Author: Ishaya Zephaniah

Life aimed motivational sui generis. The teacher of Truth, Justice and Righteousness.

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Feed The Lambs In Meekness

In Meekness Feed the Lambs, And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. James 3:18. The true minister of Christ should be encircled by an atmosphere of spiritual light, because he is connected with the world of light, and walks with Christ, who is the light of the world. Arguments may be resisted, persuasion and entreaty may be scorned, the most eloquent appeals, supported by the rigor of logic, may be disregarded; but a living character of righteousness, a daily piety in the walks of life, an anxiety for the sinner wherever found, the spirit of truth burning in the heart, beaming from the countenance, and breathing from the lips in every word, constitute a sermon which is hard to resist or to set aside, and which makes the strongholds of Satan tremble. Ministers who walk with God are clad with the panoply of heaven, and victory will attend their efforts. Those who are engaged in the great and solemn work of warning the world should not only have an individual experience in the things of God, but they should cultivate love for one another, and should labor to be of one mind, of one judgment, to see eye-to-eye. The absence of this love greatly pleases our wily foe. He is the author of envy, jealousy, hatred, and dissension; and he rejoices to see these vile weeds choke out love, that tender plant of heavenly growth. It does not please God to have His servants censure, criticize, and condemn one another. He has given them a special work, that of standing in defense of the truth. They are His workmen; all should respect them, and they should respect one another. In the army, officers are required to respect their fellow officers, and the privates soon learn the lesson. When the leaders of the people in Christian warfare are kind and forbearing, and manifest a special love and regard for their colaborers, they teach others to do the same. The reputation of a fellow laborer is to be sacredly guarded. If one sees faults in another, he is not to magnify them before others, and make them grievous sins. They may be errors of judgment, that God will give divine grace to overcome. If He had seen that angels, who are perfect, would have done the work for the fallen race better than men, He would have committed it to them. But instead of this He sent the needed assistance by poor, weak, erring mortals, who, having like infirmities as their fellowmen, are best prepared to help them. There was Peter, who denied his Lord…. Before Peter’s feet slipped, he had not the spirit of meekness required to feed the lambs; but after he became sensible of his own weakness … he could come close to their side in tender sympathy, and could help them (Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the Seventh-day Adventists, 120, 121). This text is from the devotional book Lift Him Up by Ellen G. White.

The Concerted Peter: An Undershepherd

The Converted Peter, an Undershepherd, July 29

When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Luke 22:32. Three times Peter had openly denied his Lord, and three times Jesus drew from him the assurance of his love and loyalty, pressing home that pointed question, like a barbed arrow to his wounded heart. Before the assembled disciples Jesus revealed the depth of Peter’s repentance, and showed how thoroughly humbled was the once boasting disciple. Peter was naturally forward and impulsive, and Satan had taken advantage of these characteristics to overthrow him. Just before the fall of Peter, Jesus had said to him, “Satan hath desired to have, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:31, 32). That time had now come, and the transformation in Peter was evident. The close, testing questions of the Lord had not called out one forward, self-sufficient reply; and because of his humiliation and repentance, Peter was better prepared than ever before to act as shepherd to the flock…. Before his fall, Peter was always speaking unadvisedly, from the impulse of the moment. He was always ready to correct others, and to express his mind, before he had a clear comprehension of himself or of what he had to say. But the converted Peter was very different. He retained his former fervor, but the grace of Christ regulated his zeal. He was no longer impetuous, self-confident, and self-exalted, but calm, self-possessed, and teachable. He could then feed the lambs as well as the sheep of Christ’s flock. The Saviour’s manner of dealing with Peter had a lesson for him and for his brethren. It taught them to meet the transgressor with patience, sympathy, and forgiving love. Although Peter had denied his Lord, the love which Jesus bore him never faltered. Just such love should the undershepherd feel for the sheep and lambs committed to his care. Remembering his own weakness and failure, Peter was to deal with his flock as tenderly as Christ had dealt with him…. Jesus walked alone with Peter, for there was something which He wished to communicate to him only. Before His death, Jesus had said to him, “Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.” To this Peter had replied, “Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake” (John 13:36, 37)…. Peter had failed when the test came, but again he was to have opportunity to prove his love for Christ…. Jesus thus made known to Peter the very manner of his death; He even foretold the stretching forth of his hands upon the cross…. He felt willing to suffer any death for his Lord (The Desire of Ages, 812-815).

My Favorite Country

If you won two free plane tickets, where would you go?

I long to visit Jamaica and Island

The True Leader

Faith

Faith

THE SHEPHERD CALLS HIS SHEEP BY NAME

He that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep…. The sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. John 10:2, 3. The path of the upright is the path of peace. It is so plain that the humble, God-fearing man can walk in it without stumbling and without making crooked paths. It is a narrow path; but men of different temperaments can walk side by side if they but follow the Captain of their salvation. Those who wish to carry along all their evil traits and selfish habits cannot walk in this path, for it is too straight and narrow. What pains the Great Shepherd takes to call His sheep by name and invite them to follow in His footsteps. He seeks the wandering. He flashes the light from His Word to show them their peril. He speaks to them from heaven in warning and reproofs, and in invitations to return to the right path. He seeks to help the erring by His presence and to lift them when they fall. But many have followed the path of sin so long that they will not hear the voice of Jesus. They leave all that can give them rest and security, yield themselves up to a false guide, and presumptuously hurry on in blind self-confidence, going further and further from light and peace, from happiness and rest…. The cross of Christ is our only hope. It reveals to us the greatness of our Father’s love and the fact that the Majesty of heaven submitted to insult, mockery, humiliation, and suffering for the joy of seeing perishing souls saved in His kingdom. If you love your children, let it be your chief study to prepare them for the future, immortal life…. Work while it is day; redeem the time, and win the crown of immortal glory. Save yourself and your household, for the salvation of the soul is precious (Testimonies for the Church 4:502, 503). Many a husband and father might learn a helpful lesson from the carefulness of the faithful shepherd. Jacob, when urged to undertake a rapid and difficult journey, made answer: “The children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die…. I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure” (Genesis 33:13, 14). In life’s toilsome way let the husband and father “lead on softly,” as the companion of his journey is able to endure. Amidst the world’s eager rush for wealth and power, let him learn to stay his steps, to comfort and support the one who is called to walk by his side (The Ministry of Healing, 374). This text is from the devotional book Lift Him Up by Ellen G. White.

Christ Is Everything To Us

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. John 10:27. The transformation of the human character makes the yoke of Christ easy, and His burden light. Through faith everyone can, if he will become one with Christ in his obedience and his service. It is God’s prerogative to command; it is the duty of man to obey. Nothing is forced upon any soul. The honor of duty is a thing conferred upon him as a Son of God, an heir of heaven. He is to labor for God in interested, truehearted, glad, honorable service. In obeying all His commandments, a spirit of love for God is revealed. In this very atmosphere of love Christ lived and worked. Each word, each action, is a work for God. Here is faith in God, and faith in men. Christ would never have given His life for the human race if He had not faith in the souls for whom He died. He knew that a large number would respond to the love He had expressed for humanity. It is not every heart that responds, but every heart may, and can if it will, respond to that love that is without parallel. “My sheep hear my voice,” Christ said. A heart yearning for God will recognize the voice of God. God cannot respond to one soul that does not respond to His grace offered, His love bestowed. He is waiting for a response from souls…. The issue rests wholly with themselves. He bids them to the marriage feast; He sets before them the banquet that will satisfy every want. His word is full of marrow and fatness. “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” … Then the Lord will give an outpouring of His Spirit as on the day of Pentecost…. Communion with God is for each one personal and direct. The heart under the guidance of the Holy Spirit will burn within them with the love of God. They are like trustful children. Christ looks not for merit. O if all would come just as they are, and let Him make the preparation in taking them as His. The Lord only wants them to receive Him and learn to wear His yoke, and lift His burdens, that heaven may behold that they are laborers together with God. Why cannot every soul that needs help and rest come to the burden bearer, that he may have light and life. Christ could not help being bright and shining. His very work was to shine. I am come, He said, “that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” In Me is no darkness at all…. Light means revelation, and the light is to shine amid moral darkness. Christ is everything to those who receive Him. He is their Comforter, their safety, their healthfulness. Apart from Christ there is no light at all. There need not be a cloud between the soul and Jesus…. His great heart of love is longing to flood the soul with the bright beams of His righteousness (Letter 153a, 1897). This text is from the devotional book Lift Him Up by Ellen G. White.

The Tenderness Of The Shepherd

View in browser The Tenderness of the Shepherd, July 25 VIEW POST

And when he has found [the sheep], he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. Luke 15:5, RSV. In the commission to His disciples, Christ not only outlined their work, but gave them their message. Teach the people, He said, “to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” The disciples were to teach what Christ had taught. That which He had spoken, not only in person, but through all the prophets and teachers of the Old Testament, is here included. Human teaching is shut out. There is no place for tradition, for man’s theories and conclusions, or for church legislation. No laws ordained by ecclesiastical authority are included in the commission. None of these are Christ’s servants to teach. “The law and the prophets,” with the record of His own words and deeds, are the treasure committed to the disciples to be given to the world. Christ’s name is their watchword, their badge of distinction, their bond of union, the authority for their course of action, and the source of their success. Nothing that does not bear His superscription is to be recognized in His kingdom. The gospel is to be presented, not as a lifeless theory, but as a living force to change the life. God desires that the receivers of His grace shall be witnesses to its power. Those whose course has been most offensive to Him He freely accepts; when they repent, He imparts to them His divine Spirit, places them in the highest positions of trust, and sends them forth into the camp of the disloyal to proclaim His boundless mercy. He would have His servants bear testimony to the fact that through His grace men may possess Christlikeness of character, and may rejoice in the assurance of His great love. He would have us bear testimony to the fact that He cannot be satisfied until the human race are reclaimed and reinstated in their holy privileges as His sons and daughters. In Christ is the tenderness of the shepherd, the affection of the parent, and the matchless grace of the compassionate Saviour. His blessings He presents in the most alluring terms. He is not content merely to announce these blessings; He presents them in the most attractive way, to excite a desire to possess them. So His servants are to present the riches of the glory of the unspeakable Gift. The wonderful love of Christ will melt and subdue hearts, when the mere reiteration of doctrines would accomplish nothing…. Christ is sitting for His portrait in every disciple. Every one God has predestinated to be “conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29). In every one Christ’s long-suffering love, His holiness, meekness, mercy, and truth are to be manifested to the world (The Desire of Ages, 826, 827)

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