Saturday 27 February, 2016

12 Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: 14 Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, 15 and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, 16 and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. 17 He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. 18 They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

Wow! What power, wisdom and discernment Jesus had after spending the night with His Father in prayer. We are frequently reminded that Jesus only did what He saw His Father doing.

I am challenged by this passage to listen more to God when praying for others, so that I can pray in His will all the time. Choosing his disciples was a very big decision for Jesus. I also need to make sure I spend time with God and listen to Him before making big decisions. The more I am ‘in contact’ with God – in a conversation with Him throughout the day, the more practised I will be in hearing Him, and the easier it will be to hear Him when there are big decisions to make and people to pray for.

Written by Megan Cornell