3.2.25 Luke 6:12-19

3 February

Prepare

Heavenly Father,

As I come before you today, I lay down all my cares, worries and burdens before you, knowing and trusting that all things are in your hands. Lord, help me to take captive every anxious thought, releasing it into your loving care. 

Calm my mind, still my heart and show me how to rest in your presence. Teach me to be still, to listen and to find peace in knowing that you are in control. I place my trust in you.

Thank you for the gift of this day, which now lies open before me. Help me to use it well. 

And now, as I open your precious Word, send your Holy Spirit. Speak, help me to hear your still, small voice and help me to obey. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Read Luke 6:12-19

One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.

When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

He went down with them and stood on a level place.

A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases.

Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

Reflection

Appointing people to key roles is never easy. Some candidates interview magnificently yet fail to perform. Others may have spent less help polishing their applications or may speak nervously at interview, but have huge potential to grow in post.

Jesus faced the biggest recruitment challenge in history. He knew He could only deeply invest in a small group of people, perhaps twelve or so, and that, after He was taken back up to heaven, the future of the church indeed the destiny of the whole human race would depend on their faithful witness, courage amidst persecution and utter dependence on the Holy Spirit.

Jesus, although God incarnate, did not rush in after five minutes of prayer; he spent the night in prayer discerning the will of the Father. How long do we spend praying about important decisions. In the words of Tim Keller: ‘The prayer that God always answers is the prayer for wisdom.’

The late Pope John Paul II once said, “Prayer is the oxygen of the soul.” Just as our bodies cannot function without oxygen, neither can our spiritual lives without prayer. 

And who did Jesus choose – not highly respected, confident educated types, but twelve apparently very ordinary working people mightily used by God. 

As C.S. Lewis said “Jesus doesn't want us to be confident in our own abilities; he wants us to trust Him in our weaknesses, so that He can display His power.” 

The disciples certainly trusted Jesus, whilst many followers melted away, they trusted Him enough to leave everything to follow Him. And Jesus invested in them, just as he stands ready to invest in you and me, do more through us than we can ever imagine, if we fully put our trust in Him. 

Be

Are you ready to enter in that place of utter trust in Jesus? Let’s pray.

Lord, thank you for the faithfulness of those first disciples and all you did in and through them.

Take us, Lord, send your Holy Spirit to set us ablaze with love for you, and use us we pray to build your Kingdom and to find and build up others who will do extraordinary things in your name. 

Become

What will it take for you increasingly to become that disciple-making disciple? 

As you take time to wait in silence, ask God to show you the next step in the journey.

Do

And as for today’s ‘do’, I suppose it is taking that next step without fully seeing where the road is leading, taking it in faith and taking it now. 

Practice

Jesus created the model for church growth.

He invested in discipling a small group of people, who each then developed more disciples, who each then reached even more disciples enabling the church to grow exponentially. 

Are you being discipled, seeking out the wisdom of someone with wisdom and deeper experience of faith? If not, can I encourage you to pray for and seek a mentor?

And are you in turn discipling others, nurturing and encouraging others to grow into disciple-making disciples. If not, I encourage you to ask God people to bring you people you can encourage and mentor.

Who can tell how mightily they may go on help build the Kingdom of God, and in turn invest in others.

What a wonderful eternal, ever expanding legacy that would be.