Delighting in the Good Shepherd

Donna and I engaged Heaven to discover what they wanted us to share with our Platinum Members. Lydia came and began to teach us saying, “Remind the members of the goodness of the Good Shepherd. Jesus is a good shepherd. He knows His flock inside and out. He knows their heart cry. He knows their voice. He knows what they need—what they do not need. He is a good shepherd. He tends to the young lamb and the maturing one with equal love and concern. The Good Shepherd carries a rod of protection and guards His flock jealously with the intent to bring them to good pastures.”

“But” she said, “can you see He has already brought them to good pastures? He has already provided them with living water, but He is bringing them to good pastures, and He is bringing them to new waters. He surveys the landscape for where he will bring His flock and He will place them so that those among them, whether little lamb or maturing ones, their needs are equally met.

Remind them of the love of the Good Shepherd for each one in the flock. Remind them they are a flock. They are not your flock. They are the flock of the Lord Jesus Christ. As the Good Shepherd would, tell them to glory and relax in being known as a member of the flock. This brings a spiritual comfort that can translate to soul. He is a good, Good Shepherd. What do the members of the flock do? They hearken to His Word. They follow His lead. They allow themselves to be led and they perceive the good stream. They perceive the place of abundant pasture.

“Here's what I mean when you remember how good the shepherd is. Your eye has expectation. Your ear has expectation to receive the good flow of the good stream and the good abundance of the pasture. Many hearts are held back from the expectation of the good stream and the abundant pasture due to losing focus and not being attuned to the voice of the Good Shepherd. He is leading His people. He is leading his flock. He has given His life for the flock. He has taken back his life as a shepherd of many flocks. And He has abundance streams and pastures.”

“For how,” Lydia says, “does the flock know it is a flock? Because the individual sheep are paying attention to the shepherd. He, the Good Shepherd makes them a flock. Without a shepherd they are scattered sheep on a hillside. With a shepherd in the picture, they are a flock. Tell your people to:

Enjoy the peace and the calmness of the knowledge of understanding you are His flock because you are each looking to Him.

“The needs of the flock are met by the shepherd, not by the flock. So, the needs of the flock are not met by the flock. They are met by the shepherd. If you look to another sheep and never hear the voice of the shepherd himself, your membership of the flock is flawed because he cares for each. He speaks to each as a Good Shepherd.

“A shepherd reveals the places of abundance. The shepherd reveals the places of refreshing and he reveals the places of safety. He has voice in limiting the straying of the individual sheep and is the comforter for the sheep who fall into trouble. His eye is upon his flock always.

A Change of Language

“Now, let me change some language for you. Your spirit—your human spirit is like the sheep in the shepherds’ fold with the spirits of the flock looking to the shepherd, enjoying the company of others' spirits who are likewise looking to the shepherd.

“Little lambs look to other sheep for a while. Mature spirits (mature sheep) look to the shepherd. Newly awakened spirits look for other human spirits and must be taught to look to the Holy Spirit, The other Good Shepherd.” 

“So,” Lydia says, “you can take this and exchange the word sheep for spirit and see another layer and level of this manner in which the Good Shepherd leads his flock. He leads you by your spirit. So be sure your spirit is attuned to Him, listening to Him, and following Him.

“When all the spirits of those gathered are as one doing that, the release to all of the abundance of the goodness of the pastures and the flow of the good stream is released by the Good Shepherd.

“Delight yourself in the presence of the Good Shepherd. You may often have to teach what delighting in the Good Shepherd means—delighting yourself in Him. I am speaking of your spirit. Your spirit delights in His presence. Your spirit is meant to do that. It longs to do that. It is hungry to do that. It is already desiring to drink of the good stream that he leads you to, so learn to delight yourself in the Good Shepherd.”

I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. (John 10:14)