"SHARING HOPE THROUGH SCRIPTURE FOR THOSE WHO HAVE TO MAKE IMPORTANT DECISIONS"

"SHARING HOPE THROUGH SCRIPTURE FOR THOSE WHO HAVE TO MAKE IMPORTANT DECISIONS"

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.

Luke 6:13 And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles:

Luke 6:14 Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew;

Luke 6:15 Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot;

Luke 6:16 Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor.

Some explanatory thoughts and applications:

1. The first thing that strikes us from this passage, is that Jesus prayed before He chose whom He would name apostles.

2. Luke's gospel presents Jesus to us as man. And, as a man, He prayed. He prayed at various times, for various needs. And, here, we find Him praying, and not only praying, but praying all night to God about whom He would choose to be His apostles.

3. Needless to say, if Jesus felt the need to pray when making decisions, there's no doubt about it, but we ought to follow His example. We ought to pray also about what lays ahead of us and seek God's wisdom and direction.

4. God promises to hear our prayers, and He promises to give us wisdom.

5. If you are like me, you probably wished you were more like Jesus in this area of prayer, and followed His example of decision making.

6. The good news is, that we can follow Jesus's example, we can pray, we can talk to God, and we can be confident, that He will lead us in making the decisions that He wants us to make.nAfter all that's really the purpose of prayer anyways isn't it. Prayer is to find God's will, not to try and make God do our will. We get that mixed up and turned around a lot.

7. So, are you facing a decision right now? And, You are wondering what decision do I make.? Well, let's put or faith into action, and, let's do what Jesus did. let's pray.

Our prayer for the decisions that lie ahead:

Father, thank You for the example Jesus is to us. And, thank You that You have promised to hear us, to answer us, to guide us in our decisions. It's interesting to note that one of the apostles, turned out to be a traitor, Judas, the name that is never thought of well.
Even in our decision making Lord, even after prayer, there may be things that surprise us.
But, even Judas was part of your plan. We trust You to draw us into Your will, and when the surprises do come along, help us to remember that we have prayed, and, that You have some purpose in mind. In Jesus name. Amen.

Pastor Bob Grenier
Calvary Chapel Visalia