| “and immediately they (James and John) left the boat and their father (Zebedee) and followed Him.” – Matthew 4:22 |
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| Letting GO to GO For us to have the full picture of Matthew 4:22 let us back up to verse 18 to read of Jesus calling men to be His disciples. Matthew 4:18 “And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him. 21 Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.” Our verse to DATE reveals there was a lot of LETTING GO that day. For James and John, they had to LET GO of their own dreams and desires. To be a FOLLOWER means one must LEAVE. It means one has to LET GO. To be a follower one is no longer leading their own life and doing their own thing. To be a follower you FOLLOW the leading of the one LEADING! A great example of this is the prophet, Elisha. When he was called to go with Elijah he had been plowing with his oxen. Elisha would kill his oxen and burn his plow in order to follow Elijah. It is worth reading. Notice from 1 Kings 19:19 “So he (ELIJAH) departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him. 20 And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” 21 So Elisha turned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen’s equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah, and became his servant.” In Matthew 4 we are reading of two brothers who LEFT in order to follow. What did they leave? They LEFT the boat where they had fished for fish to now fish for men. They left their business to go and do the Lord’s business! While they were doing something GOOD, they had to turn loose of the good in order to do what was BEST. When Jesus said, “LET’S GO” they LET GO!! It is very possible that as you are reading this the Lord is working in your heart to do something that is different from what you are doing. And the thing you are doing is most likely GOOD but God has something else for you. I encourage you to turn the “good” loose. As if you were holding it in your hands turn your hands over and release it. They turn your hands back over, palms up, and receive the new assignment from God. As He says, “LET’S GO” you LET GO so you can GO where He wants you and DO what He wants you to DO! And there is no better place to be than in the place where God wants you and doing what He wants you to do! They LEFT (oh don’t miss this) they left their father. They LEFT their family to go and become and do what Jesus wanted. And while we see these two LEAVING as “they LEFT their boat and their father,” we also need to know that many times for a person to FOLLOW means someone else has to LET GO. That other person is Zebedee. Zebedee has always been a hero to me because he did not believe his sons belong to him. His testimony here is he LET GO! When Jesus said, “LET’S GO” Zebedee LET GO!! Parents reading this: Are you preparing your child(ren) to be followers of Jesus – to go where He wants them to go – to be what He wants them to be – to do what He wants them to do? I surely hope so! When Jesus says to your child LET’S GO will you LET GO? Friend, when Jesus calls for you to FOLLOW HIM are you going or staying? I hope you have decided to follow Jesus – no turning back – no turning back! Verse to DATE the Word on April 22 (4/22) is Matthew 4:22. It says, “and immediately they (James and John) left the boat and their father (Zebedee) and followed Him.” Continue Strong letting go so you/they can GO And remember to DATE The Word |