Today’s Reading:
John 10
John 15
“I am the Good Shepherd who lays down my life as a sacrifice for the sheep. But the worker who serves only for wages is not a real shepherd. Because he has no heart for the sheep he will run away and abandon them when he sees the wolf coming. And then the wolf mauls the sheep, drags them off, and scatters them.”
John 10:11-13 TPT
I heard the Spirit of the Living God say,
I’m choosing for Myself. I’m choosing instruments for Myself, for My service — ones I can use because of their posture of humility, willingness and readiness. I’m looking for and choosing ones like Isaiah who are ministering to Me and saying, here I Am Lord, send me. This is the time of the sent ones. I Am sending My servants who love Me and minister beautifully to Me with a pure heart and open hands. These I Am sending on assignments of great adventure, of great import that have great value and consequence to My plans.
“So this is my command: Love each other deeply, as much as I have loved you. For the greatest love of all is a love that sacrifices all. And this great love is demonstrated when a person sacrifices his life for his friends.”
John 15:12-13 TPT
This is not a time of the most polished being brought up, called up to shepherd a movement. This is a time of My rough but holy ones, My tried and tested, refined by fire ones who don’t follow the script, who don’t fit the mold, whose clothes and appearance don’t suit religious ones. These I Am sending out among My flock to care for them and tend to them in ways they have not been cared for because the shepherds who took up this position have only viewed my sheep from on high. They have not deigned to get down from their platform and mix and comfort and lead My dirty sheep.
This is a time of new assignments, of dirty hands-on jobs with messy people, messy sheep who lead messy and undignified lives. This is take off your robe and wash the feet of My sheep season. This is a time of humility by all who I call to lead, because this is a time of leading by example. This is a time of getting dirty in the sheepfold and tending to the wounds and the matted down, knotted up, unkempt lives of My dirty and even filthy sheep.
This is a time of ministering too to the sheep who have stayed pure, who have been washed clean by My Word and who live in purity. They have felt like outsiders going it alone for a very long time. They have served in places that didn’t deserve them and many of them have attended to the leaders who thought themselves above tending to the sheep. It is a time for these sheep, these purified, holy and set apart sheep to also receive ministry and to come into community. They have been set apart for long enough. It is time for My set apart ones to expand.
It’s time for the filth of these sheep to be attended, so their lives can be beautiful, honoring and reflective of Me.
“You show that you are my intimate friends when you obey all that I command you. I have never called you ‘servants,’ because a master doesn’t confide in his servants, and servants don’t always understand what the master is doing. But I call you my most intimate and cherished friends, for I reveal to you everything that I’ve heard from my Father. You didn’t choose me, but I’ve chosen and commissioned you to go into the world to bear fruit. And your fruit will last, because whatever you ask of my Father, for my sake, he will give it to you! So this is my parting command: Love one another deeply!”
John 15:14-17 TPT
I’m calling out pastors and priests, new pastors and priests, unlikely and untamed pastors and priests who carry My heart, whose lamp is filled with oil and who will bend low in service to My wild and wooly and even filthy sheep. I’m raising some up, and I’m taking others down. This is a time of a changing of the guard, because many who have been up on platforms would not even guard the sheep fold from their positions up high. Many are not worthy to be leading My sheep, and I Am removing them from their lofty positions and replacing them with ones that they will be offended by. And as they balk at these wild ones I raise up, I will raise up yet even others who are more undignified than these. Watch and see if I won’t do it. I Am doing it even now.
How to Respond
- Pray, Lord thank You that You see the shepherds who have exalted themselves high above their position of service. Bring those who will truly tend to Your sheep. Cause a great changing of the guard that offends the religious ones and ministers to those who are called by Your Name.
- Declare, His spiritual seed shall serve him. Future generations will hear from us about the wonders of the Victorious Lord. His generation yet to be born will glorify him. And they will all declare, “It is finished!” — Psalms 22:30-31 TPT
- Decree, I will choose humility, and I will lead by example. I will not be one who is too good for any job that the Lord gives me the opportunity to do. I will watch as the Lord removes from Church leadership many who have not been in true service to the sheep or to the King, and I will watch as He raises up and replaces them with wild and wooly, undignified ones that offend religious sensibilities. These will be the ones who shepherd the flock and attend closely and compassionately to the dirty and needy sheep.
For more encouragement from The Glory & the New Wine, check out the post from this day in years past:
2024:
2023:
2022:
