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Prayer Corner - Seize the Moment!

Posted on Aug 23, 2010

Amidst all the finger-pointing from all His critics, Jesus relished the moment to teach a captivated audience. Five thousand people listened intently as Jesus spoke, lapping up His words of wisdom. But he knew that the crowd would not last much longer without receiving some physical nourishment.

So, when Jesus disciples brought to His attention the need for the people to eat, Jesus seized the moment to teach them again.

Matthew 14:19-20 says:
"Ordering the people to sit down on the grass, He (Jesus) took the five loaves and two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets."

Because this is the only miracle that is repeated in all four Gospels, we know that what happened here was of great importance. This one incident must have made a huge impact on the early church. In this miracle of feeding 5000 people, we have Jesus, the leader, seizing the moment; a teachable moment, with the materials he had at hand. This great miracle demonstrated Jesus great leadership.

While we are called to be followers of Jesus Christ, we are also called to lead in our capacity as Pastors. Whether it is teaching our kids about Jesus, modelling a Christ-like attitude in our churches, guiding the Church, teaching a Bible study or sharing our faith in the community, we are called to lead. Our following Christ should ultimately result in the opportunity to lead others to Him as we go; that is our duty. Jesus never lost an opportunity to teach those around Him about the love of God and His plan for their lives. Every word spoken by Jesus had purpose and design behind it to reveal the truth. So must ours!

The disciples were dubious that day on the mountain. Despite having seen Jesus work a number of miracles it never occurred to them that Jesus would meet the need of this huge crowd. But Jesus not only teaches them about God, He also teaches us about leadership. There is order, there is procedure; there is discipline. Even though He had the ability to perform this miracle, He also taught the disciples that He needed their co-operation and participation throughout the process.

In your prayer time this week, pray that God will keep you on task; to give you order, procedure and discipline. If Jesus had to spend so much time in prayer, how much more do we need to spend? The greatest thing we can do to help our leadership is to keep going back to God.

Jesus was a great leader because He knew who He was, why He had come, and what His mission was. He did a lot of different things and yet was able to say to His heavenly Father, "I finished the work you sent me to do."

In our work this week may that also be our prayer.

Pr Allan Brown, Prayer Ministry Leader, NNZC
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