Day 251: My Life and Soul Depends on It

Isaiah 55:3

“Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life.

I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David.”

When I read this scripture I am reminded of Romans 10:17. It reads, So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. This is where our faith lies, in the word of God, hearing his word and believing it brings us to have faith in Him and trust in not only what He can do but also who He is. He is our heavenly father. Jesus is our risen Savior. We know these things from the word of God, we were not there to witness them but we have faith and we believe that Jesus came to save us and what He did on that cross 2500 years ago is still saving souls today. In the word of God lies everything we need, our soul thrives on this beautiful book full of love letters from our father. This is why it is so very important that we hear the word of God but listen as well because as the scripture states above, in it we find life.

Listening to God, and coming to Him with open ears as explained in the scripture above is our way to life. Through His word we live, we thrive, we grow, in every way possible. We are living on borrowed breath. Everything that we are depends on God. Our lives depend on the word of God, the state of our souls depend on the word of god. The life we live is because of the word of God. I have talked to many people who view the bible as a rule book, it’s not. It’s so much more than that and way more important than being told what we cannot do. No His word is a book of love letters, it is a book of stories of who God is and what He has done, in the lives of His people and prophecies of what He will continue to do. It’s is full of wisdom and knowledge, love is the very foundation of our faith. In the bible we find not only commandments but we find how much God loves us, we get a glimpse of the magnitude of His love for us. We see how He is in constant pursuit of our hearts, we see the lengths He goes through just to make sure that we have life. To make sure that we have a relationship with Him. The word of God has life written all over it.

We are constantly looking for the secrets of life. We want to know how to survive this crazy bumpy sometimes unbearable road we are on. But I feel like God is telling us, I have the answer. You want the key to life, I got it. Just listen to me, Listen to my word, come to me with open ears and I will tell you how to obtain this everlasting life. I will guide you, I will give you a teacher. You want to know what it’s like to really live? I’ll give you a life you never thought you’d have. But first, you have to listen, come to me with yours ears and heart wide open. I have all the answers, but you gotta listen to me. It’s imperative that we listen to Him.

Through His word we find that we have an everlasting covenant with our father in Heaven, He says, all that unfailing love I promised David, yeah I want to love you the same way. I want to love you and I want you to know that I love you. God’s love is unfailing, literally it never fails. No matter what, we can always depend on His love. We can find hope in knowing that if no one else loves us, our God does and that’s better than being admired by millions.

All this to say, everything we are is because of everything He is. We are nothing without Him. Our very existence depends on Him. Allow your soul find solace in the word of God, knowing that every word written on those pages is ordained and inspired by the living God. We are because god is…

Reflection

1. Do you believe that everything you are is because of everything God is?
2. What is your initial response to what we talked about today. Be elaborate and explain.

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer today, have a conversation with god. Just take the time to listen and respond to Him. Whatever that looks like to you.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 252!

Day 232: The Sheep and the Shepherd

John 10:26-27

But you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

Here, Jesus had just been told by the Pharisees, “If you are the Messiah tell us.”  To which Jesus responded, “I did tell you, you just don’t believe me… Then He goes on to say, you are not my sheep, my sheep listen to my voice and I know them. We cannot follow Jesus if we do not listen to His voice. We cannot be a part of His flock if we don’t listen to Him. We can be sheep, but we choose our shepherd. We choose to follow Christ or not, and those of us who listen to His voice, are His sheep. If we aren’t listening to Christ and following Him we are not one of His sheep.

Before I go any further into today’s devo I want to first explore the relationship of the sheep and the Shepherd. There are so many mind blowing parallels as to how our relationship with God is synonymous to the relationship between the sheep and the Shepherd.

While researching I came across a blog post that put it all in perspective and dug deep into the meaning of these relationships and why it is so relevant for us as followers of Christ. There were a few things that stood out to me that I’d like to make note of.

“Guidance for the sheep. The Eastern shepherd never drives his sheep as does the Western shepherd. He always leads them, often going before them. “And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them” (John 10:4). This does not mean that the shepherd is always in front of his sheep. Although he may be usually in that position when traveling, he often walks by their side, and sometimes follows behind, especially if the flock is headed for the fold in the evening. From the rear he can gather any stragglers, and protect such from a sly attack from a wild animal.”

The shepherd is a leader and protector of the sheep. He goes before them showing them the way, but He is always right there beside them. He is making sure that nothing can harm them. He’s protecting them as they go, and gathering the ones that seem to be straying away from the herd or wandering off. Sound familiar? This is how Jesus is to us, always by our side, He has gone before us and shown us the way and He is constantly leading us through life. Jesus isn’t going to let us get too far away from the flock because He’s right there to make sure that we get right back on track, and if we do get lost, he will come looking for us to bring us back.

“It is very important that sheep should not be allowed to stray away from the flock, because when by themselves they are utterly helpless.“

We cannot navigate through this world alone, we need Jesus. We desperately need Him. Without Him we are like lost sheep, we are wandering through this world with no direction, guidance, or hope, we’re lost. All of this is found in Christ, so apart from Him we are helpless, as the quote says.

I think another important message to learn here is that in order for us to follow Christ and listen to His word we must trust Him. The flock trusts the shepherd with their life, everything they are depends on the shepherd, they have learned to trust their shepherd and listen to His voice. They will not follow the wrong voice either. I believe that as followers of Christ, if we do not trust Him, we are wasting our time. When we don’t trust someone we hesitate to listen to them, we question everything they do, we will not give them a chance to be a part of our life. We cannot have a solid relationship without trust.

Another thing to note is that it is very important who we choose to follow here on earth. I’m talking about churches and pastors, especially when we are new Christians and we are looking for guidance. Ask God for discernment, because it is a dangerous thing to be led by someone who puts up a facade that they are leading you to Christ but leading the entire church astray. Be careful who you listen to and who you let influence you. At the end of the day you follow Jesus, and if someone is trying to lead you away from Him, they are not for you, no matter who they are or what they seem to represent.  

Reflection

1. Would you consider yourself a part of Christ’s flock?
2. Have you ever been led astray by your own doing?
3. Has anyone ever tried to lead you away from Christ?
4. Check your surroundings, and the people you call your leaders, are they leading you in the right direction?
5. If you are a leader, are you leading God’s people toward Him?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Ask God to give you the spirit of discernment and talk to Him about whatever is on your heart today.

If you have been led astray for whatever reason, now is the time to come back. Now is the time to rededicate or resubmit your life to Christ. Surrender to Him, ask Him to make you new. Know that He is standing there waiting with open arms, you’re not too far gone for Him to reach. You’re not a lost cause, Jesus loves you and He wants you near.

I love you, I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 233!