This article is authored by Ms. Diane Solver (ttps://www.facebook.com/data.angel.161) of “I’m with Jesus“and was first published on Facebook on 6^th December 2012.

“My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone. They have forgotten their fold” Jeremiah 50:6.

While I was praying, I saw a vision of a field. It was gloomy and the sky was dark. I noticed that the LORD was at my right side and He was holding my hand. I looked closely at the field, and I saw many sheep scattered. They are all thin and malnourished. Some are dirty, some have wounds, some are so weak, and some are sad and sick. Then Jesus said that they are His people and they need to be lead back to His fold. I felt sad for them and I don’t know what to do. I asked Him, “Lord, how can we bring them back?” And He said that we will go to each of them. Jesus gave me a hat and He put it on my head and gave me a staff. I thought to myself that I don’t need a hat because the weather is not hot but He said that it is to protect me from the heat. The Lord said that we will go to each of the sheep to personally tend them. He said that each of the sheep has different needs. He said that we must strengthen the sheep that is weak, heal those who are sick, bind up the injured, feed the hungry, and seek the lost. In order to bring them back to His fold, we need to look after them one by one.

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd” John 10:11-16.

“When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things” Mark 6:34.

Jesus is our Good Shepherd. He had laid down His life for us. The Lord also wants us to become a shepherd to those around us who are lost and scattered. Who are the lost sheep? Maybe they are our family, our friends, our co-workers, our church members, or those people we meet every day. They may look healthy outside but each has unmet needs. Many are dying spiritually. Many are being neglected. Each of them may have a problem or they may need our help but many of us are just ignoring them. We must have the heart of the LORD. We must ask the Lord on how we can help the person and how we can bring that person back to Him. Every shepherd of the Lord must patiently tend the sheep with love. Jesus said that if we love Him, we will tend and feed His sheep. How many of us are feeding and tending His sheep? How many of us are praying for the lost until they are set free from bondage? How many are willing to lay down their lives just as Jesus did?

“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD. Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the LORD. Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the LORD” Jeremiah 23:1-4.

Many of the sheep are hungry, sick and dying but those whom Daddy God called to be shepherds do not care for the needs of His flock. Those whom He called must be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit in order to do what He commanded them to do – feed His lambs, tend His sheep, feed His sheep. The shepherds must not only think of themselves but must patiently tend each sheep. The shepherds must guide them in the paths of righteousness and protect them from wolves and beasts in the world. They must feed them with the Word of God. They must take care of the sheep at all cost, even if it costs them their life.

“For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.
And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel.
I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD.
I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice” Ezekiel 34:11-16.

ALL GLORY TO GOD!