As I was reading our chapter today (chapter 3), I noticed something I had never seen before. It stirred me so I decided to sub it in as our focus text from the chapter today. Here it is:

Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, . . . 

Now, back up a few verses and we see this:

Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. (vv. 9–10)

Then and now, there is a word that comes to mind describing the phenomenon Jesus experienced and experiences every single day. The word is need. We are in need. People carry enormous need of every imaginable dimension.

Every Sunday in my little church in Gillett, Arkansas, we spend significant time in prayer. I open the floor and invite people to share prayer needs. People struggling with all manner of sickness need healing. People struggling with loss and grief need comfort. People struggling with finances need provision. Farmers struggling with drought need rain or with flooding need relief. Marriages in distress need resolution and peace. Mothers in anxiety and fathers in depression need deliverance. 

All of this extraordinary and concentrated need, created a need for Jesus. He needed help to meet the need. Of course, these helpers would need Jesus’s help to be able to help people like Jesus did. It brings me to another even more powerful word I spotted today in the text for the first time. See if you can spot it this time:

Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, . . . 

The word is want. Jesus didn’t call the people he needed to help him. He called the ones he wanted. So who did Jesus want and why did he want them? Here’s my take. Jesus most wanted the ones who most wanted him. Jesus is glad to be needed and he will meet needs all day long. What he wants most, however, is to be wanted. Watch where the text goes:

He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.

Before he needed them to preach and drive out demons, he wanted some friends to “be with him.” We all do. We want to be wanted. And while Jesus will always go where he is needed, I think it is safe to say he most wants to go where he’s most wanted. I’ll put a link in the P.S. today to a friend, Jon Tyson, who preached a sermon at one of our gatherings entitled, “The Unwanted God,” which profoundly influenced me on this point. I want you to hear it. 

Here’s what I want to make sure you know today. Jesus wants you. He wants you to be with him. I am confident he is saying these two things to you personally today: I am your friend. I want you to be my friend.

So every Sunday, as I close out our significant prayer time I close with these words that I will include as our prayer today.  

PRAY

Lord Jesus, you know how much we need you. We want to make sure you know how much we want you. We want you in our hearts. We want you in our homes. We want you in our churches. We want you in our town and in our cities and in our nation and in this world. We want you Jesus. We want you. Thank you for wanting us. Praying in your name, amen. 

JOURNAL

Two quick scaling questions. Scale of 1–10, 10 being highest. How much do you feel your need of Jesus? How much do you feel your want of Jesus? You’ve probably considered that Jesus wants to be your friend, but have you ever considered that Jesus wants you to be his friend? We readily sing “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” but how about imagining today Jesus singing over you the words, “What a friend I have in (insert your name)”—maybe even risk singing those words aloud from his heart over you? 

SING

Today, we will sing “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” (hymn 116) from our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise.

For the Awakening,

J. D. Walt

P.S. THE UNWANTED GOD. One of the best sermons I have heard in many years linked below. 

I mentioned in today’s post a super impactful message: “The Unwanted God” delivered by Jon Tyson, pastor of the Church of the City in New York City. He gave the message at our New Room Leader’s Gathering in Black Mountain, North Carolina, back in 2024. It moved and still moves me even to remember it. I pulled it out of the archives and out of the conference talks sale package and I want to make it a gift to you. You can see it here. 

P.P.S. SPEAKING OF BLACK MOUNTAIN—PLEASE JOIN ME FOR A PASTOR’S RETREAT THIS WINTER

In that spirit, we are planning our first ever bonafide pastor’s retreat at Black Mountain, North Carolina, February 25–27, 2025. I’ll be there with Rich Villodas as the main speaker, and others from our community. If you’re a pastor of any kind—this is for you! Programming includes intentional space for you to rest, slow down, and be renewed. You can register here! 

John David (J. D.) Walt Jr. is the Sower-in-Chief for Seedbed and the pastor of the Gillett Methodist Church in Gillett, Arkansas. 

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