Jesus went up on a mountain and called out the ones He wanted to go with Him. And they came to him. Then He appointed twelve of them, and called them His apostles. They were to accompany Him, and He would send them out to preach, giving them authority to cast out demons. These are the twelve He chose:

Simon (whom he named Peter), James and John (the sons of Zebedee, but Jesus nicknamed them “Sons of Thunder”), Andrew,  Philip,  Bartholomew,  Matthew,  Thomas,  James (son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus, Simon (the zealot), Judas Iscariot (who later betrayed him).

We need to remember that these men were not perfect men, some of them were learned men and some uneducated. They had flaws just like us but they were chosen for the purpose to further the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ when He – Christ will no longer be here on earth. Remember that Jesus had another seventy-two disciples apart from the twelve disciples (Luke 10:1 – The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit). Jesus taught the twelve disciples His life style, and works, and who to depend on at all times – God the Father. As a pastor who is in the early stages of work in the body of Christ, you need to follow the steps of the Master – Jesus who has commissioned you.

Step 1……SEEK THE FACE OF GOD: Jesus Christ first went up to the mountain to pray and seek the face of our Father (Luke 4: 1 – 2). As a child of God you need to ask the Father for the guidance on the following:

1. Location: Where He (God) wants you to stay and do His work.
2. Name of ministry.
3. The vision and mission of the ministry: what and how He wants you to do.

These are the major keys that holds the foundation of any church denomination or ministry. Your location determines your allocation; the name given to the ministry bears His unction and the vision and mission determines your destiny. Though having these three keys does not give final guarantee to your success in the area God has called you to work. What guarantees your success (Joshua 1:8 KJV) is your continuous obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit (John 6:63; Romans 8:14). This takes you to your next step….evangelism.

Step 2…… EVANGELISM: From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near (Matthew 4: 12 – 17; 28: 18 – 20). This is the heart of the Christian matter; for souls to be saved, for disciples to be raised, for members to guided and watched over, and for more soul to be won for Christ. This step was shown to us by our Lord Jesus Christ on how He chose His twelve disciples (Luke 6: 12 – 16) and had seventy-two (Luke 9: 1 – 6; 10: 1 – 3) others and they kept growing even while He was not there up till now (Acts 2: 41 & 47).

Step 3…… DISCIPLESHIP: Jesus often takes His disciples on the mountain to teach them (Matthew 5) how to pray (Matthew 6: 7 – 14). You need to be a person who is never shy about the things of God, and who correctly explains the word of truth. You need to be a man who prays fervently (James 5:17). Prayers enables your gift to manifest. Teach your workers/members to pray. Teach them the word of God, this will enable to manage the grace of God upon their lives so as not to abuse it.

Take note: Do not grow your church based on prophecies rather build your members up with the Word of God and be rest assured that you will have solid disciples of Jesus whom you are taking with you to heaven.

Excerpts from biblehub.com

As I was going through the Book of John 15: 5 – 8, I felt my eyes and mind was opened, and I said to myself, “you can make any kind of wish and God will honour it as long as  you (I) remain in Christ and He and His Words remains in me.” I said to myself that by God’s grace, His words and Christ is in me. I said, “Lord, I wish that the lady I have been praying for who is in coma will come back to life again.” As I continued to meditate over the scriptural verse, I realised that this is different from what we see in the fairy tales of Aladdin with the magic lamp. Your thoughts and the mind of God need to be in a harmonious relationship which makes it easier to know the mind of God through the help of the Holy Spirit. Your asking will not be out of order in the sense that what you may wish to ask God will not be something to gratify your flesh. The Spirit of God helps you to discern God’s mind (Reader take note that God will not always tell you everything…..2 Kings 4:27).This does not just happen over-night. This kind of relationship is one that has to do with consistent walking with the Lord in all faithfulness, studying the Word of God continually. Meditating on God’s Word day and night so you will be sure to OBEY EVERYTHING written in it. There is no break off (John 15:5). Like a friend of mine would say, “I want to handle this on my own, I don’t need to get Him (God) involved in this little matter.” Guess what, the Lord is interested in every little detail of our lives because He loves directing the steps of His children (Psalm 37:23).

Beloved, it’s been said that it’s the set of the sail, not the winds, that determines the final destination of a ship. Similarly, our future in Jesus is affected by what we focus on today. Are we still striving to love and serve God? Do our decisions and schedules reflect our pursuit? Do we base our agenda on Jesus and what He provides—seeking to live out behaviours’ and actions that honour Him? In Philippians 3, the Apostle Paul revealed that he had set his sail “to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us” (Philippians 3:14). He did so by pursuing greater knowledge of Jesus, intimacy with Him, conformity to His ways, and living a holy—set apart—life. He refused to allow past failings and present distractions to knock him off course. Having this kind of mind-set, and setting our eyes on nothing else but Jesus is the ultimate. This way we can weather any kind of storm that comes our way and eventually fulfil God’s purpose (Romans 8:28).

Excerpts from Our Daily Journey (Sep 4, 2016)