Becoming what God Intended
by David Silvester
At first the two disciples heard and responded to Jesus’ invitation. Later they discovered that they were able to teach the things Jesus taught and do the things He did. These things were the ‘Good News of the Kingdom of God.’
For us, primarily, the call of Jesus is that we hear Him, listen, and respond to His teaching, whilst observing what He does in our lives. Obeying this call enables us to become witnesses, telling others of these things God has done in and through us(Acts 1:8). Ultimately it’s in obedience that we’re empowered to do things in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The only instruction Jesus gave to those first disciples was, ‘Follow Me’.
As we read the Gospels, and see the kind of life Jesus led, and hear the things He taught, it’s clear that He was no ordinary person with an ordinary message. Some of the things He taught were radically different to what the people were used to hearing in their synagogues. It was as those disciples saw, listened and followed Jesus that they discovered they were able to do the things He did (Luke 10:17).
Jesus calls us saying ‘Come, follow me, and I will make you …’ He has a plan and a purpose for each and every one of us, a destiny that no one else can fulfil. The words of a hymn by Elsie Duncan Yale puts it like this; ‘There’s a work for Jesus ready at your hand, ‘tis a work the Master just for you has planned. Haste to do His bidding, yield Him service true; There’s a work for Jesus, none but you can do’.
Listen for that call, and, as you respond, look for the amazing things the Lord will do through you, and for who He can make you to be.
Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, thank You that You have called me to Yourself. As I choose to follow You, make me what You will, teach me, and show me the work You have equipped me to undertake. Enable me to do it to Your glory. Amen.
David Silvester is married and has a son, two daughters and eight grandchildren. He trained as a production engineer. He then moved on to become a lecturer of engineering craft skills before being called of God in his early fifties to become a pastor of a Baptist church. He says that,"having previously experienced an amazing healing on a day others expected me to die, it came as no surprise that God directed me and my wife, Margaret, to become involved with Ellel Ministries."
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