Heavenly Father, I continue to praise You as I examine the lives and testimonies of the Apostles. I praise You for the foundation Christ laid down for the church and how it blossomed out to the world. I praise You for the wisdom and knowledge we can gain from these people and how they lived. I praise You for the understanding that they were people just like us, only they went deeper and utilized the Holy Spirit. Help me to glean from these life lessons and allow Your Holy Spirit to continue to work in my life and give me wisdom and boldness as my faith continues to grow.
Holy Spirit, the word says that Andrew was a disciple of John [John 1:35&36], and then when John proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah, Andrew left John and began following Jesus. Andrew told Jesus of the boy who had five loaves of bread and two fish. He, like the others, would be amazed by the miracle of the feeding. Andrew was present when Jesus appeared after the resurrection and the Ascension of Christ into heaven. Andrew would go out into the known world of his time and preach as a missionary, building the kingdom of God and telling them, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” [Matthew 10:5-8]. Tradition tells us that Andrew was crucified on a cross in the form of an X because he did not feel worthy to die like Christ. I guess when I get to heaven, I will get to hear the real and full story.
So, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to me the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of my understanding being enlightened; that I may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward me because I believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. And He made me alive, who was dead in trespasses and sins, in which I once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved me, even when I was dead in trespasses, made me alive together with Christ (by grace I have been saved), and raised me, and made to sit in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards me in Christ Jesus. For by grace, I have been saved through faith, and that not of myself; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest I should boast. For I am His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that I should walk in them. Amen, [Ephesians 1:17-23; 2:1-10]