Learning to Stand Where Jesus Stood

Jesus told His disciples that they would do greater things than these.
For a long time, I wondered why that was not my experience.

I thought about starting simply—speaking the words Jesus spoke, attempting the things Jesus did. But then I remembered how Jesus began.

He did not begin with action.
He began with absence.

Before the miracles, before the crowds, before the words that astonished, He entered the wilderness. Forty days. Alone. Hungry. Dependent. He began by denying Himself completely.

It seems impossible to do the works of Jesus without first learning the way of Jesus. And His way began with emptying.

To be used by God is not first a matter of effort, but of surrender. It requires laying down everything that is not God—every false strength, every illusion of control—and allowing Him to speak, act, and move through us. It requires reliance that is not partial, but whole.

Fasting is not the only way God prepares us. But it teaches something few other practices can: how deeply dependent we truly are.

God is constantly drawing us back to this place—where we recognize that we are held entirely by His hand, sustained by His care alone. This is where Jesus stood. And it is where He invites us to stand as well.

Not strong.
Not impressive.
But empty enough to be filled.