As we worshipped with this song, the Lord gave me a word for Pastors.
First I imagined that Jesus was singing the song. This is fitting since He endured the Cross because of the Joy He saw ahead. Then the lyric changed to This Church that I have, the world didn’t give it to me, and the world can’t take it away.
This brought to mind a passage from scripture:
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. John 10:27-29 (KJV)
Next thing is to apply this to each pastor in the church. His flock is given to him by the Lord, not the world, not his own efforts. And the world can’t take them away. They may leave on their own, but if they are hearing the voice of Great Shepherd through their pastor, they will follow.
The test of the true shepherd is how he reacts when the wolf comes.
The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. John 10:12-13 (KJV)
What else does the bible have to say about hirelings?
But as an hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubilee:
And then shall he depart from thee, both he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return. Leviticus 25:39-41
In other words The Hireling doesn’t flee till he sees the Wolf coming.!
Now put two and two together and you will see that in the jubilee {Revival] you can expect a visit from the wolf [Judgment].
This idea of joy in the midst of judgment is expressed in many various ways in scripture. For instance.
So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off. Ezra 3:12-13 (KJV)