Epaphras, who is one of you, a slave of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. Col. 4:12
Dear saints, let us pray that the saints would shepherd people out of love for them, an interest in them, a burden for them, and adequate prayer for them, practicing to write down their names, praying for their spiritual welfare constantly, visiting them regularly, bringing them to home meetings, and establishing them in the church life (Rom. 1:9; Col. 4:12; Acts 20:20).
No shepherding can be prevailing if we do not have a love for people, an interest in them, a burden for them, and adequate prayer. Love, interest, burden, and prayer are the essential, basic elements of proper shepherding. Most of us were born with no interest in people. We do not like people, and we do not wish to be bothered by them, invited by them, or visited by them. We would rather live on top of a mountain. This is our natural tendency. However, if we keep this kind of disposition, we will be finished with the building. We need to love the new ones as the Lord loves them, be interested in them, and take care of them. Then we must have a burden for them and adequate prayer…We need to be patient, know how to deal with people, and know what to say and what not to say. We should know how to be positive yet not too quick, not for our sake but for the ones who are under our care. Our basic need, however, is love, interest, burden, and prayer. If we would practice all these things, the church will grow in a proper way and be built up under the hands of all the saints, not only the elders or those with a special ministry. (Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1973-1974, vol. 2, “The Normal Way of Fruit-bearing and Shepherding for the Building Up of the Church,” ch. 9, pp. 626-627)
More details via Beseeching.org, day 385.
