When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave their town, as a testimony against them.” So theyset out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere.  Luke 9:1-6

Luke records the moment when Jesus pushed his apostles out of the nest. For a number of months, the twelve he called to be apostles, plus a number of other disciples, had followed Jesus on a daily basis. They had heard him teach on hundreds of occasions and watched him heal, cast out demons, and even raise the dead. It is possible that he had let them perform some of that ministry under his watchful eye but now he was sending them out to do exactly what he had been doing…but this time, without him.

Not only would they be ministering without his presence, but he had also instructed them to go without a staff for protection, without food, and without money. They couldn’t take cash or a credit card or even a change of clothes. He even suggested that entire towns might reject them. It all added up to the possibility of being cold, hungry, dirty, rejected, and, perhaps, embarrassed if healing or deliverance were not accomplished by their commands. All in all, they were heading out on risky business.

The idea, of course, was that they had to learn to trust in God to meet their needs and to empower their ministry. When you venture out without a safety net, you must depend on God or abandon your mission. In doing so, you discover his faithfulness and his sufficiency.  Notice the last line in the verse quoted above…”So they set out and went from village to village preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere.”  As they risked the possibility of failure and rejection, God empowered them to do miracles. Faith is tested in the risk of doing those things that will fail miserably unless God shows up. But faith also increases as we do those things, because God does show up.

Many of us want to develop gifts of healing, prophecy, evangelism and so forth but we tend to read and read, attend conference after conference, and practice in safe little settings of like-minded people waiting for an increased anointing so that when we venture out, we will have every assurance of success.  We fear that people will think we are weird and reject us. We fear that the healing we pray for will not manifest and so we will look foolish and the person we prayed for will be disappointed.  We are concerned that demons might not come out or that we only thought there was a demon when no spirit was present at all. And so, often, we want to wait until we have more confidence or keep standing back as we watch others do it and then rejoice in what God does through them.  All the while, Satan whispers that such gifts won’t come to us and any attempt to exercise the gift will end in disaster.

Here’s the thing … we have to put ourselves at risk just like the twelve and just like the seventy he sent out later if we are going to grow in faith and if God is going to work through us.  I’ll take the pressure off right now…not everyone will respond to the gospel; not everyone will be healed; not every demon you command will come out; and not every prophetic word will be on target.  However, as you go out and risk, you will discover the faithfulness of God and you will discover that the outcomes are much more in his hands than yours. Your part is to obey and his part is to work through you. You will also discover that many will respond to the gospel, many will be healed, most will be delivered, and your prophetic words will be on target more and more.  God works in partnership with his people.  As we risk more, we exercise our gifts more.  As we exercise our gifts, they develop more and both our faith and boldness increase. As they increase, God is pleased to work through us more and more as well.

The bottom line is that going out to minister in the arena of the impossible requires a willingness to be totally dependent on God. If he doesn’t show up, nothing happens.  Even in those moments when the gospel is not received, or healing does not manifest, or prophecy seems to miss the mark…God is there and God is pleased because you were willing to risk looking foolish.

We won’t always know why healing didn’t occur or someone chose not to accept salvation.  We won’t always get a clear word or know that we cast out every tormenting demon.  Things get in the way…free will, some unperceived blockage in the spiritual realm, our own inexperience and some days our own doubt.  The willingness to keep going out, to keep praying, and to keep commanding is the thing that pleases our Father the most.

I can imagine Peter confiding in Jesus and saying, “I feel like such an idiot for getting out of the boat and then sinking in the waves so that you had to rescue me.”  And I can imagine Jesus putting his arm around Peter’s shoulder and saying, “Yes, but no one else was even willing to get out of the boat.  Never stop getting out of the boat.” He think he would say the same to us.