Forty Days of Apostleship: Believe in Your Potential

Forty Days of Apostleship: Believe in Your Potential

by | Mar 26, 2020

As COVID-19 continues to sweep the world, its impacts are many. There has been a loss of work, loss of human contact, and even life loss. The pandemic’s most devastating impact, however, is the loss of a predictable future. When will life return to normal? Will life ever return to normal? The uncertainty can be debilitating, and this is why it’s more important than ever that you believe in your potential.

I wonder if this loss of certainty, of predictability, is what Jesus felt as he set his face toward Jerusalem? If so, your Lenten journey is likely more closely aligned with his than ever before.

As the church heads into Palm Sunday, that’s why this week of the 40 Days of Apostleship is paramount. Jesus had to deepen his faith to make it through an uncertain future. The same is true for you. I want to tell you how Jesus did it, and how you can too.

We have explored how to expand our faith from merely believing in Jesus to thinking like Jesus. This expansion accompanies the move from discipleship to apostleship. Are you ready to take the next step?

Even on the way to the cross, amid great suffering and uncertainty, Jesus leans into his beliefs. He believed in his potential. Do you believe that you can fulfill your potential? Click To Tweet

Jesus Believed in His Potential

Because Jesus believed that he and the Father were one and that he did nothing apart from the Father, he could maintain an abiding belief in his potential. In other words, Jesus trusted that with God, he was capable of accomplishing what he sent him to accomplish. Even on the way to the cross—amid great suffering and uncertainty—Jesus leans into this belief. Listen in as Jesus talks with God: “Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” (John 17: 1, 4). You can hear the trust and confidence in Jesus’ prayer.

But what does this prayer mean? I had to look up glory and glorify to be sure myself. The glory of God refers to the radiant presence of God. To glorify, then, means to confer this quality on another. It’s a sign of divine approval. Jesus, through the quiet confidence of his belief, is asking to share in the glorious presence of God as a sign of God’s divine approval.

Soulful Step

When you are facing extreme uncertainty, belief in your potential is essential. Even so, it is one thing to know that God fully approves of Jesus and that the Divine presence and radiance is with him. It is another thing to know that Jesus and God fully approve of you. And that the radiant presence of God dwells within you. But it does.

Check this out. After Jesus prays for himself, he reveals his desire for every believer to be welcomed into divine unity. “I have given [all believers] the glory that you have given, that they may be one as we are one. I in them and you in me.” (John 17:22-23a)

Embrace the Belief

Do you believe that you can fulfill your potential? Or do you wrestle with the seven fears of highly effective leaders? If anxiety gets the best of you in uncertain times, you are not alone. So, let me ask you this: Would it make a difference to know that you bear the radiant glory of Christ within you? Not as an afterthought or an earned reward, but only by your connection with him? Most of us yearn for God’s attagirl or attaboy. The scriptures say you have it.

As you embrace this belief, it becomes easier to believe in your potential. You can do what is in front of you.

Perhaps you have heard of the “human potential movement.” It’s the idea that even ordinary people have the extraordinary untapped capacity. While it’s a movement that gained a footing in the 70s, it’s a biblical concept. If mere fishermen could train into apostleship, then you can rise to COVID-19 and the leadership challenges it presents.

The truth is, you not only have untapped human potential, but you also have untapped spiritual potential. Believing like Jesus means that you have a divine partnership, your prayers have power, you have superpowers, and purposeful life. The more you believe, like Jesus, the more your spiritual potential begins to take shape.

Apostolic Action

It’s time to let the glory of God shine through you. Co-create a positive future with God by rising to the challenges that are before you now. 

Finally, as you face uncertainty this week, practice seeing the glory of God in yourself and the people around you, even if you are standing six feet apart.

© Copyright 2020 Rebekah Simon-Peter. Adapted from the forthcoming volume, Believe Like Jesus.

Forty Days of Apostleship: Believe Your Life Has Purpose

Forty Days of Apostleship: Believe Your Life Has Purpose

by | Mar 23, 2020

The world has altered dramatically since Ash Wednesday and the launch of this Forty Days of Apostleship. The rapid spread of this current scourge has changed everything—restricting or shutting down many public spaces, including churches.

Now that Christians have effectively been kicked out of the nest, church doors clanging shut behind them, it’s time for you and your people to take on the mantle of the apostle you are! No more hiding behind the safety of numbers in worship or the protection of the pews. Your people were thrust out into the world. It’s a scary place to be!

That means people are looking to you to continue to teach them. This is your moment. They need you, and they know they need you. There will be no assurance from the news or the government. They will be looking to their faith.

You can give them the deep connection they are longing for by empowering them to believe like Jesus. That’s the mark of an apostle.

Jesus Believed in His Purpose

What did Jesus believe? In his divine partnership with God, he believed that his prayers had power and that he had superpowers. Most importantly, Jesus believed his life had a purpose.

And Jesus handed that purpose to you. Your job is to embrace the belief that he had. And to share it with others. So how do you believe like Jesus, and how does that lead to action? Use the following process to deepen your faith and that of the people you lead.

Jesus believed his life had purpose and he handed that purpose to you. Your job is to embrace the belief he had and share it with others. Click To Tweet

Soulful Steps: Jesus’ Four-Part Process

Jesus’ life reveals a four-part process of identifying purpose in the Gospels. Take, for example, this story of healing in Luke 4:40-44.

At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness and laying his hands on each one, and he healed them. Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak because they knew he was the Messiah. At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him, and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns because that is why I was sent.” And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.”

You can see the four-part process and how it connects you with Jesus and the purpose of this story.

Part One—Doing What You Love

What deeply engages you, comes easily, is natural for you, and serves the greater good? That’s (at least one of) your purpose (s). In this story, Jesus was laying hands on people who were sick and ailing—physically and spiritually. He healed them and cast out demons that were tormenting them.

Part Two—Challenges Arise

Something contrary to your purpose happens. Identify what pulls you off course or causes you to settle for a lesser good. In Jesus’ life, the people he had healed came back to beg him to stay with them. Understandably, they didn’t want him to go.

Part Three—Clarity Emerges

Contrary or challenging conditions make you get clear on your purpose. In this Gospel story, Jesus answers the people, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also because that is why I was sent.” In other words,—No can do. I have other places to go and people to heal.

Part Four—Clarity Leads to Action

This chain of events makes the way clear for you to take action. We see it in Jesus’ life: “He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.”

Embrace the Belief that Your Life Has Purpose

To embrace the belief that your life has a purpose, personalize the process by writing out these steps:

First, write out the things that come naturally and easily to you and serve a greater good.

Second, write out situations that have arisen contrary to the things you noted in step one.

Third, note what you have found yourself saying or thinking that points you back to your purpose.

Fourth, write what actions you have taken or can take that align with your life’s purpose.

Apostolic Action

Get into action! Say YES! to requests, needs, and circumstances that are consistent with your life’s purpose, or create the conditions in which the world needs your gifts.

But don’t worry if you are not crystal clear on your purpose. I remember when I was agonizing over my call. Everyone else seemed to know what they were doing, but I didn’t. One day it occurred to me that my gifts were my path. God would not have called me to a path that I wasn’t prepared for. Just as Jesus’ purpose is in his gifts, your purpose will be too.

If all else fails, act as though you do have a purpose. And that what you are currently involved in reveals some aspect of your purposeful life. “All things work for the good of those who love the Lord and are called to God’s purpose.”

Don’t Let The Scourge Discourage You.

Above all, don’t let the scourge discourage you! You are not alone!