John 10:27 – My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

• listen – hear; comprehend by hearing
• voice – sound, language/dialect
• know – especially through personal experience; This is the same word used by Mary when the angel visited her, and she said she didn’t “know” a man.
• follow – accompany

When we have a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus, we will know His voice. It will be like a good friend who calls on the phone. You will know who it is as soon as he speaks, even if you haven’t heard his voice for some time. It’s something that’s known to you because you know the person.

And then when we recognize his voice, we lean closer, and He knows us, and we follow or accompany Him wherever He leads.

I’ve heard it said that sheep are dumb animals, but maybe they were just designed to follow. Their leader follows the shepherd, and because they can’t all be in the front, they follow each other–even if it’s in the wrong direction.

And really, if you think about it, aren’t we that way? Some are leaders (good and bad), and others are followers. We tend to pick a leader because something about that person draws us, and we follow–sometimes blindly going where he leads without giving much thought to the end result.

What we really need to do is get our eyes off the world’s leaders (including our pastors, who are human) and focus on the Good Shepherd and trust Him to lead us because we know Him, and we know He will never lead us in the wrong direction.

Share a time when you knew God was telling you to do something/go somewhere–even though it might have seemed wrong at the time–and you found out (maybe much later) that it had an impact on those around you or saved you from something.

Blessings,