The Bible

I don't remember a time in my life where the bible was not an important book. There was never a time for me where the bible was "new." I've always had one. I've lost many of them. I've borrowed bibles. I've seen bibles in many different languages. I covered one of my bibles in duct tape. Sometimes I only like to carry around a "cool" bible, you know, one with leather and a cool saying on the outside. I've laughed at all the different versions of bibles in christian bookstores. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go to your nearest christian bookstore and ask where the bible section is. They'll point you toward the boring bibles and lead you to the bibles with unicorns on them. It's pretty hilarious.
But recently, I examined my heart when it came to the bible. I began to realize that I tend to consult everything but the Bible. I read books about the bible, and like what I read. I listen to sermons about the bible, and like what I hear. But as a disciple of Jesus, is my foundation on the bible, or on what my favorite leader says about the bible? I know, I know. Leaders are great to give us insight we might not normally think about, and God speaks through them in powerful ways. But that doesn't take away the fact that God desires each of us to have an intimate time with Him in His word.
As a disciple-maker, I need to make sure those I am discipling see me read the Word, live by the Word, and teach the Word. I'd like to ask you some questions when it comes to the bible as the authority and guideline in your life:
- Do you feed yourself daily with the Word of God?
- Can you teach the Word of God accurately to those you are leading?
- Do you rely on the Word of God?
I pray that God would create a new hunger in your heart for the Word of God. May it change you.

Persistent Prayer (Part 3)

Influence: Real-Life Discipleship Jim Putman and the book of Genesis (also, Luke 11:5-13)

Of the three different aspects of prayer, this is the one hardest for me to apply. Being persistent in prayer is hard for me. Maybe it's because I'm slightly ADHD or I just don't know what I should be persistent about. Whatever it is, I struggle to pray with persistence.
Luke records the Lord's prayer in Luke 11:1-4, he records a story that Jesus tells in order to illustrate what persistence with God looks like. Basically it goes like this. There is a guy who shows up to a friend's house late at night looking for some bread. The friend inside the home says, "leave me alone, I've just gotten my family in bed. Go away!" But the guy outside continues. It actually says this in Luke 11:8, "though he will not get up and give him anything because he is a friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs."

So the friend thing really has nothing to do with the man inside who won't open his door. What matters most is that the friend outside is "impudent." That means that he is shameless and insolent and excessively bold, persistent to the point of being downright rude. It'd be like me showing up outside your bedroom window and banging trashcan lids together until you can't take it anymore and finally let me in.
God wants us to be impudent with Him. He wants us to ask Him, need Him, desire Him more than any other source in our lives. He wants us to be shameless in what we ask for, and to never stop asking Him alone. And the coolest thing about that is this: He will always answer. Always.
What have you prayed about most persistently over the last year, month, week? Have you been in desperation (like the friend who needed bread) for God and His answer?
Take this idea of prayer and apply it to food. When you're hungry, you seek food. You'll buy it, make it, run for it, drive to it, change your schedule because of it, and on and on. When I'm hungry, all I can think about is what food I'm going to eat. I even begin to feel hunger pains.
Do you desire God when you haven't prayed, like you desire food when you haven't eaten?

Be impudent with your prayers to God.

Perfect Prayer (Part 2)

Influence: King's Cross by Timothy Keller and the book of Acts, not to mention Matthew 6:5-15

Praying is desiring God and His will for your life. That is evident when Jesus tells us one of the secrets to a disciple's prayer life is to be alone in your heart, soul, and mind. Always pray with an audience of one, God the father.
After Jesus tells us to cherish the "secret" place of prayer with the Father He gives us a model for how to pray which is called the "Lord's Prayer." Basically, Jesus tells us, "Pray to the Father using my example of prayer." It is kind of a skeleton prayer that all of our prayers should wrap around.
Here's what we see in the Lord's Prayer:
- God's glory, authority, and will
- Subsistence living - (during Jesus' day you lived day to day for work, food, clothing, etc)
- Statement of trusting God that He will provide and meet our needs
- Forgiveness and assistance in forgiving others

There should be a special note that nothing in the Lord's Prayer mentions 'our wants.' This may trouble some, but you see, the point of prayer is about desiring what God desires. Our conversation in prayer does not revolve around us, it revolves around Him. It's why even before Jesus asks that God would provide for the day He asks that God's will would be done. I think Jesus understood that God's will came well before our wants and desires. So I ask you this question: If your desires were a desperate hunger and thirst for God, what would you ask for? (Meditate on this question in your quiet time with God today.)

So here are three things Jesus' disciples must be devoted to when they pray:
1. Desire what God desires (not the other way around) -
       -Rely on the Holy Spirit to teach you what God desires
2. Trust that God's provision is enough
      -We don't need to live on excess
3. We must extend to others what God has already extended to us - "Practice what you pray"

Perfect prayer has little to do with the right words in the right spot. It has everything to do with a human heart surrendering like Jesus Christ to God our Father.
So pray perfectly. Desire God.

Secret Prayer (Part 1)

Influence: Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard and the book of Micah

In Luke 11:1, one of Jesus' disciples is watching as Jesus is praying off in the distance (being watchful: a common characteristic of a disciple). When he sees Jesus he asks him to teach all the disciples to pray. Obviously, praying like Jesus was foreign to them. Jesus' prayer time seemed different from every leader they had ever watched pray. So what can we learn from Jesus' prayer life?

Do not be like them. Jesus tells us first who we should and should not be like before we model His prayer life. The ones we are to not be like are the "hypocrites" and "gentiles." The hypocrites were men who led worship and prayer in the temple. Jesus refers to them as 'stage actors,' people who's main goal is to receive the applause of the crowd. And, of course, Jesus tells us that their reward is exactly that. That's it. Secondly, He tells us to stay away from praying like gentiles, because they pray thinking about the length of their prayers. They seemed to think that the longer they prayed the louder they got in God's ears. That isn't the case. So, Jesus says, "Do not be like them."

When you pray. Jesus tells us that when we pray we should go into our rooms and close the door so that we can be alone with the Father. It's no wonder that Jesus spent so much time alone praying. He was in the presence of God. And it's what he desires of us! Sure we're going to pray in public, and that's a-ok. Jesus wants us to realize that when we pray, it is in front of God alone. For the presence of God, see Revelation 4, and then pray. So, very simply, when you pray, be alone with the Father, in your heart, soul, and mind!

Here are 3 things Jesus wants us to focus on before we begin praying:

1. Be alone with the Father - He is the only one you are communicating to, so pray like it.

2. Cherish the unseen over the seen. Our Father is in secret, so dwell with Him there.

3. Trust God and His reward. If we get excited over a certificate or special award from men, how much more will we celebrate our Father's reward?

If our hearts aren't in the right place, our words mean nothing. Be alone with God today and pray!

Does God Care About What You Care About?

Influence: Spirit Rising by Jim Cymbala and the book of Jeremiah

God loves us. But God doesn't love everything that we love. We don't like to hear things like that because we would rather hear that God loves everything that we love. He laughs when we laugh, and cries when we cry. But that's not true. I don't believe that God cried like I cried after the Kansas Jayhawks lost to the Arizona Wildcats in the NCAA basketball tournament in 1997. If He did, it was probably because He couldn't believe how emotionally attached I was to a game where you shoot a ball through a hoop.
And the flip side of that is, when was the last time I cried for something God cried for? Have I ever been so cut to the heart over some of my own friends who are lost and going to Hell? Have I ever been so disturbed by the human trafficking, starvation, and violent genocide that goes on while I sit in my home struggling to find motivation to spend time with God?
Wow. No, God doesn't care for everything we care about. In 1 Peter 5:6-7, we read some important distinctions in understanding our hearts, and God's. "Humble yourselves under God's mighty hand, and he will lift you up in due time." It goes on, "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." Our hearts are supposed to belong to God, which means we begin to be burdened for what burdens God. We're tricking ourselves and falling to the evil one if we believe that God is supposed to care about our cares.
No, He loves us. And He cares about us. So much so that He turns our desires and passions into His. Humble yourself first, and let God show you what He cares about in His world.

First Things First

Influence: Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard and the book of Jeremiah


The aboutdiscipleship blog is, uh, about discipleship. That's simple enough, right? I aim to make this blog helpful to those who are going through the discipleship process at Riverlawn Christian Church, and to those who are being moved by God to grow in maturity (going from milk to solid food). There are three lines I'll use to structure my thoughts:
1. Top line: Bible and Book influence.
2. Middle lines: Blog post about discipleship.
3. Bottom line: Jesus is everything. 
I pray that you are blessed, challenged, and encouraged by what God is doing in His Church and in each of our lives. To Him be the glory!