Today’s Reading:
John 10
Nehemiah 6
Ecclesiastes 3
Ephesians 2
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”
John 10:1-5 NASB1995
I heard the Spirit of the Living God say,
My sheep know My voice, and they follow it. They are not drawn off course by another. The voices of others neither interest them nor tempt them in any way. My little lambs follow Me. They have no interest in outside voices. They know to trust Me. They know I Am their Source. Trust like it all depends on Me. Because it does. And diligently do the work I have put in your hands. Build the enterprises, the ministries, the networks, the tools…whatever it is that I have put in your heart, have given you blueprints for in your heart.
Now when it was reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, to Geshem the Arab and to the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall, and that no breach remained in it, although at that time I had not set up the doors in the gates, then Sanballat and Geshem sent a message to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together at Chephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they were planning to harm me. So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?”
Nehemiah 6:1-3 NASB1995
Sovereignty rules. I Am Your Sovereign and in Me you are sovereign. I have given you total agency, total free will. Therefore, you are sovereign. You don’t need a man or agency or government to sanction who I say you are. You are who I say you are, and I have commissioned you to do what I have made you to do, what I have designed you and built you and inspired you to do. So do what I have entrusted you to do — even when it doesn’t make sense, even when the chips look down, even when those surrounding you grumble, complain or criticize your work because they cannot see the picture I have emblazoned on your heart. Even when they mock you, because they have the same spirit as Sanballat and Tobiah, press on. Move forward. I have entrusted you with a great work. Will you not complete it? Will you not build it simply because you do not see the final outcome? No, you must build.
What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils? I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves. He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime;
Ecclesiastes 3:9-12 NASB1995
Spring is a time of warring, planting and building. I have called you to all three. Know your place. Know where you are to war to protect what I have given you, to expand your territory and to bring greater freedom to those who do and who will live inside My Kingdom. Know what you are to plant, so you reap a good reward. And know what it is you are to build, so that My Kingdom expands by the work of your hands and the words of your mouth. True mettle is seen in the ones who war well in wartime, who plant correctly in My ordained planting time and who build the structures I’ve put on their hearts in the right season. This is a full season, and it calls for much attention, much diligence, much faithfulness and much trust. But you have it in you, because it’s written in the code of who I made you to be. Don’t forfeit your birthright. Remain watchful. Remain diligent. And plow ahead.
I’ve called you to a life of difference — to make a difference, to look different and do life differently. Don’t shrink back from that. Don’t run away or hide from that. Embrace it. Because in you, I Am writing a new template. In you, I’m revealing what is possible. This is your new day. Embrace it with joy, and don’t look back.
How to Respond
- Trust the Lord, and heed only His voice.
- Pray, Lord, thank You that You guide me, that You designed me and that You tailor-made good works for me do which You planned in advance. Help me to reject every voice that is not aligned with Yours. Help me to know the places You’ve called me to war, to plant and to build in this season. I want to trust You with my whole heart, and I want to make You proud with the work that I do.
- Declare, For by grace I have been saved through faith; and that not of myself, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so I cannot boast. For I am His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that I would walk in them.
— Ephesians 2:8-10 NASB1995 - Decree, The Lord is faithful, trustworthy and true. He is my Sovereign and my Creator, so I trust Him with my whole life and future. He made me, so He knows better than anyone who He made me to be and what He designed me to do. I will heed His voice of instruction even when it doesn’t make sense and even when I can’t see or understand the final outcome. The Lord is always setting me up for success, so I will war, plant and build according to what He has put in my heart.
For more encouragement from The Glory & New Wine, check out the post from this day in years past:
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