Sheep in the Sheepfold | Lesson 7

 And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.  -Mark 6:36

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Spring .. Sheep .. Passover .. Resurrection Day Celebrations

Oh to God be the glory! Great things he hath done!  

In this lesson we are going to be looking at the mercy of the LORD toward his children.  As we grow in our understanding of godly fear, the LORD also opens our eyes and hearts to the great love he has toward his children.  In this we find comfort, strength, courage, and joy -- IN GOD by his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ the precious Lamb of God!

O my soul, rest thou in God.

As the day of the LORD  fast approaches, evil is increasing on every side.   Scripture warns us: Colossians 2:8  Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.  And in Luke 21:36  Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

With all our watching, we can become weary, overwhelmed, and discouraged.  During this study, we are spending more time before the LORD and sometimes it feels as if the devil is relentless..."when it rains it pours" ... and in our weariness, even in our praying for others, we can unwittingly give the devil a foothold in our thoughts and in our day.

The LORD says,  And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Galatians 6:9  Where do we find the strength to keep going? to keep watch? to keep praying?

When walking a committed life with God, the devil WILL bombard us with thoughts to draw us out of the secret place of the Most High.  The devil IS SEEKING to DEVOUR YOU and your loved ones.  Bunyan explains some of this to us in pages 18 - 26 of The Treatise of the Fear of God.  Bunyan wrote to his fellow Christians who were under the rule of the Roman Catholic Church.  In Bunyan's day, The Roman Catholics were the religion that dominated everything.  They were keen on using guilt to keep the people in subjection to their religion.  They were masters of using guilt to lord over the people.  So then when the people did find Jesus to be their true Saviour, the devil began to eat at their thought life.  

In our day, (and I believe it is the end of days) the religion of guilt isn't so much a factor.  For we live as Jesus said in Luke 17:26-27, in the days of Noah.  What was going on in the days of Noah??  Read Genesis 6.  There we see in verse 5  And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Yep, that about sums up the world today. YIKES!  

In other words, our day is full of the LACK of the fear of God, or any thought of righteousness at all. We are vexed on all sides... there is so much evil ...every where.  And for that reason, we MUST watch and pray.  We MUST hold on to the anchor of our soul -- JESUS CHRIST, the precious Lamb of God.  

I want that you would be encouraged and strengthened today.  You are a child of the Most High God if you have accepted Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Saviour, your Redeemer and God.  And as a child of God, the LORD lovingly refers to you as his sheep and Jesus is your Good Shepherd.  This brings us to the bulk of our lesson today.  

Read John 10  

Watch this video first 

Write down what you learned:

Satan, that old devil, will attempt to draw you away from the loving care of your Great Shepherd.  But you, dear Reader, are not ignorant to the wiles of the devil.  

1. You are watching and praying.  
2. You read the written Word of God daily
3. You cast your cares on the LORD for he cares for you.  
4. You are not full of cares because you have presented your requests before the LORD with prayer and thanksgiving.
5. You are a doer of the Word and not just a hearer

Hebrews 13:20  Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 

The LORD has sealed you by his Holy Spirit and has called you his own  1 John 3:1  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 

Romans 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 

The Lord God will keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus and he will give you the peace that passes understanding. Philippians 4:6-8

Now watch this video  

Your homework this week is to write out and meditate on all these verses.  

Here are the references again: 

• Luke 21:36
• Colossians 2:8
• Hebrews 13:20
• I John 2:1 
• Romans 8:15

Read again with a tender heart Psalm 23

Memorize Philippians 4:6-8

Be strong in the LORD and in the power of his might!!
until next time,
~Cristina