https://odb.org/MY/2022/11/03/hearing-christ-not-chaos
John 10:1-10, 27 are famous teachings of Christ that centred on Christ being the shepherd and we as believers His sheep. The main thrust of the teaching is that we as sheep recognise and know the voice of Christ as our shepherd. This illustration is taken from real life as real sheep in general are trained from young to recognise and listen to the voice of the shepherd and will not respond to the voice of strangers. As part of their life, sheep are brought to grazing grounds to roam and feed freely but they need to be gathered together to return to the pen when the time is up. Thus they need to stop grazing and return when the shepherd calls.
So some of us may ask – how can I be sure that I’m able to recognise the voice of Christ, the voice of the Holy Spirit as He calls to guide me in my life? Well the simple answer to that is that Jesus says so! If Jesus says that His sheep knows His voice, then we as His sheep know His voice. It is true because Jesus is God and God never lies.
But we ourselves know the actual reality of our situation. Are we really able to recognise His voice? Or are we listening to our own voice or that of the devil?
Once we have accepted Christ, we can hear Him as our spirit man has been born again and made alive. This means our spiritual senses have been awakened. We become aware of the spiritual world and since Jesus is our Lord and the Holy Spirit lives in us, we will know His voice. But practically, we need to practice this and fine tune and hone our ability. Like a musician or an artist, we need to practice to be good at our craft. Same goes with hearing the voice of the shepherd. We need to consecrate ourselves, seek the forgiveness of the Father for our sins and as we seek Him, we will hear His voice as we pray and read His Word. God speaks to us when we pray and meditate, when we read His Word. We will know when He speaks as we will recognise His voice but we can confirm His spoken rhema word with His written logos Word or from the agreement of others who pray with us or from signs that He may give us.
Christian life as a believer is a journey with God, with Jesus His Son and the Holy Spirit. As we journey on and strive to achieve His plans and purposes for our lives, follow and listen to His prompting in our heart. Listen and obey. The more we listen and obey, the clearer will we be able to know when He speaks. Practice makes perfect! Be assured this morning that as believers we will know His voice when we hear it! We are His sheep and as His sheep we recognise the voice of our Shepherd, the Shepherd of our soul.
Ronnie's Thoughts 