Feed My sheep. —John 21:17
This is love in the making. The love of God is not created— it is His nature. When we receive the life of Christ through the Holy Spirit, He unites us with God so that His love is demonstrated in us. The goal of the indwelling Holy Spirit is not just to unite us with God, but to do it in such a way that we will be one with the Father in exactly the same way Jesus was. And what kind of oneness did Jesus Christ have with the Father? He had such a oneness with the Father that He was obedient when His Father sent Him down here to be poured out for us. And He says to us, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21).
Peter now realizes that he does love Him, due to the revelation that came with the Lord’s piercing question. The Lord’s next point is— “Pour yourself out. Don’t testify about how much you love Me and don’t talk about the wonderful revelation you have had, just ‘Feed My sheep.’ ” Jesus has some extraordinarily peculiar sheep: some that are unkempt and dirty, some that are awkward or pushy, and some that have gone astray! But it is impossible to exhaust God’s love, and it is impossible to exhaust my love if it flows from the Spirit of God within me. The love of God pays no attention to my prejudices caused by my natural individuality. If I love my Lord, I have no business being guided by natural emotions— I have to feed His sheep. We will not be delivered or released from His commission to us. Beware of counterfeiting the love of God by following your own natural human emotions, sympathies, or understandings. That will only serve to revile and abuse the true love of God.
Journal DJR
Good morning Lord,
So we are to “Feed your sheep” That works for me as I get joy and satisfaction from encouraging people and sharing what I’ve been given. But details of how and who and where and what I feed which sheep…. leaves lots of room for “error”
It becomes clear that I cannot make feeding sheep into a method, complete with policy and procedure manuals, org charts etc. Well, I could, and I have, but when I did that, I was “leaning on my own understanding”
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
Trusting and submitting are things that you can do to a person… Or you can trust and submit to methods and lists or even a manifesto or constitution. But the results won’t be the same. Trusting and submitting to a person allows for a customized relationship, especially for you in your circumstances. A method or manifesto cannot do that. Methods and lists are “one size fits all” The list is the list. Don’t get me wrong, lists have value, but only a personal relationship can customize and maximize that value. The “Method” of living that I have led you to…. Surrender, Connection, Curiosity and Obedience only works in Relationship with me. Usually I will lead you to something that may have been on your “List” anyway, but it will be the right choice at the right time and place. And sometimes I will lead you to something that wasn’t on the list, something that is outside the box and breaks the rules. It is safer to stay in the box and follow all the rules. But I didn’t. And I’m calling you out of the safe box with the safe methods and rules, to “Feed my sheep” with my customized plan that I will reveal to you step by step as we go.
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