by Carole L. Haines
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:1-4 NASB)
We are going back to our original Scripture in today’s journey. One of the things we must do in our quest to follow God is to learn to discern His voice from those of others, the enemy (satan) and that of ourselves. Jesus tells us that He is the Good Shepherd and that His sheep know His voice.
When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”
(John 10:4-5 NASB)
Notice the sequence:
1) Jesus puts forth all His own and He goes ahead of them
2) The sheep follow Him because they Know His Voice
3) A stranger they simply will not follow but will flee from him
4) Because they do not know the voice of strangers.
Perhaps some of you have heard of how to tell the difference between counterfeit money and the real deal. Those who handle money a lot are not encouraged to study counterfeit money. They are encouraged to study the Real money, so that they will be able to discern the counterfeit when it is presented to them.
Even so, Jesus is the Real Deal. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. (John 14:6) Spending much time quietly in His presence and listening to Him speak to You from His Word is how we know His voice. The Holy Spirit leads us into all of God’s truth and brings to our remembrance the things that Jesus has taught us. Sitting with Jesus often and long help us to discern the voices of fear brought to us by our own thoughts, the opinions of others, and the enemy’s trickery.
We learn to let Jesus take the lead in everything and we follow Him on this journey out of fear. I haven’t experienced so much joy and contentment in quite a while. Retiring and coming home to spend more time with Jesus was what I was meant to do. I know that is His will for me for now. I beleive He knew I needed the time to sit with Him so I could take this journeyout of fear. I had become all twisted up and conflicted. But God is untangling my mess of fear and He can untangle yours too.
Be Blessed Precious Believer and sit with Your Good Shepherd, listen and learn His voice. Follow Him wherever He leads you. Letting yourself collapse into His arms will help you to cease listening to the Voice of Fear, and instead discern the voice of God’s perfect love.
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