Feed My Sheep

On March 3rd, I wrote this post about not wanting to work the Kairos Prison Ministry. Yesterday afternoon was the closing ceremony at the prison and one of the Men in White talked about this very verse "Feed My Sheep." Just a further confirmation that God wanted us to work that Kairos.

It was a long, hard weekend and I am tired, but it is a good tired.

Kairos Prison Ministry

Sugar Pop and I are working a Kairos this weekend. (No posts from me until Monday.) He will be on the music team and will be going into the prison. I will be on the kitchen team and will be helping prepare food and sack cookies. We send in all home cooked meals for the weekend and about 5,000 dozen cookies.

For more information about Kairos, please visit the official website.

Please keep the team and the "Men in White" in your prayers.

Devotional for Kairos

This is from the Life Lesson in my devotional bible. (I get a LOT from them. Have you noticed?) I have to present a little devotional tomorrow morning for the ladies working the Kairos this weekend and this is what I am going to use.

Two great problems in servings others are both problems of human nature, of focusing on our relationship with people instead of our relationship with Christ. The first problem is that people will expect too much of you; and the second, you will expect too much of them. Both of these problems are problems of unrealistic expectations. Expectations must be focused on Christ, not each other. He is the only One who will consistently not let us down.

The milk of human sympathy will undernourish your soul. No amount of human gratitude will properly compensate your effort to improve your human condition. When we focus on serving the person, we are inevitably disappointed. And what's more, we will disappoint them. Serving people for the sake of their gratitude is a guaranteed formula for disappointment. Just when you begin to feel good about your labors, someone lets you down. Or, more likely, someone will expect too much from you and accuse you of letting them down. Either way, your desitny is to be terribly discouraged...

The key is the personal relationship with Christ. The focus must not be on serving others or on being served. The focus must be on Jesus, on becoming so absorbed in the relationship with Him that every other thing is a response to our relationship. We do not serve men; we serve God. Have no expectations of men. Focus on the personal relationship with Him, and there wil be an overflow available for others.

Look to Christ alone for gratitude. If you serve Christ, then you will remember to look to Him for your approval, not to the milk of human sympathy. He will reward you for serving others; in fact, He is the reward.

When someone feels you let them down, you can surrender that relationship to Christ. You are serving Him only; He will give you the strength to serve that person more. You may want to flee from the ingratitude--the insatiable demands of other people--but Christ will empower you to be a servant if you take on His attitude. It can only come by devotion to the personal relationship.

The personal relationship with Christ is the oasis in the desrt of human relations. When people begin to wear you down, let it remind you that you are not in the overflow. It is time to drink of Christ. (From Walking with Christ in the Details of Life by Patrick Morley)

Happy Daylight Savings Time!

Yippee! Daylight Savings Time is finally here! The dark winter days are over and spring is on the way. I was excited to wake up 10 minutes before the alarm this morning and be ready to get out of bed. Then I had a good quiet time and found an appropriate devotional for Friday's devotional I will be giving when we are working the Kairos. On top of all that it is RAINING today! It is a beautiful day. All praise and glory to God on High!

Kairos Novena

I binged Monday afternoon. I am tired of this. I do not want to beat myself up about it though. I am going to move forward. I will begin a NINE DAY KAIROS NOVENA to prepare myself physically, emotionally, and spiritually for the Kairos that begins on the 15th.

Here are my daily goals for the Novena:
1. Drink 5 bottles of water a day
2. Drop to 20 points (have been at 22)
3. Minimum 7,500 steps per day
4. Have Chai tea or milk instead of pudding for my evening snack.
5. Adjust morning and afternoon snacks to include carb/protein combination.
6. Quiet my world...less radio, less tv, less itunes...listen for the still small voice of God.
7. Cut down blog reading.
8. Get to bed before 11:00.
9. Prepare at least 9 bags for donation to the Women's Center.

I will also be aiming for 100% on my daily healthy habits. 9 days at 100% seems impossible "but with God everything is possible.” Matthew 19:26.

Kairos

Sugar Pop and I are working a Kairos this month. We have a lot of things going on and I've really not been wanting to work it. Today was our last team meeting before the Kairos and I was dreading it and really "wanting permission" from God to be able to drop off the team.

I opened up My Utmost for His Highest for today's reading. Here is an excerpt:

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.

So...I'll be working the Kairos in two weeks and God will give me His love and His Spirit and His Time and His Energy to Feed His Sheep.