Together # 41
A Together for Spiritual Growth
A Together for Spiritual Growth
Disciple One Another
copyright by Dick Wulf, 2018
Intentionally demonstrate the faith, soliciting others to exercise their faith similarly.
Matt 28:18-20; Phil 4:9; Titus 2:3-8; 1 Peter 5:3
We are told to make disciples. We are to train others to follow Christ by openly demonstrating biblical obedience and urging them to exercise their faith similarly. Christians not only teach and counsel one another, we also show one another how to do things. Through observation, other Christians can learn and then try to duplicate more godly ways to respond to life. To disciple means exhibiting strengths in handling people, situations, problems and events and explaining these actions in light of our relationship with the Lord so that others not only hear but actually see what faith looks like.
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matt 28:18-20
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A disciple is one who follows another’s example. Jesus had disciples and He expected them to follow His example. They went with Him and saw how He handled things in life. And they listened to how He explained His thoughts behind His actions.
Jesus’ command of Matthew 28 is through discipleship to “teach them to observe all that I have commanded”. This begins with something that can be observed (seen) that has been commanded and obeyed.
We are to make disciples of one another by going through life together and showing one another our faith in action with explanations.
Discipling begins with the one who is showing godliness in practice. When the particular righteousness is copied, there is a sense of God’s presence, confirmed by the peace such obedience delivers.
Jesus’ command of Matthew 28 is through discipleship to “teach them to observe all that I have commanded”. This begins with something that can be observed (seen) that has been commanded and obeyed.
We are to make disciples of one another by going through life together and showing one another our faith in action with explanations.
Discipling begins with the one who is showing godliness in practice. When the particular righteousness is copied, there is a sense of God’s presence, confirmed by the peace such obedience delivers.
What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Phil 4:9
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How often have we heard people say that their parents’ faith seemed hypocritical? How many young people have heard their parents spout biblical knowledge but not lived it. How many of these young adults are not interested in a life of faith? When behavior contradicts what has only been taught but not displayed, biblical truths usually do not stick. How guilty we are as a church of teaching and giving counsel, but not discipling? Biblical truth needs to be lived out in the open through faithful behavior coming from a loving relationship with God. Hypocrisy is the opposite of discipling.
Let’s say that one of the things we all need growth in is forgiving. One Christian has only been taught forgiving others is important. A second Christian has been taught forgiveness is important plus been given counsel on how to do it with someone who has hurt him or her. The third Christian has been similarly taught and counseled with advice, but he or she has also seen a Christian forgive someone who was hurtful and a friendship recovered. Which Christian will later be most able to forgive when it is difficult to do so?
The range of obedient, godly behavior that we can expose one another to in large church assemblies is extremely limited. That is why this particular Together must be done in our families, friendship groups, and marriages. (Although living our faith openly when with nonbelievers is great witness, we are concerned here only with what God wants believers to do when with other believers.)
Making disciples has been long equated with bringing people to a saving faith in Jesus Christ, but discipleship is what follows successful evangelism. After bringing salvation to others we begin to teach them the Bible and counsel them on how to face life. In discipling His followers and making them disciples, Jesus did a whole lot more than that. He lived His faith and relationship with His Father right in front of them, having them walk along paths with Him, enter homes with Him, watch Him heal and cast out demons, see how He dealt with off-the-mark religious authorities, and listen to how He explained salvation and life with God.
Where else can we observe one another in any detail than in our Christian friendships, marriages and families? It certainly cannot be done in worship services, Bible studies, Sunday schools, and most small groups. All of those venues can do little to actually produce disciples.
Perhaps we think that the church disciples through sermons. However, pastors seldom say how they handle situations, even though they might tell how something should be handled. Sermons teach and they counsel, but they do not disciple. There is something vital about actually being in a situation and watching someone handle it. It is more real and it is more impactful. Even the example given in a sermon can rarely show the whole of the challenge of following Jesus as a disciple.
For instance, a sermon might talk about how a husband should apologize to his wife if he treats her rudely. It is a good teaching and wise counsel. But, it is sterile. It leaves out too much of such a situation. The hurt is not seen and felt. The anger is not well represented. The doubts that an apology will be accepted without repercussions are absent. But, it is quite different to visit the pastor’s home, hear him speak rudely to his wife, see her hurt expression followed by angry behavior, observe the pastor’s willingness to recognize and acknowledge that he was hurtful, see how he does not off-handily apologize but is willing to humble himself and show true sorrow for his actions.
You’ve heard it said, “Seeing is believing.” Well, it’s so. The above example is more than mere modeling, it is genuine. True, it could be acted out in front of the congregation with role-playing and be an improvement on a sermon presentation, but it would lack the authenticity that truly drives home discipling.
Discipling is show-and-tell. It is letting it all hang out. It is transparency with explanation, in words followed by results.
For example, we might know that our way of expressing concern for others is clumsy and ineffective. Another Christian expresses their concern in a slightly different way which is much more effective. By adopting that slightly different approach, we change a little more into the image of Jesus Christ.
We can disciple one another really well in our friendships if we remember to live our best imitation of Christ and openly explain why we do the things the way we do them. It is quite common to tell one another our problems to get comfort and advice, as it should be. But, when we see how a friend handles things in a more godly way than we would, it can have discipling impact. Because we more easily see ourselves as peers with our friends, we perceive their Christlike behavior as an example we can follow.
In our Christian marriages, we can be defensive or we can be openly transparent to each other’s strengths in being like Jesus. If the latter is the case, husband and wife can admit shortcomings and disciple each other for many years. Taking this instruction to show each other the faith rather than just talk about it, husband and wife will admit where one is better than the other at some obedient behavior and can grow more to be like each other in righteousness. A husband who is not as sensitive to the feelings of others can see that Jesus would be more like his wife and therefore try to copy her gentleness. A wife who has trouble forgiving can work at understanding forgiveness from her husband’s example and escape the trap of unforgiveness, resentment, and bitterness.
Sometimes there is an intersecting of friendship and marriage that disciples. For years I felt my wife was angry with me at times, even though she denied it. I thought she was not being honest. Then one evening many years ago, Dr. Bob Palmer, a seminary vice president, professor and friend, someone I admired and had come to trust, was visiting in our home. I accused my wife of being angry with her remarks for the umpteenth time, and Bob said that he saw no anger. That was discipling and it changed the whole direction of my marriage.
And, we can hardly touch the surface of the discipleship that can take place in our Christian families. Parenting should be discipling. Children watch their parents and how they handle life. That is the way they learn most of their behavior. But, if those parents do not expose how their faith is behind their behaviors, the children can be taught but not discipled in the faith.
A lot of us delegated discipling to church programs. Too late we found that to have been insufficient when our adult children did not walk with the Lord. They saw all those good behaviors and copied them, but without faith and not for God’s glory. Perhaps they saw such behavior as “church behavior” that could be done without the church. We never made clear why we were doing what we did or the power and love of God behind our behaviors.
I am afraid that Jean and I taught our kids to care about people, especially those in need, but not why we did it. We thought that it would be obvious that we did it for Jesus Christ, out of our close relationship with Him. They probably picked up that Christians behave compassionately but did not relate our behavior to a personal, thankful relationship with God. So, when they saw other faiths and even atheists being compassionate, they did not know that essential missing piece of the picture.
Imagine responding lovingly to hostile behavior from someone in a store or on the street. That might only happen a couple of times while we were with our kids. Would they recognize it as merely Christian behavior? What would happen when they saw a Muslim on the television news channel responding with love and understanding? They probably would cease to connect such non-retaliatory behavior to Christianity and soon there would be little distinction between religions. Since Christianity is all about personal relationship with a personal God through our Savior’s death and resurrection, that face-to-face relationship with God must come out as the reason for our morals and actions. The Muslim might be pleasant in the face of unpleasantness because of their religion. We should be because we want to honor our God who gave us salvation and heaven without having to be good enough for such blessings. Discipling our children must have this personal aspect to it, not just teaching the Bible and enforcing Christian behavior.
Let us remember that to disciple one another we watch carefully to see Jesus in each other. Then, we pay attention to that example and implement it in ourselves in order to become more like our Lord and Savior.
Opportunity to Become More and More Like Jesus Christ
Let’s say that one of the things we all need growth in is forgiving. One Christian has only been taught forgiving others is important. A second Christian has been taught forgiveness is important plus been given counsel on how to do it with someone who has hurt him or her. The third Christian has been similarly taught and counseled with advice, but he or she has also seen a Christian forgive someone who was hurtful and a friendship recovered. Which Christian will later be most able to forgive when it is difficult to do so?
The range of obedient, godly behavior that we can expose one another to in large church assemblies is extremely limited. That is why this particular Together must be done in our families, friendship groups, and marriages. (Although living our faith openly when with nonbelievers is great witness, we are concerned here only with what God wants believers to do when with other believers.)
Making disciples has been long equated with bringing people to a saving faith in Jesus Christ, but discipleship is what follows successful evangelism. After bringing salvation to others we begin to teach them the Bible and counsel them on how to face life. In discipling His followers and making them disciples, Jesus did a whole lot more than that. He lived His faith and relationship with His Father right in front of them, having them walk along paths with Him, enter homes with Him, watch Him heal and cast out demons, see how He dealt with off-the-mark religious authorities, and listen to how He explained salvation and life with God.
Where else can we observe one another in any detail than in our Christian friendships, marriages and families? It certainly cannot be done in worship services, Bible studies, Sunday schools, and most small groups. All of those venues can do little to actually produce disciples.
Perhaps we think that the church disciples through sermons. However, pastors seldom say how they handle situations, even though they might tell how something should be handled. Sermons teach and they counsel, but they do not disciple. There is something vital about actually being in a situation and watching someone handle it. It is more real and it is more impactful. Even the example given in a sermon can rarely show the whole of the challenge of following Jesus as a disciple.
For instance, a sermon might talk about how a husband should apologize to his wife if he treats her rudely. It is a good teaching and wise counsel. But, it is sterile. It leaves out too much of such a situation. The hurt is not seen and felt. The anger is not well represented. The doubts that an apology will be accepted without repercussions are absent. But, it is quite different to visit the pastor’s home, hear him speak rudely to his wife, see her hurt expression followed by angry behavior, observe the pastor’s willingness to recognize and acknowledge that he was hurtful, see how he does not off-handily apologize but is willing to humble himself and show true sorrow for his actions.
You’ve heard it said, “Seeing is believing.” Well, it’s so. The above example is more than mere modeling, it is genuine. True, it could be acted out in front of the congregation with role-playing and be an improvement on a sermon presentation, but it would lack the authenticity that truly drives home discipling.
Discipling is show-and-tell. It is letting it all hang out. It is transparency with explanation, in words followed by results.
For example, we might know that our way of expressing concern for others is clumsy and ineffective. Another Christian expresses their concern in a slightly different way which is much more effective. By adopting that slightly different approach, we change a little more into the image of Jesus Christ.
We can disciple one another really well in our friendships if we remember to live our best imitation of Christ and openly explain why we do the things the way we do them. It is quite common to tell one another our problems to get comfort and advice, as it should be. But, when we see how a friend handles things in a more godly way than we would, it can have discipling impact. Because we more easily see ourselves as peers with our friends, we perceive their Christlike behavior as an example we can follow.
In our Christian marriages, we can be defensive or we can be openly transparent to each other’s strengths in being like Jesus. If the latter is the case, husband and wife can admit shortcomings and disciple each other for many years. Taking this instruction to show each other the faith rather than just talk about it, husband and wife will admit where one is better than the other at some obedient behavior and can grow more to be like each other in righteousness. A husband who is not as sensitive to the feelings of others can see that Jesus would be more like his wife and therefore try to copy her gentleness. A wife who has trouble forgiving can work at understanding forgiveness from her husband’s example and escape the trap of unforgiveness, resentment, and bitterness.
Sometimes there is an intersecting of friendship and marriage that disciples. For years I felt my wife was angry with me at times, even though she denied it. I thought she was not being honest. Then one evening many years ago, Dr. Bob Palmer, a seminary vice president, professor and friend, someone I admired and had come to trust, was visiting in our home. I accused my wife of being angry with her remarks for the umpteenth time, and Bob said that he saw no anger. That was discipling and it changed the whole direction of my marriage.
And, we can hardly touch the surface of the discipleship that can take place in our Christian families. Parenting should be discipling. Children watch their parents and how they handle life. That is the way they learn most of their behavior. But, if those parents do not expose how their faith is behind their behaviors, the children can be taught but not discipled in the faith.
A lot of us delegated discipling to church programs. Too late we found that to have been insufficient when our adult children did not walk with the Lord. They saw all those good behaviors and copied them, but without faith and not for God’s glory. Perhaps they saw such behavior as “church behavior” that could be done without the church. We never made clear why we were doing what we did or the power and love of God behind our behaviors.
I am afraid that Jean and I taught our kids to care about people, especially those in need, but not why we did it. We thought that it would be obvious that we did it for Jesus Christ, out of our close relationship with Him. They probably picked up that Christians behave compassionately but did not relate our behavior to a personal, thankful relationship with God. So, when they saw other faiths and even atheists being compassionate, they did not know that essential missing piece of the picture.
Imagine responding lovingly to hostile behavior from someone in a store or on the street. That might only happen a couple of times while we were with our kids. Would they recognize it as merely Christian behavior? What would happen when they saw a Muslim on the television news channel responding with love and understanding? They probably would cease to connect such non-retaliatory behavior to Christianity and soon there would be little distinction between religions. Since Christianity is all about personal relationship with a personal God through our Savior’s death and resurrection, that face-to-face relationship with God must come out as the reason for our morals and actions. The Muslim might be pleasant in the face of unpleasantness because of their religion. We should be because we want to honor our God who gave us salvation and heaven without having to be good enough for such blessings. Discipling our children must have this personal aspect to it, not just teaching the Bible and enforcing Christian behavior.
Let us remember that to disciple one another we watch carefully to see Jesus in each other. Then, we pay attention to that example and implement it in ourselves in order to become more like our Lord and Savior.
Opportunity to Become More and More Like Jesus Christ
Skylar and Caroline are Christians who both work at Holt Industries, and both are recovering alcoholics. Caroline mentioned that she did not want to be unfriendly but did not know how to turn down invitations to Happy Hour at a local bar. Skylar said that she did not have much difficulty and invited Caroline to see how she handled such situations. That afternoon Caroline stayed later at work rather than bolting home to avoid the invitations and temptation.
Sure enough, a couple of gals approached Skylar and asked her to come with them to The Bat and Mongoose Lounge. Skylar replied, “I would love to be with you but not at a bar. I have two reasons I would like to explain. First, I have had great trouble with liquor in the past and just cannot drink or be around it. Second, I live for Jesus Christ because He died for me and He just doesn’t want me to risk ruining my sobriety so that I can be available for however God wants to use me. Any chance we can go to lunch sometime. I would like to get to know you better.” |
When we disciple one another, we accelerate our growth into Christlikeness dramatically. When we watch carefully how Jesus manifests Himself in each of us, we can learn more quickly how to become more like our Savior. This process demands that we let our faith hang out there for others to see, especially those Christians most important to us in our Christian Inner Circles.
We must read the historical stories about Jesus in the Bible to see how Jesus applied His faith in God as He interacted with others. Movies true to Scripture can also be powerful if we pay attention for the purpose of applying Christlikeness to our lives.
Although I had been a Christian leader for decades and knew a lot about Jesus from years of Bible study and teaching Sunday School, seeing Jesus in action through the viewpoint of the movie “The Gospel According to St. John” showed me much about not being threatened by people who do not like me or agree with me. The film shows Jesus not anxious or defensive in the face of false charges and hostility. I knew about His sense of security in God, but I had not seen what it looked like. That was one critical thing that the film did for me – it discipled me to grow in that strong certainty of God to be able to be calm when challenged.
I had been around a lot of Christians, but not necessarily in the midst of strong hostility aimed toward them. I had been taught. I had been counseled. But, I had not been discipled. Those who scripted the film showed me Jesus in a way that discipled me.
And, long ago, when I was implementing two federal grants, one to help the most mentally disturbed adolescents in the Pikes Peak Region and the other to stop recidivism in more serious adult criminals, I was too busy to cut weeds in my large yard. The fire department gave me a warning to get them taken care of or face a large fine.
I was in a Bible study at the home of Mr. Lorne Sanny, President of the Navigators, and mentioned my predicament for prayer. Lorne was a wonderful Christian, confirmed by his responsibility over a large, well-known, international discipleship ministry and his Christlike thinking and behavior.
I cannot think of a more powerful discipleship moment in my life than when I came home one day and found that Lorne Sanny and someone he was discipling had come and cut down all of my out-of-control, dry-as-a-bone weeds. It was the humbling, discipling experience it ought to have been. I saw humility and my own humility expanded greatly. And, God had timed it just right as I was, for the first time, becoming a boss (over 80 people, all within six months).
To be more like Jesus, we must without pride let our Christian friends, family members and a spouse see the righteous obedience we each have attained. The eternal futures of those in our Christian Inner Circles is somewhat in our hands; and ours in their’s.
Therefore, discipling others is very much more important than we think. We must approach it with a sense of seriousness. Before we exhibit anything to disciple another, we should make sure it comes from our faith, from Jesus living in us.
We must read the historical stories about Jesus in the Bible to see how Jesus applied His faith in God as He interacted with others. Movies true to Scripture can also be powerful if we pay attention for the purpose of applying Christlikeness to our lives.
Although I had been a Christian leader for decades and knew a lot about Jesus from years of Bible study and teaching Sunday School, seeing Jesus in action through the viewpoint of the movie “The Gospel According to St. John” showed me much about not being threatened by people who do not like me or agree with me. The film shows Jesus not anxious or defensive in the face of false charges and hostility. I knew about His sense of security in God, but I had not seen what it looked like. That was one critical thing that the film did for me – it discipled me to grow in that strong certainty of God to be able to be calm when challenged.
I had been around a lot of Christians, but not necessarily in the midst of strong hostility aimed toward them. I had been taught. I had been counseled. But, I had not been discipled. Those who scripted the film showed me Jesus in a way that discipled me.
And, long ago, when I was implementing two federal grants, one to help the most mentally disturbed adolescents in the Pikes Peak Region and the other to stop recidivism in more serious adult criminals, I was too busy to cut weeds in my large yard. The fire department gave me a warning to get them taken care of or face a large fine.
I was in a Bible study at the home of Mr. Lorne Sanny, President of the Navigators, and mentioned my predicament for prayer. Lorne was a wonderful Christian, confirmed by his responsibility over a large, well-known, international discipleship ministry and his Christlike thinking and behavior.
I cannot think of a more powerful discipleship moment in my life than when I came home one day and found that Lorne Sanny and someone he was discipling had come and cut down all of my out-of-control, dry-as-a-bone weeds. It was the humbling, discipling experience it ought to have been. I saw humility and my own humility expanded greatly. And, God had timed it just right as I was, for the first time, becoming a boss (over 80 people, all within six months).
To be more like Jesus, we must without pride let our Christian friends, family members and a spouse see the righteous obedience we each have attained. The eternal futures of those in our Christian Inner Circles is somewhat in our hands; and ours in their’s.
Therefore, discipling others is very much more important than we think. We must approach it with a sense of seriousness. Before we exhibit anything to disciple another, we should make sure it comes from our faith, from Jesus living in us.
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test.
2 Cor 13:5
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Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old has passed away;
behold, the new has come.
2 Cor 5:17
The old has passed away;
behold, the new has come.
2 Cor 5:17
The goal in discipling one another is to exhibit Jesus in ourselves so that when others see our most faithful behavior in thought, speech, and action they can say they see Him. In this way we disciple those Christians closest to us. And, if they begin to think, speak, and behave similarly, they have been discipled. This process should go on and on among us in our Christian Inner Circles indefinitely.
But, just as important as being transparent in our faith and explaining our actions as arising from our relationship with God is letting ourselves be discipled by others. The biblical instruction to disciple one another is reciprocal. We need to watch the behavior of other Christians and notice thoughts, speech and behavior that appear more godly than our own. Saying to ourselves, “I would not have done that.” is golden recognition. We want to see how we can be more like Jesus in our thinking, speaking and behavior. And, those we are close to can show us the way in areas we have not yet mastered.
While we seem to freely admit that we are all sinners, why is it that we at the same time want to think that our thinking, speaking, and actions are good enough? Is it our pride that forces us to think we are so righteous in order to feel good about ourselves? Don’t we realize that we are valuable not because we are good enough but because we are loved by God and citizens of heaven?
Instead, we must realize that we have a long, long way to grow to be the Christians God wants us to be. The Holy Spirit is always working in each of us to conform us to some new area of righteousness. We can watch to see how others in our Christian Inner Circles have been changed by the Holy Spirit. Then, we can be discipled by them and our glorious future in heaven can be enhanced.
Let’s become more like Jesus by discipling one another in our precious faith.
Opportunity to Worship God
But, just as important as being transparent in our faith and explaining our actions as arising from our relationship with God is letting ourselves be discipled by others. The biblical instruction to disciple one another is reciprocal. We need to watch the behavior of other Christians and notice thoughts, speech and behavior that appear more godly than our own. Saying to ourselves, “I would not have done that.” is golden recognition. We want to see how we can be more like Jesus in our thinking, speaking and behavior. And, those we are close to can show us the way in areas we have not yet mastered.
While we seem to freely admit that we are all sinners, why is it that we at the same time want to think that our thinking, speaking, and actions are good enough? Is it our pride that forces us to think we are so righteous in order to feel good about ourselves? Don’t we realize that we are valuable not because we are good enough but because we are loved by God and citizens of heaven?
Instead, we must realize that we have a long, long way to grow to be the Christians God wants us to be. The Holy Spirit is always working in each of us to conform us to some new area of righteousness. We can watch to see how others in our Christian Inner Circles have been changed by the Holy Spirit. Then, we can be discipled by them and our glorious future in heaven can be enhanced.
Let’s become more like Jesus by discipling one another in our precious faith.
Opportunity to Worship God
Someone very bad at hitting a ball playing miniature golf worshiped God on a recent outing of our youth group by being an example as God makes Himself an example. Millard is not very athletic, but a whiz at computers. It was still surprising to see Millard not getting upset or putting himself down when he did so badly and others were making fun of him. Millard stated that He knew God did not want him good at playing the game or he would be. He explained that his gifts seemed to be in computer science.
Those also doing poorly in miniature golf but being critical of themselves saw how to actually handle a genuine situation that often throws them into disappointment and despair. |
Discipleship is all about going beyond knowledge and talk and actually showing one another how Jesus is living in us. We worship God to the extent that we show who we are in Him. We grow in our willingness to be filled more and more with God by discipling one another, by showing each other what is possible with biblical faith.
Think how less we would trust God if He just talked to us and never showed us by example what He is saying. What if in the Bible God told us that He was all powerful, but there was no history to back it up? The record of parting the Red Sea for His people trapped as slaves in Egypt, protecting Daniel in the lion’s den, and, of course, raising Jesus from the dead all show us His power rather than just tell us about it. By seeing God in action, we can understand more clearly that He is omnipotent.
We can see God in action three ways: (1) in the pages of the Bible; (2) in being directed by Scripture to observe Him all around us; and (3) by paying attention to the details of our lives, the connections of God’s providence, that we can reason are clearly blessings from God’s character because of their small probability for occurrence.
Scripture tells us that God reveals Himself to us in nature. As Creator, He lets his creativity be seen everywhere.
Think how less we would trust God if He just talked to us and never showed us by example what He is saying. What if in the Bible God told us that He was all powerful, but there was no history to back it up? The record of parting the Red Sea for His people trapped as slaves in Egypt, protecting Daniel in the lion’s den, and, of course, raising Jesus from the dead all show us His power rather than just tell us about it. By seeing God in action, we can understand more clearly that He is omnipotent.
We can see God in action three ways: (1) in the pages of the Bible; (2) in being directed by Scripture to observe Him all around us; and (3) by paying attention to the details of our lives, the connections of God’s providence, that we can reason are clearly blessings from God’s character because of their small probability for occurrence.
Scripture tells us that God reveals Himself to us in nature. As Creator, He lets his creativity be seen everywhere.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Romans 1:18-2
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However, through the Bible God disciples us most in Jesus who became visible when He took on human flesh and lived among us. God’s nature being love, He showed us who He is by sending His only begotten Son to talk and act right in front of us. Jesus is there in the Bible for us to see what God is telling us about Himself, what to believe, and how to behave.
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
John 14:8-9
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Jesus was in the Father and could show Him to us
“If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
John 10:37-38
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Likewise, Jesus is in us and we are in Jesus. Because of this, along with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we should strive to show Jesus to one another through transparent thinking, talking, and actions.
. . . so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
2 Cor 4:10b
In the same way, let your light shine before others,
so that they may see your good works
and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Matt 5:16
2 Cor 4:10b
In the same way, let your light shine before others,
so that they may see your good works
and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Matt 5:16
When we show our faith in action for others to see, we are being like God who shows us Himself as we walk in life with Him. And, so, we worship. In wanting to make everything clear to us, God shows us and doesn’t just tell us. Let’s do the same as God does. Let’s not just teach and counsel. Let’s disciple one another by making sure others see how our love of God rules our thoughts, speech, and behavior.
How Used in Battle to Defeat Evil and Satan
How Used in Battle to Defeat Evil and Satan
God orchestrated the marriage of Brooklyn and Robert so that they could see each other’s different ways of having a relationship with God and living the Christian life. They are so unalike that they had much to show one another in the way of additional ways to relate to God and live biblically. Once they overcame their irritation with their disparate mannerisms, which took a few years to perfect, they could disciple each other.
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Satan sure doesn’t want us showing one another what a dedicated relationship with God looks like so that we can walk even closer with our Lord. The devil is all about destroying our relationship with God and neutralizing us as God’s allies. Discipling one another brings us together and forms strong alliances with God against Satan, so he especially does not want us to disciple one another.
The devil doesn’t want us teaching one another, but he will settle for that over our going on to disciple one another. Satan knows that head knowledge can be an end in itself and that discipling forces that head knowledge into behavior that glorifies God.
Therefore, one of the ways the devil tries to inhibit our discipling one another is to encourage a lesser meaning to the concept of discipleship. He would want us to think that discipleship is just bringing people to God, which falls far short of helping them live for God. Or, Satan would want us to think that teaching is discipleship and get us to think we are great disciples of Jesus if we know the Bible well. Then we will stop at knowledge and not actively pursue sanctification through putting knowledge of God beyond thought and argument into behavior. Or, the evil one can in one last ditch effort substitute mentoring for discipleship, since mentoring goes beyond teaching to giving advice. Mentoring is a popular concept in today’s culture, but it usually amounts to counseling. It is just another example of ignoring the more stringent demands of discipling. When I professionally counsel as a psychotherapist, I sometimes try to approximate discipling by role-playing. But it still falls short of my client seeing how I might handle a real situation.
Teaching and counseling can never outshine actual examples of faith where we can see it practiced rather than just claimed without evidence. The results of living faith, rather than faith merely acknowledged, is proof that the spiritual aspects of the Christian life are real, not just wishful thinking or an internal feel-good thing.
Satan’s strategy is to define faith as belief in a higher power of some sort. He has created religions and cults. In the third world, evangelism often has to be more than intellectual and historical explanations of God’s wonderful gift in Jesus. It sometimes has to be a power contest against real evil supernaturalism, just as Moses experienced in the courts of Pharaoh when magicians threw down their staffs which became snakes.
In the western world power encounters more often must be examples of superior faith and love. This emphasizes how important it is to show one another the power of our faith so that we have more Christians strong enough in faithful behavior to expose the weakness of false religions and atheism.
In our friendships, we can defeat Satan by showing one another how our faith helps us deal with loss of careers or loved ones, hostility from those who dislike us, poverty or riches, and all other challenges of life. Outsiders are watching. In our neighborhoods and at the places we work, nonbelievers are witnessing if our faith empowers us to deal with life better than their own spirituality. Satan wants them to think that their “spirituality” is comparable to that of Christians, and the dividing line is how our way of facing life actually has a personal relationship with God and His love for us as its power source.
This discipling one another through friendships was instructed in the early church.
The devil doesn’t want us teaching one another, but he will settle for that over our going on to disciple one another. Satan knows that head knowledge can be an end in itself and that discipling forces that head knowledge into behavior that glorifies God.
Therefore, one of the ways the devil tries to inhibit our discipling one another is to encourage a lesser meaning to the concept of discipleship. He would want us to think that discipleship is just bringing people to God, which falls far short of helping them live for God. Or, Satan would want us to think that teaching is discipleship and get us to think we are great disciples of Jesus if we know the Bible well. Then we will stop at knowledge and not actively pursue sanctification through putting knowledge of God beyond thought and argument into behavior. Or, the evil one can in one last ditch effort substitute mentoring for discipleship, since mentoring goes beyond teaching to giving advice. Mentoring is a popular concept in today’s culture, but it usually amounts to counseling. It is just another example of ignoring the more stringent demands of discipling. When I professionally counsel as a psychotherapist, I sometimes try to approximate discipling by role-playing. But it still falls short of my client seeing how I might handle a real situation.
Teaching and counseling can never outshine actual examples of faith where we can see it practiced rather than just claimed without evidence. The results of living faith, rather than faith merely acknowledged, is proof that the spiritual aspects of the Christian life are real, not just wishful thinking or an internal feel-good thing.
Satan’s strategy is to define faith as belief in a higher power of some sort. He has created religions and cults. In the third world, evangelism often has to be more than intellectual and historical explanations of God’s wonderful gift in Jesus. It sometimes has to be a power contest against real evil supernaturalism, just as Moses experienced in the courts of Pharaoh when magicians threw down their staffs which became snakes.
In the western world power encounters more often must be examples of superior faith and love. This emphasizes how important it is to show one another the power of our faith so that we have more Christians strong enough in faithful behavior to expose the weakness of false religions and atheism.
In our friendships, we can defeat Satan by showing one another how our faith helps us deal with loss of careers or loved ones, hostility from those who dislike us, poverty or riches, and all other challenges of life. Outsiders are watching. In our neighborhoods and at the places we work, nonbelievers are witnessing if our faith empowers us to deal with life better than their own spirituality. Satan wants them to think that their “spirituality” is comparable to that of Christians, and the dividing line is how our way of facing life actually has a personal relationship with God and His love for us as its power source.
This discipling one another through friendships was instructed in the early church.
Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.
Titus 2:3-8
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Satan can be most battled if Christian families will progress from teaching, to counseling, to discipling children. Twenty-four hours a day for 18 years gives 157,680 hours to accomplish great faith in our kids. To have this happen, parents need to be living and explaining their faith. They must not adhere to “do as I say, not as I do”, which is just wishful thinking. For parents to live more and more faithful lives, they need to disciple each other as well as within their Christian Inner Circles. When children see more dedication to Jesus, especially as it relates to how they are treated, they can watch and be discipled. But, kids need to be willing to be discipled and follow in their parents’ footsteps. Strong bonds of love will help them make this choice.
Service projects and short-term mission trips can also be excellent discipleship venues because real life is exposed. Service projects stretch Christians when the project is difficult, requires prayer, stretches obedience, and requires a deeper understanding of Scripture. In such a setting, the depth of spiritual strengths can be seen and duplicated by watching believers.
Discipleship is a powerful tool in the battle against Satan and his evil. Let’s disciple one another assertively and give the devil many defeats.
How in the Sinful Environment this Together Prepares Us for Heaven
Service projects and short-term mission trips can also be excellent discipleship venues because real life is exposed. Service projects stretch Christians when the project is difficult, requires prayer, stretches obedience, and requires a deeper understanding of Scripture. In such a setting, the depth of spiritual strengths can be seen and duplicated by watching believers.
Discipleship is a powerful tool in the battle against Satan and his evil. Let’s disciple one another assertively and give the devil many defeats.
How in the Sinful Environment this Together Prepares Us for Heaven
Joseph and Lauren met Colton and Stella at church and these two married couples became close friends about ten years ago. They and their children have done many things together. As a result of having a relationship outside of church activities, they have come to know much about the joys and struggles of one another’s lives. And, they have been around when their extended families visited.
Lauren and Colton each have seriously troubled relationships with their mothers. At joint family events when a mother has been present, the tension has been painful to watch. Yet Lauren handles the conflict with tenderness and does not return meanness. She also doesn’t let it disturb her sense of peace. On the other hand, Colton gets combative with his mother. Joseph took Colton fishing and pointed out how his wife Lauren handled her very critical mother in such a way that it did not so negatively affect her life. He suggested that the next time the couples went out to dinner Colton ask Lauren how it is that she can weather the storm so well. At the restaurant a few weeks later, Lauren explained to Colton how her relationship with Jesus helped her not get drug into her mother’s negativity or react to her mother’s putting her down all the time. Colton paid close attention and asked his wife Stella to help him adopt Lauren’s dependence upon God’s view of him as well as learn to react only to God and not his mother. Colton hoped to grow in his faith and be able to base his sense of security in God’s approval so that he can respond to his mother lovingly without defending himself to her. Later in heaven, these four are very comfortable learning from the advanced faith of others as well as discipling others who have not yet gotten so comfortable seeking and growing from the example of others. While they are not dealing with sin any longer, there is so much to grasp in heaven, and some who have been there for hundreds of years have much to show them. |
There are two benefits for life in heaven, one from discipling others and another from seeking the discipleship of other Christians.
Showing our faith openly for others to see and copy increases the privilege of doing so in heaven proportionate to our earthly courage before death.
Suppose we do not disciple others in our Christian Inner Circles. Naturally, others close to us will see us behaving in line with our Christian culture. But, what if we do not add words to the display of our behavior so that others near and dear to us do not clearly see our devotion to God in a personal way? In heaven, where it is all about God and sin in no way hinders this, do we think we will then be assigned service for the King that significantly guides other citizens of heaven to grow in their faith? Why would God assign such a task to someone so inexperienced in discipling others, someone without the heart for it?
But, if we do diligently with conscious intention make clear how we live our godly lives because of our person-to-Person relationship with Jesus and His Father, empowered by the Holy Spirit, we will be preparing to walk the streets and paths of heaven as those who disciple others. We will be gaining the desire and ability to be most natural in bringing God into everything as visible as possible to others in our Christian Inner Circles. That will prepare us to later disciple citizens of heaven in heaven’s ways of God. Hopefully, a good many of us will desire such a ministry in our heavenly relationships.
It is probably more natural to explain our behavior to our children. Even so, most of us do not do so except explaining that is the way Christians act. However, except for simple statements of faith, it is not quite so natural to be that transparent about our relationship with the Lord in our friendships, and, sadly, with our spouses. With our kids we know we are training them. But, we are so ingrained that as adult believers some of us are “higher” than others. This leads us, surprisingly, to not want to act superior and so we seldom relate why something we did came from our love for God. Or, we might be embarrassed to do so because we think our spouses or friends will think we are trying to be better than them, when, in fact, we want them to be as strong in their faith as we are, or better so that they then can raise us up.
This can be solved by recognizing that we are to disciple one another. We can comment that we were happy to speak up to defend someone being unfairly criticized at work because it was wrong and we were aware that Jesus wanted us to intervene. As long as the people we are speaking to realize that they have other interactions driven by their love for the Lord, no one should feel anything negative.
Therefore, we should enlighten those in our Christian Inner Circles that we need everyone to relate openly about things they do Christlike and how it came out of their love relationship with God. This is easy to do. We just begin doing it ourselves and then tell others that we need to see where their relationship with God led to faithfulness so that we can follow their example. Christians should be willing to disciple others once they are invited to do so.
Watching the faith of others as they openly exhibit it to disciple us will give us more spiritual tendency to look for examples of superior walk with God when we get to heaven.
We probably want to believe that when we get to heaven, we will be as godly as we can be. Some want to think that we will all become just like Jesus the moment we die. If that were the case, so many passages of Scripture admonishing us to grow in our faith are unnecessary. It is much more logical that our completeness will have to do with being without sin, completely pure but not completely grown up in the faith.
It also seems to diminish the grandeur of Jesus to think that we go to heaven having acquired all or even a lot of His character. Our sanctification in this life is to be as much as possible, but an infinite God most likely has infinite good qualities. So, we probably will go to heaven from one percent to thirty percent like Jesus instead of one percent to eighty percent. But, do we really think that we can ever be absolutely like God? Are not His ways beyond our reach?
Showing our faith openly for others to see and copy increases the privilege of doing so in heaven proportionate to our earthly courage before death.
Suppose we do not disciple others in our Christian Inner Circles. Naturally, others close to us will see us behaving in line with our Christian culture. But, what if we do not add words to the display of our behavior so that others near and dear to us do not clearly see our devotion to God in a personal way? In heaven, where it is all about God and sin in no way hinders this, do we think we will then be assigned service for the King that significantly guides other citizens of heaven to grow in their faith? Why would God assign such a task to someone so inexperienced in discipling others, someone without the heart for it?
But, if we do diligently with conscious intention make clear how we live our godly lives because of our person-to-Person relationship with Jesus and His Father, empowered by the Holy Spirit, we will be preparing to walk the streets and paths of heaven as those who disciple others. We will be gaining the desire and ability to be most natural in bringing God into everything as visible as possible to others in our Christian Inner Circles. That will prepare us to later disciple citizens of heaven in heaven’s ways of God. Hopefully, a good many of us will desire such a ministry in our heavenly relationships.
It is probably more natural to explain our behavior to our children. Even so, most of us do not do so except explaining that is the way Christians act. However, except for simple statements of faith, it is not quite so natural to be that transparent about our relationship with the Lord in our friendships, and, sadly, with our spouses. With our kids we know we are training them. But, we are so ingrained that as adult believers some of us are “higher” than others. This leads us, surprisingly, to not want to act superior and so we seldom relate why something we did came from our love for God. Or, we might be embarrassed to do so because we think our spouses or friends will think we are trying to be better than them, when, in fact, we want them to be as strong in their faith as we are, or better so that they then can raise us up.
This can be solved by recognizing that we are to disciple one another. We can comment that we were happy to speak up to defend someone being unfairly criticized at work because it was wrong and we were aware that Jesus wanted us to intervene. As long as the people we are speaking to realize that they have other interactions driven by their love for the Lord, no one should feel anything negative.
Therefore, we should enlighten those in our Christian Inner Circles that we need everyone to relate openly about things they do Christlike and how it came out of their love relationship with God. This is easy to do. We just begin doing it ourselves and then tell others that we need to see where their relationship with God led to faithfulness so that we can follow their example. Christians should be willing to disciple others once they are invited to do so.
Watching the faith of others as they openly exhibit it to disciple us will give us more spiritual tendency to look for examples of superior walk with God when we get to heaven.
We probably want to believe that when we get to heaven, we will be as godly as we can be. Some want to think that we will all become just like Jesus the moment we die. If that were the case, so many passages of Scripture admonishing us to grow in our faith are unnecessary. It is much more logical that our completeness will have to do with being without sin, completely pure but not completely grown up in the faith.
It also seems to diminish the grandeur of Jesus to think that we go to heaven having acquired all or even a lot of His character. Our sanctification in this life is to be as much as possible, but an infinite God most likely has infinite good qualities. So, we probably will go to heaven from one percent to thirty percent like Jesus instead of one percent to eighty percent. But, do we really think that we can ever be absolutely like God? Are not His ways beyond our reach?
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:9
so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:9
It is far more probable that the development of our spirits will continue throughout all eternity. While we won’t be able to sin, we also won’t be able to do everything that is good. Yet, we will want to progress in godliness, not by overcoming sinfulness, but by accessing more of God’s character and ways of living. The stronger our yearning to see advanced righteousness in heaven because we prepared for it by letting others disciple us now, the faster will our journey into God’s ways will progress.
Let’s prepare for heaven by discipling one another, showing others our strongest faith and observing their strongest faith and learning to walk more faithfully with God now and for all eternity.
How this Together Can Make It Really Good in Heaven
Let’s prepare for heaven by discipling one another, showing others our strongest faith and observing their strongest faith and learning to walk more faithfully with God now and for all eternity.
How this Together Can Make It Really Good in Heaven
I have learned here in heaven to watch some citizens closer because they are determined more than others to grasp new truth about God, knowledge that was unavailable back before I died.
I praise God for Aubree and Levi, two friends I met here shortly after arriving in heaven. They are sister and brother. I thank the Lord of Heaven that they were raised in a Christian home where the five family members regularly met to recognize each person’s strengths in their relationship with God. They encouraged one another to hold in high regard, ask questions about, and then pray and depend upon the Holy Spirit to develop the advanced aspect of faith of each of the others in themselves. I did not grow up in a Christian home and never developed the motivation to look at the faith of fellow believers. I was always a bit defensive, caught up in not wanting to feel inferior. In this way, I seriously held back my spiritual progress. At the same time, I kept my faith pretty much to myself, fearful that I would appear to be seeking status while at the same time worried about not meeting someone else’s expectation. Therefore, my strong areas of faith did not much get passed on to others. Thanks be to God, Aubree and Levi are helping me past these problems so that I can actively pursue growth in my faith here in heaven as well as help those who were worse than me before heaven to look more closely at those further along the Lord’s journey for them. |
Would not be part of the joy in heaven being able to continue becoming more like Jesus? Isn’t it a great joy to us now to grow to become a little more like Him? So, why not more so in heaven?
Discipling others now as well as allowing ourselves to be discipled will increase our Christlike nature when we get to heaven. And, because this Together of discipling one another continues in heaven, we can have the joy of further attainment to the likeness of Jesus. So, to continue our figure of speech about this speculation, some of us will arrive in heaven as a Seventeen Percent Disciple even though completely a Saint and Citizen of Heaven. Even after forever, we won’t ever be Jesus, we won’t be a One-Hundred Percent Disciple. What joy it will be to continue the discipling process but grow further in Christlikeness.
What about the argument that it is better to go to heaven as a Two Percent Disciple in order to have more joy because we can grow 97 percent? It most likely will not be that way. As we go up in our percentage, figuratively speaking, the journey will get more difficult, yet more exciting. Imagine another analogy, one of climbing a very tall mountain. The higher you go, the more difficult is progress and the more exciting it gets.
This way of thinking somewhat deals with the dilemma of what happens to a person who accepts Christ on his deathbed. From the parable of the workers found in Matthew 20, we can clearly see that this death-bed convert will get equal wages, most likely meaning that salvation will be given him. But, since he worked for just one hour, only an hour’s worth of sanctification will have happened. He will get to heaven a One Percent Disciple and have great joy in progressing. Since salvation and heaven are not earned by amount of work, but out of God’s generosity, saved at the last minute as from fire, he will know how lucky he is to receive the great life of heaven, just as those who worked all day. The working was not for the wage, it was for what would be gained by working, the sanctification that could be gained.
Let’s disciple one another now so that, allegorically speaking, we are higher up on the mountain when we get to heaven and the excitement is sharper as we view more heights to attain.
Opportunity for a Closer Relationship with God through Empathy
Discipling others now as well as allowing ourselves to be discipled will increase our Christlike nature when we get to heaven. And, because this Together of discipling one another continues in heaven, we can have the joy of further attainment to the likeness of Jesus. So, to continue our figure of speech about this speculation, some of us will arrive in heaven as a Seventeen Percent Disciple even though completely a Saint and Citizen of Heaven. Even after forever, we won’t ever be Jesus, we won’t be a One-Hundred Percent Disciple. What joy it will be to continue the discipling process but grow further in Christlikeness.
What about the argument that it is better to go to heaven as a Two Percent Disciple in order to have more joy because we can grow 97 percent? It most likely will not be that way. As we go up in our percentage, figuratively speaking, the journey will get more difficult, yet more exciting. Imagine another analogy, one of climbing a very tall mountain. The higher you go, the more difficult is progress and the more exciting it gets.
This way of thinking somewhat deals with the dilemma of what happens to a person who accepts Christ on his deathbed. From the parable of the workers found in Matthew 20, we can clearly see that this death-bed convert will get equal wages, most likely meaning that salvation will be given him. But, since he worked for just one hour, only an hour’s worth of sanctification will have happened. He will get to heaven a One Percent Disciple and have great joy in progressing. Since salvation and heaven are not earned by amount of work, but out of God’s generosity, saved at the last minute as from fire, he will know how lucky he is to receive the great life of heaven, just as those who worked all day. The working was not for the wage, it was for what would be gained by working, the sanctification that could be gained.
Let’s disciple one another now so that, allegorically speaking, we are higher up on the mountain when we get to heaven and the excitement is sharper as we view more heights to attain.
Opportunity for a Closer Relationship with God through Empathy
I enjoy my closeness to God in all His trinity. I know it is because I watched my nephew and grew because he had a deep sense of God in his life. His behavior really was not of this world!
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Jesus was closest to His disciples, so it only follows that God the Father will also be closer to us to the extent that we were Jesus’ disciples. Jesus had many followers, and we can assume that He was loving toward them and did not spurn any who wished to follow Him closely. But Jesus spent most of His time with the 12 disciples, and even more special time with just three of them, Peter, James and John.
We must assume that the more we let others disciple us the more we will become like Jesus and the closer God will be to us when we get to heaven in some mysterious way to be discovered there.
Another analogy might give us a way to think about regarding closeness to God in heaven. Imagine how much larger we are the closer we are to a mirror. The further back we are, the smaller we are. This might be a way to visualize closeness to God. Will we see Him close to us as bigger or in more detail as in the close-up view of ourselves in a mirror. Will we see Him close to us, but back a ways and smaller and less detailed?
It will wonderful to be climbing that spiritual growth mountain in heaven. Let’s look forward to its excitement. But, let’s disciple one another so as to start higher on the mountain, further along on the eternal journey, perhaps closer to the Throne.
Praise and Prayer Regarding this Together
Dear Holy God, we want to be like You as You desire. Therefore, I and those in my Christian Inner Circle will need Your help to grow our spirits to want to live our faith openly so that the faith of other Christians can grow. Help us to yield to the work of the Holy Spirit for all of us to give You more glory in the way we openly demonstrate biblical obedience and urge those in our Christian Inner Circles to grow in their faith and loyalty to You.
Please help us all to become more like Jesus and show others how to walk with You, God. Without pride, urge us to let our Christian friends, Christian family and Christian spouses see the righteous obedience we have each attained. Oh, to have been one of Jesus’ disciples and seen firsthand how He handled everything about life! Let us have a peek by viewing in one another a portion of Jesus we have not yet attained.
May our lives worship You more because we in my Christian Inner Circle watch carefully how Jesus manifests Himself in each one of us so that we can more quickly become like Jesus and glorify You. Reflecting back to You the image of Your Son in us is our hearts’ desire. That is the worship and honor we want to give You.
Make us strong in Your power to defeat the devil by showing one another what a dedicated relationship with You looks like so that we all can advance in our walk with You. Empower our interdependent discipleship to weave us together with such strength that all of Satan’s attempts to dislodge us from dedication to You and love for You are thwarted.
Help us all to prepare for heaven by growing in our ability to disciple one another now. Give us the courage to live open lives with one another and take great joy in showing how You live in each of us that the others might let You live a bit more in them. In heaven, we want to be able to show each other what we have just learned about You and Your ways as heaven makes more known to us.
Ever increasing practice of the Togethers of Scripture will (1) create in you the loving essence of Jesus, (2) give Jesus the kind of love He requested, (3) provide you with the most significant spiritual lifestyle which is attainable only through Christian community, (4) offer significant worship to God by reflecting his own character back to him through your behavior, and (5) bring God’s kingdom to earth as asked for in the Lord’s Prayer. And for heaven, such growing obedience to Scripture now will later (6) qualify you for a more responsible place of service as reward in heaven, and, (7) most important of all, give you greater empathy with God for a closer relationship with Him for all of eternity.
We must assume that the more we let others disciple us the more we will become like Jesus and the closer God will be to us when we get to heaven in some mysterious way to be discovered there.
Another analogy might give us a way to think about regarding closeness to God in heaven. Imagine how much larger we are the closer we are to a mirror. The further back we are, the smaller we are. This might be a way to visualize closeness to God. Will we see Him close to us as bigger or in more detail as in the close-up view of ourselves in a mirror. Will we see Him close to us, but back a ways and smaller and less detailed?
It will wonderful to be climbing that spiritual growth mountain in heaven. Let’s look forward to its excitement. But, let’s disciple one another so as to start higher on the mountain, further along on the eternal journey, perhaps closer to the Throne.
Praise and Prayer Regarding this Together
Dear Holy God, we want to be like You as You desire. Therefore, I and those in my Christian Inner Circle will need Your help to grow our spirits to want to live our faith openly so that the faith of other Christians can grow. Help us to yield to the work of the Holy Spirit for all of us to give You more glory in the way we openly demonstrate biblical obedience and urge those in our Christian Inner Circles to grow in their faith and loyalty to You.
Please help us all to become more like Jesus and show others how to walk with You, God. Without pride, urge us to let our Christian friends, Christian family and Christian spouses see the righteous obedience we have each attained. Oh, to have been one of Jesus’ disciples and seen firsthand how He handled everything about life! Let us have a peek by viewing in one another a portion of Jesus we have not yet attained.
May our lives worship You more because we in my Christian Inner Circle watch carefully how Jesus manifests Himself in each one of us so that we can more quickly become like Jesus and glorify You. Reflecting back to You the image of Your Son in us is our hearts’ desire. That is the worship and honor we want to give You.
Make us strong in Your power to defeat the devil by showing one another what a dedicated relationship with You looks like so that we all can advance in our walk with You. Empower our interdependent discipleship to weave us together with such strength that all of Satan’s attempts to dislodge us from dedication to You and love for You are thwarted.
Help us all to prepare for heaven by growing in our ability to disciple one another now. Give us the courage to live open lives with one another and take great joy in showing how You live in each of us that the others might let You live a bit more in them. In heaven, we want to be able to show each other what we have just learned about You and Your ways as heaven makes more known to us.
Ever increasing practice of the Togethers of Scripture will (1) create in you the loving essence of Jesus, (2) give Jesus the kind of love He requested, (3) provide you with the most significant spiritual lifestyle which is attainable only through Christian community, (4) offer significant worship to God by reflecting his own character back to him through your behavior, and (5) bring God’s kingdom to earth as asked for in the Lord’s Prayer. And for heaven, such growing obedience to Scripture now will later (6) qualify you for a more responsible place of service as reward in heaven, and, (7) most important of all, give you greater empathy with God for a closer relationship with Him for all of eternity.