!

 "My sheep hear My Voice and I know them, and they follow Me."- John 10:27 

Hi Friends,

Hope you are doing fine. All of us know John 10 which speaks about Jesus as our Shepherd. No matter what we are going through, we can get through it if we hear the voice of our Shepherd and follow His instruction. This morning as I was reading this portion, I felt the emphasis on how we should hear the right voice. Just listening to any voice that comes to us is one of the biggest mistakes we could make. The same mistake that Eve made in the Garden of Eden. In the cacophony of voices around us, how do we know which Voice to listen to and which voice to ignore and which voice to totally reject. Based on this Scripture portion, let’s see how we can recognize and obey the right Voice- the voice of our Shepherd Lord Jesus Christ

1) The Right Voice is selfless, the wrong voice is selfish – “The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy but the Lord comes to give us sustenance and abundant life.” – John 10:10 The Voice that is selfish and does not have our good interests in mind is the voice we should ignore totally. The Word says in John 10 that our Good Shepherd even gives up His own Life to save the sheep. That’s how selfless the love of our Shepherd Jesus is. (John 10:11)  

      2) The Right Voice is true, the wrong Voice is false- The Word of God says in John 14:6 says "I am the Way, the Truth and the life." However we read in 2 Corin 11:13-14 that there may be many false voices around us that may appear good but are deceitful and we should never fall for these voices as “even the devil masquerades as an angel of light.”

       3) The Right Voice is personal and intimate (John 10:3) ;the wrong voice is manipulative and controlling – The Shepherd knows His sheep and calls each of them by a special name. The Sheep know the Voice of their Shepherd and follow Him alone. The enemy doesn’t really care for the sheep , they just want to use us to fulfil their evil motives and though the voice of the enemy may be persuasive as with Eve in the Garden , we should always recognize the cruel manipulations behind the wrong voice and stay away from it immediately. Arguing or thinking on the suggestions of the evil one  will only lead us to confusion. Thank God that we have a Shepherd who cares for us so much that if we seek Him He always answers us.(Jere 29:13)

     4) The Right voice, draws us to the Word while the wrong voice drives us away from the Word–The Sheep runs away from the Wrong Voice as they do not know the Voice of the Stranger- The Lord’s Voice is always recognizable as gentle and will always be in line with the Word of God but the stranger's Voice never lines up with the Word of God. We too should flee the wrong voice as we have nothing in common with this Voice and the enemy would use even the smallest bit of attention that we give that voice to fill us with doubt as he did in the Garden of Eden and distract us from the wonderful plans that the Lord has for us. (Jere 29:11)

      5) The Right Voice will save us while the wrong voice leads us to danger – Our Lord Jesus willingly lays down His life for us to save us from danger (John 10:15,18) there is always a hedge of protection when we adhere to the Voice of our Shepherd. However, the hireling flees in times of danger as he does not care about the sheep. (John 10:12,13) He leaves the sheep, and the wolf comes and catches and scatters the sheep. John 10:28 says That Our Good Shepherd gives us Eternal Life and we will never perish and no one can snatch them out of His hand.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, thank you for being our Good Shepherd. We shall not lack in anything. (Psalms 23:1,2) Please keep our ears attuned to hear only Your still small voice; help us to recognize Your still small Voice and always obey You Lord. Forgive the times we have unknowingly and carelessly heeded to the Wrong voices around us – the Voice of our Flesh, the Voice of people around us, the Voice of the Enemy. Help us to be Yours and Yours alone and to hear Your Voice more and more clearly Lord in these Last Days. We surrender to You Our Good Shepherd, You who loves us so much that You went to the greatest extent to prove your Love for us by willingly laying Your Own life for us that we could  enjoy Abundant Life here on Earth and ever afterwards forever.

Hope and pray that we, His sheep will always hear His Voice alone!

https://youtu.be/aaLhqh3Yb44?si=QyCyu68a25HEmiFl

God bless,

Sparky Laurie

 

Created to Blossom!

"Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him."- Jeremiah 17:7

Hi friends,

Hope you are doing good! This morning I came across this beautiful passage in Jeremiah 17 which calls us to be the blessed of the Lord. The blessing or the curse depends on our choices. These are some truths that can be universally applied to each one of us no matter which walk of life we come from! First let us discuss the three kinds of people who can actually lose out on the blessings of God.

1) The One who puts his trust in man-  Jer 17:5,6 -

 Jeremiah actually calls this kind of person as a cursed one. Since he puts his trust in man and puts his strength in flesh. He goes on to describe the condition of this man  is like a shrub in the desert place. The growth of this plant is stunted meaning its barely alive. It is also called a lonely bush in the wilderness. This is its survival strategy as there is very little water and nutrients in that parched place due to low rainfall & poor soil (salt land). When we put our trust in people, it is sure that they will disappoint us sometime or other in life! Our Anchor in life should always be God and not people, no matter how powerful or influential they may be, our God is bigger than any other person on this earth.

Antidote - Psalms 118:8,9 "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord, than to put confidence in princes." NKJV

2) The One who trusts in his Own heart- Jeremiah 17:9,10

Nowadays there's a popular saying, " go by your heart." Though this may seem like the right thing to do, the Word of God speaks differently about this. Jeremiah 17: 9,10 says "the heart is deceitful above all things and also is desperately wicked." 

Proverbs 28:26 says "Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered."

 Proverbs 3:7 says "Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and depart from evil." 

As long as our hearts and minds are surrendered and sanctified by the Blessed Holy Spirit we can make wise decisions but if we put our trust in our human knowledge or past experience, we may be wrong. Wrong choices without being guided by the blessed Holy Spirit may cause us to make wrong decisions and thereby lead us away from the blessings God has kept for us. 

Antidote - Psalms 37:5 " Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him and He will help you."- NLT

3) The One who trusts in his  Riches- 

In Jeremiah 17:11, we come across another beautiful imagery that explains this point beautifully. Here we read about "the partridge that broods but does not hatch" - this refers to the Jewish belief that the  partridge is a bird that steals the eggs of other birds and adds them to her own. So when the eggs hatch, the chicks leave the partridge because they really don't belong to that bird. Similar is the case of people who have acquired riches unjustly. Such wealth disappears just when the owner is counting on it for security. 

Psalms 49:16-20 NLT also speaks about this :" Be not afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases. For when he dies he will carry nothing away; his glory will not go down after him. For though, while he lives, he counts himself blessed —and though you get praise when you do well for yourself— his soul will go to the generation of his fathers, who will never again see light. Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish." 

Even Jesus speaks a parable about a rich man who built bigger barns to store more crops - Luke 12:16-21. We read that God calls this man a fool. In spite of all the wealth that he amassed, He could not be truly blessed.

Antidote - Proverbs 11:28 "He who trusts in His riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.

THE TRULY BLESSED ONE !

How then can we be blessed? We can find the key in Jeremiah 17:7-8. 

Psalms 1: 2-3 describes them. Those who trust in the Lord are those who take delight in His Word. They will be like a tree that is planted by rivers of water and thus brings forth its fruit in its season. Their leaves will not wither, and whatever such people do, they will prosper.

They are the ones who trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on their own understanding .In all their ways they acknowledge Him and He directs their paths." Prov 3:5,6

How can such people who are totally surrendered to the Lord not be blessed by Him? They are the ones who are blessed to be a blessing. We are called and created  not just to survive here on this earth but for so much more! We are called to Blossom and Bloom where God has planted us.

Let's enjoy this song Blossom by Shyju Mathew which reminds us that we are called to Blossom! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did !
https://youtu.be/Jnnib4qZg8A?si=FnGm662COkQw42Xz

Have a blessed week! 

Sparky laurie

His eye is on the Sparrow & on Me! :)

"God doesn't  abandon or forget even the small sparrow He has made. How then could He forget or abandon you?"- Luke 12:7 Passion Translation.

Hi friends,

Hope you are doing fine. Today morning as I awoke I could hear these words "His eye is on the Sparrow."  We all know that the Sparrow is a very small bird often overlooked because it is so small and insignificant! Mathew 10:29-31 " You can buy two sparrows for only a copper coin, yet not even one sparrow falls from its nest without the knowledge of your Father. Aren't you worth much more to God than many sparrows? So don't worry. For your Father cares deeply about even the smallest detail of your life."   In the Bible, the sparrow represents God's love & care for His creation as well the importance of humility and trust in God's provision.

If the Lord cares so much for that small bird then how much more we matter to Him? In this life, we may go through different situations where we may be overlooked or misunderstood or belittled just because we are smaller or appear weaker than others, yet we should remember that we read in 1 Tim 4:12 "Don’t let anyone belittle you because you are young. Instead, show the faithful, young and old, an example of how to live: set the standard for how to talk, act, love, and be faithful and pure."  Moreover , God in spite of being the Creator of all mankind, never despises anybody. He celebrates His children. He only has love, acceptance and good plans for His children. The world may look down on us, criticize, ridicule, mock or even reject & hate us ..but our Lord Jesus has gone through that path and suffered even the Ultimate Rejection when the Holy Father God turned His face from our beloved Jesus just because He carried our sins on Himself! None of us will ever go through that kind of sorrow or rejection.

Similarly, we should never limit God nor ever underestimate what He can do with someone who is totally dedicated and surrendered to Him. It really does not matter how small or insignificant we may appear to others. We have a God who uses a stammerer like Moses, a  ruddy shepherd boy David. a young maiden like Mary, a fearful Gideon and a coward like Peter. We have a God who specializes in using the misfits and imperfect people to fulfill His will. We read in 1 Corin 1:27 " God purposely chose what the world considers foolish  in order to shame the wise, and He chose what the world considers weak in order to shame the powerful. He receives the Glory."

Now, let's learn something from the Sparrow. The sparrow is a singing bird and has a beautiful Voice and its chirping and singing can be heard all over. Sometimes we hear the bird's song and that brightens our day.  In the same way, we may not be recognized or noticed by anyone but we can praise and worship God from where we are and give Him the Glory. That 'song' or whatever we have in our hand, be it our time/ talents/ treasure; God will take it and will use it to encourage another weary traveler on this journey called life. Nothing is ever wasted in His hands!

{The song "His eye is on the Sparrow" originated in the year 1905 by Civilla Martin. She describes the context out of which the hymn was born: “Early in the spring of 1905, my husband and I were sojourning in Elmira, New York. We contracted a deep friendship for a couple by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Doolittle—true saints of God. Mrs. Doolittle had been bedridden for nigh twenty years. Her husband was an incurable cripple who had to propel himself to and from his business in a wheelchair. Despite their afflictions, they lived happy Christian lives, bringing inspiration and comfort to all who knew them. One day while we were visiting with the Doolittle s, my husband commented on their bright hopefulness and asked them for the secret of it. Mrs. Doolittle’s response was simple: ‘His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.’ The beauty of this simple expression of boundless faith gripped the hearts and fired the imagination of Dr. Martin and me. The hymn ‘His Eye Is on the Sparrow’ was the outcome of that experience.”}

https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-his-eye-is-on-the-sparrow

Let's sing a modern version of that beautiful song :  Sparrow - Audrey Assad

Hope this blessed you as much as it blessed me!

Sparky laurie