Where’s the Beef?
Part 2
True
Discipleship
Here’s the question we all must answer
if we want to see the power of God manifested: Am I willing to do what the Word
says to do in order to get the job done, or, am I content to just coast with
the way things are and make out the best I can with the prevailing
circumstances?
If we are going to be a believer who
is a disciple of Jesus Christ, then we need to act like one! If we are not
going to follow Jesus, then we can just live like we want to, but we shouldn’t claim
the name! We will reap what we sow.
What are the marks of a true disciple
of Jesus? We can look at the first disciples.
The first thing the disciples did when
called by Jesus was that they forsook all and followed him. Remember, Jesus is
the Word. So it is a matter of forsaking our natural thinking and point of view
and inclinations, and choosing to adopt the point of view of the Word, to
follow the Word. The Word becomes our focus and our life. Believing the Word is
the first step in being a disciple of Jesus.
As a disciple, we need to clearly
define our mission and give ourselves to it 100% to walk it out step-by-step. Here is our mission: To duplicate the life
and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are followers of Jesus.
Our
first step in that mission is to immerse ourselves in the Word. The
day-by-day walk with the Word, Jesus, transformed the early disciples into
vessels through which God could flow in miracle-working power. As we immerse
ourselves in the Word today, then the thoughts, attitudes, and actions of God
can be formed in us and operate through us as we yield to the Holy Spirit.
Next, with our focus on the Word, we
are to bring every member of our being under control of the Word and Spirit of
God. What we see, think, feel, what we do with our body, how we are taking care
of the temple, and how we are spending our time all must come under control of
and in line with the Word and Spirit. It is especially important to bring our
thoughts under strict control, since what we think is the root from which all our
words, attitudes, and actions grow. This takes the power of the Spirit of God,
which is why the first disciples were all baptized in the Holy Spirit with
speaking in tongues, prophecy, praising God, and bold preaching. The Holy
Spirit makes available to us the supernatural power we need to deal with our
natural mind, words, attitudes, inclinations, and actions. So this next step
in accomplishing the mission of duplicating the life and ministry of our Lord
Jesus Christ, is that we be baptized in the Holy Spirit and begin walking in
that supernatural power each day, praying in the Spirit under his direction and
praying with the Spirit using our supernatural prayer language. It is imperative that we walk in close
communion with the Father. We follow Jesus who was also baptized with the Holy
Spirit, the Spirit coming upon him like a dove, and who did nothing except what
he saw the Father do (Matt. 3: 16).
At this point we need to realize that
God uses imperfect vessels. While we are growing and changing into his image,
which is a life-long journey, he will be using us in various capacities. It
might be years before we grow into our ultimate purpose and destiny, but he
will be using us along the way. He will be changing us into the image of our
Lord Jesus Christ, which is basically living in a supernatural love by faith.
It is a walk of love and faith with a total focus on Jesus.
This means we will be getting
on-the-job training. Jesus didn’t let his disciples sit around and get “polished”
then start using them. He led them into actual ministry with actual people.
They learned by stepping out and doing things, and allowing the Lord to correct
and instruct them in their ministries.
To follow the Word means you step out
and do something, trusting God, listening to the Spirit and the Word. In
general, you can know that God is out to build people up, to encourage, to set free, to heal, to deliver, to prosper, and to give hope
and peace and joy in the midst of all circumstances. We see in the ministry of
Jesus that he accomplished this through the supernatural power of the Holy
Spirit. This is the general ministry of the Holy Spirit. This is the general
ministry of disciples of Jesus Christ. So this is our third step in
accomplishing the mission to duplicate the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and that is to maintain an attitude of being yielded to the Word and
Spirit of God to work together with him and follow his leadership so he can use
us any way he so desires.
So, true discipleship has this one
mission: to duplicate the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. We follow
Jesus. There are three steps in accomplishing that mission: be immersed in the
Word, be immersed in and led by the Spirit, and step out to work with the
Spirit to allow him to use us as he so desires, or in other words, step out to give
out what you’ve got. A lifestyle of repeating these three simple steps each day
with this one mission in view will bring us into that place where the power of
God is manifested through our life and ministry. In the will of God, in the
manifested life and ministry of the Holy Spirit, is where every person finds the
prize of God’s power and true peace and joy.
There’s the beef!