This week I am exploring the original 12 Apostles of Christ. I looked up the names of some of them in the Bible Dictionary. The first I will share with you is Judas Iscariot. He was from the Tribe of Judah, like all of the other apostles, but he was the only one who was not from Galilee. The next apostle is Bartholomew. He might have also been known as Nathanael, which means "God has given" because he is mentioned as being close with Phillip and the other apostles, replacing Bartholomew in John. Finally, Thomas. His name means he is a twin! I wonder if his twin was also a follower of Christ...
The definition of an apostle is given a couple of times in the scriptures: Doctrine and Covenants 107:23 and Acts 4:33. It is also given in the Bible Dictionary. To me, an apostle is someone who has a divine calling to be a special witness of Jesus Christ and to proclaim that He lives. They are a representative of Him on earth.
Christ made sure that His apostles were prepared to be His apostles before He left them. In Matthew 10:5-42 Christ tells them not to worry about bringing things like money and food on their missions. He will make sure that there are people to take care of them. He tells them not to worry about what they are going to say because the Spirit will work through them. He tells them not to worry about people that are trying to kill them because Heavenly Father is in charge and if He protects the birds, He will most definitely protect His servants. Finally, He tells them that those who receive Him will be blessed. I think this is a great lesson that we can apply today! If we have faith that the Lord can handle anything and that He will watch over us if we are doing all we can to serve Him, we have no reason to worry. I need to remember this lesson... I am such a worrier! I think, though, that having the Lord tell His apostles not to worry definitely eased their concerns. If the Creator of the World told you that everything was going to be fine if you just did your little part, I think it would be easy to believe Him! Once they were not afraid anymore, they could be filled with faith and be effective missionaries.
The last thing I am going to write about is the account that takes place in Luke 5: 1-11. I love this story! Jesus boards Simon's ship and asks him to go into the water a little ways so He can teach the people from the ship. When He was done, He told Simon to put his nets in the water. Simon explained that they had been trying to fish all night and had come up with nothing, but that he would try it. They caught so many fish that their nets broke. James and John came to help and the two ships started to sink because they has so many fish! Simon tells Christ that he is a sinful man and Christ tells him that he will be a fisher of men. The three of them leave their ships and follow Christ. This is such a great way to teach faith. Simon did something the Savior asked him to do, and he did it right away, even though he had already tried it his way. The Lord blessed him beyond his imagination because of his faith. I think I can apply this to my life by not being afraid to share the Gospel with others. The Lord's way is best and if I trust that He knows more than I do, the rewards from my actions will benefit not only me, but others as well.
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