Wednesday's Reminder

I trust that your journey with God continues to grow stronger and stronger as we purpose in our hearts to draw closer to God. The Spirit has been reminding me of the various "voices" that each of us hear on a daily basis. Many of these voices come from the darkness of Hell and they seek to lead us away from our relationship with Jesus Christ, the Chief Shepherd of our soul. I would like to share a familiar passage with us that comes from John 10.

John 10:4-5, “And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. ⁵ And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. (NKJV)

The voices of darkness or the "voices of strangers" have one purpose and one purpose alone. They seek to bring confusion, doubt, fear, anxiety, discouragement, disillusionment, etc. These spirits then seek to work against the development of our spiritual relationship with Christ. The Bible reveals this Truth throughout the Old Testament as well as the New Testament; "God will speak to His people." I am faced with the decision of making sure that I listen to the correct voice of the Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Listening to the Voice of Christ means that I must choose to resist the other voices that are constantly desiring to distract me from serving God or attracting me to pursue my old life. Satan is also cunning enough to know that he may not initially lead me completely away from God but he will use any means that he can to "cool off" or "slow down" my walk with Christ. These become the moments in each of our lives in which we must choose to follow Christ with all of our heart and not just a portion of our heart.

The Apostle Peter referred to our spiritual enemy as a "roaring lion" who is "walking about seeking whom he may devour." (I Peter 5:8) We must learn to resist this "noise maker" and turn our ears to hear the Voice of our Savior. I know that this is challenging to each of us in this day of spiritual warfare BUT I FULLY BELIEVE that the Spirit will give us enough power and strength to accomplish this spiritual goal of following the Voice of our Savior. We must ask the Spirit to strengthen our resolve, our courage, our desire and our personal walk with Christ. It can be accomplished if we believe the fact that God has called us to be OVERCOMERS!!

Let us remind ourselves of the words of the Apostle Paul in Hebrews 2:1, “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.” But sometimes we drift. Pleasure entices us. Troubles mount. Sin calls. The world beckons. We wonder why our hearts seem empty and cold. What happened to the zeal we had? What happened to our desire to live an extraordinary life? What happened to the desire to gather with fellow believers and offer our praise and worship to the One who had forgiven us of our sins? Why are we sliding back into old habits and patterns? These may be questions the Holy Spirit is urging us to consider. Perhaps He is right now shaking us awake from our spiritual sleepiness, reminding us that without holiness no one will see the Lord (see Hebrews 12:14). Today let us ask God to help us live out our faith with passionate commitment, fueled by a hunger for holiness that reflects our love of God and his greater love for us. Let us pray earnestly and eagerly for the grace to be fully awake to God's life within us.