Who’s your own, eh? For some, it’s just their children and for others, only family members in their bloodline are thought of, but thankfully there are those who know their own are the members of the body of Christ. Last evening in the middle of the night I heard the words: “Shepherds are coming!” Ah! When was the last time you knew someone was watching over you making sure all was well with you? How many true friends do you have? More importantly: Are you a true friend?

Just recently while I was worshipping in tongues, I was surprised to hear the Lord singing these words to me: “Trained to be my friend in the end!” A friend is what the Lord is desiring each one of us to be, eh?-…. even a true friend to Him like Abraham and Moses were and out of being a friend to God, we can be true friends to others. Doncha know though, that it takes training to be one.

In an awakened state after I heard “Shepherds are coming,” the Lord instructed: “Celebrate yourself!” I see the two connected together because through loving our neighbors as we love ourselves, we become shepherds of God’s sheep who are to be celebrated. You and I know that loving and accepting ourselves has not been an easy thing to do… In fact it has been downright impossible, but after the day came when in wretchedness we cried out, some of us finally realized that our flesh is not who we are. Hear it: NOW that we are awakened to the fact, our God wants us to celebrate with great fanfare (with His wind/spirit) because in celebrating ourselves, we celebrate HIM! This is the faith that pleases God, because Christ in us, as us, is WHO WE ARE!

Galatians 3: 16, 29 states this very thibg: “Now to Abraham and his seed are the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many: but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ.” … “And if you be Christ’s, then are you Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

I have not celebrated myself hitherto, have you? I believe this is a key factor in our coming forth in the divine nature and in our destinies being established. “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these we might be partakers of the divine nature; having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2 Peter 1: 4) If we believe this and do it by faith, we shall know who we are and have reason to celebrate ourselves. We are glorious and worthy of honor not because of anything we have done, but because of what God has accomplished in us. Oh yes indeed, we can and must celebrate ourselves and others, thereby celebrating HIM!

In my lifetime I have had some precious and faithful friends who always thought the best of me. It amazed me they still thought well of me after seeing the worst in me and what their love and faith in God working in me did for me, no words can express. I believe there is no greater encouragement than thinking the best of someone which is exactly how God thinks of us.

I remember a time when I was praying with one of the best of the best of friends. The Holy Spirit instructed us to celebrate each other and that was easy to do for me because she was one I often got drunk with, and WOW! Did we ever celebrate then! No! We didn’t get drunk on alcohol, but on the NEW WINE, which came in abundance with her every time she came to my house… Our bodies would stagger under the power of God and hilarious laughter would ensue when we would just see each other at the door. Truly it was joy unspeakable, full of glory, but I shall tell you a secret: It wouldn’t have happened unless Brenda and I were overcomers in our relationship. We didn’t like each other AT ALL when we first met. She was a friend of a friend and we shared a motel room at a Christian conference together because our mutual friend was rooming with someone else. All I can say is “Yikes! Yikes!” and more “Yikes!”

Is there someone in your life that you have had a similar reaction to? If so, know that that person may become your greatest joy. The command of God is that we love one another and there are no exceptions. Yes, all of us have experienced great injuries not only through the world, even through the body of Christ, but coming to love those who have hurt us is our greatest victory. I will confess to you that I have known the Lord 52 years, and it is only now that I have fully forgiven everyone who has hurt me FROM MY HEART.

Two days ago when I was taking communion, the Lord stopped me just as I was about to eat His bread. “Wait!” He cautioned me and then these words followed that I shall never forget: “You are a forgiving one,” He said, and then a vision came of Him kissing me on both cheeks saying: “I forgive you because you forgive others.”

It’s finally embedded deep inside me that people who hurt people do so not knowing what they do and that our war is not against them. Recently I heard a message that I pray everyone takes to heart because it’s what I believe will change the world: “To be offended is to sin!” the minister thundered into the core of my being. Whew! Only God can keep offenses from staying in us, as there’s no doubt that we have all experienced deep wounds with memories that can pierce our souls. We can’t help but hurt when they come but Hallelujah, there’s a remedy: THE CROSS! No one can tell me that the Lord didn’t feel pain on the cross and all throughout His life. He took Judas into His bosom KNOWING beforehand what he would betray him and then called him “friend.” Do you know that YOUR enemy is your friend? Yes, she or he is because that one is going to take you to the cross… the only place out of which life can come.

2 Cor. 4: 10-12 is the BEDROCK of SALVATION: “Always bearing in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death works in us, but life in you.”

Yay, the ones who do this are the true shepherds who are coming… They are the ones to be celebrated, so you who care for His sheep: Blow the shofar, get out the wine, make a great feast, and shine because

THE SHEPHERD’S light has come in YOU!