The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice.  He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.  But they will never follow a stranger; in fact they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.  John 10:3-5 NIV

In many scripture passages Jesus is referred to as a shepherd, his followers are referred to as sheep.  In the 23rd Psalm it begins with “the Lord is my shepherd, he leads me beside still waters”.  You see a shepherd leads his sheep.  Sheep left alone tend to get themselves into trouble.  Sound familiar?  I know sometimes when I am alone I can be in bad company.

As Christians, we are like sheep who follow Jesus, our shepherd.  Where we get into trouble is when we get too far from Him. In John 10:10 Jesus tells us that “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.”  If we venture too far from Jesus we can encounter the thief.  Of course by thief in this passage, He is referring to satan.

When we venture away from our shepherd we stand the chance of going down a dangerous path.  Satan is very cunning and manipulative and he can even convince you that you are doing the right thing while he is leading you astray.

So my question today is who are you really following?  Whose voice is it that you are listening to?  Are you listening to the good shepherd or the destructive thief?

Let’s go all the way back to Genesis in the Garden of Eden.  Adam and Eve were literally living in heaven on earth.  Now when God made Adam, before he made Eve.  He brought him to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and told him that he could eat from any tree in the garden except this tree.  He told Adam that if he ate from this tree he would certainly die. Now God then creates Eve from Adam’s rib so that Adam would not be alone.  Eve is then confronted by the serpent and the serpent is very craft and cunning.  The serpent confronts Eve about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and we all know the rest of the story.  We like to get mad at Eve here because had she not fallen into the devil’s trap then we would have all lived in this heaven on earth existence and life would be good, really good.  But, she did and here we are in the turmoil that this planet has become.

The problem here is that Eve listened to the wrong voice.  She followed the serpent and not the shepherd.  Now of course this was before Jesus’ time.  Had she and Adam not sinned then there would never have been a need for Jesus to die on the cross.

I am cautioning you about this today because I have fallen for this a time or two myself.  You see the devil is very crafty and cunning.  He knows just what to use to convince us that his way is the right way.  He will try to tell you to use something that you know you shouldn’t use by saying “well God gave that to you to use”.  Sometimes God gives us things to test us to see whether or not we will use them.  He gave the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and perhaps put it there simply to test whether or not Adam and Eve would eat from it.

Good, God-fearing Christians are often led astray by satan’s voice.  Now some of you may be offended by this, but let me tell you something, if you believe God is leading you to do something you better be really, really sure that it is God.  Because if it is not God and you follow you are headed down a very dangerous path my friend.

I have been there, done that, and got the t-shirt.  I had fallen into a bad place in my life.  I thought that God had provided me with comfort and peace.  It was actually the devil tempting me to sin.  As soon as I fell into the sin, I knew I had done the wrong thing but let me tell you something, I had already opened the door and let the devil in.  Boy, did he take over.  He had a field day with my life for several years.  Sin is like quicksand, it is so easy to fall into, but often times so hard to get out of.

So perhaps you are a good strong Christian who reads your Bible and prays daily and goes to church regularly.  Perhaps you do good works for the Lord and are sitting here smugly reading this and thinking “well I could have skipped today’s blog because obviously this is not for me.”  Don’t be so sure. I thought that too.

Perhaps you are reading this and hoping to avoid that type of situation.  Well, good for you.  I had to learn the hard way and I hope that you don’t have to do that.  So, for that reason, I am willing to share what I have learned over the last 10 years with you.  First of all, I learned to look at several things when I am tempted to do something and I am unsure as to whether it is God telling me to do this or satan tempting me to go astray.

The first thing I do is I pray.  I pray for wisdom and discernment and I ask God to clearly show me His way and what He wants me to do.  You see, like those sheep, I am not so bright and I know that I need God’s wisdom to figure this thing out.

The next thing I want to know is if I do it this way, will it provide me with instant gratification?  Now if it will, it is almost definitely not God’s way.  You see with God we are in it for the marathon not the sprint.  Often times we have to wait for God’s timing.  Now there are times when we receive instant gratification, but that is usually when we do nothing but receive and God works everything out.  Normally if we are expected to do something it will be a more lengthy process.

The next thing I have to ascertain is will this bring harm in any way to someone else?  You see God never tells us to hurt anyone.  God never tells us to seek revenge on anyone.  As a matter of fact the Bible clearly tells us that God says that vengeance is His.  The Bible also tells us that God says that the battle is His.  We may be called to suit up and stand firm but we are not always called to fight.  Often times we are only called to stand and watch in wonder as God defeats our enemies.

Another question that you may think is stupid, but let me tell you the devil is very convincing, is this-will I have to sin to accomplish this?  Will I have to violate one of God’s commandments?  God clearly commanded Adam and Eve not to eat from that tree, but the devil convinced them that it would be okay.  He can do the same today with me and you.  We must be very, very careful.  The Bible tells us that we are to avoid even the appearance of evil.

Now the most surefire test as to whether it is God or the enemy encouraging you to do something is this-will this bring glory to God?  You see Roman’s 8:28 tells us that all things work for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.  But also when God works things out for our good, He works them out for His glory.  He wants those around us who have watched us stand firm to know that He did it.  He wants it to be obvious that it was a “God thing”.

So if you find yourself in a battle, please be sure you are listening to God and doing what He would have you to do.  If not, there could be some disastrous consequences.  Take it from someone who is been there.

The best thing about doing what God is calling us to do is that no matter your circumstances, you have that wonderful peace that passes all understanding.

My prayer for you today is that you are close to God and are truly hearing His voice and following Him.  If not, you are on the road to destruction.  Turn around and catch up to the Good Shepherd before it is too late!

Have a great day!