Tues.’s Devo - Choosing His Disciples

Read Luke 6:12-16 Jesus didn’t do anything he didn’t first see his father do, so he chose to spend hours in prayer to be able to see what God was doing. God told him to pick 12 men to follow him and be his disciples. After that night of prayer Jesus was ready to name them. He chose Simon (Peter) and Andrew who were brothers, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, Judas and Judas Iscariot. When you read it you see that they are paired together. When he sent them out, he sent them in pairs so I guess this is how they paired up. Interesting that he would pair the two Judas’ together. Since the first Judas was James brother, and we know that their father was Alphaeus, I looked up the meaning of Alphaeus and it means “produce or gain”. Judas means “he shall be praised”. Iscariot means “he will be hired”. Put all that together and we see that Judas Alphaeus was praised for his fruit and what he produced. Judas Iscarot was praised for what he was hired out to do. Judas A. was praised by the Lord and his followers. Judas I. was praised by Satan and his followers. They were both chosen by Jesus. For the next 3 years Jesus would pour into these men’s lives. He would explain the meaning of the parables he told to the multitude. He would teach them to pray, to heal the sick, to cast out devils, and to do miracles… even Judas. He taught them to let the tares grow up with the wheat because in the harvest the tares would be burned and the wheat saved. Judas heard all Jesus’ teaching and experienced his miracles at Jesus’ hand and at his own. How was Judas picked to be the traitor? I don’t understand destiny and predestiny (is that a word?) All I know is that God knows the end from the beginning. He needed a traitor and Judas must have had that kind of heart - so he got the job. How do you get picked to be one of Jesus’ “twelve”? There are a multitude of people who claim to be Christians and even attend church on a weekly basis but they don’t communicate with him and have a relationship like the twelve did. I have always wanted to be a close disciple not a distant believer. The Bible says that as we draw close to the Lord, he draws close to us. He finds those he can trust with his secrets, and those become like the “twelve”. Lord, we want to be your devoted followers that you can trust with your secrets and your power. Help us walk close with you today.