"22 At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter,
23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon.
24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."
25 Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me,
26 but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock.
27 MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE, AND I KNOW THEM, AND "THEY FOLLOW ME".
28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
30 I and the Father are one."
31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone him."
Recently the LORD has been dealing with me about my ability to DISCERN between HIS voice and the enemies voice when I am seeking direction for my life. "GOD is a SPIRIT" (John 4:24) is something we must be constantly aware of. GOD does manifest HIMSELF in the actions of HIS children when "THEY FOLLOW ME"! But how do we assure ourselves that we are following GOD and not the enemy?
The enemy is a master of disguise and he wants to deceive us into anything that draws glory away from GOD. If the enemy can camouflage his evilness to cause us to act within our own selfish desires, then we are headed for problems. We are created to give glory to GOD (Isaiah 43:7) and when we do things to draw attention to ourselves we are elevating ourselves to HIS position. HE should be our focal point and not our wishes.
So how do we make sure our thoughts and actions are "of GOD". Jeremiah 29:13 tells us you will seek me and find me when you seek me with ALL your heart. When we sincerely desire to glorify GOD, HE will be glorified! Our intentions must be to serve HIM, and not our agenda.
The next thing is we must "Wait on the LORD"! There are numerous, a virtual multitude of scriptures indicating we need slow our lives down and listen to, follow, or wait on The LORD! You will have to show me the scripture that tells us to HURRY UP! We tend to want to avoid any conflict or turmoil in our lives, when JESUS tells us in John 16:33 "In this life you WILL have tribulation"! In John 10:31 the Jews picked up stones again to stone JESUS. That is a typical tactic of the enemy warfare. FEAR and DOUBT cause many of us, me included, to flee from battle. When children will not FOLLOW directions of their leader, they must be disciplined or they will not mature! They will want their own way, and that way many times leads them to trouble!
When "THEY FOLLOW ME" then JESUS CHRIST has already been before us in our battle! My problem has generally been when I let things get too busy to HEAR HIS VOICE. "THEY FOLLOW ME" is very difficult when we are listening to anything and everything but the voice of GOD. HEAVENLY FATHER, I pray that I will slow my life down and listen to YOUR still, small voice guiding me to FOLLOW YOU.
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