Mark 3:7-19

Be Still: Lord, let me sit at your feet and learn from your ways. I want to be like you. `Teach me both how you lead and how you feed so I can do what you did and lead others to know you. 

Read: Mark 3:7-19

Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him to keep the people from crowding him. For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. (v9-10)

Encounter: As Autumn comes ‘round our schedules tend to fill up quickly. There’s meetings to have, people to see, and lots of good to be done.  I have to confess, sometimes I fall prey to over scheduling and over committing myself. There’s lots to do out there and I want to do it all. However, what happens is I’m often left feeling exhausted, stretched, run down and not giving my best in any direction. At its worst it can lead to total burn out which is a serious thing. 

Jesus knew how to protect himself. He knew from experience that people loved him so much they they sometimes needed protecting from themselves from not getting carried away and pressing into him. He had a plan though: get a boat and push it out into the lake so to create some space. It’s not that he didn’t want to be close to the people, it’s that he knew the reality of ministry and planned accordingly to protect it. Saying ‘no’ was saying ‘yes’ to something else. Note as well, he had help. The disciples put the plan of the boat into action. He wasn’t a one man show. Next in the passage of this reading, he’s then appointing the same disciples to preach and drive out demons, the very things he was doing a couple of verses before. Jesus wasn’t on his own, he had partners.

Apply: What should we say ‘no’ to in this next season, to make our ‘yes’ possible? We need to make a plan to protect ourselves in ministry and whatever God has called us to. Are you putting boats in place to separate yourself from the crowd so ministry can go on? Do we have helpers strategically placed around us? We are not in this life for a sprint. Its a marathon and pacing, planning and partners are essential for us to go the distance.

Devote: Lord, help me to plan accordingly in this next season. Help me to see the potential crowding and give me creative ways to sustain the work.  Point out the partners you have appointed to help me go the distance.