Mar 23, 2016
Near the beginning of my year at School of Discipleship we went through the book “The Jesus Style” by Gayle Erwin. In this book he talked about the characteristics of Jesus, and one is that he was a man of no reputation. It stood out to me at the time, but since then we have gone through many others books and I had forgotten about it, until just recently.
In one of our classes the teacher challenged us to search our hearts to find out what is coming in between us and God. After meditating on this, I realized that though it may sometimes come in different forms, what really hinders my walk with God is my trying to protect my reputation. It causes me to fear obeying God and losing friends. But Jesus had no reputation.
In a way everyone has a reputation, but for Jesus it had no meaning because his reputation was simply who he was. He wasn’t ever trying to be someone he wasn’t, or show off to people; he had no worries of who was, or who wasn’t his friend; he had one mission and that is what his whole life was focused on.
For me it comes back to the thing I struggle with the most: Being real with people and not hiding who I really am. This was one thing I saw in myself a few months ago and it really hit me hard. I thought I had made changes and at least overcome this some what. Now I see that though I may have taken one step, there are still hundreds more to go. I can’t do it, I will only fail. Yet I am amazed with the grace of God, he stands by my side still loving me and telling me his grace is sufficient for me.
And I believe that “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.”
1 Thess. 5:24.
—School of Discipleship student
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Mar 22, 2016
I believe it still to be a miracle that I am here.
Coming to School of Discipleship, I really didn’t have much of an idea of why God was leading me here. My flesh really wanted to stay in my cozy, comfort zone where life, well, seemed easy. The Lord certainly had much patience and by His grace, I am here!
I think the best verse for my presence here would be found in 1 Corinthians 1:27 where it reads, “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty.” I can still hardly grasp this truth. I am most blessed, but very challenged that my weaknesses are made perfect in His strengths. I’m slowly learning to trust God, in the highest and lowest parts that this journey, called life, brings me.
In class, we have just finished the book, Jesus Style. I am humbled by how little I know about the life of Jesus. Everything about the greatest man that ever lived, His birth, His ministry, His death have been so minimized and watered down. I’m starting to see how absolute frail and weak I am. I am nothing but a wretched, wandering, hopeless, descendant from Adam apart from Christ. My desperation for Christ must be foremost in my life!
With that, I would like to end off with the passage written in Philippians 1:29 which says, “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake”. This verse is a challenge. It is a verse that seems very inconvenient. God wants everything? Since He withheld nothing from His life, I’m challenged with losing everything from mine. With that, I know I need brokenness. I need to be shattered. I need desperate molding. I’ve been so blessed by the countless testimonies of the servants of Christ holding nothing in their life dear to them, and counting all things apart from Christ as useless. So many, going through persecutions and sufferings, so that the name of Christ may be made known! With that, I feel called to brokenness, and pray God will truly break me for the lost. I desperately need to have a burden so immense for those that have never heard that there is a hope! I know this year has many challenges that lay ahead, but I also know that with Christ as my strength, I will have everything that I need!
—School of Discipleship student
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Aug 26, 2015
A couple of weeks ago, we had a time of solitude. During that time, God directed my attention to the second epistle of John. In this epistle, John reminds us that it is not a new commandment, to love one another but the original that was from the beginning. He immediately brings up that this is in opposition to the deceivers who teach that Jesus did not come in the flesh. What correlation do these two teachings have? It deserves a closer look.
Let us gather the context first. In the first part of the book John’s excitement for the truth is almost overwhelming. He uses the word five times in the first four verses. This culminates in his statement of joy that some of the children of the elect lady were walking in truth.
With this premise of excitement about truth, He naturally flows into the commandment to love one another. Defining love as walking according to the Father’s commandments, he states that loving one another has always been the commandment even from the beginning.
It came to mind that if this truly is the case I should be able to find it in the books of Moses. Looking at Genesis we learn that in the beginning God created the earth as a place to put man to dwell in unity with one another. A place where they could love one another, within the protection of God’s garden. However, man refused to live in love.
Having rejected the ideal place that had been provided for them, they were without hope. God, however, in the book of Exodus through His servant Moses, demonstrated that would not give up on them. He, in His mercy, gave them a law to show to everyone what love looks like in daily life. As I was reading Exodus recently, I noticed everything that is in the law is about either loving God or loving others and what this looks like in practical terms. Man, sadly, did not have the ability to live in this way of love.
God therefore had to become flesh and demonstrate that the life of love can only be lived by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now because He rose again, Jesus imparts the Holy Spirit to all who believe on Him. If He did not come in the flesh and be tempted in every way as we are, He could not give us the power of the Holy Spirit to live this way. Denying Jesus’ deity, therefore, is not just some random theological point. It is rejecting the means God has given us to live the way we are commanded i.e. through Christ and is thus intrinsically connected to loving one another.
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Aug 5, 2015
Some walk through life in darkness,
Blinded to the truth
Laid so clearly before them.
Their hands are tied,
Their feet in stocks,
Their voices silenced at a glance.
They stumble nearly every step
And find it hard to rise again.
The pain is great,
Their minds are crushed.
Like snakes crawling on the ground
They do not stand
And like a fish,
The ocean is all they ever know.
Others walk through life in light and gladness.
They are ever gazing
Into a beauty only they can see.
Their faith is planted on the truth.
Though they fall,
They rise again.
Their hands are free,
Their feet are dancing,
Their voices shout out songs of praise.
Freedom is their name
And love is their guide.
They are like an eagle
Gazing from a lofty mountain,
Like a bright light that cannot be dimmed.
Each of us have a choice to make before us, it is the choice of submission or rebellion. Those in darkness have chosen the way of rebellion, though they may not have realized it their hearts have been hardened by choosing their own way and now life has fallen from their grasp. But those who live in the light have found the greatest treasure of a heart in submission and brokenness. These are the people that touch godliness and truly experience the wonders and powers of the risen Christ in them.
Recently at School of Discipleship, us students went through a book by K.P. Yohannan, “Touching Godliness”. This book opened my eyes to see how God has created this world to work in submission. He created us dependent on one another and on Him. The authorities He has placed over us are for our own protection and growth. Just like the wild horse is useless to its master, while the broken and submissive horse is of great use to its rider; God can only use the people submitted and broken of their own wills.
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Jun 5, 2015
Have you ever had a time in your life when you felt so stressed out you didn’t know how you were going to make it through?
Or maybe you have just been super worried about some big thing in your life that looks impossible to overcome e or get around. I know I have had to deal with these things before. Worrying doesn’t help anything! Worrying always seems to make the situation look darker and more impossible! Worry takes our focus off of Jesus and puts it on our own life. Worry makes us try to figure everything out ourselves when what we should really be doing is seeking the Lord more! I think that is exactly why the Bible tells us so many times not to worry.
God gives us trials and tribulations to draw us to Him and make us stronger in our faith—not to show us how awesome we are at figuring things out. We are to trust Him in hard times to take care of us, whether everything works out like it is supposed to, or if everything falls apart. This is not an easy thing! For me, I always think I know exactly how everything should go. How arrogant of me! God is faithful; His ways are so much higher than my ways! How could I presume that my plans and my preferences are better than His?
One of my favorite passages in Scripture is Psalm 146. This passage has been a real help to me in the hard times, especially verses 1-6. I encourage you to read this passage next time you start feeling stressed or are tempted to worry. It will be a great help to you!
Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, my soul. I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God.
He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them— he remains faithful forever. He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
The Lord reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord.
—Psalm 146:1-6
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Near the beginning of my year at School of Discipleship we went through the book “The Jesus Style” by Gayle Erwin. In this book he talked about the characteristics of Jesus, and one is that he was a man of no reputation. It stood out to me at the time, but since then we have gone through many others books and I had forgotten about it, until just recently.
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