Eric Schrotenboer is one of my spiritual mentors. As I was having lunch with him one day, I asked him this: "How do I know I'm following God the right way? How do I know my path is aligned with God and not my own?" What he said to me next has stuck with me ever since, and confirmed to me that I have the right mentors.
He told me that while he was in Israel, he saw a shepherd with his sheep on a path, and the sheep were trained to stay just on the path and eat the grass on the edge, they were not to wander off the path. At times the shepherd would go ahead of the flock so that they could not see him, but he would call them and they would come immediately. Now, the paths kind of split like the picture you see above except they split in more directions. He said "now these sheep, could not see their shepherd but heard him calling them. They wanted to come to where the shepherd was but didn't know which way to go, so they chose a path. Eventually all the paths that split came back to one path, and at the end of that path was the shepherd. The sheep are trained to only respond to the shepherd's voice, and no one else voice. Sometimes, other shepherds would try to steal other shepherd's sheep, so they trained them to respond to only their voice. It doesn't matter which path you take, as long as you listen and follow God's voice".
Jesus is often referred to as "The Shepherd", the flock being His children of believers. John 10:27 says: "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me"
The path is represented as your walk with God in life. The shepherd's voice is Jesus directing your life, and the other voices trying to get you to turn and stray from God is sin and evil. If you come to know God's voice, and hear Him when he calls you, then no matter which way you go, as long as you listen to Him, you will always be in line with God. The different paths represent the choices and decisions you make. Everyday we say "should I do this? or this?", as long as we hear what God has to say about our plans, and follow Him, it always come back to God. As long as you follow God and obey His commands, pursue a intimate love relationship with Him and not stray from that, then everything will work out. We are the sheep, listening to the Shepherd's voice, and at the end of that path waiting is Jesus. Do you struggle with hearing Him? I know I do sometimes. But just remember that God doesn't speak JUST to hear Himself speak. Usually God speaks to reveal something about His ways or purposes. He usually speaks to invite you to adjust to Him, so that He may complete His work through you. There will be many things trying to get you to stray from the path my brave fellow sheep, don't listen to it because it will only distance you from God. We make decisions everyday, if you're worried about if it was the right one, don't. All paths that are devoted to God, lead back to God. Want to hear God speak? Read His word, I hear Him speak to me all the time through that alone.
God has truly blessed me with mentors such as Eric, Ray, Roy and Lee. It's good that you surround yourself with godly counsel, in fact the Bible even commands it, but God spoke to me the other night and showed me that 1 individual is not the entire church. You see, God speaks through the church to confirm what He is doing through you in your life. It's like an "outside looking in" perspective. They see what God is doing in you, then they reflect and confirm it to you. Sometimes we depend on just 1 individual's input, which isn't at all bad, but sometimes it is always good to get other's opinion so you get multiple views, and if they all align with the same principle, that my friend it is in line with God. Find some godly people in your life to guide you in your walk with Christ. I have the best mentors and godly counsel I could ever ask for, and without them I wouldn't be where I'm at today. God can speak through them, and we can hear His voice. Remember it isn't always the path you take, just as long as you're hearing the direction in your life calling you.
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