DAY SEVENTEEN | Mark 1:16-20
As Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee, he noticed two brothers fishing: Simon and Andrew. He watched them as they were casting their nets into the sea and said to them, “Come follow me and I will transform you into men who catch people instead of fish!” Immediately they dropped their nets and left everything behind to follow Jesus. Walking a little farther, Jesus found two other brothers sitting in a boat, along with their father, mending their nets. Their names were Jacob and John, and their father Zebedee. Jesus immediately walked up to them and invited the two brothers to become his followers. At once, Jacob and John dropped their nets, stood up, left their father in the boat with the hired men, and followed Jesus.
Come Follow Me!
Jesus is taking me into a season of learning that the Bible has so much that applies to me. He is showing me new ways of seeing the stories and letters that are transforming the way that I read the Bible. It’s like I am reading these stories for the very first time again.
I have specifically loved God re-teaching me this one from Mark 1, because of the everyday impact it is making in my life. And it is teaching me what it looks like to drop my net and follow Him.
Lately, God has been leading me in this time and preparing me to lay some things down and pick up others. Letting Jesus lead me to actively follow Him means laying aside thing that I have enjoyed in the past seasons.
My family is currently in a very big time of transition. Part of that transition is that my dad has gotten a new job with a missions organization. Because of that, we have been going down to the Pittsburgh area for about two nights a week. As a part of that job, we have been doing a lot of new things. Some of that is really amazing, but some of it has also been really difficult.
As we made the decision to do stuff with this agency, God has started a process of preparing my heart, body, mind and life to let Him have every part of me. I am calling that process “My Missionary Training”. Here is what that is looking like.
HEART – Since I said yes to this process, He has been bring up a lot of old heart issues that I have ignored and pushed away. Like bringing up some hurts that I have had where some people that we are/were doing life with had really hurt me. And helping me to learn how to let Him heal my heart, and sharing those things with others, and letting them into places where I had shut down. Also, Jesus is leading me to the truly beautiful (but sometimes painful) thing called repentance in areas where I want to hide. This is such an important part to our following Jesus.
BODY – This is honestly probably the easiest for me. It has meant learning how to eat things that I really DO NOT like. I’m trying to get on a good sleep schedule, stay hydrated and get physically healthy. And learning how to literally WALK with Jesus, because the main thing we will be doing is prayer walking.
MIND – This is really for me the second hardest for two reasons.
1. I am seeing God really bring up some deep self confidence issues that have been festering in me for the past couple years, and having me talk with a few close people. This way specifically is where I have seen such immediate provision almost as soon as I gave it to God. He had let me start having conversations with my parents more frequently, and Jesus talks to me about these dialogues.
2. By letting Jesus shine light on dark spaces and shadows, I’ve been able to receive from Him and others and start to give out of the overflow. This allows me to give out of love instead of feeling like I have to. He has brought more people that I can pour in to but I can also trust them to pour in to me and have real life conversations with me about these two things. Those people are coming in places where only God could give, like in the office where my dad works now, in our church and even in my own house.
LIFE – As we started preparing to be down in Pittsburgh, Jesus brought up the idea of not doing Theater this season. That idea was so painful for me because it has been the thing that has brought me friends and something that I really love. Jesus made a way for me to do it this time. But I am thinking and still praying about whether or not I am supposed to continue doing it the next session.
As Jesus is asking me to leave some things in the past seasons, He has also been really faithful to give me new and better things now. We are getting the opportunity to travel more out of country. It has allowed me to really start moving towards dreams that Jesus has given me in the past. He’s also giving me deep connections with some amazing people that I can follow Jesus with.
That is My Missionary Training.
In this time of preparation, I am in awe of the gracious and humble invitation of, “Come follow Me and I will transform you into men who catch people instead of fish!”. It is an honor to walk out being a fisher of men.
Jesus is really letting me learn how to be a fisher of men on a whole new level. Just saying yes has meant dreams that God has placed in all of our hearts are being fulfilled in a way that would not have happened if we had not been willing to Follow Him.
Jesus is proving to me that He does not ever overlook our small yes, but instead, is faithful to give us new ways to walk with Him. Even when it feels like the continued “Yes” is just a fruitless sacrifice, Jesus does not fail to show up to our yes.
My prayer is that we will be able to allow our hearts to come into a place where we can be transformed into Fishers of Men, and to continually say yes to following Him.
JOURNALING QUESTIONS // LINK TO PLAYLIST
Examine – How would you describe what this passage reveals about the life of Jesus?
MindShift – Is there anything about what you read in this passage that challenges the way you think about what it means to follow Jesus?
Prayer Focus – Is there any prayer that you can pray to co-operate with Holy Spirit to see your mind renewed to become more like Jesus?
