Prayer To Go Fishing For What Really Matters Today
Sunday August 30, 2020
Gone Fishing
The long days of summer are beginning to wind down. During the past few months many folks have enjoyed fishing in the early morning or late into the evening. A few days ago Evelyn and I drove over to the little fishing town of Steveston and had a fish and chips dinner in the sunshine and bought some fresh caught prawns from a vendor on the pier.
Whether it is commercial fishing, or standing in hip boots in a river, or sitting in a small boat or canoe on a lake there is something restful and lifegiving about fishing. (Maybe not so much from the fishes point of view!!) The sights and sounds of nature are all around and the thrill of reeling in a fish contributes to an inner sense of well-being, so they tell me. And we know there are those who fish for a living and spend long hours or days on the ocean bringing in a catch that will provide food to feed themselves and their families.
And so I’m thinking today about Jesus and a fishing story
One day as Jesus
was walking
along the shore
of the Sea of Galilee,
he saw two brothers—
Simon, also called Peter,
and Andrew—
throwing a net into the water,
for they fished for a living.
Jesus called out to them,
“Come, follow me,
and I will show you
how to fish for people!”
And they left their nets
at once and followed him.
Matthew 4:18-20
Jesus chose some simple ordinary fishermen to accompany Him while he was here on earth. He invited them to leave their fishing nets and to follow Him so they could become “fishers of men.” God is calling out in the same way to you and I today. How will we respond?
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the warm and restful days of summer when we can get outside and enjoy nature. We thank you for having that opportunity this year in the middle of the pandemic when we could have been shut up in our homes.
But today, Lord, we want to pray about recognizing Your call on our lives – or as some of us call it – coming to a spiritual awakening. It’s always been on Your heart that Your people take as many opportunities as possible to share the love of God with others, to tell our stories of the forgiveness we’ve received through Jesus and how that has changed us. Help us to remember and respond to Your commission when you said:
So go and make followers
of all people in the world.
Baptize them in the name
of the Father and the Son
and the Holy Spirit.
Teach them to obey
everything that I have
told you to do.
You can be sure that
I will be with you always.
I will continue with you
until the end of time.
Matthew 28:19-20
We want to be real and be open and vulnerable in sharing with others how we came to believe that You truly are a God who exists and one who changes lives. Help us today to share our experience, strength, and hope with others we meet in a way that can attract others and perhaps give them hope and motivation to reach out to you. Help us to be those “fishers of men.”
Those first fishermen disciples chose to leave everything behind to follow Jesus and I pray that You would make us willing to do the same. We get so wrapped up in what is ours and how to protect it that we forget that what really matters is what we can’t see – the “really real” stuff.
So we don’t spend
all our time looking
at what we can see.
Instead, we look at
what we can’t see.
That’s because
what can be seen
lasts only a short time.
But what can’t be seen
will last forever.
2 Corinthians 4:18
Refocus our thoughts and desires to this today we pray. The matters or the heart are what matter to You and we want that to be our priority as well. Help us to experience that joy today and share that message with our words and our lives today. Help us to fish well. Amen
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