A Word of Encouragement for the Little Ones

ADisciple May 17, 2007

As I waited on the Lord earlier today, He whispered to my heart that the Day we are entering upon is the Day His little ones will shine.

The Day at hand is the Day for the "ordinary" member of the Body of Christ. The nameless ones, the nothing ones, the little ones. Those who are small in their own sight and who sometimes wonder, "Lord, do you even know I'm alive?" They love the Lord, and long to be a fruitful, vital, effective part of the Body of Christ, like others around them, but can't shake that "dormant" useless feeling.

But this is THEIR DAY. And God will do through them, yes THEM, the greater works He has promised He would do, and through them bring the shakings this world system will never recover from.

The meek, the lowly, the nothing ones, these are the ones through whom He will bring to nothing the things that are.

I feel in my Spirit the expectancy of this. I sense this is something the Lord in His heart of hearts is very excited about, is greatly longing to do: to reveal Himself in this way.

For isn't this the very purpose of all ministry? Yet it's likely going to be one of the Lord's surprises when it happens.

But I think it's something like this, something along this line, that is meant by the following verses: "And it came to pass... that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD; so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God" (2 Chr. 5. 13,14). (And true ministry will rejoice when this happens.)

So, Lord, grant us to lean on Thy breast, that we might hear Thy heart, and know what is dear to Your heart. Keep us small in our own sight, Lord. Put your yoke upon us; cause us to know Your own meekness and humility. We want to qualify for Your Day. Amen.

"A little one shall become a Thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in his time" (Isa. 60.22).

sermonindex May 18, 2007

Wonderful! Thank you AD

Reflects a passage in Zechariah. I don't fully understand it, but the phrase "the poor of the flock" gripped me. (In some versions this is translated "sheep merchants", but the word "poor" does mean poor, humble etc, according to Strongs.)

Zechariah 11:7 So I fed the flock for slaughter, in particular ~~[i]~~~~[b]~~the poor of the flock[/b][/i]. I took for myself two staffs: the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bonds; and I fed the flock. 8 I dismissed the three shepherds iin one month. My soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me. 9 Then I said, “I will not feed you. Let what is dying die, and what is perishing perish. Let those that are left eat each other’s flesh.” 10 And I took my staff, Beauty, and cut it in two, that I might break the covenant which I had made with all the peoples. 11 So it was broken on that day. Thus ~~[i]~~~~[b]~~the poor of the flock, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord[/b][/i].
(The New King James Version)

Yours in Him

Jeannette

ADisciple May 18, 2007

Thanks, Jeannette.

I, too, often reflect on that passage in Zechariah. Like yourself, there's much I don't understand about it. But what I do see... I think it speaks of our day. For, the true shepherds are to have the authority of those two staves: Beauty, and Bands, with which to nourish and care for the sheep of God's pasture. They are to, a) put the beauty of the Lord upon them, all His beauty and grace. And, b) they are to bring them together in true unity, the Lord's own unity (as outlined in Eph. Ch. 4 and John 17) ...the same kind enjoyed by the Father and the Son (and not something "man"ufactured).

But it's apparent in our day the two staves are broken: the beauty of the Lord is sorely lacking, and a false unity is in the making... and so the poor of the flock, so dear to Him, are not being cared for with the heart of the Lord.