Good day and welcome to your Kingdom Connection Devotional. For the month of March, in honor of the Teas Rodeo, we will spend time on the Livestock in Christ's Kingdom. I actually laughed when I prayed and asked the Lord what to speak on for March. But He was so clear as He instructed me to speak on the Sheep, the Goats, the Ox and then it was like I lost the connection. Literally for 10 mins, I was lost for a the 4th week's topic and then The Lamb came. So I'm excited! This week we will look at scriptures regarding the The Lost Sheep, The Lead Sheep, The Loved Sheep, The Listening Sheep and The Lying Sheep!
Many of us have heard about the characteristics of the sheep. We understand they aren't extemely bright, they are easily frightened, they can't swim or stand themselves up if they fall over. However sheep are social, have excellent hearing and tend to stick with their shepherd so today let's talk about the one who gets losts.
The fact that the sheep is described as lost suggest that at one point in time it was with the herd. It was once connected to the shepherd and the flock. When you think about it, there are only 2 primary scenarios that sheep will have to get lost. One will be while they are on the move and the other will be when they are in one spot but grazing.
Lost Sheep While On The Move:
There are 3 relatively "very safe" positions for the sheep.
1. Directly next to the shepherd
2. Dead smack in the middle of the herd
3. Closed in with other sheep to the left, right, in front and back.
Once a sheep makes it to the peripheral of the flock, concern and care needs to be applied. Often times, shepherds utilize sheep dogs to control the
outer parameters and they know to bark when a
sheep begins to to get left behind. But without additional assistance, yes a sheep can lag or become hurt and end up lost.
Lost Sheep While Grazing:
Once sheep are led to a place to eat, then their focus and attention leaves the shepherd and even one another and it becomes engrossed with feeding. They focus on feeding so much that the shepherd HAS to stop them. One might imagine a sheep eating and taking a few steps, eating some more and taking a few more steps and if they were already near the peripheral they could wander off. Sheep will wander by nature as well and have no sense of direction.
If you've spent anytime in the Word of God, you've seen multiple scriptures of people being referred to as sheep. The word sheep is used over 500 times in the Bible. It is what God refers to His people as and Christ refers to Himself as the Good Shepherd ( John 10:11) Christ also shared a parable to let us know how important each and everyone of us are to Him personally in Matthew 18:12-13.
12 “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? 13 And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.
Christ wanted us to understand that our Heavenly Father does NOT wish for ONE single person to be lost and perish (vs 14). He has done the miraculous to provide us access to Him. Yet we are LOST when:
1. We He is no longer ruling and reigning within our hearts
2. We do not understand His Words, Will & Way
3. We have no earthly shepherd ,that was sent and appointed by Christ, to lead us, protect us and watch over us so that God's purpose comes to pass in our lives
The Lost Sheep
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