Good Shepherd

Hosea 6:1 (NKJV):

Come, and let us return to the Lord; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up.

Psalm 147:3 (NKJV):

³ He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.

In the Middle East one of the old traditional ways to guard and tend for the sheep is by making them aware of the Shepherd`s voice. When a stubborn sheep or a ewe doesn`t listen to the shepherd repeatedly, the shepherd breaks both legs of the disobedient sheep/ewe and carries that animal on his shoulders for the whole period of healing. The animal learns to eat, drink, and to be transported through the help of the shepherd, and once the sheep healed, a new phase of attachment, bonding, and dependence takes place. The disobedient sheep is no longer disobedient but obedient.

God repeatedly throughout the scriptures painted and illustrated a picture of Jesus being a Good Shepherd carrying for His “sheep”- us human beings. He craves our obedience and bonding. Unfortunately we are sinful and fallen by the nature that we inherited from Adam, so having wicked hearts prevents us voluntarily to abide in Jesus. That`s why the Lord is so loving when He puts us through the discipline just like the Good Shepherd would do to one`s disobedient sheep.

God allows trials, tribulations, and pain into our lives to make us aware and completely dependent upon Him. He is the one who breaks and binds up our wounds. He knows that the temporary pain that we experience is a medicine in a long run for our wicked hearts. I have experienced this kind of discipline in my life where Jesus placed me on his shoulders making me completely dependent upon Him through some desperate and impossible circumstances. I did learn obedience, surrender, and dependence. But most of all, I have experienced the freedom that I have never knew before. His healing carries an unbelievable sense of security knowing that He continues to walk with me and to pick me up when I fall.

As I go through the reconciliation period with my husband requiring to honestly discussing some of the excruciatingly painful subjects, God continues to show me the direction that leads to more freedom and healing. It could never be possible on my own, and I could never get to the place of forgiveness on my own either, but it is through this realization of a constant dependence in the Lord that He gives me strength to do what`s right in His eyes.

¹¹ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep (John 10:11 NKJV).

Jesus once again showed me that as I go through this healing process, He makes me more “independent” once again, and this is a big test to continue abiding in Jesus once the healing is over. As humans we have short circuited memory, and for some reason we easily forget all the blessings, or a pain associated with wrongdoing which prompts us to repeat certain mistakes. I was reminded once again today of this illustration of the Good Shepherd who teaches His sheep to depend and abide in Him in order to be safe from the predators. I was reminded once again to never forget that it was God who broke me down, so He could bind me and carry with Him to show me my inaptness in existing on my own. Healing sheep can run around once again on its own, and so can I now. The more healing takes place, the more independent I become, and this is where the true danger is: to never forget Who is the ultimate Shepherd and whose voice I should never estrange or forget.

We know that our biggest predator is Satan, and the Bible describes him as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour:
⁸ Be sober, be vigilant; because^[c] your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. ⁹ Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. ¹⁰ But may^[d] the God of all grace, who called us^[e] to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you (1 Peter 5:8-10 NKJV).

We have to be vigilant, sober, and be able to resist him with the faith. This is that weapon again that we need so much in our daily walk with the Lord: Faith. Without that we cannot please God, and we cannot survive either because when our “adversary” shoots his fiery darts at us, the only weapon that would help us resist them is the “shield of faith” that God gave us (Ephesians 6:16). The scripture also calls us to be sober and steadfast, and that requires once again us dwelling in the scripture daily. As much background in the bible school and from my personal relationships with the Lord that I have, I still get bombarded with the fiery darts of the adversary, and there are days when I fail to resist them because I either lack faith or patience.

Jesus is our hope, and he is our Savior to continue to guard us and to guide us, but we need to remember of our dependence upon Him at all times.

I have to testify that the Lord blessed me abundantly and comes through for me daily when I face impossible tasks in my marriage or financially. God blesses obedience every single time, and I am no exception. I have to testify that He blessed me with the new job offer that came through just on time for me to be able to tackle my financial hardships. He is faithful! I and my husband started a 40 day Love Dare journey using the dares assigned for each day, and today this is Day 23 for us. It is very hard to complete a task assigned for certain days because it deals with the core of our issues. If He is mighty enough to save my family with all its horrible circumstances and tragic painful past, He can do the same for you.

I am here to testify of the Lord our God being a faithful and true God who is our Good Shepherd and desires to heal those whom He inflicted with wounds in order to spare our lives in a long run. Think about it, if a disobedient sheep would continue to wonder off, the predator would ultimately kill it one day. This is why when we read in 1 Peter 5:10 above, we see that God allows this kind of a discipline through trials and hardships to teach us obedience to His word and most importantly to trust Him. God calls it “suffered awhile”, while I would call it “suffered a lot”, but it doesn`t matter as long as the result would produce the desired outcome for the Lord.

This is why I would encourage you not to estrange the trials and sufferings because our Good Shepherd who inflicts the wounds, He is faithful to bind them and to heal them. The victorious result always outweighs the discipline process. I would encourage you to keep your eyes on Jesus and to never forget that the place of where you are today is all according to His will in order to either break you or to bind you at a place where you are now.

If you are going through the blessing stage where you were healed, please don`t forget of your ultimate dependence upon Jesus in order to be safe and vigilant. The worst danger comes during the times of peace and quiet, and this is why the Bible is so clear about us being sober and steadfast in our faith.

For those of you who go through some bad times in marriage, I will definitely recommend a Love Dare guide with assignments, which is what I`m using because it really helps to break the barriers down and to restore any lost communication. The catch is: You have to do it willingly and obediently!

Do You Really Want To Know God`s Will?

Hebrews 10:36 (NIV):

³⁶ You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.

When I read this verse yesterday, I was overwhelmed by the consolation of the Lord.  All these promises of the Lord that we have that we can hold on to. God reminded me yet again of His presence in my life and of His enduring patience with me. In my Bible the word “persevere” literally is stated as “patience”. I don`t know anyone who would like this word- “Patience”. Who likes to wait? Who likes to endure? Nobody does and I am no exception to that. Yet this is something that became such a big routine of my life, an exercised practice exhibited in my daily walk with the Lord.

As with all of God`s promises, there is a condition. If we would do the will of the Lord, then we will receive what He has promised. Now God spoke this particular verse to me specifically into my heart and into my circumstances. There were particular things that He wanted me to admit that I didn`t feel I had to do in light of my husband`s ongoing behavior, so I kept putting them away until the other party would act better. See, that`s not how God operates. He holds each one of us accountable, so by delaying, I was limiting the work of the Lord in my circumstances. I had to get them out in the open, and regardless of how tough it may have sounded I had to say them out, so I did that yesterday.

Perhaps today you struggle with certain things that you feel like you don`t want to admit to others due to their ungodly or sinful behavior, so this verse is for you as well. Do your part, and fulfill the will of the Lord, so He could bless you in return and provide you with the promise He gave you. God gave me few promises, and I know that He is faithful so long as I will be obedient to Him.

Let`s look at the 3 specific things outlined in this verse above for conditions and the potential outcome:

1. We need to persevere. That means whatever we are doing that he commanded us to do we need to keep doing that. There is a list of things that I am supposed to do, and daily I come to the Lord in need for patience and strength to endure, so to finish this race and receive His promises into my life.

¹³ For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, ¹⁴ saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.”^{[d] 15} And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise (Hebrews 6:13-15 NKJV).

Abraham serves us as a perfect example of exersied patience that he performed obediently walking with the Lord and enduring to the end for 25 years while waiting for his promised son. As we all know God was faithful to fulfill this promise after He challenged Abraham and grew his faith making him into the Father of Faith. That title doesn`t come at a free cost, that`s for sure.

2. The second part of the verse, tells us that we have to do the Will of God in order to receive His promises. The will of God was manifested to us through His Son Jesus specifically, and we definitely need to comply with that. There is also a personal revelation, a specific word of the Lord into one`s heart that He gives as a direction in order to complete His work. This revelation we receive when we commune with Him in our daily time.

If you don`t have a direct word from the Lord into your circumstances and into your life, this is something you can freely ask Him about and seek in your relationships with the Lord. He would be more than faithful to point you to the places or people or specific goals to accomplish.

Of course there is a flip coin to that, sometimes we don`t like to know or hear what the Lord tells us to do because it contradicts our comfortable lifestyle or habits, or finances, etc. The point is, God is faithful to respond when we seek Him, and when we seek Him with our whole heart, so it`s really up to us whether we really want to know His will, so we could fulfill it and receive His promises.

¹² Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:12-13 NKJV).

This is one of my favorite assurances from the Lord that He will listen when I call for Him; that He will respond to me when I seek Him with my whole heart. I can truly testify that He never failed to respond to me when I sought Him earnestly and genuinely.

3.The third section of the verse is the assurance that we have from the Lord of His faithfulness when we stick with our side of the bargain, a.k.a. fulfilling His will: that we will receive His promises.

It all comes down to this: Do we really want to know what His will is?

Afterall, that would mean responsibility to obey it and complete it. There is always this kind of hesitation in our hearts because of the potential burden it may impose on the convenience of our lifestyles. What if the Lord would ask me to give up my house, or my boat, or my job? What if……….

³⁸ For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. ³⁹ This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. ⁴⁰ And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:38-40 NKJV).

Jesus, speaking of Himself, made it clear that He came down to this earth to fulfill the will of the Father, which is the ultimate will for everyone to be in sync with the Father and to be obedient to His will. So the primary will of the Father is for everyone to know Jesus and believe in Him in order to have an everlasting life. This is what`s called: getting saved. We accept Jesus into our hearts as our Lord and Savior, and He becomes our God transforming our lives into the image of the Father. Salvation followed by sanctification process- transformation which is a lifelong process. We don`t stop conforming until the day we die.

This is what Paul wrote to Romans:

² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2 NKJV).

We get transformed by the renewing of our minds through the word of the Lord, and this is why dwelling in the scriptures is so crucial to each believer. This transformation is the tangible factor testifying in one`s life of what this perfect and acceptable will of God is. In other words, when people look at the way I change in my thinking, in my attitude, and in my behavior, it testifies to them of what God did to me and of what His will is. People start to inquire what prompted this kind of transformation, and to us, believers, in return it gives an opportunity to testify of Jesus (of Who He is and what He`s done in our lives).

So this is what we define as a Primary will of the Father, that when we fulfill this part of the condition, He is faithful to bless us to bestow His promise of salvation into each of our lives (get saved and commit our lives to the Lord for complete makeover- transformation).

The secondary will of the Lord, which is something God spoke to me through this verse yesterday, is something He showed me through the list of specific things that He requires me to do as part of the evidence of my transformed lifestyle.

I`ll share with you one of them, just so you have an idea what to look for and what to ask the Lord about when seeking for His will. One of the things He showed me was 1 Peter 2 (the whole chapter), and He told me to do some specific things.

¹⁵ For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— ¹⁶ as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God (1 Peter 2:15-16 NKJV).

In this whole chapter Peter outlines a manual for the believers as to what an attitude and behavior should be of a Christian. I prayed to the Lord for specific things that I should do, and He was faithful to point me to one of these scriptures. I am to do good to those who hurt me or to those who defile me. It`s a tough call, but God`s stakes are always high because it has to do with the lives of the unsaved people: eternity in Heaven or eternity in hell is at stake.

So the verse in Hebrews 10:36 would translate for this particular will of the Father that if I will comply with this requirement(s), He would be faithful to fulfill His promise. He also gave me some definite promises, and I trust the Lord to be faithful to complete them because His word doesn`t return void but finishes what it started.

If you look at these scriptures and you don`t have the secondary will from the Father as to what to do in your life, then you can look at the Primary will and see if it aligns with your lifestyle. God commanded us to be like Jesus, so whatever Jesus did, as we read, we are to called to do too:

³⁹ This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day (John 6:39 NKJV).

We should not return anything in void from what the Lord entrusted us to care for. For those of us who don`t know where to go from the initial stage of salvation (fulfilling the primary will of the Lord), we can start right here: treating with care and wisdom entrusted talents and abilities the Lord assigned us to worship Him with. At the same time we can pray for the Lord to direct us to His specific will for each one of our lives: to open the door for ministry, to help someone, to change something. God is creative enough to challenge us to grow, and I am forever grateful to Him for that.

Let`s not forget that patience is a major virtue that comes at a steep price and requires discipline by walking with the Lord. Let`s endure, let`s persevere to receive all the promises of the Lord that He would love to shower us with!