Sept 27, 2020 … Prone To Wander

Berry Patch Devotions in 2020 - Day 271 

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...     Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from Chris Rice singing a modern version of the old hymn … Come Thou Fount … poignantly singing of how we, like sheep, are “prone to wander” from the One we love, … our Good Shepherd.    

Oh, how we are prone to wander ... 

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Highlight Passage:  Luke 15:6 [ESV] ... 

6 And when he [the shepherd] comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ …  

…    Jesus tells of our the Good Shepherd will seek out and find any of His sheep who have wandered and are lost.  

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Highlight Passage [Context]: …   Luke 15:1-10 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK … 

… Jesus’ parables of how a “good shepherd” will do all He can to retrieve a lost sheep … and when a lost coin is found to illustrate how the angels celebrate when any lost sinner repents of his/her sin.    

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Reference Passage: …  Proverbs 3:5-6   [ESV] …   

5  Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  6  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.   

… With hearts that tend to wander toward greener pastures, we have a tendency to follow our own way rather than that of our “Good Shepherd.”   

Reference Passage: …  Isaiah 53:6   [ESV] …   

6  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 

… We are like sheep, prone to wander away from the One, our Good Shepherd, Who watches over all His flock.   

Reference Passage: …  Luke 9:23   [ESV] …   

 23 And He said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  

… Jesus, our Good Shepherd, demands that His “flock” deny ourselves and follow Him. 

Reference Passage: …  John 10:1-4, 11-14  [ESV] …  USE THIS LINK … 

… Jesus declares Himself to be our “Good Shepherd” watching over ALL those who come into His flock as sent to Him by His Good Father.  

My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Cindy Hess Kasper, AT THIS LINK  uses the word picture of cows or sheep, grazing in a pasture, and tending to wander off to find greener grass.  And then the author likens any of us to those sheep who, in the Bible, are often compared to wandering sheep. 

And Jesus used that word picture, didn’t He, when used the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin (see highlight passage) to illustrate how heaven celebrates when a repentant lost soul is found and brought back into God’s flock?  Yes, as the old hymn, sung by Chris Rice in the linked song, sings, … we, like sheep, are “prone to wander” from our Good Shepherd.  

But today, I pray we all respond to the call of our Good Shepard and come back to Him [see John 10 passages] to follow Him wherever He leads us [see Luke 9:23].

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, … for being my (our) Good Shepherd.  

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me today, to come back to follow our Good Shepherd WHEREVER He leads us.    .… Amen

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Blogger Note:  Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries.  If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.