Christ was the Shepherd in His human living, He is shepherding us in His resurrection and ascension; and in His heavenly ministry Christ is shepherding people; we need to cooperate with Christ by shepherding people so that the Lord may bring in a new revival on the earth to bring the Lord back.
Lord Jesus, thank You for being our good Shepherd, the One who takes care of all our needs. We open to Your shepherding today. We exercise our spirit to touch You, and we open all the inward parts of our being to Your shepherding. Amen, Lord, we want to cooperate with You in shepherding today. May we open to Your shepherding, allow You to shepherd us, and cooperate with You to shepherd others also! Have Your way in us and among us, Lord, to bring in a new revival that will bring You back! Amen!
This week in our morning revival we come to the third way for us to enter into a new revival, the matter of shepherding.
In particular, we are focusing on the topic: The Apostolic Ministry in Cooperation with Christ’s Heavenly Ministry to Shepherd the Church of God as His Flock for the Building Up of the Body of Christ and a New Revival.
We are so blessed and privileged to hear what is on God’s heart, to receive what He is speaking today, and even to be one with Him in what He desires to do at the end of this age!
As we allow the Lord to speak to us in an up-to-date way, He is infusing us with a spirit of faith, and His hand follows His word, for Him to be one with Him for the bringing in of the ultimate revival, the revival that will end this age.
When we come to the matter of shepherding, we may think that we know what it is, for we may even use this phrase, shepherding according to God.
However, we need to open to the Lord in a fresh way so that we may see something that we have never seen before concerning the real meaning of shepherding.
The Lord’s heart is to bring the churches in the organic shepherding. May the Lord remove the veils and use His word to bring us all up to date with Him to bring in a new revival.
There have been revivals and awakenings before, but the Lord wants to bring in a new revival, something inward, something that is sustained, and something that relates to our vision, our living, and our practice.
First, we need to see the highest peak of the divine revelation, and then we need to live the life of a God-man according to the highest peak.
The spontaneous issue of such a living is that we shepherd others according to God. Our salvation as believers in Christ is not only for us to be delivered from eternal perdition; we are saved to the point that we become the same as God in life and in nature.
When we see this, we will no longer live in a natural way but, under the heavenly vision, we will enter into a God-man living for Christ to be expressed through us. This will spontaneously issue in shepherding others according to God.
Seeing Christ from His Crucifixion to His Kingship in the Coming Age through His Shepherding in Resurrection and Ascension
When we speak of the matter of shepherding, we know that Psalm 23 speaks of the Lord being our Shepherd.
Actually, Psalms 22 through 24 are a group of psalms revealing Christ from His crucifixion through His shepherding to His kingship in the coming age.
In Psalm 22 we see Christ’s death, His resurrection, and His many brothers being produced in His resurrection to form the church.
In verse 22 we see how the Lord said that He will declare the Father’s name to His brothers; in the midst of the assembly, He will praise God. This is related to His resurrection.
In Psalm 23 we see the Lord as the Shepherd; He is our shepherd in His resurrection. In Psalm 24 we see Christ as the coming King in God’s kingdom.
In these chapters we have Christ crucified, Christ resurrected, Christ producing the church, Christ being the Shepherd and shepherding His flock, the church, and Christ coming back to be the King. What a wonderful Christ we have!
In particular, in Psalm 23 we see Christ’s wonderful shepherding of us in five stages.
First, Christ our Shepherd leads us to the pastures and the waters of rest (v. 2). We are led to places where we can be nourished, cherished, and filled with the enjoyment of Christ.
Then, Christ leads us to the paths of righteousness; in our daily walk, the Lord leads us to walk in righteousness (v. 3). As we enjoy Christ, are filled with His riches, and are nourished by Him, we walk on the paths of righteousness.
Then, Christ is with us even in the valley of the shadow of death (v. 4). His presence is with us, and we rest in Him, knowing that He is with us, and we fear no evil.
Then, Christ is with us even on the battlefield, where we are fighting against the adversaries (v. 5). He spreads a feast before us to supply us; as we eat Christ as our feast, we destroy the enemy.
Finally, we dwell in the house of God for the length of our days (v. 6). May we be those who know that, no matter what happens to us, the Lord is our Shepherd.
May we open to His shepherding and allow Him to shepherd us. As we do this and that, as we are up on the mountain or down in the valley, may we rest in the Lord. As we rest in the Lord, the valley is shortened, the shadow is reduced, the death is being removed.
When we meet with the saints or talk to others, we shouldn’t talk about being in the valley; it’s best to even forget that we’re in the valley, for the Lord is with us. His presence is with us.
We do not fear any evil, for the Lord, as our Shepherd, is with us where we are. He spreads a table before us, a feast, even in the presence of our adversaries.
Thank the Lord that every Lord’s day we come together to the Lord’s Table Meeting to enjoy the Lord as our feast set before us (1 Cor. 10:21).
Every day we are fighting against the enemy and all his armies; on the one hand, we enjoy the Lord as our feast, and on the other hand, we fight for the victory. We stand one with the Lord in His victory to fight the enemy, and we feast on the Lord and with the Lord.
The Lord today is in His heavenly ministry, shepherding us.
Psalm 23, which concerns Christ as the Shepherd in His resurrection and ascension, is the bridge between Christ’s redeeming death and His church-producing resurrection in Psalm 22 and Christ’s coming back as the King, who will regain the entire earth through the church as His Body in Psalm 24.
A bridge connects us to our destination; our destination is the kingdom, and what brings us there, the bridge from here to there, is Christ’s shepherding. Praise the Lord for His shepherding!
We enjoy His shepherding by being in the flock, the church today. He is the Shepherd of the flock, and He wants to have one flock under one Shepherd.
As long as we remain in the church life today, we enjoy the Lord’s shepherding. If we get out of the church, we get out of the flock, and we may miss His rich shepherding.
May we remain in our spirit, contacting the Lord, and in the church, being with the saints, to enjoy the Lord’s shepherding.
Whether we fight, whether we are in the valley, or whether we are hungry, may we open to the Lord as our dear Shepherd to nourish us, supply us, and be with us. We love Him, we love His presence, and we love being under His shepherding!
Lord Jesus, thank You for Your redeeming death and church-producing resurrection! Praise the Lord, one day You will come back as the King to regain the entire earth through the church as Your Body! Amen, Lord, before You return, we want to remain under Your wonderful shepherding in Your heavenly ministry! Praise the Lord, Christ is our Shepherd! Amen, Lord, we open to You. Lead us to pastures and waters of rest so that we may be richly nourished with what You are and cherished in our soul to be made happy in You. We open to Your leading and guiding us on the paths of righteousness, where we can express God as the righteous One in our daily living. Amen, Lord, even when we’re in the valley of the shadow of death, we fear no evil, for Your presence is with us. We open to You and we want to enjoy Your sweet presence. We want to feast on You as we fight our enemies, for You lay a feast before us. How rich is Your shepherding! Keep us here, Lord Jesus, in the house of God for the length of our days so that we may enjoy Your shepherding in Your heavenly ministry until You return with Your kingdom! Amen!
In His Heavenly Ministry Christ is Shepherding People and we Cooperate with Him by Shepherding People
When He was on earth, Christ was the Good Shepherd, shepherding those around Him. Now, in His heavenly ministry, Christ is shepherding people, and we need to cooperate with Him by shepherding people.
He takes care of each one of us individually and He also shepherds us as the local churches. How we love His wonderful shepherding!
If we receive the fellowship concerning the Lord’s shepherding people in His heavenly ministry so that we may cooperate with Him by shepherding people, there will be a big revival on the earth to bring the Lord back.
First, we see a vision of the highest peak of the divine revelation, according to which God became man to make man God in life and nature but not in the Godhead.
Then, as we see this glorious vision, our daily living will be the life of a God-man, for we will let this Christ who lives in us to express Himself through us in our daily life.
The spontaneous issue of seeing the highest peak of the divine revelation and living the life of a God-man is that we shepherd people according to God.
Even as the Lord shepherded those around us when He was on the earth, even as He is shepherding people in His heavenly ministry, so we do today, for we correspond to Him and are fully one with Him.
In Genesis 48:15 Jacob said that God shepherded him all the days of his life until that point. The Lord shepherds us all our life.
We may think we run away from the Lord, we may do things that are wrong, and we may make many mistakes and have many failures; in all the things we do and experience, the Lord is our shepherd, and He is shepherding us.
As we open to the Lord again and again, He is shepherding us all the way until He brings in the kingdom. We simply need to open to His shepherding.
Both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, the Lord refers to Himself as the Shepherd.
In Isaiah 40:11 He said that He will feed His flock as a Shepherd; in His arms He will gather the lambs, and in His bosom He will carry them.
No matter how young we are in the Lord, how weak we are in our Christian life, or how advanced we think we are in the Lord, He is our Shepherd, and He takes care of us.
He is the One who is shepherding people according to God; He feeds His flock, He gathers His lambs in His arm, He carries the young in His bosom, and He leads those who are nursing the young.
The Lord wants us to be one with Him in this.
On the one hand, we are so glad that we enjoy the Lord’s shepherding in His heavenly ministry. On the other hand, we need to cooperate with the Lord to shepherd people even as He is shepherding us.
Shepherding is not just to make others happy to remain in the church life and come to the church meetings. Shepherding is something divine.
For us to be a shepherd, we must be a witness of Christ, a member of Christ, and a brother of Christ, sharing in His sonship. Then, we will participate in the oracle of the sonship to become a prophet; that is, we will speak for the Lord and we will speak the Lord forth.
This is how we shepherd others, by speaking for the Lord and by speaking Him forth.
May we open to the Lord and allow Him to shepherd us. May we remain with the flock of God, in the church life, no matter how low or disappointed we may be, to enjoy the Lord’s shepherding.
It is here, when we’re with the flock, that the Lord feeds us, cares for us, and leads us as our Shepherd. It is here that He perfects us and trains us to be those who shepherd others according to God.
If we practice the matter of shepherding according to God by being the Lord’s duplication to shepherd people today, there will be a big revival on the earth.
This revival will not be by some spiritual giants but by the many members of the Body of Christ who shepherd people according to God by following the steps of the processed Triune God in seeking and gaining fallen people.
Lord Jesus, we open to Your wonderful shepherding today. Shepherd us in our soul. Shepherd us all the way to the kingdom so that we may see Your coming and receive You as the King with the kingdom! Amen, Lord, make us the same as You are in the matter of shepherding. Even as You are shepherding people in Your heavenly ministry, so we want to shepherd people today, one with You. We want to cooperate with You to shepherd others according to God so that they may go on with the Lord and arrive at a full-grown man. Oh Lord, we love You! We witness for You, we abide in You, we enjoy You, and we speak for You to others. We are one with You today to speak something of Christ to others to shepherd people one with the Lord. Amen, Lord Jesus, recover the matter of shepherding according to God among us today so that we may have a new revival! May many brothers and sisters as the many members of the Body rise up to see the high peak of the divine revelation, live the life of a God-man, and shepherd people according to God for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ and to bring You back! Amen!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ray Mulligan on this topic, and portions from, Collected Works of Winess Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” ch. 5, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Great Need for a New Revival (2026 Memorial Day Blending Conference), week 5, “The Apostolic Ministry in Cooperation with Christ’s Heavenly Ministry to Shepherd the Church of God as His Flock for the Building Up of the Body of Christ and a New Revival” – day 1.
- Hymns on this topic:
– The Lord is my Shepherd forever, / He maketh me down to lie, / He leads me beside the still waters / O how He does satisfy! / Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me / All the days, all the days of my life; / Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me / All the days, all the days of my life. / And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever, / And I shall feast at the table spread for me; / Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me / All the days, all the days of my life. (Hymns #1170 stanza 1 and chorus)
– The Lord’s my Shepherd, I’ll not want; / He makes me down to lie / In pastures green; He leadeth me / The quiet waters by. / My soul He doth restore again, / And me to walk doth make / Within the paths of righteousness, / E’en for His own name’s sake. / Yea, though I walk in death’s dark vale, / Yet will I fear no ill; / For Thou art with me, and Thy rod / And staff me comfort still. (Hymns #527 stanzas 1-3)
– We give ourselves the flock’s steps to follow / Knowing the Shepherd’s care. / Now in the churches Jesus is leading / And He is speaking there. / We give ourselves to Thee, O Lord Jesus, / Never to turn aside; / Where’er the Lamb goes, there we would follow, / Follow whate’er betide. (Hymns #1246 stanzas 3-4)
