JESUS THE GOOD SHEPHERD

So this blog is just an annotation of John 10:1-6. It talks about how Jesus is a good shepherd. Every sheep needs a shepherd. When a sheep do not have a shepherd, it will be hard for the sheep to find its way to feed itself, they’ll have difficulties moving from point A to point B, they will be lost and weak and eventually, die. So we all need to understand the importance of a shepherd to a sheep. Well, let’s get into it.

John 10:1

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber"- This is Jesus speaking here. He is telling us that anyone that climbs the sheepfold instead of going through the gate is a thief. A sheepfold is a pen or shelter for the sheep. They basically live in there till it’s time for them to take a walk with the shepherd. So for a person to climb over that into the space of the sheep, then you are thief.

MY REFLECTION

•This is what the devil does. The devil does not come straight to you and lead you into doing something against God. The devil goes out of his way to trick us, to tempt us, to blindside us into doing things. That’s why we sometimes we question ourselves when we do things. Like “where did that come from?” and “how come I did that?”

•The thief which is the devil is trying to climb over into your space, your happiness, your work, your education, your family, your ministry, your finances. We need to be vigilant in differentiating what is from God and what is from the devil because a thief will not knock, instead will find a way to get what he wants.

Verse 2

"But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep"- Once again a thief will never ring the bell and tell you that I am here to rob you. Instead, he will surprise you. When your intentions are right, you always have confidence in doing things the right way. A shepherd has confidence that when he/she enters through the gate, the sheep knows his voice so no matter what happens, the sheep will follow. It’s just like wanting money from your parents. When you’re confident they will give it to you, you are more likely to ask them for it. But when you ain’t confident, that’s when you end up going into their purse and wallet to take it out.

Verse 3

"To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out"- This verse sounds so cool. The shepherd enters then says “Well okay my people, let’s get going” and the sheep just follows. The vital words in this verse is opens, voice, calls, name, and leads.

Opens: it says “the doorkeeper opens”. In verse 7 we come to understand that Jesus is the “door of the sheep”. If a door says I won’t open today, that’s the door’s final decision. A shepherd can stand outside and call the sheep and I’m sure they will hear it. However, if the door does not open, the sheep will hear it, but won’t be able to make any move. So for God to be able to lead us, we need to open up to Him. We need to be willing to let him into our hearts, souls and mind. We need to open in order to get Him inside so He can start His process with us. For you to use anything at all, you need to open it. You need to take the lid off a bottle to “use” the water inside. You need to take off the cap off your perfume in order to “use” it. You need to open the sardine can in order to “use” what is inside it. I pray that you open up today and allow God to use you.

Voice: Sometimes when people call my sister or friends and I pick up and say “hello”, 99.9% of times they just either say nothing or they hang up. Why? Because they know the voice of the person they’re calling and it ain’t what they’re hearing. We need to be able to know which voice is God’s and which voice is ours, and which voice is the devil. It is important to know because if you think you are hearing from God and you take a step and end up on your head, all the blame will go to God, however, it wasn’t him. So your prayer should be, “God help me differentiate between the voices in my head. Let me know which one is yours and which one isn’t”. The sheep will not follow any voice unless it’s the voice of their shepherd because they know what their master sounds like. God is your master, so you need to know His voice.

Calls: The Bible says “he calls his own sheep by name”. The Bible didn’t say “he stares at the sheep and they follow”. There is a calling that is done too. God wants us to be with him so He always calls us (there are various different types of callings). God calls us because he wants us to follow Him. I’ll relate this to the “voice”. Always be ready to hear the call. Be on guard to hear the call of God. The verse didn’t only say "call” but it also said “calls his own sheep by name”. God knows your name. Imagine walking by and someone starts calling you Michelle when your name is Hannah, there is no way you’ll turn around because that is not your name. But my understanding from the verse is that when God calls you, He calls you by your name so you need to be ready to hear your name when God calls you just like Samuel in the Bible (1 Samuel 3).

Leads: Who is leading you? Is it money? Is it your boyfriend? Is it your work? A leader is someone whom people follow. So are you following the money because you know at the end of the day it will make you the happiest person? Are you following that job because you think that’s the only way out? Is your boyfriend or girlfriend leading what you do because you feel like if they leave you that’s it? Today I’m telling you, you are following the wrong thing. The Bible tells us to “Seek ye first the kingdom and everything else shall be added” (Matthew 6:33). I am not saying being in a relationship is bad, or working is bad. I’m saying your priorities on which one is leading your life is important. We need to know to follow our leader which is God. The sheep knows that the shepherd wants the best for them. Their shepherd leads them to the green pastures, their shepherd leads them to still waters, their shepherd restores their soul. The Lord is your shepherd. He will lead you to success, victory, happiness, riches and glory, so follow him.

Verse 4

"And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice" - The Bible says He goes before them. Our God is a sovereign God. He knows the past, present and future. He has gone before us to ensure our paths are cleared. He knows the plans He has for you because He has gone before time. Follow the one that knows the future. As I said before, the sheep trusts the shepherd because they know his voice. If I was a sheep, I would trusts my shepherd based on these things; 1). So when we went for the walk yesterday, I ended up back home safely. 2). When we went out yesterday, I got some juicy grass to eat and some cool water to drink. 3). I got to take walks with my friends. Yeah I am definitely choosing to trust my shepherd. I pray that we choose to trust God as He leads us into our purposes, into our ministries, into our jobs, into His will for us.

Verse 5

"Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers"- This is why I like the sheep. The only voice they will follow is the one they know. If they don’t know you, they turn into Usain Bolt and run for their lives. This sounds easy for the sheep because they just have one voice stored in their heads. But with us, there are so many voices in our heads sometimes we gets confused as I said before. The voice is important. We need to know the voice of God.

Verse 6

"Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them"- I pray for wisdom and knowledge for all of us that read the word and listen to the voice of God. I pray for understanding too. Sometimes we read the word or we hear something but we don’t understand so it becomes useless to us. But if it is planted in our heads, and we understand and start watering them, it grows into a nice flower and blossom.

This is the first part of John 10 so I will leave it here. I pray that we allow God to be our shepherd, allow ourselves to know his voice and follow Him as He calls us by our names, and I pray He gives us wisdom and understanding as we follow him. Any thief that is ready to steal from us I rebuke in Jesus name. May your day be filled with happiness and good news, amen.