Listening..

I’ve been doing a lot of studying on faith and listening lately in the Bible.

It seems to be a reoccurring theme with where I end up in the word. Not on purpose, I am an open the Bible and pick a book type of person. I read where I read, and usually can’t explain what brought me there.

Ps. It’s the Holy Spirit 😜

About a month or so ago, I was reading John 10, where it talks about the good shepherd and his flock. I’ve read that passage multiple times growing up and as an adult. It never hit me like it did this time around.

Right off the bat in verses 2-5, it mentions that no one enters unless the gatekeeper approves them, and that the sheep won’t listen to anyone other than the shepherd. THEY PHYSICALLY WILL NOT LISTEN to anyone else! It says because “they don’t know his voice”.

The sheep instinctively KNOW that it they listen to the voice of a stranger, that it’ll surely lead them astray or to death. They KNOW the shepherds voice over every other VOICE, that they have trained themselves to not respond unless it’s the shepherd.

Mind blown. Jesus is clearly the good shepherd and gatekeeper in this chapter.

The thief referred to in verse 10, is obviously the enemy.

Jesus goes on to say that a good shepherd sacrifices His life for the sake of his flock. That’s His purpose in life. To protect HIS flock from robbers, thieves, wolves.

Jesus goes on to say that any fill in to Him isn’t good enough. That they don’t have pure intentions and they’ll surely let the flock be put in harms way.

You see, their is no alternative to knowing Jesus and knowing His voice! But, do we know His voice above all the noise and fray of this life? It says in verse 14 that HE KNOWS HIS SHEEP and that they KNOW HIM.

He goes on to say that their is some not in the flock but He knows them, and that He MUST bring them in. He says “they’ll listen to my voice”.

As a parent, I’m constantly telling my kids to listen. It’s something that I have really obsessed about with my daughter too. I’m her parent and she should know my voice, and she should listen and RESPOND when she hears me.

How true it is for our heavenly father. He’s our parent. He knows us. He loves us. He’s speaking to us.

But, are we listening? Did we put our toys down, walk away from our book, stop making our own noise enough to clearly HEAR HIM? Are we listening?

Listening requires hearing and responding. It isn’t good enough to just listen and not really hear who’s speaking to you. We need to be able to identify the voice of the shepherd and the voice of the wolf.

I don’t tell my kids that they have to listen to adults or anyone bigger than them. I tell them this. You need to listen to Jesus, Mama, Papa, and your Grandparents . That’s it. It’s a short list.

Why? Because these are their trusty worthy voices. These are the voices I want them to listen and respond to above the noise. I don’t want them to listen to a stranger or someone I may or may not trust fully.

You need to give the enemy an eviction notice on speaking into your life, and give the gatekeeper permanent access to the gate of your life.

It’s His job to save you, and He always will. It’s the enemies job to rob from you, and he will kill you for it.

My prayer has been simple lately.

“Father, let me hear your VOICE so clearly above the noise of this life, that I can’t mistake it for anyone or anything else! Make it life to me. In Jesus name!”

Praying friends, that you learn to know His voice!

Until next time!

Xoxo

-Becca