The Shepherd’s Voice

From: Our Daily  Journey

Mar 7, 2017

 

Read:

John 10:1-16
The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life (John 10:10).

 

Since going through a difficult experience three years ago, I’ve battled subsequent bouts of intense anxiety and fear. Upon learning of my season of struggle, a dear friend encouraged me to memorize, meditate on, and embrace John 10. The passage, she explained, expounds on the Good Shepherd we have in Jesus and calls us to recognize and listen to His voice rather than voices of doubt, darkness, discouragement, and shame.

“He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out,” we read. “After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice” (John 10:3-5).

Two voices are described here. One is the voice of the Good Shepherd—Jesus. The other is the voice of anyone who pulls us away from Him.

The voices both speak to our hearts and minds, but following one or the other leads to drastically different destinations. The Good Shepherd uses His voice to lead people to salvation, freedom, “good pastures,” and “a rich and satisfying life” (John 10:3,9-10). The enemy’s voice leads away from truth and to deception and destruction. “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10).

Believers in Jesus are called to take every thought captive as we “obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). We can do this by feasting on Scripture, humbling ourselves before God in prayer, and asking, Are my thoughts lining up with what the Bible teaches? (Acts 17:11).

I’ve found that as I immerse myself in Scripture, I can hear the truth about God and the truth about me. His voice and presence gives us hope and calms our hearts.

Held by the Grip of God

From: My Utmost For His Highest

I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me —Philippians 3:12

Never choose to be a worker for God, but once God has placed His call on you, woe be to you if you “turn aside to the right hand or to the left” (Deuteronomy 5:32). We are not here to work for God because we have chosen to do so, but because God has “laid hold of” us. And once He has done so, we never have this thought, “Well, I’m really not suited for this.” What you are to preach is also determined by God, not by your own natural leanings or desires. Keep your soul steadfastly related to God, and remember that you are called not simply to convey your testimony but also to preach the gospel. Every Christian must testify to the truth of God, but when it comes to the call to preach, there must be the agonizing grip of God’s hand on you— your life is in the grip of God for that very purpose. How many of us are held like that?

Never water down the Word of God, but preach it in its undiluted sternness. There must be unflinching faithfulness to the Word of God, but when you come to personal dealings with others, remember who you are— you are not some special being created in heaven, but a sinner saved by grace.

“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do. . . I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).

God Watches Over You

1. Do you know that God is watching over you?

2. Are you prayers full of thanks for His presence with you?

3. Is God in control?

4. Are only the people of faith aware of his presence?

5. Will we enjoy God in Heaven personally one day?



5 The Lord watches over you—
    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon by night.  psalm 121: 5-6

From Fear to Faith

From: Get More Strength.org

Feb

05

2016

“The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD is on his heavenly throne. He observes the sons of men; his eyes examine them. Psalm 11:4

I have a friend who says, “Through the years I have seen a lot of things change, and I have been against them all!” Change can be very unsettling. It interrupts the predictability and comfort of having things just the way we like them. But even for the most “I like it the way it has always been, thank you!” kind of people, we have to admit that there are some advantages to change. I can remember when you had to crank a handle to roll up a car window. Now you just push a button. Rather than waiting in line for a mumps immunization given by a stern-faced school nurse with what seemed like a foot-long needle, now all kids have to do is swallow something that tastes like bubble gum.

But as welcome as some changes may be, change can sometimes create serious problems. When our lives are impacted by sudden change that turns life upside down, it can be spiritually dangerous. Ending up in the ditch can easily make us feel a little shaky about our faith in God. That’s the kind of change the psalmist wrote about in Psalm 11:1-7—the kind of change that threatened everything he believed. How do we respond when the foundation of our faith begins to wobble, when our troubling circumstances make us question God?

The psalmist says that radical change can either foster debilitating fear or confident faith. Fear haunts our hearts when all we can ask is “What am I to do?” Faith cuts to the exclamation point:The Lord is in control! In the first half of Psalm 11:1-7, David wrings his hands as he describes the fear of losing everything—his kingdom, his reputation, his faith because of circumstances out of his control. You may be buckling under the weight of fear because your world is falling apart. But like David, you can turn your heart to the Lord and declare, “The Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord is on His heavenly throne” (Psalm 11:4). His throne is the symbol of His sovereign oversight and authority over all things. David moved from fear to faith by focusing on the exclamation point of God’s rule in his life and not on the question marks of the devastating changes in his life.

Old silent movies often included a scene where the villain tied a beautiful heroine to the train tracks. In great fear, she kicks and screams as the chugging locomotive heads straight toward her sweet little body. But we know she won’t die there. Just in the nick of time, the hero will emerge from the forest and cut the ropes delivering her to safety as he carries her away into the sunset. You can count on it: God will be there for you, even if it’s just in the nick of time!

Psalm 42:5 declares, “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.” That must be why the psalmist said, “There they were, overwhelmed with dread, where there was nothing to dread” (Psalm 53:5).

In the midst of the changing circumstances of life, we have a choice. We can live in fear of all the uncertainties, or we can cling to the reality of God’s sustaining and intervening presence in our lives. When we find our strength in the fact that our Almighty God is on the throne and has everything under control, the defeating question marks are replaced with the confidence of His exclamation points, and that’s a welcome change!