Daily Devotion with Pastor Tong Liu: Daily Devotion

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english

John 10:19-29

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.

The Lord explains here the relationship between the shepherd and his flock. Although the sheep is very weak, however, the sheep not only can hear the shepherd's voice but also can follow the shepherd. Similarly, in our Christian life, we need to learn 2 things: how to listen to the voice of the Lord and how to follow in the footsteps of the Lord. First, we need to learn to listen to the voice of the Lord. Do you know that God is very pleased to speak to you? In this very busy society, we are often so hurried in God's presence. This is like when our kids come to us and just say "Hi!" and "Bye!" before running out the house. We didn't even get a chance to say a word to them!

We need to spend time to come to God's presence. In addition, when we come to the Lord, don't just chatter non-stop, but learn to first be quiet before God and wait on him. Why do we need to learn to wait on God? It is because when we start to pray, our hearts will always have a lot of distracting thoughts. I remember after every Sunday service, at night when I kneel before God's presence to pray, the first thoughts that come to my mind are: "Ah! I'm in trouble! I didn't take out the garbage yet! They are coming to pick up tomorrow!" Every time when you quiet down, different kind of thoughts will come in. Therefore, we need to spend time to quietly wait on God, letting God's Spirit take away all the distracting thoughts. Then we will be able to hear what God wants to say to us.

Listening to the voice of the Lord is a very important discipline. However, we not only need to listen to the Lord's voice, but we need to follow the Lord. One time in the meeting, the speaker asks us, "From the time you know God wants you to do something to the time that you gladly go do it, how long does that usually take?" Is it one month? Two months? A year? Two years? Or even ten years? Brothers and sisters, when we hear the voice of the Lord, are we glad and willing to follow him? May God help us, so that we not only hear his voice, but we also gladly and willingly follow and walk in his footsteps.

Pray with Pastor Tong

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Dear Lord, please help me so that I not only learn to listen to your voice, but also have an obedient heart to follow in your footsteps. May your grace and mercy be revealed in my life and may you grant me your favor. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, Amen!