This week’s devotional was written by J.D. Walt and is entitled, Apprentices of Jesus. J.D. Walt is the Executive Director of Seedbed.com. We hope you are encouraged this week.
CONSIDER THIS
The year was 1488, and a man named Domenico Ghirlandaio was an Italian Renaissance painter in Italy. A young, thirteen-year-old boy became his apprentice, a boy who learned the art of fresco painting as part of his studies. Ghirlandaio had trained many apprentices, and all learned in a similar way—by watching and listening closely to him, paying attention to his direction and guidance, copying masterpieces to learn colors and strokes, and learning the ways of the trade.
Through focused observation and disciplined practice, they eventually learned their trade. Domenico’s young thirteen-year-old apprentice, Michelangelo, certainly learned his trade well. He went on to paint the great frescoes of the Sistine Chapel. Then, with his further studies in the arts, he completed the dome of St. Peter’s Cathedral, carved his famous Pietà and David statues from marble, and gave his elder, the great Leonardo da Vinci, a run for his money.
It all began with a good apprenticeship.
Jesus did what he saw the Father doing, and in so doing embodied the love the Creator has for humankind. Growing in union with Jesus, we are apprenticed to his way, and the ways of the Father.
As Christians, we believe that Jesus took apprenticeship one giant step further than any master before or since. Jesus taught us his ways as our true Master, modeling them and inviting us, through practice, to learn how to love people in his name. Then, and here is the amazing part, he also made his home in us—leading our apprenticeship by his Spirit within! Now that’s how to learn a master’s ways.
In my ministry training in the Vineyard stream of churches, we were taught to ask one question with great frequency: “What is the Father doing?” Asking that question still remains part of my regular practice when I am asked to pray for someone or bring a word of encouragement.
Asking this question is intended to help us discern God’s direction, to hear God’s voice, about how the Father might be wanting to love that person in that particular moment. I know dozens of stories of moments when friends naturally wanted to pray one way for a person, but after asking the question, went another direction with their prayers. God did something powerful as a result, and they learned and grew from the experience. With practice, we can become better and better at discerning what the Father is doing.
“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” Jesus said in John 14:9b. We learn the Father’s ways by watching Jesus, and listening to his voice. “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).
Being in union with Jesus as he lives within us and speaks by the Holy Spirit, we can learn to hear God’s voice through constant practice and obedience.
Apprentices of Jesus learn from him by focused observation and disciplined practice. We learn by becoming attentive to his teaching in the Gospels and through the Scriptures, watching and learning from others who are practicing his way as well.
Doing what we see and sense the Father doing, we become like Jesus. Discipleship is a lifelong process of entering into an apprenticeship with Jesus until we become adept at doing what he does—thinking like he thinks, feeling like he feels, and acting like he acts. His presence within us makes this possible.
Today, you are invited to become an apprentice of Jesus.
THE PRAYER
Lord Jesus, I am in you and you are in me. I want to be your apprentice, guided and instructed by your Spirit within me. Teach me to ask what you are doing in every situation, and guide me as I grow in hearing and responding to your voice. In Christ Jesus, I pray, amen.