This is an old blog that I wrote when I was at YWAM. It's from Feb 2011…. Steve Gregg came to talk to our team about Discipleship. It was an amazing week that really changed my life. I still look back on some of the things he taught us. This is a great reminded to myself of the person that I want to be. I hope being a disciple comes more naturally (eventually) but that's probably not true. It is a decision we must choose to make everyday. Here is what I wrote 2 years ago:
True discipleship is living your life to honor God and bring glory to His name. We should have Jesus’ teaching affect every aspect of our lives. Look at John 8:31. We are not only called to believe that Jesus is the son of God but abide in his teachings. The call to discipleship is to surrender your life to Christ. How? Read Luke 9:23. “You must daily deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus.” Steve Gregg did a wonderful job of unpacking these ideas.
To deny yourself is to stop putting yourself first. Stop doing things out of self-seeking motives. (Do you follow God for who He is or what He can do for you?) Even our walk with the Lord should not be to benefit ourselves but to bring glory to God. But many say this is my life I should do with it what I please. Let me ask you, how does something become yours? Did you make you? Did you buy you? Did you earn you? NO NO NO Therefore you do not belong to yourself. Your life is God’s!!!! (Romans 14:7-8) So the first step to discipleship is to stop living for you and being selfish. Once you have denied yourself you can take up your cross.
Analogy: the cross has to do with criminals. In bible times you were crucified if you were a criminal. You were expected to carry your cross to the place in which you would die. Here’s the thing a criminal didn’t have to carry his cross if he didn’t want to. Ultimately no one can force you to carry a cross it’s your choice. What’s the worst thing that could happen if a criminal decided not to carry his cross? He could be beaten until dead. Well he would ultimately die anyways so who cares if it’s by beating or on the cross. Therefore, a man who carries his cross has given up his claims to life and resigned to his fate. So if I or You are called to take up our cross we must give up the claim we have on our life to Jesus. Again, you do not own your life, god does. So we must daily give over the rights to our life that we think we have to God. Then we can follow Jesus.
Following Jesus means to leave what you are doing and follow him. Literally we could go where he goes or we could follow his instructions. Jesus is out teacher and we can look throughout the gospels in order to see his example of how to live. By following Jesus we are following his guidance, example, and teachings. Some verses to consider: Luke 9:23, John 5:19, John 13:13, Luke 6:46, Romans 8:14, and Luke 14:33.
Think about it, you are called into stewardship. God is your master and you are his slave. Americans have a bad connotation of this word but not all masters rule with tyranny. If a master is a good one (and God is a wonderful master) than it is in their best interest to keep their slaves cared for. They want to keep their slaves healthy and provide for their well-being. The master worries about providing for the slave and you are just called to follow his directions. So if God is directing you to do something, you should! If God is calling you to do something (and it is truly of his will) than he will provide the means to do so!! Is God calling you to do (BLANK) with your money, than do so. Don’t make actions based on insecurities or a lack of faith.
I heard an interesting argument for why lots of people [missionaries] don’t have health care. Okay, many people in ministry trust God to provide for their bills and such. They trust God to bring in money for their rent, bills, food, clothing, etc. Well isn’t health just another aspect of where God can provide money for you. If you trust that God will provide your food than why wouldn’t he also provide for your health? Just an interesting thought. Insurance to some people is just seen as a lack of faith in that area. (Unless of course you think God is calling you to have insurance.) The thing to realize is that the will of God and following God’s provisions looks different in many people’s lives. Some are called to save, have insurance, have secular jobs, etc. But you must be sure that God is making the decisions with you, don’t just listen to society to say you need certain things in your life.
What is God calling you to do? The cool thing is if it is truly God’s will for your life, than nothing should be able to stop you. No amount of criticism, no lack of money, or no boundaries, should be able to stop you from accomplishing the task. I heard a story of a 19 year old from MN. He believed God was calling him to witness to a tribe in Brazil. This tribe was known to be very secluded and did not welcome visitors. The 19 year old was turned down by many mission organization and ended up buying a plane ticket himself to Brazil. He found his own way to the tribe but everyone thought he was crazy and would surely die if he met this tribe. No one would bring him to the village and he was left wandering around Brazil alone. Eventually he found the tribesman and was captured. He was tortured and such at first but eventually got through to the tribesman and brought all of them to Christ. Nothing stopped him because he believe that was what God was calling him to do!
Chew on that for a while! Be a true disciple for Christ and lay down your life for Him!!
