Mark 6:8-9 These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. ⁹Wear sandals but not an extra tunic.

Jesus was sending his disciples out to preach repentance. They were going to heal the sick and drive out demons, but they were not to take with them money, food or a change of clothes. Why?

It’s amazing how much I depend on God when I’ve reached the end of my rope. When I have nothing on the journey to sustain me, it’s much easier to turn to the Lord to fill my needs. Obviously I’m making some assumptions here, but if the disciples had been given several weeks of spending money for hotels, a carry-on of clean tunics and enough groceries to last their trip – do you think they would have been in a place of reliance on God?

My relationship with my savior has deepened significantly in the past month or so. Why? Because I wake up every morning not sure if I can make it thru the day without Him. That kind of need has taken me to a place of intimacy and trust that I’ve never experienced before. I’m not exactly enjoying the situation I’m in right now. I especially do not appreciate my lack of control over any aspect of it. However, I realize that there has been an enormous benefit to my life because of all the junk I’m dealing with. I know I cannot do it alone. I recognize my innate need for help. Help that can only come from one place. I have no bag of tools to help me, I only have God’s word to depend on. No extra cloak to shield me from the cold, only the warm embrace of the Lord. My sustenance comes from a steady diet of prayer. In this place of need I have found Jesus there to fill every moment. The more I see him work from my place of inadequacy and inability, the more I trust Him. Which is really the only way I would ever give credit where it’s due. Having no plan – no backup, forces me to recognize where the solutions are coming from, instead of having the focus of successes on myself.

I think where I’m at lately is exactly what Jesus was doing to his disciples as he sent them out without luggage, food or money. What good would it have done had James and John come back bragging about how awesome THEY were? All the people they healed, the souls they saved? Jesus was forcing them into a situation where they could get themselves out of the way and see Him work. Because they had to trust Him for everything. Well, not quite everything I guess…they got to take their shoes.