Just as the outer man is hungry and thirsty, even the inner man is also hungry and thirsty.
But rarely do we care about hunger and thirst of the inner man.
when the outer man is hungry, he is fed well. and when fed well the outer man gets strengthened.
and when the outer man is fed with junk food , the outer man will get health issues.
Inner man gets hungry, thirsty.
In John 21:15, Lord Jesus said to Peter feed my lambs.
When Peter was asked about whether he loves Jesus more than these, his reply was you know that I love you.
Despite of all his failures, In the depths of his heart , Peter actually loves Jesus.
That is why can boldly tell the Lord that "You know Lord".
The Lord wants this love not only to be contained in Peter, but He wants the lambs to be fed.
This is a pastoral calling for Peter and the message is very clear.
"Feed my lambs". and Its about feeding.
lambs/sheep represent Church of God.
Feeding lambs is not about giving food, water,wine to the Church. This is not about outer man.
This is about inner man.
The Lord knows that the inner man is hungry and thirsty and needs to be fed.
The Shepherd of the Church has the primary responsibility of feeding the Church with the Spiritual food.
But that happens on Sundays or during bible studies or prayer meetings. and we are all excited when we get that spiritual food in those meetings.
Apart from these above mentioned meetings, how are we feeding the inner man?
Outside of Church, we are living in a corrupted world.
Many times we feed the inner man with the things of the world.
For example, some may feed with the news. In this Smart age, media feeds the inner man with news.
porn sites are feeding the inner man of young people with hellish content.
'BREAKING NEWS' - should be the title of every gossip brought forth by the busy bodies in the Church, because they feed the inner man to have the breaking spirit in the Church.
Is our inner man feeding on what the Lord asked Peter to feed the Church with?
Many years even after becoming believer i have fed my inner man with the world.
But I have realized that because of all the junk, my inner man got weakened.
Few things that i learnt to strengthen inner man.
First and foremost thing that inner should be strengthened is with
Holiness of God.
Only Holy Spirit of God can reveal the Holiness of God to a person.
When we take time and spend time in the presence of God, God reveals His Holiness.
When the inner man is fed with Holiness of God, there we realize our own condition.
Isaiah saw the Holiness of God and he saw what kind of man he was.
Always let there be longing to be filled with holiness of God.
The Lord said, Be Holy for I am Holy.
If we dont know and the Holiness of God how can we be holy.
Opportunities to be exposed to the presence of God.
Many in this world wait for when the weekend will come so that they have an opportunity to go out and enjoy. To go to beach or to go on vacation ....
and most of the worlds opportunities expose people to feed on worldly things.
We see in Churches, Pastors tries to create events after events so that Church gets more and more opportunities to be exposed to the presence of God and fellowship of the Church.
But that does not stop there, even for ourselves, we need to always create opportunities for ourself to be exposed to the presence of God.
Have meditation time, Have worship time, Have fellowship time, Have sharing time.
Expose yourself to God.
Also for the families, The head of the house should create more opportunities for the kids to be exposed to the presence of God.
for example, If the family exposes kids to gadgets, video games obviously kids are exposed and even addicted to them.
But if the head of the house creates opportunities for the kids to be exposed to the presence of God, then they will be giving an inheritance of godliness to them.
Simple example could be.
But rarely do we care about hunger and thirst of the inner man.
when the outer man is hungry, he is fed well. and when fed well the outer man gets strengthened.
and when the outer man is fed with junk food , the outer man will get health issues.
Inner man gets hungry, thirsty.
When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
When Peter was asked about whether he loves Jesus more than these, his reply was you know that I love you.
Despite of all his failures, In the depths of his heart , Peter actually loves Jesus.
That is why can boldly tell the Lord that "You know Lord".
The Lord wants this love not only to be contained in Peter, but He wants the lambs to be fed.
This is a pastoral calling for Peter and the message is very clear.
"Feed my lambs". and Its about feeding.
lambs/sheep represent Church of God.
Feeding lambs is not about giving food, water,wine to the Church. This is not about outer man.
This is about inner man.
The Lord knows that the inner man is hungry and thirsty and needs to be fed.
The Shepherd of the Church has the primary responsibility of feeding the Church with the Spiritual food.
But that happens on Sundays or during bible studies or prayer meetings. and we are all excited when we get that spiritual food in those meetings.
Apart from these above mentioned meetings, how are we feeding the inner man?
Outside of Church, we are living in a corrupted world.
Many times we feed the inner man with the things of the world.
For example, some may feed with the news. In this Smart age, media feeds the inner man with news.
porn sites are feeding the inner man of young people with hellish content.
'BREAKING NEWS' - should be the title of every gossip brought forth by the busy bodies in the Church, because they feed the inner man to have the breaking spirit in the Church.
Is our inner man feeding on what the Lord asked Peter to feed the Church with?
Many years even after becoming believer i have fed my inner man with the world.
But I have realized that because of all the junk, my inner man got weakened.
Few things that i learnt to strengthen inner man.
First and foremost thing that inner should be strengthened is with
Holiness of God.
Only Holy Spirit of God can reveal the Holiness of God to a person.
When we take time and spend time in the presence of God, God reveals His Holiness.
When the inner man is fed with Holiness of God, there we realize our own condition.
Isaiah saw the Holiness of God and he saw what kind of man he was.
Always let there be longing to be filled with holiness of God.
The Lord said, Be Holy for I am Holy.
If we dont know and the Holiness of God how can we be holy.
Opportunities to be exposed to the presence of God.
Many in this world wait for when the weekend will come so that they have an opportunity to go out and enjoy. To go to beach or to go on vacation ....
and most of the worlds opportunities expose people to feed on worldly things.
We see in Churches, Pastors tries to create events after events so that Church gets more and more opportunities to be exposed to the presence of God and fellowship of the Church.
But that does not stop there, even for ourselves, we need to always create opportunities for ourself to be exposed to the presence of God.
Have meditation time, Have worship time, Have fellowship time, Have sharing time.
Expose yourself to God.
Also for the families, The head of the house should create more opportunities for the kids to be exposed to the presence of God.
for example, If the family exposes kids to gadgets, video games obviously kids are exposed and even addicted to them.
But if the head of the house creates opportunities for the kids to be exposed to the presence of God, then they will be giving an inheritance of godliness to them.
Simple example could be.
Teach some music to your children and let them play worship songs in your family time.
Create an opportunity to go out and share the gospel to some friends.
Don't yield to your children's desires, but feed their inner man in with proper food.
Meditation:
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things arenoble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
Meditation is a gift of God to man to think and ponder upon something.To fix our eyes, and gaze upon.
Meditation - Not many know what meditation is.
many in the Church meditate on bad reports about others, things that are impure, things are not praise worthy.
Paul mentions here , what the inner man should be fed with.
Inner man needs Things that are
Noble
good report
virtue
praise worthy.
Never replace these with unworthy things
1 timothy 4:15
Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. 16 Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.
Meditation matters,
Paul is asking Timothy to meditate on reading, exhortation, doctrine and the gift that is given to Him.
Feed the Inner man.
Let not the inner man be fed with Junk, but through the Holy Spirit , let the inner man be strengthened by feeding with Holiness of God and things that are noble and praiseworthy.
Amen.
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