Thoughts Reflections and Inspirations

The Good Shepherd laid down His life for you and me because He loved us. This event happened about 2000 years ago. He stills loves us as much today as He did when He went to the cross. The only way you can come to know this in your every day walk of life is if you walk closely with Him.

If you have a close friend, you will enjoy talking about life, doing things together, planning together. The Good Shepherd said, “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” John 15:15. He has a lot He would like to show you and talk to you about. Being a servant to the Good Shepherd is great but He wants more. He wants your friendship and in that kind of relationship you will realize more and more the great love He has for you.

So many today experience the dark forces of depression settling down upon their lives. I know what that feels like. I’ve had to battle that spirit repeatedly through life. So often people get pills to help them cope with this. There is a better answer, a sure cure. It’s the Good Shepherd. He has a jealous love over you, but your part is to ask. Turn away from all else and ask. Ask for deliverance from the darkness that would cover you like a blanket.

What a cure for depression! “Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” This joy has it’s foundation in the peace of God. Peace with the Good Shepherd who Himself said, “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” John 10:11

When a person can accept that the Good Shepherd loved us, me and you personally, so much that he gave His life and poured out His blood to buy us back from Satan and sin, it should move us to trust Him.

We as human beings are extremely precious in His sight. How can we know that? How can we be sure about this? This really makes all the difference in the world. Here is how we know. The Good Shepherd said, ” Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for His friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” John 15:13, 14

The love of the Good Shepherd is available to all people, but we must receive that love. How do we do that? One way is to receive His promises. How do we receive His promises? By believing them! If you have accepted and believed that He loves you, you can then receive and believe what He says.

This is how you enter into the reality of “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” He then can cause you to lay down in green pastures, and lead you beside the still waters.

The Good Shepherd, which is Jesus, has everything His Father has. “All things that the Father hath are mine…” James 16:15. So His riches in glory are inexhaustible. It is the Good Shepherd’s pleasure to supply us with His resources; “forget not all his benefits:” Psalms 103:2-5:

– Who forgiveth all thine iniquities

– Who healeth all thy diseases

– Who redeemeth thy life from destruction

– Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies

– Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things

– So that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s

– And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. I John 5:11

– …hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him…II Peter 1:3

– And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: II Corinthians 9:8

– For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. II Corinthians 1:20

If Jesus Christ is your Good Shepherd, then all the promises of God also belong to you by right of inheritance. Find them, ask Him to show them to you. After that do what the Good Shepherd told you to do in John 16:24. “Hitherto have he asked nothing in my name: ask, and he shall receive, that your joy may be full,”

Once you are fully in with the Good Shepherd, you bring your dependence on Him, too. We love to be independent, especially so men. Sooner or later like the man in two canoes, the waters of life become turbulent. Often it takes some of that to cause us to see the need of the Good Shepherd.

In James 1:5-8, it says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveh to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

The man with his feet in two canoes was double-minded. He was trying to play it safe and by so doing, set himself up for disaster. You cannot be half way trusting the Lord and with the other half going your own way. This is why so many find that the promises of God don’t seem to work for them. The above scripture tells us if we waver we should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Double mindedness brings instability. Double mindedness comes from unbelief. Unbelief comes from not knowing the Good Shepherd. We don’t need to be part of that crowd, but with them who believe to the saving of the soul.

If the Good Shepherd is so eager to help us and his supply is limitless, then why do so many say, “Well, I tried that and it doesn’t work for me.” They’ll say, “I prayed but it just doesn’t help.”

I have spent many hours in a canoe. A canoe is very useful to travel in, especially on small rivers and small lakes. They are relatively easy to carry or drag when you need to portage from one body of water to the next. But to be successful with a canoe, you need to respect it for what it is. The inexperienced will easily tip it and fall out. To stand up in a canoe while paddling, even an experienced person would find this a challenge.

What would you think if you saw a person floating down the river, standing with one foot in one canoe and the other in a second canoe? That’s disaster waiting to happen. Rivers change just like circumstances in life. Let this double canoer come to some turbulent water where the currents swirl and turn. One canoe will go with one current and the other will go with the other current. The man will end up in the water fighting for his life.

The only successful canoeing is when you are fully in the canoe. Our double canoeing friend thought he would play it safe by having a foot in each canoe. When you are fully in with the Good Shepherd, He will carry you safely to your destination.