We Have All It Takes to Disciple Others

I can’t think of a better video to explain discipleship.

The task of “discipleship” is sometimes daunting. It’s believed the discipler first must have been somewhere big in the Lord before he or she sets out on the ginormous task of fulfilling the Great Commission. Perhaps seminary. Or, better yet, getting the victory over that besetting personal character flaw. “Surely,” we think, “I must obtain some sense of spiritual perfection before going out to save the world.”

But that’s not God’s expectation of a discipler. To him, discipling means looking back to the person(s) behind you and inviting them to step into the movement where you happen to be at any given time in your walk - regardless if you’ve been in it a day, or 30 years.

Why do we waste so much time getting ready to disciple others?  For many of us, the busyness of seeking to fulfill some self imposed expectation of what it takes to be a discipler only distances us from our original call to “Go!” and "make disciples among all nations."

And the world is waiting. And dying.

Truth is, as a Christian, you have already been equipped to disciple. Why? Because you are already “ahead” of the person who knows nothing about the Faith. It’s not rocket science. How far ahead of the game do you need to be anyway? You would be surprised how much you have to give away, right now, right where you are today. (Actually, it’s not that you have so much to give; it’s that the world is so very badly lacking.)

Discipleship begins where we are: at work, with our family, with our best friend, with our parents. We tell your story, we share that we are on a journey, we invite them to join us. That’s what Jesus did. That’s what we do.

Action. Plan to do something which will foster your walk in Jesus. It could be a DVD series, watching a "Jesus" movie, or a book you’re interested in on the some aspect of the Kingdom. Then, look at the people God has placed around you. Invite everyone you know to do that with you. Don’t presume to know who “is ready” for “this step”. Your job is to sow the seed. The ground it lands on is inconsequential. You may be surprise at who responds!

Paradigm Shift #4930: Praying in the Name

When we pray in the Name of Jesus it's like we are using his Name as a little extra oomph to get our prayers deeper into the Throne Room. We say, "In the Name of Jesus, in the mighty Name of Jesus, in the All Glorious Name of Jesus," and other things like that.

But I wonder if we shouldn't be also praying in the Authority of Christ, too. The Name IS authority after all. If I am an ambassador for the United States and happen to be in another country, I carry the full authority of my home nation. In my resident alien-ship I can decide things, make decisions, and carry on with business as if I was the President himself.

Perhaps if we went about our prayers and ministries in the confident power of his anointing upon us we would be able to speak AS the authority of the Name and not cling to it as if was a magic formula for answered prayer.

Praying in the Name is a good start. Proclaiming in the Authority of that same Name is a shift of praying that challenges us to walk as empowered witnesses. We are Name bearers by virtue of our redemption in Christ. We are the Name. We are the Body. We need not be redundant.

More on Labeling

Last Blog I shared that labeling is the new witnessing. That means, as far as sharing the Gospel goes, it's far more fruitful to label what God is currently doing in or around a person than it is to witness your own testimony or even go through a tract of the Four Spiritual Laws.

You can read it for yourself.

So what is needed to be a labeler? Here's what I'm thinking:

1. Spiritual Alertness. There is life and there is spiritual life. A person who is spiritually alive will have the worldview of the Kingdom of God, the supernatural, and an understanding that God is everywhere, always up to something, always revealing, always coaxing others into his arms. 
2. Iconographic Sight. Following of heels of spiritual awareness, the labeler needs to have the ability to look through the things seen into things unseen. Creation, events, situations, heartache - God uses it all as portals of grace. Everything we see are iconic teachable moments of the Eternal.
3. Gifts of Revelation. When confronted with a situation a labeler will wonder what God is doing or saying. God speaks through the Spirit. A labeler needs the Spirit to speak revelational moments.
4. Common Sense. Labeling isn't rocket science. Many times it is just calling a shot over a person. You don't need to go to seminary to be a labeler. You don't even need to know the Bible all that well. Your spiritual authority will cover that as you speak the Word.
5. Compassion. Behind it all God loves people. His desire is to have fellowship with all people. He knows we are hurting. If his heart is in us then we will love the people, speak to the people, and bless the people in the spirit of compassion.
6. WIsdom. Jesus not only did what he saw the Father doing but the Father also told him what to say and how to say it. We want to be like Jesus.
7. The Holy Spirit. Need I say more?

Labeling: The New Witnessing

A big part of Jesus' ministry was simply labeling what God was doing in the world. He didn't make it. He didn't force it. He didn't manufacture it. But when God showed up he was quick to label it.

Labeling is what we are all about. Without labeling God's Love, people wouldn't recognize him in their midst. We're pretty blind, you know.

"Check out the lilies of the field. You think they look good? Your Father has clothed you much better than they." See? They were just doing life and happened to be passing by a field of lilies. Jesus simply shared what the Spirit was revealing through creation at that time.

Labeling is simular to witnessing but labeling can be more poignant because it provides "on-time" descriptive of something happening in the here and now - something happening around you, your friends, or an event.

Witnessing shares personal stories and BIblical narratives designed to present a protocol for coming to Christ. Labeling is different, though the revelation of Christ is no less compromised. Labeling is simply a verbalization of what God is doing at any given time. This is that.

For some, the idea of being a labeler takes the heat off. It lessons the academic responsibility of the labeler, allows him or her to speak matter-of-factually out of their authority in Christ, and provides an "on-time" example of the nexus of God's love and the particular life experience of the listener. Labeling carries a prophetic punch that is hard to argue with.

Example: A person comes to you and tells you her experience when she was in church. "I can't explain it," she says. "I just felt peaceful all over." How would a labeler respond to that? She would respond, "That was the peace of God. He loves you."

Labeling isn't rocket science. It's just affirming what God is doing in the people around you. Want people to see Jesus? That's easy. Label Jesus in the people around you.

Bill's website HERE.

The Lamb of God
Douglas Webster, The Discipline of Surender, Chapter 11

Here is a picture of Jan van Eyck's painting Adoration of the Lamb (1432). I posted it as large for you to be able to see and consider the numerous symbols of surrender embedded within. Which one strikes you the most?

The image of surrender in the Lamb of God runs deep in the veins of our Life. It links Christ's sacrifice as a continuation of the Jewish protocol of of temple worship and it links us, who have been washed with that same precious substance to the Day when, we who are washed in the Blood of the Lamb, will be reunited with him and remain with him forever. Appropriating Christ's sacrifice to ourselves is the only - the ONLY - way we get to heaven. It restores us to the New Eden, where we are once again untied in favorable companionship with God and have fellowship with him in the cool of the evening. 

Yet, with all it's theological importance, Webster's comments ring true. "Moderns are looking for a friendly Jesus who makes them feel better about themselves, but the Biblical Jesus laid his life down that our sins might be forgiven" (p.105). Wow. That slaps me in the face. You mean Jesus didn't die to make me feel better. You mean I have something called sin in my life? Are you telling me I need to be forgiven before an all-holy God? Are you telling me that you are in and I am out?

Exactly. 

It's interesting that in the Jewish temples - the first ministry station was always an altar upon which sin was dealt with. It was the first thing the worshipper saw when walking into the temple. Sure, there were other - more wonderful things to experience in the Temple (personal washing and cleansing, sacramental experience, intercessions, and the privilege of being intimate with God) but none of them could be experienced until the worshipper dealt with the sin in his or her heart. In fact, in the Tabernacle of Moses, the Altar of Sacrifice was not only the first ministry station of the temple. It was also by far the largest. 

Perhaps you have had a change to share about the forgiveness of sins to a neighbor, co-worker, of friend at school? Share with us their reaction. What are some modern objections to the Faith as you have heard them?

Douglas Webster, The Discipline of Surrender, Chapter 10


A powerful chapter not only describing the passion of our Lord but also bringing out the ways that thorns in our flesh keep us humble, relieve us of our self-sufficiency, and get us into "weakness" so that God's power can be unleashed.

Webster writes,"The thorn is not an obstacle to God's will but a catalyst for doing God's will... it prepares us for ministry" (p.98). Of course much of the world sees weakness as something that prohibits success. Not so with God. His is an upside-down kingdom. I can remember so well my own struggles in becoming ordained to the Priesthood, some 25 years ago. I struck out not three, but four times! Yet, with each passing strike my self-sufficiency lessoned. It wasn't until the fourth strike that I fell to my knees completely emptied of how I could be a good priest, or how the church needed my gifts, or what a terrific guy I could be to this or that particular people group... That's when God said, "Finally, something I can work with!" 

It reminds me of a story I once heard of John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard Movement. One night he was found in a cheap hotel at the end of his rope, completely exhausted from doing ministry. Nothing was happening. No souls being saved, no healings happening, no nothing. To him, pastoring the church seemed senseless. He rolled over and fell to his knees and remained there, at the side of the bed, completely emptied before the Lord. It was then when a beautiful thing happened. He heard the voice of the Lord say, "John, I've seen your ministry. Now I want to show you mine." John was finally ready. He returned to his church with new priorities. It wasn't easy at first. But soon thereafter his church exploded with signs and wonders, healings and miracles - and new music to go along with it - of which the world is still embracing. 

Webster asks a couple of wonderful questions - questions which I'd like to pass onto you:

What has God allowed in my life to remind me of my weakness? (p.95)

What has God placed in our lives [in our community life at St. David's, for example] to remind us of our weaknesses and Christ's power? (p.97)

"And having been perfected, he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him." Hebrews 5:9-10

I have heard it said that a bird with its wings clipped is still a bird. Jesus, though clipped, remained God. In his case, the clipping continued to his death.

I think of the pre-incarnate Jesus as this magnificent free-flowing glorious blob of divinity, without boundaries, knowing no restraint other than his own self-imposed restraint to be about the will of the Almighty Counsel. Then he comes to earth as a man and submits himself to the first big "clip", if you will: humanity. Suddenly all he is has become fractioned off to a time-sensitive, geographically limited piece of creation which, like a metallic cookie-cutter slicing into an enormous piece of cookie doe - laid out across the counter of eternity - separates him, limits him, and defines as a mere fraction of who he really is.

Through his life the clipping only grows. These walls of limitation seem endless. Not only does he willingly submit to a physical body, but to its emotions as well; it's highs its lows, it's hungers and it's pains. Then there is the submission to Palestinian culture, her foods, her religion, and then to the government of Rome, it's system; then to court trials, agony, and then real death - extinction. Thus God left the boundless majesty-driven environs of heaven and shrunk through his suffering into absolute nothingness.

How did he do it? Why DIDN'T he call upon legions of angels to bail him out of this ever-increasing tightening of the grip of his own creation upon everything he was?

Jesus perceived each corner of the road to the Cross firstly, as designed by God. For him, there was purpose in each "clipping" of his wing. His relationship with the Father was at such a place that he trusted his Father. He understood his Father loved him deeply and was able to be about the business of the Father with this assurance as its backdrop. This became challenging at the end, where Jesus cried to take the cup from him. But even here his Father heard his many cries and sent him divine assistance out of that same love and care. Soon thereafter he came to his senses and embraced the way of Life to be only lived in going to his death.

Second, it was Jesus' Godly fear which kept his heart humble. When a heart is humble it is by default teachable. And "teachable" not in an informational way - knowing formulas, design, facts, or statistics. But in a deeply formative and living way. Humility allows the heart to hear far deeper than the academic. It allows the heart to be formed with the understanding of Purpose. Perfect humility breeds perfect understanding of the ways and presence of God.

And while we will never understand the full disposition of Divinity, there is a place within the humbled heart that is able to willfully and joyfully resign to the sufferings of his design, no matter what they be. For us, the knowledge of his purpose, companionship, and promise to guide us through to the other side is all we need to acquiesce to all things Godly - including suffering.

Jesus became perfected in the things he suffered. He embraced them, bowed down to their senseless extremeness. He lived his whole life that way. He came in crying as a baby and wailing as an adult. His entire life was a never-ending series of submitting to sufferings. He got used to that. It became his lifestyle. It prepared him for the final submission. As submitted, joy was released. Power and grace streamed from his hands and heart in miraculous ways, streaming into others with all the force of a mighty river, damed at it's falls but funneled and transformed into currents of electricity which, if not for the limitations of the dam itself, could never reach the glorious extremes of his ministry.

His lifestyle of suffering took him to into the heart of death - his very own death - where he there became perfected.  And through that perfection he became the writer of a New Book, the author of eternal salvation to all who [in turn] obey him.

Praise God for his perfection in suffering.
Pray to God the same for us all.