Prayer
Briefly prepare your heart in silence, and ask the Holy Spirit to awaken your sense of anticipation that God is about to speak to you through His Word. Then, before you read, I invite you to pray this prayer based on Psalm 128:1-2
Lord – Blessed are all who live in awe of You,
and walk in obedience to You.
We will eat the fruit of our labour;
Blessings and prosperity will be ours.
So show us Your glory, guide us and empower us today we pray! Amen.
Reading
Over the last six months, in our quest to learn to “obey everything Jesus commanded us” we’ve searched the Gospel of Matthew from beginning to end, to identify His commands. Today we turn to the Gospel of Mark. From here on in, our journey through the New Testament will speed up. We’ll not only skip those parts that do not contain commands (just as we did in Matthew) but we’ll also skip the parts that we’ve already covered in Matthew. So buckle up, and let’s go.
In Mark 1, the disciples were thoroughly enjoying the newfound popularity of their Rabbi. His ministry of teaching with authority, healing, and driving out demons had only just begun, but vast crowds were already swarming to him. The disciples were enamoured by the attention. So, when they woke one morning to find Jesus gone, they searched for Him desperately.
When they eventually tracked Him down, He was in a solitary place, outside the village, praying. This time spent in prayer enabled Jesus to know for certain that He and His disciples were not called to remain in one place and minister to the existing crowd. His time in conversation with the Heavenly Father had helped Jesus to see clearly that they were called to continue their travels and reach out to as many villages as possible. He told them:
‘Let us go somewhere else – to the nearby villages – so that I can preach there also. That is why I have come.’
Although there is no direct command to us in these verses, I consider this interaction to be normative for us as disciples of Jesus. We ought to imitate our Lord Jesus in this pattern of (a) seeking the Father’s will in prayer and then (b) stepping out in obedience to abandon our comfort zones and to connect with others who have not yet heard or have not yet responded to the Good News.
As we saw yesterday, we are clearly called to issue invitations to people to come home to the love of God through faith in Jesus. Today shows us that this calling does not end with one successful conversation, nor does it end in a comfort zone. This is a lifelong, consistent mission to seek the Father’s direction in prayer and then step out in obedience, abandoning our comfort zones in order to take His message of love to more and more people.
Contemplation
Please take time to ponder what Jesus has commanded us. Turn one or more of these declarations over and over in your mind. Keep them in mind throughout the day and live in step with Your King, Jesus.
As a disciple of Jesus Christ:
- I will seek the Father’s direction in prayer!
- I will respond in obedience, abandon my comfort zones and tell others of His love!
Holy Spirit, I offer myself to You. Please use me to draw even more people home to the love of the Father today. Amen.
Dave's Diary 