My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
– John 10:27
Oh, I love John 10. It is filled with such incredible imagery of Jesus as the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep and protects them, cares for them, won’t let anyone snatch them out of his hand.
John 10:27 Pictures Jesus as Our Guiding Shepherd
And in John 10:27, I love this picture, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I think about a shepherd I heard share recently. His name is Daryl, and he was sharing about how he leads his sheep, and they know his voice. He said, “If anybody else were to come and call my sheep to do this or that, the sheep would not respond. But when he speaks, they respond.” This is what sheep do. They know the voice of the shepherd and they follow him.
Oh, don’t you want that to be true of your life today? Just think about today and we want this every day. But today that you would live hearing His voice, Him knowing you, and you following His voice. It’s interesting. I use the illustration sometimes of how obviously we don’t know everything Jesus is leading us to do in a given day, like where to go, eat if we’re going out to eat or what to do in this or that moment.
That’s, we don’t have a word from God in the Bible about every detail of our day today. But that doesn’t mean that his voice can’t lead us. He’s put His spirit inside of us in such a way that when we meditate on His word that we do have, we study His word, we hide it in our heart. We’re getting familiar with His voice so that as we make decisions during the day, that we are familiar with the voice of Jesus. We’re familiar with His spirit and how He leads us.
John 10:27 Lead Us to Listen to the Voice of God
And so, to live today, listening to His voice in His word and then, following His voice as He leads us by His spirit according to His word. God, we praise you for the privilege of being your sheep, of hearing your voice, knowing your voice, and you, knowing us. You seeing us right now. Every one of us, loving us and caring for us and speaking to us. God, help us to meditate on your word day and night, to hide it in our hearts, to memorize it and then, to live according to it, to follow the leadership of your voice by your spirit according to your word today.
God, we pray that John 10:27 would mark us today as sheep that we would hear your voice, you knowing us and us following you help us to follow your voice today, wherever, however you lead us. And God, we think about what Jesus said earlier in John 10, how you have other sheath that are not of this fold that you’re bringing in and they’ll listen to your voice.
God, we pray that you would bring in other sheep today through us. Help us to follow your voice and share your word with somebody else today. Help us to be an instrument in your hand, of your voice speaking to others today. Oh, what a thought. God, help us to faithfully share your voice, your truth, the gospel with somebody else today and draw sheep into the fold today. I pray for that right around discovery.
Praying for the Rangrez People
We pray for the Rangrez people of Bangladesh, Muslim people group, God send laborers to bring in sheep from that fold. We pray to the Rangrez, people of Bangladesh. Oh, God, we praise you as our Shepherd and we pray that you help us to follow you, in your voice as your sheep today. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
