Prayer For Making Right Choices
Luke 6:12 "Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. 13And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles..."
One of the big differences between old testament and new testament ministry is team function. I know I say that a lot but it is very important to successful ministry in the Church. It takes longer to get things done in the early stages of building with team but the end result will be much greater with team. Jesus was the greatest Minister of all time. Regardless of a minister's talents or ministry gifts, Jesus was more gifted! We only have a limited portion of what Jesus possesses. Yet, one of the very first things He did in ministry was to start his team. Choosing the right team can make or break you. Being able to recognize the motivations of each team member is important. How will they operate in the team process? How will they perform in crisis? Can they get along with the others in a cooperative way? Big questions! How have you chosen leaders for your team in the past? What were your requirements? Social standing, financial worth or natural charisma? Those things have little to do with team formation and can greatly hinder if spiritual maturity is not at the top of the list of requirements. Let's take a close look at Jesus' process for his choices:
1. He began with a choice to get alone and pray - He didn't consult with men first. He started with consulting God. He didn't go to a meadow, He went to a mountain. People on a mountain aren't there on a casual stroll. They are very deliberate. The mountain requires effort and stamina. He knew there wouldn't be a lot of people and human activity.
2. He prayed all night to God- If Jesus needs to pray before making major decisions, then I need to pray! Isn't it interesting that the Word says, "continued all night in prayer to God." His prayer was to God. He was focused on God and not his thoughts or the thoughts of others. He wasn't comparing different disciples to see which ones would benefit his team the most. If he had chosen in that way he wouldn't have chosen the ones that he chose. He wanted the will of God to be done in every way.
3. He chose in the light of day - "and when it was day." He waited to make his choice in the light. He made sure he was certain and all doubt was gone. He didn't allow the enemy to force him to make a rushed decision in a moment of doubt, busyness or confusion.
4. He made choices- He called all of the disciples to him and chose those the Lord had said. It takes courage to choose from among a group. Here twelve were chosen but more were not chosen. That also screams to some, "rejection." It takes grace to be chosen and it takes grace to not be chosen. We all have differing levels of grace and we need to be faithful in our sphere.
5. He called them to Himself - We must keep reminding ourselves that we are not called to "our ministry." We are called to HIM! It is "in Him" that we are called and in Him that we serve. From the first day of ministry to our death (and beyond) we are called to HIM! We also must remember when we choose leaders, we are not calling them to us or our ministry. We are calling them to Him. Paul said, "follow me AS I follow Christ." We can't expect people to follow us wherever we go. We can only expect people to follow us when we are following Him.
6. He bestows titles. Actually, Jesus called them apostles, which was more of a function than a title or position. We don't chose our own title or function. Jesus must call us and in His CALL is our calling. Titles can ruin a servant. We must be very careful with this and remain little in our own eyes. We must not build thrones for ourselves and we must also be careful not to climb thrones men would build for us.
May the Lord give us grace to walk humbly in His shadow and with a team that is content in the same shadow.
