** And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them,** Mark 16:20
Reading the Gospels is a challenge to our hearts. They are a test of our faith in Who He was and Who He is for us today. They tell us again and again of what Jesus wanted us to hear and to understand.
If we read the first part of Mark 16, we find a chapter written about… the time after Jesus rose from the dead. …a time when Jesus literally showed the disciples that He was telling the truth about being able to rise after 3 days…a time after spending 3 years with Him day and night and seeing one miracle after another and hearing the depths of wisdom He spoke everyday.
And then we see that Jesus showed Himself to them several times and they didn’t believe!! I find it hard to fathom! After seeing the deaf hear, the blind receiving their sight, the dead raised!!! and the storms calmed by His Word!!!!
And still they didn’t believe what was right in front of them. He was alive after being dead.
I ask myself if we are any different than the apostles.
Do we believe what Jesus tells us? Do we believe His promises? I wonder.
Mark 16 says that the disciples were given a command by Jesus to preach the gospel and make disciples. And then in verse 10 He tells them that He will be **working with them. **
He will be working with them.
And we know the rest of the story. The Book of Acts. The Epistles of Paul. The churches that were planted. The perils and persecution and suffering. The many that believed.
Because Jesus was working with them.
With them. In them. Next to them. Guiding them. Teaching them. Helping them. Empowering them.
Like two people riding a bike together in tandem. Both are peddling. Both are keeping their balance. Both are focused on where they are going. One doesn’t sleep while the other peddles, they both have to do their part to stay up and keep from crashing. They work together as one.
1 Corinthians 3:9 tells us…**For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building **
Jesus didn’t just work with the 12 disciples (Paul being the 12th). He worked with the Corinthian believers too. And the Ephesian believers and the Galatians, and the Philippians. He did then and He does now work alongside and help all those who believe and trust in Him.
We are all…. Team Jesus.
We do our part and He does His. We speak for Him and He touches hearts. We share our 5 loaves and 2 fishes by faith and He multiplies it to feed thousands. It is always Him and us. Always.
We step out in faith and He is there to meet us.
We give and He gives back.
We walk by faith and He walks with us.
Every day. All the time.
So, why do we not get more done? Why don’t we reach more people? Why do we lose faith when things get tough? Why does every problem look like a mountain too high to climb?
Maybe we have stepped out of sync with Him. Maybe we have become too self-sufficient and can’t take the time to work WITH Him, so we work without Him. Maybe we have taken a path where Jesus isn’t working and don’t even realize that we are working that path alone. Maybe we, like the disciples in Mark 16, simply don’t believe what He said. That, yes, He has the power over death. That, yes, He is with us to the ends of the earth. that yes, …..
** with God nothing shall be impossible. ** Luke 1:37
Maybe we have taken our eyes off of Jesus and we are looking at the road, or the problems …like the hills, the rocks in the path, the storms or the pain of peddling.
Oh, how I wish we believed that ** with God nothing shall be impossible. **
WITH GOD…nothing shall be impossible.
But on our own. Well, everything is impossible.
We have to get back on the Team. Back in tandem with Jesus. Back on the bike peddling together as one.
And then we will see the impossible happen!