And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

~Matthew 4:19 ESV

We find hope in this little verse—fifteen simple words that we can easily step over on our way to weightier passages. Jesus’s promise to make us fishers of people liberates us. With it comes the invitation to come as we are and be transformed. Fishing for others is a possibility.

We don’t need to come equipped to be useful to God’s kingdom. Coming self-equipped for service can actually lead to stumbling. When we rely on our own strength and skill, we may foolishly take the credit that belongs to God. In so doing, we plunder God’s glory and take upon ourselves a crushing weight we are not designed to carry.

But at other times, we might look at ourselves, our faults, and our long history of mistakes, and then discount our capability for good.

Time and space do not constrain our heavenly Father, for He simultaneously sees the beginning and the end. He sees the full course of our days and declares that we have a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11). He determines our value as precious (Isaiah 43:4).

The Lord knows far better than we what we can accomplish if we trust and obey Him. We don’t have to come equipped, only willing. When we follow Him, His work will transform us into whom He created us to be.

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

~Ephesians 2:10 NLT

We can ask the Lord to strip away our flawed thinking and wash away the sweat of our works so that we can carry the fragrance of Christ. We must cast off the garments of pride in our works, and instead let Christ clothe us in humility and His righteousness. Additionally, we should surrender to His will for what lies ahead. Further, we can ask Him to make us into courageous soldiers of the cross and patient fishers of men.

Ask God to make you a fisher for others.

Father, I release the weight of both my self-sufficiency and insufficiency to take hold of the light burden of Your all-sufficiency. Do a transforming work within me. Change me into one of Your bold, faithful, and courageous fishers for others. In Jesus’s name, amen.

Genre: Non-fiction

Copyright 2026: Fishing for Others: Julie Souza Bradley Lilly: All Rights Reserved.