“My sheep know me and hear my voice and follow me.” 

That is something Jesus said.  He is the shepherd, and we are His sheep (John chapter 10).  And sheep always know the voice of their shepherd to be able to follow him.

I have a really good friend who was in Africa one time.  She was leaving her hotel room and realized her key to lock the door was still in the room.  She heard a voice in her thoughts telling her not to get the key and that God would protect her things, but decided she really needed the key and went back in.  The floor was slippery and she fell, breaking her arm.  It was broken so badly, she had to fly home right away to have surgery on it!

One time I traveled to Arizona to help my son move back to Wisconsin.  I heard a voice in my thoughts telling me to pack my sneakers, but that didn’t make sense because all I needed was my flip flops in the warm weather.  When I got there, I had to go out and buy a new pair of sneakers and socks because it wasn’t safe carrying lots of heavy things down a flight of stairs in flip flops.

My friend and I both look back and know God was speaking to us.  We both had a price to pay for not being good followers of the voice of our Shepherd.  The more we practice something, the better we get at doing it.  Take some time right now and practice listening for God’s voice.  He always has something to say to us.  What is He saying to you right now?

Have you ever seen a Chinese finger trap?You stick one of your fingers in each end, and when you pull to get your fingers out, it actually tightens on you and your fingers get stuck. You are trapped! That makes me think about the choices we make. When we make bad choices it can “trap” us. What looks harmless now, can keep us from doing other things we want to do or even what God wants us to do later in our lives. Making bad choices now can trap us down the road. God wants us to make good choices so that we don’t get trapped by the bad choices we make.

If you don’t have a Chinese finger trap, maybe you can get your mom to pick one up at your local dollar store. When you try to pull your fingers out, think about how the enemy wants to trap you and cause you to do things his way. But if you relax your fingers and actually push them together, it is like speaking the name of Jesus, and trusting Him to do things His way. He will pull you up out of the trap the enemy set for you, just like you will be able to pull your fingers out of that Chinese finger trap.

If I put a pan of cookies in the oven to bake, when I pull the pan out will I have a cake?  Of course not!  What I put in is what will come out.  It is the exact same thing in our lives.  What I put in my mind through what I see and hear, is what will come out of my mouth.  What I put in will have a powerful effect on what I believe and what I do.

If the enemy can get your mind, he’s got YOU!   If you  spend all your time being entertained by the world, you will dull your spirit.  Your daydreams will be scenes from movies, or something you saw on TV or a video game, or read in a book. It won’t be very easy to hear God talk to you and to be used to do awesome things for His kingdom.

In other words, it is very important to choose on purpose what you put into your mind.  When you do things like spending time reading your Bible, listening to Godly music, watching movies about God and His Word and those who their lives for God, you will have a mind set to be used by God for things like healing the sick, and even things like casting out demons and raising the dead!