Praise the Lord, we can participate in Christ’s wonderful shepherding so that we may enter into a genuine revival!
We all as believers in Christ need to enter into the burden of shepherding people according to God, following the pattern of the apostle Paul, so that we may bring in a new revival that will end this age and bring the Lord back.
We all need to enter into a new revival by participating in the heavenly ministry of Christ to feed His lambs and shepherd His sheep in order to take care of the flock of God.
If we love the Lord, we will shepherd His sheep; if we love Him, we will care for the flock of God, shepherding the young ones and the weaker ones in the Lord.
When we shepherd one another, when we exercise to not only enjoy the Lord for our satisfaction but also minister something of Christ to the saints to cherish them in the humanity of Jesus and nourish them in the divinity of Christ, we will build up the church.
The Lord Jesus in His heavenly ministry wants to incorporate the apostolic ministry so that whatever He is doing in the heavens, especially in the matter of shepherding others, would also be done on the earth through His believers.
May the Lord recover us all to shepherding one another according to God; may we love Him to the uttermost and give ourselves to shepherd the flock of God, taking care of the Lord’s sheep.
The mutual shepherding in the church life will issue in the building up of the Body of Christ. Christ as the Chief Shepherd is on the throne; for the past 2000 years, He has been shepherding the soul of the saints and has been shepherding His flock.
May we join Him in His heavenly ministry, learning to shepherd people according to God. How can we shepherd one another?
We need to take the Lord Jesus as our pattern, realizing that He is the Good Shepherd and He is also in our spirit!
We need not only to live the life of a God-man but also shepherd God’s people; on one hand, we need to live according to the mingled spirit and, on the other hand, we need to be those shepherding according to God.
The New Testament shows us the pattern of the Lord Jesus who came to shepherd His sheep by cherishing them in His humanity and nourishing them in His divinity.
This Good Shepherd is in our spirit; He needs our cooperation to shepherd others, and we can be one with Him to shepherd others according to God.
Shepherding People by Teaching them, Being Concerned for them, Loving them, Ministering the Spirit to them, and Spending ourselves on them
In Acts 20:28 Paul told the elders to take heed to themselves and to all the flock, among whom the Holy Spirit has placed them as overseers to shepherd the church of God.
The elders need to not only care for the saints and care for the administrative matters related to the church but even more, shepherd the saints according to God.
We all need to shepherd people according to the pattern of the apostle Paul, who shepherded the saints as a nursing mother and an exhorting father in order to take care of God’s flock (1 Thes. 2:7-8, 11-12; 1 Tim. 1:16; Acts 20:28).
He did not just preach and teach the saints; he shepherded them as a nursing mother would cherish and nourish her young children, and as an exhorting father would shepherd his little ones.
We need to shepherd the saints not only by teaching them but even more, by visiting them into their homes (Acts 20:20) and by admonishing them, even with tears, as Paul did (vv. 31, 19).
We need to declare to the saints the whole counsel of God (v. 27), shepherding people in the full knowledge of the truth. We shouldn’t have the feeling that we are the strong ones, so we can’t lower ourselves to the level of those who are not as strong as us; rather, we need to become weak to those who are weak so that we may gain the weak (1 Cor. 9:22).
We need to come down to the weak one’s level, becoming like them, so that we may shepherd them according to God.
If someone is stumbled, we should burn for them, and if they backslide, we should pray for them and be in sorrow over them until we can shepherd them to bring them back to the Lord.
Paul is a pattern to us in shepherding others; he went back again and again to the homes of the saints for three years, exhorting them and admonishing them even with tears.
We may think that he was a great apostle who did great works, but his testimony is that he even wept as he admonished the saints.
For us to be those shepherding people according to God, we need to learn to care for them, have a heart for them, and visit them, admonishing them with tears in their homes week after week.
May we be those who have an intimate concern for the saints (2 Cor. 7:2-7; Philem. 7, 12), coming down to the weak one’s level so that we could gain them (2 Cor. 11:28-29; 1 Cor. 9:22; cf. Matt. 12:20).
And as we care for others, may we be willing to spend what we have (our possessions) and even spend what we are (our being) for them, sacrificing ourselves for others’ enjoyment of Christ (Phil. 2:17; Judg. 9:13; Eph. 3:2).
This is what Paul did, and he left us a pattern so that we may imitate him, even as he imitated Christ; when we shepherd others according to God, we are joining Christ in His heavenly ministry to do the work of shepherding people even as He did, does, and will be doing.
We need to realize that it is a privilege for us to be a drink offering, being one with Christ as the wine producer, sacrificing ourselves for others’ enjoyment of Christ.
Whether sinners, seekers, or saints, all people need our shepherding.
May we walk by the Spirit to honor God so that we can minister the Spirit to honor man (2 Cor. 3:3, 6, 8; Gal. 5:16, 25; Judg. 9:9).
When we enjoy God and walk by the Spirit, we honor God; when we minister Christ to others as we are shepherding people, we honor man.
The church is not a police station to arrest people, a law court to condemn people or a prison to keep people under lock; rather, the church is a home to raise up people, a hospital to heal and recover them, and a school to teach and edify them (Eph. 2:19; 1 Thes. 5:14; 1 Cor. 14:31).
And the best way, the most excellent way, for us to be anything and do anything for the building up of the Body of Christ is love; love is the most excellent way (1 Cor. 8:1; 12:31; 13:4-8a; Eph. 1:4; 3:17; 4:2, 15-16; 5:2; 6:24; Rev. 2:4-5; Col. 1:18b; 1 Thes. 1:3).
In the church as a home to raise up the children, a hospital to heal and recover the sick ones, and a school to teach and edify the unlearned ones who don’t have much understanding, love is the most excellent way to do and be anything.
May we learn to be one with the Lord as we are shepherding people, raising them up, healing them, recovering them, and teaching them in love.
Because we love the Lord and we love the saints, we give ourselves to the Lord and to the Body to shepherd others according to God.
Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to You to pick up the burden of shepherding people according to God. May we be like a nursing mother and an exhorting father as we care for the saints in the church life. Give us Your heart of love and care for all the saints so that we may admonish each one in their homes even with tears, having an intimate concern for them. Save us from thinking we are stronger or better than others; may we learn to humble ourselves and come down to the weak one’s level so that we can gain the weak. Amen, Lord, may we be willing to spend and be utterly spent on behalf of the saints, sacrificing ourselves for others’ enjoyment of Christ! Keep us in our spirit, walking according to the Spirit, and ministering the Spirit to others to honor them. Amen, Lord, may we take the most excellent way in caring for others – may we love them even as You loved us and gave Yourself up for us. Make us the same as You are in the matter of shepherding others so that we may enter into a new revival, a revival that will bring You back!
Participating in Christ’s Wonderful Shepherding so that we may have a Genuine Revival among us
The revival that we are talking about is not something merely outward, something visible, something big that spreads rapidly; rather, it is the revival that comes by our practice of participating in Christ’s shepherding.
If we receive the burden of shepherding people according to God, there will be a big revival in the Lord’s recovery; such a revival will be permeated with reality.
This revival will be according to God’s economy, that is, according to the highest peak of the divine revelation.
Such a revival is based upon a living, which is a model; this model of the living of a God-man, a living in God’s economy, is the element of this revival.
This revival is brought about by the universal shepherding of all the saints according to God; when we rise up to participate in Christ’s wonderful shepherding, there will be a genuine revival among us.
When you shepherd some and I shepherd some, when we all shepherd some according to God, there will be a genuine revival, even a final revival that will bring the Lord back.
This aspirational prayer in Hab. 3, the prayer to bring forth a revival, has a sister passage in Hosea 6:3; here the prophet encourages us to return to Jehovah, for He will heal us, He will bind us up, and we will live in His presence.
We need to pursue knowing Jehovah, His goings forth are as sure as the dawn, for He will come to us as the rain, even the late rain which waters the earth.
These last words, the latter rain, seem to refer to something final, a final revival; the Lord will enliven us after two days – this refers not only to the restoration of Israel but even more, to our expectation of a third day, the millenium, the age of restoration. Hallelujah!
After the two thousand years, there will be one thousand years that will be the latter rain.
Christ resurrected on the third day; as the resurrected Christ, the life-giving Spirit in resurrection, He is the reality of the third day.
Whenever we contact such a Christ, we are brought from the desolation of two days to the resurrection of the third day.
Our desire for a new revival to come is actually a cry for a third day to come.
For us to have that great third day to come, today and every day in our personal life, our family life, our marriage life, our church life and the Body life, we need to enter into the reality of the third day.
Revival is not merely an event we are looking for; it is a reality that will come about in the midst of God’s people, a reality that is the result of our prayer and our practice.
This reality is nothing but Christ Himself as the Spirit filling us, permeating us, transforming us, renewing us, and even building us up, freeing us from all kinds of vanities, corruption, and slavery, and bringing us into a new revival! Amen!
May this reality begin in the church life in the Lord’s recovery day after day in our life, our service, our meetings, and our testimony.
May we all receive the vision of the high peak of the divine revelation, live the life of a God-man, and receive the burden of shepherding people according to God so that we may enter into a new revival, the ultimate revival that will bring the Lord back!
Lord Jesus, we want to participate in the wonderful shepherding of Christ so that there may be a big revival in the church life today. We pray for ourselves and for all the saints that we may enter into the reality of shepherding people as nursing mothers and exhorting fathers in the church life. Amen, Lord, we give ourselves to practice shepherding people, even shepherding one another, so that we may cooperate with Your heavenly ministry of shepherding others. Work out this reality in us and among us. We yearn for the third day to come when You revive us and bring us out of any desolation, slavery, vanity, and corruption! Do it in us, Lord, and do it among us in the church life. We just want to cooperate with You and be those who bring You back!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” pp. 126-127, 92, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Vital Factors for the Lord’s Recovery of the Church Life (2021 ITERO), week 1, The Factor of Cooperating with the Lord to Bring In a New Revival That Will End This Age.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Foll’wing Thee, Good Shepherd, I would feed, / Shepherd those allotted me, / E’er I’d touch Thy heart’s desire, / Live in Thine economy. / O my Lord, All thanks to Thee! / Goodness, mercy follow me; / I’d ever dwell within Thy house, / As Thy Body glorious! (Song on, Shepherding in Love)
– It is not a school or fact’ry / Or a chapel in the air; / But a garden where our Lord can plant and sow. / So He’s placed us all here corporately / To be His garden fair, / Where He’s free to cultivate and make us grow. / I’m so happy in this lovely place, / In the garden growing in His grace! / There is no finer pleasure / Than to eat the living tree / And to get the living water into me. (Hymns #1237)
– We’re Thy total reproduction, / Thy dear Body and Thy Bride, / Thine expression and Thy fulness, / For Thee ever to abide. / We are Thy continuation, / Thy life-increase and Thy spread, / Thy full growth and Thy rich surplus, / One with Thee, our glorious Head. (Hymns #203)
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