So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My lambs.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep.” John 21:15-17.
And He brought forth His people with joy, His chosen ones with a joyful singing. Psalm 105:43.
Then He brought them out with silver and gold, and among His tribes there was not one who feeble one among them. Psalm 105:37.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
In all situations see yourself as a pastor and the people I put in your life as your sheep, to feed and to tend, not to beat. You give them something to eat, for man does not live on bread alone but every Word from My mouth. You guide them to living water—to the springs of salvation (Yeshuah) and lead them there with joyful singing, with none feeble (all healed) among them and all laden with silver (redemption) and gold (My righteousness). Psalm 105:37, Joel 2:26; Psalm 105:43.
Do not see people, especially your own family, as nuisances and burdens. See them as the little flock I have entrusted to you as a member of the body of the Good Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep. He went after the lost ones and brought them back rejoicing. And as I sent Him, so He sends you. A good shepherd.
Shepherds do not share their feelings with the sheep. When Jesus said, “My heart is troubled now,” He said it to Me. In the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed to Me. With Peter, James and John, He told them to pray they not fall into temptation. To them He gave instruction, edification, but to Me He told the feelings of His heart.
Do not share your feelings with anyone but Me. I understand. Jesus is able to sympathize with your weakness, He felt them all. Others do not understand as I do. They misinterpret and they use them to your disadvantage.
Do not tell people your inner secrets. Samson told Delilah all his heart and he lost all his relationship with Me and when he lost that, he lost his power. Only share your heart with Me. Give it to Me and I will guard it and keep it. Others will not. Jesus did not entrust Himself to any man for He knew their thoughts. He did not open Himself up for all to see. In His prayer recorded in the seventeenth chapter of John, He was talking to Me.
When He was reviled and wrongly accused, He opened not His mouth. He said nothing to Herod. Jesus spoke only to edify, exhort and encourage. And I tell you to do the same. I tell you to teach and admonish one another (not share your “feelings” about things) with Psalms. What did Jesus recite on the Cross? Psalm 22.
Jesus was always teaching, was always edifying, was always instructing, was always giving grace to those who heard Him, was always setting free, was always lighting the way, was always stable, was always caring for others, emptied of self and treating your interests of primary importance.
He gave His life for His sheep. And it gave Him joy to do it. Hebrews 12:2. Does it give you joy to save others?
I send people into your life so you can open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to My Kingdom, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me. Acts 26:18.
Tend My lambs, feed My sheep, shepherd them all. That is how you show your love for Me. Remember? My Son asked Peter if he loved Him and then he told him to do those three things.
Do you love Me? Then tend My lambs, feed My sheep, and shepherd all I send into your life. Lead them to Me. Lead them out of darkness into My marvelous light. And do it with joyful singing, just like I led My people out of the slavery of Egypt. Psalm 105:43. And give them the silver of redemption and the gold of My righteousness.
How can you say you love Me if you hate your brother whom I made and sent into your life? The lost coin came to you!
People have gone astray. They are living abandoned lives on the rubbish dump. Get them off the rubbish dump. The people are picking up and eating garbage. The garbage piled up from generation down to generation. Each generation making a bigger mess than the last one because they never left the futile way of life inherited from their ancestors. They are still picking up and eating the same hatred, the same feuds, the same grudges, the same lies, the same selfishness, the same abuse, the same anger and bitterness, the same prejudices, the same poisonous roots that no one ever weeded out. They have turned My beautiful earth I gave you into a hoarded mess of garbage passed on from generation to generation until you cannot even see the life under there that you were meant to enjoy in a wide and open space. You have become captive to the dump.
What can you do? Blow it away. I send forth My Spirit and they are created and I renew the face of the earth.
You have turned the earth I gave you into a rubbish dump and everyone is eating layers upon layers of generations of garbage, the futile ways of your ancestors.
For centuries people have been dumping the garbage (sins, encumbrances, wars, fears, phobias, addictions, lusts, greed, murders, anger, abuses) on the younger generations, leaving it layer upon layer upon the earth. Like ancient cities they find buried under layers of dirt. But way down under all that is the beauty I made, layers down.
Clear off the layers of clutter, rebuild the ancient ruins, be the repairer of the breech. My image is still in people under all the clutter.
But how do you get people out of the rubbish dump of their lives? You translate them from the realm of darkness into the Kingdom of My Beloved Son with the wings of the eagle. I lift you up on eagle’s wings and take you to the place of grace, a wide, free and open space. Whom the Son sets free is free indeed.
Take people out of the dump to the symphony. The beautiful symphony of life, the Song of Songs. My song of love and deliverance over you. Snatch people out of the flames and Satan’s trap to the freedom of the children of God.
Here you have no lasting city, only an earthly tent. Do not worry so much about your glory. Your glory will come from Me in the life to come. Jesus said to Me in His prayer in John 17, “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work you have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory I had with you before the world was.” John 17:4-5.
And you have that too. Have you never read, “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’” Matthew 25:34. Then He goes on to tell you why that Kingdom was prepared for you. You did the work He gave you to do. And what was that? Read on: “For I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’” Matthew 25:35-40.
Do you see? Let’s look. My sheep were hungry and you gave them to eat, you fed My sheep with My Word and you quenched their thirst by giving them the living water, you led them to the waters of peace, you gave them a drink (like Jesus told the Samaritan woman, if you but knew the gift of God, you would ask Him for a drink) that became a fountain within them leaping up to eternal life. They were strangers and you invited them into My family, to become My children by receiving Jesus as Lord so they could dwell in My house forever. You brought them into the eternal Covenant of Love through My Son. Strangers and aliens from My promises no longer. No longer without Me and without hope in the world. They were naked and you clothed them with the garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness. You clothed them in Christ in baptism in His Name and Mine. They were sick and you visited them, you laid your hands on them in Jesus’ Name and they recovered. I sent out My disciples to heal the sick, cast out demons, cleanse lepers, and raise the dead. Same is for you. They were in prison and you came to them, to call them out of their darkness into My marvelous light, to loose their bonds and set the captives free and lead out the prisoners to prosperity. You opened their eyes that had been blinded by Satan who had taken them captive to do his will and let them go free. You cast out the demons in the Name of Jesus and set the prisoners free.
What have you been doing? Have you been glorifying Me on earth by finishing the work I gave you to do? Or have you been turning your back on your own? Jesus rejected no one who came to Him, He tried to save them all. If they left, He let them go, but He was always seeking to bring them back into the sheepfold.
For you should not just be seeking perishable food but food that lasts unto life eternal. You are looking for the City which has unshakable foundations, whose architect and builder is none other than Myself. I Myself will build you a house, just as I told David. Jesus told you He was going to prepare a place for you for in My house there are many mansions, and then, when it is all ready, He will come back to take you there with Him.
The patriarchs confessed they were strangers and exiles on earth for those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own, a heavenly one. Therefore, I am not ashamed to be called their God for I have prepared a city for them. And I prepared it for you too, since the foundation of the world and before. A place called Heaven.
I love you. I am ashamed to be called the God of those who abuse others and themselves, are rude, mean, and focused only on ambition to be above others in this life, those who destroy My earth and turn it into a rubbish dump. But, to you who love and believe, you My shepherds who tend, feed and shepherd the people I send to you with obedient faith, I have prepared a Kingdom filled with majesty and beauty that will take your breath away if I had not breathed My Spirit into you.