My Plan to Train and Teach!
Note from Jesus
Dear Disciple,
Leadership and choosing leaders are very important in any group, but especially among My followers. Please notice two things of great importance in the verses below. They will help you have a lasting impact for Me in your world.
First, I prayed all night before I chose those whom I would call to be My apostles — those who would be My special emissaries to minister and lead My movement when I was gone.
I regularly withdrew to have special times of prayer with the Father to tune My heart to His mission. I also dedicated long stretches of prayer to important events in My life. Selecting My apostles was one of those watershed events. Their selection was so important that I prayed all night!
My early church family dedicated themselves to worship, prayer, and fasting to choose their leaders (Acts 13:1-3; Acts 14:23). So please, don't let choosing leaders for your group, house church, missional community, organization, or congregation become a political event. Leadership is crucial to My mission in the world. Never choose leaders without prayer!
Second, no leader, no matter how faithful or influential, can lead alone or forever. I chose twelve in whom I invested My life (Mark 3:13-19). I trained them to follow in My steps (Luke 6:40; Matthew 20:25-28). If any leader among My people is following in My footsteps, that leader will choose and train other leaders to assist in his or her work and to continue that work into future generations (2 Timothy 2:1-2).
You can find this principle all throughout the New Testament. A prime example is that I — the Messiah, your Lord, the Son of God — chose apostles to assist in My ministry and to continue My work. Other examples of not leading alone are Barnabas working with Paul (Acts 11:22-26), Timothy with Paul (Acts 16:1-3), and John Mark with Barnabas (Acts 15:39-40). Leaders in your day most surely need to follow the examples of My early leaders!
Leadership and choosing leaders are very important in any group, but especially among My followers. Please notice two things of great importance in the verses below. They will help you have a lasting impact for Me in your world.
First, I prayed all night before I chose those whom I would call to be My apostles — those who would be My special emissaries to minister and lead My movement when I was gone.
I regularly withdrew to have special times of prayer with the Father to tune My heart to His mission. I also dedicated long stretches of prayer to important events in My life. Selecting My apostles was one of those watershed events. Their selection was so important that I prayed all night!
My early church family dedicated themselves to worship, prayer, and fasting to choose their leaders (Acts 13:1-3; Acts 14:23). So please, don't let choosing leaders for your group, house church, missional community, organization, or congregation become a political event. Leadership is crucial to My mission in the world. Never choose leaders without prayer!
Second, no leader, no matter how faithful or influential, can lead alone or forever. I chose twelve in whom I invested My life (Mark 3:13-19). I trained them to follow in My steps (Luke 6:40; Matthew 20:25-28). If any leader among My people is following in My footsteps, that leader will choose and train other leaders to assist in his or her work and to continue that work into future generations (2 Timothy 2:1-2).
You can find this principle all throughout the New Testament. A prime example is that I — the Messiah, your Lord, the Son of God — chose apostles to assist in My ministry and to continue My work. Other examples of not leading alone are Barnabas working with Paul (Acts 11:22-26), Timothy with Paul (Acts 16:1-3), and John Mark with Barnabas (Acts 15:39-40). Leaders in your day most surely need to follow the examples of My early leaders!
Verses to Live
Leadership is vital for the future of My work in your day. I challenge you to invest in others. Share My truth and My way of life. Then, help them invest in others just as you have invested in them. This approach was the vision I left right before I returned to the Father (Matthew 28:18-20), this was the method I used to train and teach in My ministry, and this was the method My earliest followers used to train and teach. I call on you and the leaders of your day to do the same.
Around this time, Jesus went outside the city to a nearby mountain, along with a large crowd of His disciples. He prayed through the night to God. The next morning, He chose 12 of them and gave each a new title of "emissary" [or "apostle"].
They included Simon (Jesus called him Peter) and Andrew (Simon's brother), James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James (son of Alphaeus) and Simon (known as the Zealot), Judas (son of James) and the other Judas (Judas Iscariot, who later betrayed Jesus).
The whole crowd of disciples (including the 12 now designated as His emissaries) came down together, and they stood on a level area nearby. They were joined by an even greater crowd of people who had come from across the whole region — from all of Judea, from Jerusalem, from the coastal areas of Tyre and Sidon. These people came to hear Jesus teach and to be healed by Jesus of their diseases. Those who were troubled by demonic spirits were liberated.
Everyone wanted to touch Jesus because when they did, power emanated from Him and they were healed.
(Luke 6:12-19)
Response in Prayer
Father in heaven, I confess that I often don't feel like much of a leader. I am also frustrated with the lack of leadership I sometimes see among Your people and in Your church. But I know that You have given me an area of influence in the lives of others. So as I influence those I love and those who are my friends and associates, please help me see ways of involving others to do Your work in my world. In addition, I pray now for my spiritual leaders by name...
Please bless them and bless us through their spiritual leadership. I pray that the Holy Spirit will stir the hearts of Your people and that we will be intentional about raising up new leaders for the future. I ask this in the powerful name of Jesus, my Lord. Amen.
Please bless them and bless us through their spiritual leadership. I pray that the Holy Spirit will stir the hearts of Your people and that we will be intentional about raising up new leaders for the future. I ask this in the powerful name of Jesus, my Lord. Amen.
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