John 10:7-18\u00a0<\/b>–\u00a0<\/i>So Jesus again said to them,\u00a0\u201cTruly, truly, I say to you,\u00a0I am the door of the sheep.\u00a08\u00a0All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.\u00a09\u00a0I am the door. If anyone enters by me,\u00a0he will be saved and will go in and out and\u00a0find pasture.\u00a010\u00a0The thief comes only to steal and\u00a0kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.\u00a011\u00a0I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd\u00a0lays down his life for the sheep.\u00a012\u00a0He who is\u00a0a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and\u00a0leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and\u00a0scatters them.\u00a013\u00a0He flees because\u00a0he is a hired hand and\u00a0cares nothing for the sheep.\u00a014\u00a0I am the good shepherd.\u00a0I know my own and\u00a0my own know me,\u00a015\u00a0just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and\u00a0I lay down my life for the sheep.\u00a016\u00a0And\u00a0I have other sheep that are not of this fold.\u00a0I must bring them also, and\u00a0they will listen to my voice. So there will be\u00a0one flock,\u00a0one shepherd.\u00a017\u00a0For this reason the Father loves me,\u00a0because\u00a0I lay down my life that I may take it up again.\u00a018\u00a0No one takes it from me, but\u00a0I lay it down\u00a0of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and\u00a0I have authority to take it up again.\u00a0This charge I have received from my Father.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cI am the door. If anyone enters by me,\u00a0he will be saved and will go in and out and\u00a0find pasture.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n
Jesus said that all of those who love Him, who trust Him with everything that they are, can \u201cgo in and out and find pasture.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0What a profound promise that is for us while we live here on earth and extends into eternity.\u00a0\u00a0This invaluable, exciting and powerful promise, what it really is, will sound crazy to both the unredeemed and also to those who never learned how to approach Jesus through the leading of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0\u00a0But to us who have been taught, who have learned, who listen to the loving, nurturing, indispensable Holy Spirit, do or will know the meaning of this.<\/p>\n
It should trouble those who don\u2019t understand the words \u201cgo in and out.<\/i>\u201d As with everything that Jesus says, He meant and means it. So considering these words, what was He talking about?\u00a0\u00a0Certainly He was not referring to Heaven (for this discussion, as is commonly considered, Heaven is the dwelling place of God which all who love Jesus will dwell with God). It is easy to deduce that Heaven is not what Jesus was to referring to because once in Heaven we will never walk in and out of it but shall forever dwell in the presence of God, with God.\u00a0\u00a0So what the pasture that we can go in and out of is not our eternal dwelling place because once there, we are forever there.<\/p>\n
So then where is this pasture that only Jesus is the Door to, that only Jesus can open to us and that is a place that we can go in and out of?\u00a0\u00a0First of all it is the spiritual position of being in favor with God through Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0No person can enter the pasture unless in favor with God through the Savior and Master Jesus the Christ Himself \u201cIf anyone enters by me<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0King David declared \u201cHe makes me lie down in green pastures.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0(Psalm 23:2<\/b>)\u00a0\u00a0King David knew and loved Jesus.<\/p>\n
Sure for David the Lord often brought him to green pastures during his shepherding of sheep days, but it was more than that.\u00a0\u00a0It was a place of rest, of peace, and of companionship with the Lord.\u00a0\u00a0It was a place of protection, where the Lord God, the great Shepherd, protected the earthly shepherd with His \u201crod and staff<\/i>\u00a0(figuratively).<\/i>\u201d It was a place of fellowship with God and that pasture that David mentioned is still available to us.\u00a0\u00a0Jesus still calls to us, His sheep, to come and rest in this peaceful place and joyful places.\u00a0\u00a0He still calls us to the hillsides to join the multitudes of followers and be with Him.\u00a0\u00a0And He still calls us to the place of solitude with Him.\u00a0\u00a0The Holy Spirit leads, Jesus welcomes us with open arms and the Father approves and gives His peace and approval. (Matthew 11:28-30<\/b>)<\/p>\n
The pasture is a place of being with the Lord.\u00a0\u00a0It is when we seek and find Him and spend time with Him.\u00a0\u00a0We can remember being in a quiet place with the Lord and the pure peace that enters us.\u00a0\u00a0You see this is a place that we here on earth can be with Him for times and at all times.\u00a0\u00a0During a hectic day at work.\u00a0\u00a0When life is full we can seek and find pasture with Him at any time and at all times.\u00a0\u00a0No trouble and no busyness can separate us from the pasture that today, that every day, we can go in and out of the pasture. It is being wrapped in His love from which we can never be separated. (Romans 8:38-39<\/b>)\u00a0\u00a0As David described it is the best place.\u00a0\u00a0It is where we long to be.\u00a0\u00a0We don\u2019t need to wait till we die and go to Heaven, Jesus made it available to us now by His saving work.\u00a0\u00a0So if you\u2019ve never learned how to visit the pasture, and how to live in it, pray to the Holy Spirit to lead you.\u00a0\u00a0He will, He is calling to you right now.\u00a0\u00a0He will lead you to the Door and the door will open for you.\u00a0\u00a0Have a time with Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0Stay there as long as you desire.\u00a0\u00a0Leave when you have to and rush back with excitement.\u00a0\u00a0Once you know the way, it\u2019s your privilege.\u00a0\u00a0Family and Friends, enjoy the presence of God today, it is part of God\u2019s plan for us.\u00a0\u00a0Praise our God, our Shepherd and Door, praise God.\u00a0\u00a0Oh how good to lay down in His pasture.\u00a0\u00a0To rest in Him.\u00a0\u00a0Oh praise God!<\/p>\n
Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will Hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has\u00a0shown you, Oh man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; and what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of you, but\u00a0to do justly, to love\u00a0mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.<\/i><\/p>\n
Numbers 6:24-26<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0bless you and keep you; 25\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0turn His face\u00a0toward you and give you peace.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
John 10:7-18\u00a0–\u00a0So Jesus again said to them,\u00a0\u201cTruly, truly, I say to you,\u00a0I am the door of the sheep.\u00a08\u00a0All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.\u00a09\u00a0I am the door. If anyone enters by me,\u00a0he will be saved and will go in and out and\u00a0find pasture.\u00a010\u00a0The thief comes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[100,101,94,1874,17,10],"class_list":["post-2978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-john","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-psalm","tag-romans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2978"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2979,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2978\/revisions\/2979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}