If you want to know the truth of the Word, you must discern the spirit that is being conveyed. The tenth chapter of John is the Great Shepherd chapter, in which Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd.” Verse 14a. He talked about the sheep, about His love for them, and how He would give His life for them. How shattering it is to perceive the depth of His love for us! In expressing His love for the sheep, Jesus said, “The Father has given them to Me, and they shall never perish. I have them in My hand, and nobody can pluck them out of My Father’s hand” (John 10:28–29). Many people have not realized that these words reveal the faith of the Great Shepherd concerning the sheep. In His prayer to the Father shortly before His death, Jesus lifted up His voice and said, While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. John 17:12. He was referring to the prophecy in Psalm 41:9 which was fulfilled in Judas, by the will of God. But Jesus had not lost a single one of the other disciples. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end (John 13:1).
When Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, He was illustrating the way we are to relate to each other. He said, “You call Me Lord and Master; and you say well, for so I am. But look at what I am doing. I am loving you. I am serving you. I am washing your feet” (John 13:13–14). It has been a human reaction for us to inject into our relationships one aspect of Church-age thinking, which is not to be in the Kingdom. In our thinking we have placed too much emphasis on authority and not enough emphasis upon the love of the shepherd for the sheep. A pastor may be moving in great authority, but if he does not deeply love the sheep, he will be ineffective in his pastoring.
We have understood that the coming forth of the Kingdom includes three phases: first, a Living Word and all the principles that are being taught to us by the Living Word; second, a divine order of authority by which that Living Word will be disseminated in an orderly fashion; third, the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God in the sheep. We need to read our Bibles carefully, so that we understand what the Lord meant when He said, Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Luke 12:32. Any vision of the Kingdom which does not start with the love of the Father, and then see that love come down to the little flock, will miss everything! It will be filled with an emphasis on technicalities and procedures and organization and ranks. All that falls short of the shepherd’s heart, however, God is destroying. Look closely at what the Lord is showing us: Girding Himself with a towel, He washed the disciples’ feet. Then He said, “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them” (John 13:4, 17). In other words, you will not make it into the Kingdom if all you see is a divine order of ranks and authority.
The cults and false religions often follow the principles and mechanics of things more closely than do the orthodox churches. That is why the true Church is persecuted. Some movements are actually huge financial institutions; they have found the principles that work for them. A few movements claim to have apostles and prophets or shepherds. They accept the written Word, but they will not acknowledge the truth of the Word that a faithful shepherd speaks over the life of one of the sheep—a word which with confirmation is binding to the life of that sheep and one to which he must be submissive.
I cannot see anything working for us, or anything lasting coming forth, until this step is made: We must break through into this level where the shepherds who are overseeing the sheep minister to them with the same love that the Lord has for them. That love must be there!
The Scriptures provide many examples of this love. In the lives of the Lord Jesus Christ, of Paul, and of Peter we see the perfection of that shepherding spirit. Day and night the apostles cried with great yearning after the sheep. Even though the apostles yearned greatly after the sheep, when Paul wanted to help the sheep, he called the elders of Ephesus to meet with him at Miletus (Acts 20:17–35). Why did he work with the elders? He was concerned about conveying his love to the sheep.
There was no personality cult in the New Testament. Some of the churches had never even seen Paul’s face, but when he wrote to them, he encouraged them and expressed his love for them (Galatians 1:22; Colossians 2:1). Many of the people who receive this Word have never seen my face, either. I have never been in some of the churches. It is important for you to know this and to realize that I am not the issue. What is important is the Living Word that we speak. Often, when I meet someone for the first time, he will say, “You have been just a voice coming out of a box. But that was enough!” My love and concern had reached him.
Perhaps you have been concerned about the authority that is needed for the greater works. But remember that the prophecies concerning the greater works are found in the midst of the chapters in John which convey the spirit of love, Christ’s love for His people. “Little flock, it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom” (Luke 12:32).
The book of Jeremiah is rich with illustrations of shepherds and sheep. It is very disturbing to read the prophecies about the shepherds who had forsaken the flocks on the mountains; they had forgotten the resting places of the sheep (Jeremiah 50:6). As a result, the sheep began to scatter (Jeremiah 23:2). The Lord promised, “I will raise up shepherds after My own heart” (Jeremiah 3:15). The main cause of the shake-up in the various local churches has been this: God is speaking, and dealing with the shepherds. The ones who have taught a Living Word have found that the whole basis of the Kingdom starts with their love for the Lord and for the Word that He is giving. Unless you know the Word, you do not know Him! You come to know the Lord through the Word that He has spoken. He is called “The Word”: “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). It is still happening that way! The Word comes, and the Word moves us—and so we come to know Him.
As we come to love Him, we reach the next step: “He who loves God loves him that is begotten of God” (I John 5:1). You cannot say that you love the Lord if you do not love the children He is bringing forth. Peter was confronted with this truth. He tried to isolate his love by setting it apart only for the Lord. But the Lord persisted, demanding, “Peter, do you love Me? Peter, do you love Me? Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me?” Each time Peter answered, the Lord emphasized what his relationship was to be to the people. “Feed My sheep; feed My lambs; feed My sheep” (John 21:15–17).
The mechanics of restoration and of divine order are important; we do not want to be without the blueprint. But relying only upon a perfectly made blueprint does not build the Kingdom. The Kingdom will be built by our labor, by our love, and by our dedication. We will be motivated in various ways to put that blueprint into action.
Your prayers on my behalf and your concern that the books be written are moving me into another position in the Word—and that Word must be completed! You must understand that this priority will bring forth many changes. We have definitely passed from one era to another. As the elders meet in the churches everywhere, they must try to grasp this fact. Every deacon, deaconess, elder, elder’s wife, pastor, prophet, and every department head and overseer will unite on one basis: their love for the Lord, which means also the love for the Living Word, and finally the love for His people. With the element of His love, the scriptural blueprint will work. But if we do not function on that basis, we will continually discover some holes in the entire structure. The enemy will find an occasion to defeat us.
I find it difficult to completely trust anyone who refuses to have the same spirit of Christ that He put in me for the brethren. Until that same spirit is in the shepherds, I cannot release completely the commissions and the responsibilities that I carry. Those who will take these burdens must have that same spirit of Christ.
There are three steps by which the blueprint works: (1) The Living Word and your love for God. (2) The commissioning and the training of the ministries, the shepherds. (We shall call the ministries “shepherds” because that term covers all scopes of ministry.) (3) The personal ministry and the feeding which then comes to the sheep and to the churches. It is important that you keep these three steps in your mind. The first step is the Living Word which relates us to God in a perfect love for Him. Next is the commissioning and training of the ministries (the shepherds). The third phase is reaching through to the sheep with personal ministry, feeding and guiding them.
What is our “track record” concerning these steps? In some ways the third phase has not been functioning properly; however, that is being corrected. In the past, much of the personal ministry to the sheep and the churches came through me because the people insisted upon it. When I told them to go instead to their pastors and elders, they obeyed up to a point—but then they tried to bypass and evade that directive. This happened in many churches, and excuses for this evasion were given. Some claimed that they were appealing to a higher confirmation; others, that they had not received the right word, and so on. The truth of the matter is that I will do great wrong to the churches if I continue trying to meet the people’s needs myself. It is impossible for me to do so. If I were to do nothing else as long as I live, and even if I lived to be a thousand years old, I could never meet all the counseling and ministry needs which are laid before me. There are so many people I have been burdened for and have prayed for. There are hundreds of families I have longed to talk with, in order to revive their faith and the words that they have received. But I have not had the time available to do it. All of it cannot be done.
The first step in the blueprint involves the Living Word, and it Has continued to flow. But if you do not relate to the Lord and love the Lord because of the Word that He is bringing, you will flounder in other areas, and often become critical. Sometimes this walk in the Spirit seems to be held together by brothers who are preaching a Word that they have not always followed very well. It is true that you could find many things to criticize about all of us. If you focus on my faults, you will be critical of me, too. On the other hand, you can love the Lord so much that your reaction is one of love: “Thank You, Lord. Here is a former Iowa farm boy who is Your channel. He brings the Living Word to me. I can listen to tapes of his teaching that came twenty-five years ago, and they still move my heart! So I will continue to relate to him with love. I will not be critically concerned about any mistakes he makes but I will pray for him.” When I do make mistakes, you react with love and concern, wanting to help me.
The key is our love for one another. Remember what the Lord said: “Do you love Me? Feed My sheep. My sheep know My voice and they follow Me” (John 10:3–4). You have learned and experienced the truth of those words in relating to me as your shepherd. Suppose someone comes along and tells me, “Turn the sheep over to some other shepherds.” Those shepherds may speak the same words I speak, but often they do not speak them with the same spirit, or the same voice. There is a difference. Then the sheep tell me, “We felt God’s heartbeat and His love for us when you talked to us; but when the same words and the same principles were spoken to us by other men, we felt a harshness.”
How will the Kingdom come forth? Its beginnings are happening now! We are preparing for a floodtide of love that will sweep us right into the Kingdom.
I do not think that the Kingdom of God will come forth just because we have all of our doctrines right (though by the grace of God we do want to have them right, of course). The Kingdom will come forth because there is so much love, because faith is working by love (Galatians 5:6). I do not envision the requirements of the Lord upon us as lessening at all. Any ideas that I might have had of coasting along for a little while are gone. Instead of that, I am always going through rough rapids, requiring me to reach out to the Lord continually.
What are we to do? Step one involves the Living Word, our relatedness to God; we open our hearts to it. Step two involves the commissioning and the training of the ministries, or shepherds. The greater part of the book of John, especially from chapter 10 on, reveals that in His ministering, Christ concentrated principally on one thing: He was intent upon instilling in the hearts of the disciples that same Spirit which the Father had given Him.
For years we have seen that one procedure of ministry which will fail is to be ambitious for an important personal ministry. The one procedure which does work, however, is to bleed for the sheep; this is the only way. Until you are crying because of the needs of the sheep, you will never be a prophet of God and have a Word from the Lord.
Why did Paul weep so much over the people? The Word tells us that he did not cease to make mention of them in his prayers. Day and night he prayed, often with many tears (Romans 1:9–10; II Corinthians 2:4). Because he did not hesitate to speak forth with a strong word, some claim that Paul was austere and harsh. That is not true. When you read your Bible the right way, you see his concern for the people, and how he wept over them. Knowing that Timothy was in an area which was a hotbed of persecution, Paul called him to return to him. Nothing in Paul’s heart would be satisfied until he saw Timothy again. He yearned to see him (II Timothy 1:3–4; 4:9, 21).
Our way of ministering is changing. I would still like to minister to those who have the most difficult problems; but there is no point in my ministering to them if they continue to bypass the shepherds whom God has raised up to lead them. If you think that the other shepherds do not understand your problem, you will soon see how many of them understand much more than you think. I suggest that you first go to your local pastors and elders, and see if they will not indeed meet your need. The apostolic companies can also take care of many problems. When difficult times come, such as a crisis in your life or a problem for which you cannot find the answer, then I still have the privilege in God of helping you. If I minister to you, I want to be only one of the elders and members of the apostolic company. I want us all to flow in that same spirit, with the Great Shepherd’s heart. We should learn not to deal with problems only; but instead, to deal with the will of God for a person’s life. Solving problems is not the answer, for there will always be more problems. Ministry to a person must have this emphasis: What does God want for him? Where is he open to God? Does he really love God?
Some have various problems with the present emphasis on intercession, or with jubilee music, and so on; opinions concerning these things vary with each individual. If you insist, keep your problems; keep your opinions; be a little upset about everything you want to be upset about. But be sure that you also keep your heart open to love God and to listen to the Word that He is bringing.
The Holy Spirit is searching for those pastors who will minister with a true spirit of shepherding until God’s love flows through them to the sheep. We can have lots of business meetings and elders’ meetings, but until the shepherds come together to weep and pray over the people, we will not have the true growth of the churches. Without the Spirit of the Heavenly Father flowing through us, no mechanics of ministry will be enough for us to succeed.
The New Testament does emphasize that “God decided that His Son should rule over the whole world, and so He sent Him down to die and redeem it unto Himself, that every knee should bow and every tongue should confess.” That message is certainly in the New Testament, but it is not the heart of it. When you take the pulse of the Word, this is the message that comes through: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. John 3:16–17.
It is so essential to convey God’s heart. I have undertaken too much of the personal ministry to the people.
When they come for ministry, I cannot refuse them because I am dedicated to love the sheep and minister to them. Changes are coming, but they will not come by my refusal when the sheep ask for help. They will come as all the other shepherds say yes, and all take the same burden to love the sheep and meet their needs.
For years I have told you how necessary it is that I meet in the “back room” with four or five faithful men of God, to teach them the ways of the Lord. The Word tells us, “God made known His acts unto the children of Israel, but He made known His ways unto Moses” (Psalm 103:7). You need to be taught the ways of the Lord. You need to love Him and understand what He is doing and why He is doing it. It is one thing to tell a man to be submissive when the whip of chastisement is being applied to him, and to remind him that the Lord “chastens every son whom He receives” (Hebrews 12:6). But it is better if he understands how all of this can turn out for the glory of God.
The Lord wants you to attain something far more than an important place of ministry; He wants you to become effective in your relationship to Him. His purpose for scourging you is not to teach you the mechanics of ministry. He scourges you because He loves you, and He wants everything removed from you that could hinder the flow of His love to you and through you. Never have I seen anyone who is so determined, so stubborn, and so relentless about having His own purposes and plans fulfilled as God Himself! But neither have I seen anyone more entitled to be jealous, and completely centered on one determination—that what He has thought in His heart and what He has planned before the foundation of the world must come to pass. Ephesians 1:11 assures us, “He works all things after the counsel of His own will.”
Open your heart to the Lord again. Tell Him, “Lord, I submit to You afresh to be Your servant; and I submit to the brothers, to help me and to teach me.” Submit your heart and prepare to receive from the Lord. Because of the calling of God upon the true shepherds, they can lay hands upon you and impart to you. But unless faith is working by love in your heart, authority should not be imparted to you. Ministering with the love of Christ is the factor that will make everything work. Otherwise we will minister mechanically.
This counsel is from the heart of God to you! Let your determination be to walk in it. In your heart set yourself to pray for your overseers and shepherds, believing that they will be able to minister to you. Get your heart set on the Lord. Do not be limited in going only to certain elders or ministries for counsel. In this way there will be very healthy development and growth.
The Lord has shown me many things which I would like to do. One of these is to have a Hannah class. Hannah prayed for a child, and the Lord gave her Samuel; her prayers were effective. The Scriptures teach that a baby can be blessed even before birth. There are also ways of blessing a child and of teaching him the ways of the Lord as he grows into maturity. I believe that in God I can teach and impart to other men how to do these things. I can also teach the brothers much about the principles of a checkout and counsel for a couple for marriage. Young people who insist that I personally check them out for marriage should remember that what they really want is for God to check them out. They should not focus on the channel, when other ministers can also do this effectively.
You are not to exalt any of us brothers; but I ask you also not to downgrade us, simply because you see failures or shortcomings or weaknesses. Instead, have faith that God will perfect us all as channels of the Word. Then you will have that Living Word which you desire, and it will work in your heart. But that is not all! When we have divine order, working together with the flow of love, we will find that all our children will be taught of the Lord (Isaiah 54:13).
Prepare your heart for impartation by the Holy Spirit. Then God can flood your heart with the love that He wants you to have. I am persuaded that our greatest need is not for more revelation or more organization at this point. Our need is rather for a great surge of anointed, holy love resting upon us. “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in oneness” (Psalm 133:1).
The best thing for me to do is to be wholly focused on commissioning and training the ministries into God’s flow of love. This is my whole anointed purpose and function. If I continue on as before, with schedules, with pressures of responsibility and duty, I will revert back to the position of being the one who is doing the ministering—when it is the shepherds who should be doing it, but with the same quality of love that the Lord has for the sheep. I love the Lord, just as John said in his Epistle: “We love Him, because He first loved us” (I John 4:19). It is not that He loved us, and we now respond to that love with varying capacities of human love. Human devotion would never be enough! We must love with the very same quality and type of love with which He loves us.
This truth is what Jesus was revealing in John 21:15–17 when He asked, “Simon Peter, do you love Me?” The Greek word that He used for “love” means “perfect love.” When Peter answered, he used another word for love: “Yes, I am intensely fond of You.” Again Jesus asked him, “Simon Peter, do you love Me?” Peter’s answer was the same as before. “Yes, I’m very fond of You.” Once more He questioned Peter, but this time Jesus used Peter’s own word for love, “Simon Peter, are you really fond of Me?” Then Peter was grieved, and he said, “Lord, You know all things. You know I’m fond of You.” Even then, Peter could not respond by saying, “Yes, I love You.”
Later, Peter did speak of that perfect love. He wrote in his first Epistle, “You must have that fervent love among yourselves” (I Peter 4:8). He had finally reached the point where he loved the sheep fervently. In his epistles he talked often about the sheep. He was a fisherman—but he wound up with a shepherd’s heart. How beautiful that is!
Do we have that fervent love? If we do not, then how can we get it? We will surely have it! It will come down to us from the Lord; then we will find ourselves loving Him back with as perfect a love as He has sent us—because it is His same love! In the same way we will believe Him with a perfect faith, because it is His faith, given as His gift.
All of us have had hopes and dreams. By one means or another, good revelations have come to us from the Lord. Our faith has been built strong by His Word. Concerning the finest gifts, we know that we are to desire them earnestly (I Corinthians 12:31). According to I Corinthians 13:13, we know that “now abide faith, hope, love—these three,” but we are told to pursue after love, because love is the greatest of these. We will have that love. We must have it! That love will “turn the hearts of the fathers to the children” (Malachi 4:6). That love will subdue our conflicts. Instead, there will be a flowing together of many hearts. This moving in God’s love is the essential step that we must take.
The survival of the churches and our own personal survival—our very lives—depend upon our doing the will of God. The problem that I have had to face is this: The more the people receive the Word, the more they come and stand in line for ministry. They want something; they need something. Usually the ministry of the Word involves setting forth positive steps that they are ready to take, rather than dealing with negative aspects of their problems. They are breaking out of their bondages.
You must realize that the victory is not in defeating the enemy, but by appropriating what God is giving us—His victory. He is laying the Kingdom before us. It is true that the Kingdom will smite the image of human cultures and kingdoms, but it is that stone cut out of the mountain without hands that will fill the whole earth (Daniel 2:34–35). His Kingdom will prevail.
This is what our hearts are crying for and looking for. Great things will be happening! The truth of the matter is that as we move together in love and faith, we will be surprised to discover that our problems are not nearly as big as we thought.
The importance of our preparation for impartation by the Spirit has been a neglected truth. We want that impartation; we want that authority. May the brokenness in our spirit and our love for God prepare us for impartation. Love reaches out with a long arm, right into the heart of God, and takes what He has for you.
Because I love you with such a love that I cannot contain it, I go before God on your behalf. And what I might never be motivated or have faith enough to take for myself, I will take for you! I pray, “Father, I take Your healing virtue for this brother that I love so much.” You would be amazed at the enhancement—a hundred percent, even ten thousand percent—of what you are, what you can be, and what you can do, right through your love. May all of us see this happen!
What God has placed in our hands, we take with the same spirit, the same love, and the same faithfulness with which Christ ministers to us. You can do it! Take His love and give it!