26 April, 2018

Hide and Seek: His Will isn't the point (Taken from Pst Steven Furtick's blog)

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter.

Proverbs 25:2

There's a reason God's will in specific situations is so difficult to know sometimes. There's a reason that not everything is black and white. It can be difficult to discern God's will for a lot of situations.

Who to date.

Where to go to college.

Who to marry.

Where to move.

What job to take.

And it's not because you're not praying. You're probably praying a lot. It's not because you don't want to know His will. You probably aren't lacking that desire.

But according to this verse in Proverbs, it's because God conceals.

But why? After all, that seems counterintuitive to God's purposes and using you in them.

The reason isn't because God doesn't want you to know His will. He wants you to know it more than you want to know it. God has something so much greater for you instead.

Him.

God's not up in heaven hiding His will, hoping you'll never be able to find it. But He does play hide and seek. He doesn't just want us to find His will, He wants us to find Him in the process. Because if His will was in plain view, we would seek it instead of seeking Him.

That's why he conceals it. That's why it's so hard.

The point isn't for God to make His will plain. His will isn't the main objective. He is the main objective. He wants you to discover Him above all else.

As you run after God and his good, pleasing, and perfect will, remember these two truths:

God isn't the shortcut to your best life. He is your best life.

God doesn't want to give you the guide for your life. He wants to be your Guide.

The scariest possibility for your life isn't getting God's will wrong. It's getting God's will right but barely coming to know God in the process.

You could love the right woman but lose your first love.

You could find the right career but then make it your god.

That's why He doesn't just write His will for you in the clouds. At the end of the process, He wants you to know something far greater than what you should do next with your life.

He wants you to know who He is.

17 April, 2018

John 21:15-17

15 So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah,[b] do you love Me more than these?”
He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”
He said to him, “Feed My lambs.”
16 He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah,[c] do you love Me?”
He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”
He said to him, “Tend My sheep.”
17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah,[d] do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?”
And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep."

Jesus, after eating with Simon Peter, asks him if he loves Jesus more than all these.
Ἰησοῦς: "Σίμων Ἰωάννου* , ἀγαπᾷς με πλέον τούτων ?
Jesus: Simon of Jonah, love me more than these?
Peter: Ναί  , Κύριε  ;  σὺ οἶδας ὅτι φιλῶ σε
Peter: Yes, Lord(Kyrios), You know I have affection for you.

These refers to? 

From: Matthew Henry's commentary:

https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/john/21.html

The question is affecting; he does not ask, "Dost thou fear me? Dost thou honour me? Dost thou admire me?’’ but, "Dost thou love me? Give but proof of this, and the affront shall be passed by, and no more said of it.’’ Peter had professed himself a penitent, witness his tears, and his return to the society of the disciples; he was now upon his probation as a penitent; but the question is not, "Simon, how much hast thou wept? how often hast thou fasted, and afflicted thy soul?’’ but, Dost thou love me? It is this that will make the other expressions of repentance acceptable. The great thing Christ eyes in penitents is their eyeing him in their repentance. Much is forgiven her, not because she wept much, but because she loved much. 2. His function would give occasion for the exercise of his love. Before Christ would commit his sheep to his care, he asked him, Lovest thou me? Christ has such a tender regard to his flock that he will not trust it with any but those that love him, and therefore will love all that are his for his sake. Those that do not truly love Christ will never truly love the souls of men, or will naturally care for their state as they should; nor will that minister love his work that does not love his Master. Nothing but the love of Christ will constrain ministers to go cheerfully through the difficulties and discouragements they meet with in their work, 2 Co. 5:132 Co. 5:14 . But this love will make their work easy, and them in good earnest in it.Secondly, Lovest thou me more than these? pleion touton . "Lovest thou me more than thou lovest these, more than thou lovest these persons?’’ Dost thou love me more than thou dost James or John, thy intimate friends, or Andrew, thy own brother and companion: Those do not love Christ aright that do not love him better than the best friend they have in the world, and make it to appear whenever they stand in comparison or in competition. Or, "more than thou lovest these things, these boats and nets—more than all the pleasure of fishing, which some make a recreation of—more than the gain of fishing, which others make a calling of.’’ Those only love Christ indeed that love him better than all the delights of sense and all the profits of this world. "Lovest thou me more than thou lovest these occupations thou art now employed in? If so, leave them, to employ thyself wholly in feeding my flock.’’  2. "Lovest thou me more than these love me, more than any of the rest of the disciples love me?’’ And then the question is intended to upbraid him with his vain-glorious boast, Though all men should deny thee, yet will not I. "Art thou still of the same mind?’’ Or, to intimate to him that he had now more reason to love him than any of them had, for more had been forgiven to him than to any of them, as much as his sin in denying Christ was greater than theirs in forsaking him. Tell me therefore which of them will love him most? Lu. 7:42 . Note, We should all study to excel in our love to Christ. It is no breach of the peace to strive which shall love Christ best; nor any breach of good manners to go before others in this love. Though we cannot say, We love Christ more than others do, yet we shall be accepted if we can say, We love him indeed.


Three things Jesus asks of Peter to do after he replies that he has affection for his master:

1st time: Feed my lambs.
2nd time: Tend my sheep.
3rd time: Feed my sheep.

The first thing Jesus asks of Peter is to feed his lambs.
Lambs are sheep who are of less than a year old.

The lambs must be fed first, then afterwards go and take care of the sheep. Discovering what the sheep needs, then go and feed the sheep likewise in the areas it needs feeding in. 
All lambs consume the same type of food. 
Lambs require a lot of milk, and after the first month some semi solids.

For the first several weeks of its life, all a lamb needs for nourishment is its mother's milk.  
This milk is the feeding of love to the lambs.
The first milk that a ewe produces after lambing is called colostrum. It is very nutritious and contains antibodies that help lambs fight off diseases during the early part of their lives. 
The promises of God must be fed to the lambs to protect them and their faith.
The ewe only produces colostrum for 24 hours. It is essential that lambs consume adequate colostrum. An amount equivalent to 10 percent of their body weight is recommended.
The promises of God must be fed everyday. You must connect with them everyday.

Lambs will start to nibble on solid food (hay, grass, and grain) soon after birth. By the time they are 4 to 6 weeks old, they may be obtaining as much as 50 percent of their nutrients from sources other than their mother's milk.

At least 50% of their source of nutrition is still the milk, the tender loving unconditional care of the mother.

Only after about a month of constant feeding, then the lambs will begin to nibble on solid food. 
This is the meat. To consume a bit of meat to strengthen their knowledge of God.

Young lambs, 1 to 2 weeks old, are often started on creep feed. Creep feeding is when supplemental feed (usually grain) is offered to nursing lambs. Creep grazing is a similar concept whereby lambs are given access to cleaner, more nutritious pasture. A barrier must be set up that will allow lambs to enter the creep area, but not the ewes.

Creep feed must be palatable and highly-digestible. Lambs are not born with a functioning rumen. They are not able to digest whole grains. They require grains that are easy to digest. Cracked corn and soybean meal usually form the basis of most lamb creep rations. The ingredients are balanced to provide a high protein (18-20 percent) diet. Lambs do not eat a lot of creep feed in the beginning, but it gets them in the habit of eating.

This creep feed, or this meat is supplemental. It does not replace the milk that the lamb needs, but it supplements the milk. Lambs are not born with a functioning rumen.  Lambs are not able to straight away ruminate the food and process the nutrients. That is why the first foods provided to the lambs are easy food, easy meat. The pasture is clean, more nutritious, and highly digestible, easy to understand. The lambs, young children of God require easy to consume food, and will slowly consume and learn from it. 

Learn from it? Learn what? 

Learn the habit of eating.

The lambs need access to the more easily understood texts in the Word of God.

Sheep eats fresh forage. We must provide fresh forage whenever possible. The freshest forage, or the most nutritional grain must be given so that they can grow from it.

We must provide fresh word, fresh grain, for our sheep.

Now, we have lambs which have slowly become sheep.

We must continue feeding our lambs (now sheep).

But before feeding the sheep, you must tend the sheep. When you tend the sheep, the sheep learns to trust you, the shepherd. Only after trusting the shepherd then can the sheep know the Shepherd's voice and uses that as a call to food. This trust on the shepherd must be developed.

The lamb's focus is food. The sheep has developed the ability to recognize the source of the food.

This is only through tending. after tending the sheep, even chasing the sheep back into the pen, guiding the sheep to waters and pastures, then can we start feeding the sheep. And when the sheep has reach maturity, then it will grow and be fruitful and multiply.

As with people, water is the most important "nutrient" that sheep need. How much they consume depends upon their age, size, and production status (and level), as well as temperature of the water and the amount of moisture in their feed. Sheep consuming wet grass or wet feeds (e.g. silage) won't drink a lot of water because they are getting plenty of water from their feed. Conversely, they will drink more water if they are eating dry hay or dry, mature grass. Sheep don't like to drink dirty water.

Water is the Holy Spirit. 
Sheep needs food. Food like grass, or feed. If these foods are wet with water, they won't need to drink as much water. But they will still need water. 

We must provide water, we must provide a touch of the Holy Spirit to our sheep. 

We must also teach our sheep how to access water.
How to access water by themselves. 
So we not only feed them, lead them to clean, still waters, they who are hungrier can feed and drink themselves too.


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Help me love you, I only have affection for you. But help me love you.

-huangxi