Today’s Reading:
Philippians 4
John 10
Psalm 18
Nehemiah 8
Psalm 100
Keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising him always.
Philippians 4:8 TPT
I heard the Spirit of the Living God say,
I desire for you to have a magnetic attraction to goodness and an innate repulsion to evil. This is how I designed you. This is why like attracts like. So delight in My goodness. Surround yourself by goodness, by people who love purity and goodness.
Good people will taste your goodness. And to those who are loyal to you, you love to prove that you are loyal and true. And for those who are purified, they find you always pure. But you’ll outwit the crooked and cunning with your craftiness.
Psalms 18:25-26 TPT
This is the time where I Am assembling My sheep. I Am drawing My sheep together in this time. The time for them to be out in the wild, roaming unprotected is closed. I will not leave you out to be picked off by wolves, lions and bears any longer. I Am your good shepherd, and I have put a good shepherd in place to care for you and watch over you. Look at how our boundaries are defined again. This is a blessing, and it is Biblical for you to have boundaries, for you to know your boundaries and for the enemy to understand that there are consequences for breaching those boundaries — for trespassing beyond those boundaries. First in the natural and then in the spiritual.
Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed the Lord the great God. And all the people answered, “Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands; then they bowed low and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, explained the law to the people while the people remained in their place. They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading.
Nehemiah 8:5-8 NASB1995
The boundary lines for your nation have been reestablished. And so I Am reestablishing through My shepherd, My appointed and anointed shepherd moral and spiritual boundaries again. This is like the time of Nehemiah. The walls and fortifications have been rebuilt. The people are now being assembled. And the word will be spoken to over you. The law will be made plain to you. This is the time of the solemn assembly that gives way to a commanded time of thanksgiving, blessing and joy. It is good to have righteous laws and understand them. This protects the sheep and the rights of the sheep.
Jesus said to the Pharisees, “Listen to this eternal truth: The person who sneaks over the wall to enter into the sheep pen, rather than coming through the gate, reveals himself as a thief coming to steal. But the true Shepherd walks right up to the gate, and because the gatekeeper knows who he is, he opens the gate to let him in. And the sheep recognize the voice of the true Shepherd, for he calls his own by name and leads them out, for they belong to him. And when he has brought out all his sheep, he walks ahead of them and they will follow him, for they are familiar with his voice. But they will run away from strangers and never follow them because they know it’s the voice of a stranger.”
John 10:1-5 TPT
You are not being gathered into a place with firm boundaries to hem you in. This is for your protection and for your great freedom. Beware of false boundaries. Beware of the false boundaries of unrighteous law, of mammon and the strings attached to it and of religion. My holy, designated righteous strong boundaries give you freedom of movement, and you can see your surroundings clearly. The false boundaries of mammon, religion and unrighteous laws box you in. They hem you in and constrain you. Desire to know the difference. Seek Me to know the difference.
You have been living simultaneously in a wide-open unprotected plain, ripe for vicious attack; and you have been constrained and bound, unable to see your surroundings because of the false boundaries that have encircled you. Now is the time for a reestablishment of the understanding of appropriate boundaries — holy and righteous boundaries that constrain evil but give freedom to My sheep.
How to Respond
- Spend time in the Lord’s Word and dwell on His goodness.
- Worship with a thankful heart.
- Pray, Holy Spirit thank You for gathering Your sheep. Thank You for returning us to a protected place of established boundaries. Thank You that You are our good shepherd, and You have given a good shepherd to watch over us. Help me to recognize and rejoice over righteous laws that give appropriate boundaries. And help me to stand up and reject the constraints of unrighteous laws, the allure of mammon that is essentially a bribe and the constraints of religion. I want to live freely inside the bounds of the sheepfold You have designed for us as a place of protection.
- Declare, Know that the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations.
Psalms 100:3-5 NASB1995 - Decree, The voice of the Lord I know and the voice of a stranger I will not follow. The Lord is drawing His sheep back into a place of protection. He is assembling us now in this protected place for a plain reading of the law. When it is explained to us, we will understand all that has been done in ignorance to the law of the Lord. And we will go out from there in celebration, thanksgiving and great blessing. I will delight in the boundaries provided by the Lord through His Word and through righteous laws of the land. And I will refuse unrighteous laws, the allure of mammon and the constraints of religion.
For more encouragement from The Glory & New Wine, check out the post from this day in years past:
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