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