Ichthus (The Fish Symbol)

From https://www.compellingtruth.org/Christian-fish-symbol.html: The fish symbol is often accompanied by an acrostic of Greek letters—the first five letters of five Greek words: Iesous, Greek for “Jesus”; Christos, Greek for “anointed”; Theou, Greek for “God’s”; uios, Greek for “Son”; and sōtēr, Greek for “Savior”. Together, this spells ICTHUS, which as an acrostic means “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, the Savior.”

Jesus called disciples who were fishermen and told them to follow Him and He would make them fishers of men in Matthew 4:19. As His children, we are called to follow Him as well.

Three Steps in Serving the Lord

• Follow the Lord (Matthew 6:33). This is a personal decision (John 3:16 & Joshua 24:15).
• Evangelize to everyone (Mark 16:15). This was our Lord’s command.
• Live out the truth (1 Peter 3:15 & 2 Peter 3:11). Make a conscious decision to not let anyone or anything get in the way of you living your life completely surrendered to His will.

Matthew 14:13-21 NKJV

When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. ¹⁴ And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. ¹⁵ When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.”

¹⁶ But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

¹⁷ And they said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.”

¹⁸ He said, “Bring them here to Me.” ¹⁹ Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. ²⁰ So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. ²¹ Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Matthew 7:9-12 NKJV Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? ¹¹ If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! ¹² Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

 

Matthew 13:47-50 NKJV “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, ⁴⁸ which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. ⁴⁹ So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, ⁵⁰ and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Jesus made the disciples fishers of men, He fed multitudes with fish, used fish as an example in good gifts, and described heaven with a fishing net that captured good and bad fish. No wonder they could all relate to fish. Most gladly will I sit at the Father’s feet and learn to fish for people, feed His people with small amounts blessed by Him, accept His blessings and learn about the kingdom of heaven.

I want to be walking with Jesus in such a way that, when the trumpet sounds, one of my hands will be on Jesus garment and my feet would be walking in the fullness of His love. So, that, I would just leave this earth and be right beside Him. I do not want to have to stop doing something I shouldn’t be doing or quit walking, wearing or saying things that are displeasing to Him. Those things need to be in my past. I want my life to align with His will for me. When it is my time to go, or, he comes back first, I want to leave this earth walking in His presence. His will and His way are the only things that matter. Oh, that I would be walking in the fullness of His love. If that is your desire as well, pray the following with me.

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for everything You have done for us, and everything You have given us. You are good to Your children. We praise You for Your immense love. We cannot say enough how good You are. Thank You for making us, for giving us a choice to either follow You or walk in our own way. We choose You and to  walk in Your will and way, Lord.

We declare all strength, honor, power and glory are Yours. You are King, Master, Savior, Redeemer, and Friend. You are our strength when we are weak. You fill us with Your holy attributes. We love our enemies and those who hate us and spitefully use us. We love them with the power and strength of Christ living in us.

This world will see the glory and power of Yours living in each of Your children. There will be a great light in the darkness. You will have Your way. Nothing and no one will stop what Your will is for our lives. We are safe in Your hands. We have nothing to fear. Not even death itself do we fear, knowing that You are there and it is our home. Death to this world is life forever with You.

Our goal isn’t to make everyone, or even anyone, on earth happy, rather our goal is to make You happy. If we make others happy in our pursuit then wonderful. But if we don’t, that will not hinder us from being Your servants in word and deed. We will go forth proclaiming Your great name in this lost and dying world. Our God reigns! Hallelujah. Praise be to Yahweh! In Jesus’ name we pray, let Your will be done. Amen.

Let’s worship today with

All in All by Nichole Nordeman

Oceans by Hillsong

If you do not know Jesus but would like to know more about Him, please read the following blog titled, Never let Us Go. God bless. https://thefathersfeet.wordpress.com/2020/01/07/you-never-let-us-go/