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Today’s Devotional – January 15th

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THE GOOD SHEPHERD FINDS US

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Does the shepherd find the lost sheep?

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Or do the lost sheep find the shepherd?

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There are many who are confused as to just “who found who?”. Because there are so many passages that urge us to seek the Lord, many mistakenly assume that the sheep find the Shepherd, when just the opposite is true! The Good Shepherd finds us, not we Him!

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Listen…“What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.” John 15:4, 5

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From this passage we can conclude that it is the shepherd who finds and brings back that one little lost lamb!

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Brooklyn Museum – The Good Shepherd Le bon pasteur James Tissot – Wikpedia – US-public-domain.jpg

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SHEPHERD SEEKS US

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Just listen to this passage about lost souls…“In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” 2nd Timothy 2:25, 26

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Notice that the above passage declares that it is God who gives a man repentance.

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Does this above verse give any hope that we can somehow pluck our own selves out of Satan’s web of deceit and sin?

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Do we imagine that we can somehow create in our own heart, the Spirit of repentance?

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No, repentance is the gift of God, as the above passage makes perfectly clear.

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Listen again… “if God peradventure will give them repentance…”

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GOOD SHEPHERD FINDS US

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For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search My sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out My sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.” Ezekiel 34:11, 12

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No, God is the Good Shepherd who comes searching for His lost sheep in the cloudy and dark day. God is the One who finds us in places of danger and destruction.

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He is the Good Shepherd who takes His rod and staff, and hooks us, pulling us up into the safety of His everlasting arms, and carries us on His shoulders back to the sheepfold.

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Just listen to the next passage… “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit” John 15:16.

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Salvation is the gift of God. “All we like sheep have gone astray”, says the Scriptures. (Isaiah 53:6)

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Aurlandsveien sheep – cropped image – Wikimedia Commons – Share-alike License & GNU free license

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TODAY’S PRAYER…

“Dear Lord, Help me to understand that my Salvation is a gift and not something that I discovered. Help me to understand what the Good Shepherd did for me…

Woman Praying – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

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READ MORE…

To explore deeper into this subject, please read… “Orion, The Good Shepherd”,or you may also read…FEBRUARY 8 (Free-will? What Free-will? Part 5: Salvation by Good Works)

Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license

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THE END

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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN

Info & pics of constellations on this site from Wikipedia & International Astronomical Union (click here)

 

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ORION, THE GOOD SHEPHERD

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This star-chart to the left, from Wikipedia, has Orion The Reaper sketched in by the editor of this website.

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But with the addition of a single star, Theta Geminorum (the left hand of the Castor twin of Gemini), the sickle in Orion, the Reaper’s hand (sketch to left), now extends the blade, thus transforming that sickle into the hook of a shepherd’s rod and staff. And so now this little Gemini star becomes the tip of Orion’s Shepherd’s rod & staff. Thus with this additional star, Orion the Reaper Constellation now becomes the 5th personality of Orion: The Good Shepherd (sketch below right). Theta Geminorum is a class A3, 4th magnitude star, which means it is much fainter than either of the stars, Castor or Pollux. But faint as This little star may be, it nevertheless presents a giant concept, turning Orion’s sickle into a shepherd’s rod. And this is a very wonderful and beautiful Bible truth: namely, that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, as is written…

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“As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out My sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.” Ezekiel 34:12

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And so God has placed this Starry Shepherd in the winter-night heavens to remind us of His great love for a planet which has wandered away: just like sheep that wandered to where the grass looked greener.

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ABOVE WIKIPEDIA STAR-CHART: Orion the reaper – Wikipedia star-chart (with the Reaper drawn over by this website)

ABOVE WIKIPEDIA STAR-CHART – winter – Orion the Good Shepherd (Orion Constellation and rod made of Gemini stars – with the Shepherd drawn over by this website) – www.signsofheaven.org

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To explore deeper into this subject, please read…

“Orion, The Good Shepherd”

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TOMORROW…

Today’s Devotional – January 16th (How To Love Your Enemies)

ABOVE PICTURE – Starry Night at La Silla – cropped – Wikimedia – Share-Alike license

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20 MINUTE+ AUDIO STUDY IN JEREMIAH 

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ALL ‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) ARE ENCOURAGED TO BEGIN FOLLOWING THIS 650+ AUDIO BIBLE STUDY THROUGH THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH EACH DAY ON THIS DAILY DEVOTIONAL.

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THIS IS STUDY #15 IS PRESENTED BY THE LATE HAROLD CAMPING, FORMER CEO OF FAMILY RADIO…

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Prophet Jeremiah – www.christianimagesource.org – Public Domain

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