Our dear Shepherd Jesus Christ is the walking Christ, getting to know the condition of each church and the speaking Spirit trimming the lamps and filling the lampstands with the fresh supply of the Spirit; in His humanity He cherishes us and in His divinity He nourishes us in love to produce us as His overcomers as we enjoy His shepherding.
Lord Jesus, we fully open our being to Your shepherding. We open to You as individual Christians and we open to You as the church: we just open to Your shepherding! We need Your shepherding today, and we need Your shepherding forever! We open to Your cherishing us in Your humanity and in Your nourishing us in Your divinity. Amen, Lord, cherish us and nourish us until we become Your overcomers, those who build up the church, shepherd the saints according to God, and consummate the New Jerusalem! Amen!
This week in our prayerful consideration of how we can enter into a new revival that will end this age, we studied and enjoyed the matter of shepherding according to God.
The Bible shows us how the apostolic ministry is 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.
The Lord is our Shepherd; today the Lord is shepherding us, based on His accomplishments in His human living, death, and resurrection, and He is shepherding us all the way until the kingdom is coming.
Christ came in His resurrection to Peter one day and incorporated Peter’s ministry into the Lord’s heavenly ministry so that, just as Christ shepherds people, so will Peter shepherd people.
The heavenly ministry of Christ and the ministry of the apostles cooperate together to carry out God’s economy, and the goal is the building up of the church as the Body of Christ to consummate the New Jerusalem.
The Lord commissioned Peter to shepherd His sheep and feed His lambs, and today it is the same with us: we are commissioned by the Lord to shepherd the believers.
The elders are overseers, shepherding the flock of God. Shepherding the believers is very crucial for their growth in life; today in the church life we need to take the shepherding way to preach the gospel and to revive the church. We want to be revived. So we take the way of shepherding.
First, we enjoy Christ’s shepherding, for He is doing the work of the organic maintenance of the golden lampstands by cherishing the churches in His humanity and nourishing the churches in His divinity to produce the overcomers through His organic shepherding! Amen!
He trims the charred wicks of the lampstand, and He adds the fresh supply of the Spirit to intensify their shining! Amen!
The Walking Christ Knows the Condition of Each Church and the Speaking Spirit Trims and Fills the Lampstand with the Supply of the Spirit
In Revelation 1-3 we see Christ as the walking Christ and the speaking Spirit. As the walking Christ, He gets to know the condition of every local church, and as the speaking Spirit, He trims and fills the lampstands with fresh oil, the supply of the Spirit (Rev. 2:1, 7; cf. Exo. 27:20-21; Zech. 4:6, 11-14).
What a wonderful Christ we have! He is our High Priest; as our High Priest, He became like us, He tasted what it means to be a man, and He is easily touched with the feeling of our weaknesses (Heb. 4:15-16).
He sees our situation, for He is the walking Christ who knows the situation of each church and even of each saint. He knows what we face, what we go through, and what is the condition of our inner being.
Christ sympathises with our weaknesses, because He Himself was tempted in all respects like us. He comes to us to cherish us in His humanity, making us feel comfortable and pleasant as we enjoy Him.
At the same time, He is nourishing us in His divinity with all the positive aspects of His person! We see this in the way the Lord shepherded the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3.
First, He introduces Himself in a particular way to be the supply for that church, even to be enjoyed and experienced by the saints in that local church for them to overcome.
Then, He exposes their situation and lays bare their condition according to how He sees it.
At the end, the walking Christ becomes the speaking Spirit to trim the lamps and add the oil; He adds the supply of the Spirit for the churches to shine brightly as the testimony of Jesus on the earth.
The walking Christ speaks to the churches in the beginning of each epistle (Rev. 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14) and then the end it is the Spirit who is speaking to the churches (2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22).
In His humanity, Christ is cherishing us to make us proper so that we may be happy, pleasant, and comfortable. In His divinity, He is nourishing us so that we may grow and mature in the divine life and be His overcomers to accomplish His eternal economy.
Christ nourishes us with Himself as the all-inclusive Christ in His full ministry of three stages so that we may grow and mature in the divine life to be His overcomers to accomplish His eternal economy.
What He ministers to us in His divinity is Himself, His very being, in His full ministry.
He is investing all that He is into us; He is dispensing Himself into every part of our being.
He went through incarnation, inclusion, and intensification, and now He is fully engaged in shepherding us so that we may be His overcomers in this age to end this age and bring Him back.
His speaking is followed by His hand, for He wants to accomplish in us what He has spoken.
Christ is not indifferent; he doesn’t just speak to us and then wait for us to do something if we want to do something.
Christ is fully invested in us: He’s a very good businessman who invests what He is, what He has, and what He has done in us in the church life, and He is expecting to see a return.
As we open to Him, as we open to enjoy His cherishing us in His humanity and His nourishing us in His divinity, Christ will gain in us what He is after.
It is when he gains in us, in a group of people, what He is after that He can return. Our wonderful Christ is the walking Christ; He gets to know the condition and situation of every church.
Then, He speaks to us; as the speaking Spirit, He trims any charred wick that offers smoke instead of light, and He fills the lampstand with fresh oil, the fresh supply of the Spirit, so that we may shine brightly.
If we want to shine brightly as the testimony of Jesus, if we want to participate in the Lord’s move and enjoy His care, we must be in the churches.
Those who enjoy the Lord’s shepherding, His cherishing in His humanity and His nourishing in His divinity are those in the local churches.
Thank the Lord that we are in the local churches, enjoying the Lord with the saints, being under the Lord’s fresh speaking, and having an ear to hear what He is speaking to the churches!
Our Christ doesn’t just check on the local churches from time to time, when He remembers; He is the walking Christ, knowing the condition of every church, and He is the speaking Spirit to trim and fill the lampstands with the supply of the Spirit constantly.
Praise the Lord for our shepherding Christ who meets the needs of all the churches! We want to be those in the local churches who have an ear to hear what the Spirit is speaking to the churches so that we may cooperate with His speaking and be produced as His overcomers in this age.
Lord Jesus, we open to You as our High Priest who is easily touched with the feeling of our weakness. Thank You, Lord, for becoming just like us so that You may know us, understand us, sympathise with us, and shepherd us. We open to Your cherishing us in Your humanity and to Your nourishing us in Your divinity. We need Your shepherding! Amen, Lord, shepherd us organically until we become the overcomers You need today to end this age and bring the age of the kingdom! Thank You, Lord, for being the walking Christ who observes our situation and knows the real condition of the churches and of each and every saint. We open to You as the speaking Spirit: speak to us today and trim away anything that does not match You in us and in the church! Amen, Lord, we open to Your trimming and filling! Cherish us to make us proper and nourish us to fill us with Your life for our growth in life unto maturity! Amen, Lord, may we become Your overcomers who accomplish Your eternal economy, one with you! Amen!
Through Christ’s Wonderful Shepherding we will Enjoy Him as our Blessings both Today and for Eternity!
When He was on earth, Christ was our Shepherd, and everything He did in His human living and work on earth was a shepherding to us.
Today, Christ is in His heavenly ministry as our Shepherd, and He is cherishing us and nourishing us to produce us as His overcomers.
As we enjoy Christ’s wonderful shepherding today, we partake of all His riches, we are constituted with Him, and we become just like Him.
Through Christ’s wonderful shepherding, we will enjoy Him as our blessings both today and for eternity (see Isa. 49:10; Rev. 7:9-17; John 6:35; 4:13-14; Psa. 36:7-9; 91:1; Isa. 12:1-6; Rev. 22:1).
Not only today but for eternity, we will enjoy Christ as our blessings under His wonderful shepherding!
In Revelation 7:17 we are told that the Lamb in the midst of the throne will shepherd us and guide us to springs of waters of life, and God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. Today we face difficult circumstances, for our human life on this earth is full of suffering and pain.
We need the Lord’s shepherding. He shepherds our soul today, and for eternity He will shepherd us. In verse after verse, the Lord promises us that He will shepherd us forever.
He will lead us by waters of rest; He will guide us beside springs of water, and He will shepherd us.
He will wipe away every tear from our eyes. Today we can eat and drink Christ, for He is the living water, the bread of life, and the living bread.
As we drink Him, we shall by no means ever thirst, and as we eat Him, we hunger no more. He saturates us with the fatness of His house, and He causes us to drink of the river of HIs pleasures, for with Him is the fountain of life, and in His light we see light (Psa. 36:8-9).
He hides us in the secret place of the Most High, and He is no longer angry with us; rather, He is our salvation and our song!
We draw water with rejoicing out of the springs of God’s salvation, we give thanks to Jehovah, and we praise Him and make His deeds know among the peoples!
This is what He does for us today. And for eternity, we will drink of the river of water of life, bright as crystal, which proceeds out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of the street of the New Jerusalem.
In His shepherding of us, He is looking to gain a duplication; He is looking to gain a counterpart.
Christ wants to gain a people who match Him, those who live the same way that He did in the Gospels. For us to live the God-man life is actually to live a shepherding life.
If we want to know what a God-man looks like, we should realise that a God-man is a shepherd, even the duplication of Christ as the Shepherd.
It is not a matter of what we are or what we do, nor is it just some kind of Christian campaign or gospel outreach activities. It is a matter of who we are.
We need to open to the Lord’s shepherding today, experience His shepherding in the churches, being under His trimming and filling, so that we may become His duplication and reproduction, even those who live a shepherding life in the local churches.
He is investing Himself in us; He is speaking to us and He wants His speaking to be living to us, even to be lived out of us.
At the end of this age, the Lord wants to gain a group of people who practice arriving at the highest peak of the divine revelation so that they may live the life of a God-man and live a life of shepherding according to God.
May we go on with the Lord and reach the matter of shepherding until we become His duplication, those who shepherd the saints according to God for there to be a new revival, even a revival that will end this age and bring the Lord back.
Lord Jesus, keep us under Your wonderful shepherding today! We want to eat You as the tree of life, drink You as the living water, and wash our robes in the blood of the Lamb so that we may enter by the gates into the city! Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit to eat the living bread, drink the living water, and remain under Your wonderful shepherding all the days of our life! Praise the Lord, through Christ’s wonderful shepherding, we will enjoy Him as our blessings both today and for eternity! Amen, Lord, thank You that today we can enjoy Your wonderful shepherding in the church life, and for eternity You will still shepherd us! Hallelujah, the Lamb in the middle of the throne will shepherd us and guide us to springs of water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from our eyes! Amen, Lord, we praise You that, for eternity, we will be under Your shepherding as we drink the river of water of life and eat the tree of life in the holy city, New Jerusalem! Praise the Lord!
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, 1980, vol. 2, “The Mending Ministry of John,” pp. 353-354, 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 6.
- Hymns on this topic:
– O brother, won’t you gather in the local church? / A fountain here is flowing deep and wide. / The Shepherd now would bring you to the local church, / Where thirsty spirits can be satisfied. / Drinking at the springs of living water, / Happy now am I, / My heart they satisfy; / Drinking at the springs of living water, / O wonderful and bountiful supply! (Hymns #1234 stanza 3 and chorus)
– God intends that all His being / Be my full supply; / With Him I must be united, / In spirit nigh. / All God’s being, all His riches / In the Spirit flow; / I must exercise my spirit / Him to know. (Hymns #612 stanza 1 and chorus)
– We are washing all our robes the tree of life to eat; / “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!”—Jesus is so sweet! / We our spirits exercise, and thus experience Christ. / What a Christ have we! (Hymns #1151 stanza 3)
