“SHEEPDOM”

John 10:4 And when he puts forth his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.

When we were born again, we officially became His sheep. You don’t grow into “sheepdom;” you are His sheep. Jesus is the great Shepherd of the sheep. The Lord is your Shepherd! The Lord is your Shepherd, and you shall not want. He makes you lie down in green pastures and leads you beside still waters. His rod and His staff comfort you. He goes before you in life as the Shepherd of the sheep; and He will make sure that you, as His sheep, have everything you need. Jesus went to the cross to make sure that we, the sheep of His pasture, would have everything available to us that we would ever need. Even when times are tough (in the valley of the shadow of death), we don’t have to be afraid because we know the Great Shepherd is guiding us.

Many times, we are told to take up our cross and follow Him. Following is a choice, and I have decided to follow Jesus. What does it mean to follow Him? When you follow Him, you listen to what He says, and you do it. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will do what I say.” Being a Christian and a follower of Jesus is more than just going to church or saying you are a Christian; you must do what He says. Being a doer of the Word of God is what makes you a disciple of Christ. I am following Him; therefore, I am doing what He told me to do. He is my example. I will follow in His footsteps. I will imitate Him. I will act like Him. I will talk like Him. I will do what He does. I will follow Him.

This scripture says that because you follow Him, you know His voice. Because you are His sheep, you know His voice. Most people teach that you must learn the voice of God, that you don’t just automatically know it, so you must grow into hearing God’s voice; but the Bible clearly says that you know His voice the moment you become His sheep and that’s when you began to follow Him. The Bible teaches in 1 John 5:10 that you have a witness, and Romans 8:16 says that the Holy Spirit bears witness with your spirit. You know Him. If you would meditate on that, your faith will grow in your ability to hear from God. You are not looking for a voice but for a knowing in your heart, a perception because that is God speaking to you. The same way you know you are born again, from the inner witness, is the same way God speaks to you every day and is how He leads and guides you.