No One

My own sheep will hear my voice and I know each one, and they will follow me. I give to them the gift of eternal life and they will never be lost and no one has the power to snatch them out of my hands.  My Father, who has given them to men as his gift, is the mightiest of all, and no one has the power to snatch them from my Father’s care.  The Father and I are on.   John 10:27-30 TPT

So many voices clamoring for our attention.  Emotionally charged voices everywhere we go, across every part of our lives.  Who are we listening to?  Who is telling us the truth?  Who can we trust?

Even in the most trusted environments such as church and family we can hear the wrong voices.  It is not that people intentionally want to give speak things that are not true but they are sometimes speaking out of what they know, their own agendas and what the world says, not what God says.

There have been several times in my life where this battle against deception and stealing my identity in Christ has been fought in places I would have never expected.  Though the attack came through people and circumstances I knew the enemy was determined to steal my identity in Christ. 

This song was written during one of those fierce battles in my life.  The enemy had distracted me.  I thought my eyes were focused on what was true but manipulative words and man’s ways of doing things had shifted my eyes from the truth of who I was in Christ.   My spirit screamed within me for what was true about my relationship with God and the circumstances that I was facing.  I knew the influences I was encountering were somehow not right.  There was a manipulation that was trying to steal the depth of relationship I had with Jesus and the reality of Holy Spirit in my life.  This voice tried to lure me back into the empty sleep of religion and put God in the box of man’s reality.  This voice was filled with lofty phases and empty noise.  God was not releasing me to leave my circumstances but He assured me He was going to deal with it.    He wanted me where I was and was not going to let me escape from the situation like I so desperately wanted to.   He wanted me to stand in this darkness and know who I was in Him.

I could sense the enemy in the dark spaces, waiting for me to lose heart.  Waiting for me to give up the fight and just give into the cultural and religious norms that were safe in the eyes of man, but I was awake.    I saw the reality of the darkness trying to destroy me and the LIGHT that held me close to His heart through it all.

At my lowest point, my heart broken over the circumstances I heard Jesus tell me to just sit with Him.  Stop listening to the accusing noise around me, quiet my heart and rest in Him.  At that moment I entrusted once again my identity and the cares of this difficult season to Him.  I allowed His light once again to flood my whole being.  I knew He could keep me.   I knew His voice.

 I declared to the enemy, “No one can steal the revelation of Jesus.  No man, not devil can take me from Him.  I reject your plans and your authority.  In Jesus hands I am free.”

This song, “No One,” became my declaration of freedom.

I knew the voice of my Shepherd and I was not going to follow the voice of another.