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This week’s Abide comes from the passage in the Our Daily Bread devotional from Monday 1 July, and the passage is Ephesians 4:11-16. 

Is there a person in your life who has been a good friend, mentor, pastor, or leader to you? Have they helped you feel equipped and encouraged to live out your Christian faith and share it with others?

Or… perhaps you don’t have anyone like that in your life right now.

We all need friends, mentors, or leaders to help guide us as we follow Christ. And we need other people to encourage us to use our giftings to support the whole body of Christ and grow God’s Kingdom.

Today, we are going to spend some time reading a passage in Ephesians 4 that talks about leaders who are assigned to equip God’s people for works of service so that the body of Christ can be built up in unity. After reading the passage together, we’ll spend some time praying through it.

Today we’re reading from Ephesians 4, starting with verses 11-13.

“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

When leaders and friends are there to come alongside us, we are building up the body of Christ and learning how to serve others. This all draws us together in unity.

Following Christ and serving Him is a team effort. It’s a collaborative thing we do together as a family. We can often feel like we can go about it on our own but God calls us to join together with others, building each other up, and working together to become mature in Christ.

Verses 14 to 16:

“Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”

This part of the passage talks about not being deceived by false teaching and deceitful scheming. As Romans 12:2 puts it, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will.” In other words, to not easily be swayed by people’s deceptive works and words but by the wonders and workings of God.

And we all need people in our lives to help foster this.

Let’s take a moment to pray about what we’ve read. We can give thanks to the Lord for the leaders, friends, and pastors who He has given us, and pray for them that they would continue to walk closely with the Lord.

So let’s pray.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for the gift of friends, mentors, pastors, and leaders who come alongside us to help us walk with You. Please provide such people to us if we are missing them in our lives.

We pray for the leaders, friends, and pastors themselves, and ask You to keep them close to You. Thank you for giving them gifts and tools to help others grow closer to You in unity and mature faith.

We pray these leaders and friends will continue to give themselves over to You with the goal of helping all of us, together, attain the whole measure of Christ in unity and love.

In your mighty and powerful name, Jesus. Amen.

I encourage you to keep praying for your friends, pastors, and leaders. Thanking God for them and also that they keep being led by the Lord. Maybe use some of the wording from this passage like we’ve done today or wording from another passage within your prayers.

And if you’ve yet to receive a mentor, leader, or friend who builds you up in Christ, may I encourage you to continue praying to God for one and perhaps ask someone to help you? Keep the faith that He has just the right people who will come alongside you and encourage you in your walk with the Lord.

And maybe even, if you feel ready, you can consider coming alongside someone in your own life as a mentor or friend.