Apr 13, 2016
It seems unbelievable that we have just over five weeks left until we are finished our year! I remember that the end looked so far away, but yet, how quick the time has flown. I can hardly grab on to one day until the next one budges in. God has and continues to be so very gracious and faithful!
As the year winds up, God has been challenging me to trust Him like never before, as I seek Him for future plans ahead! I am challenged in my walk with Him, questioning myself, “Do I really trust God?” “Am I too proud or smart to let the Sovereign Ruler of the universe lead and guide me?” I believe that it is in these times of my insufficiency that God can even begin to grant me the grace to start trusting Him. I am sorrowed at how often I take the invitation to trust God lightly, sprinkled with a bit of groaning or whimpering! Oh, may He grant me the grace to completely and wholly surrender and submit my all to Him!
So, in closing, I firstly praise God for this year with it’s beautiful times of challenges as well as victories! How unworthily blessed I feel to have been a part in the School of Discipleship program! It has truly been a journey that I believe will impact my entire life! Praise and glory to the Lord!
—School of Discipleship student
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Apr 10, 2016
School of Discipleship Vision/Goal 8: Understand that the Christian life and ministry cannot be lived apart from God’s help.
When arriving at Gospel for Asia’s School of Discipleship program in January 2014, I was blessed to learn what the vision for the program would be. After just over a year and a half of having the privilege of being discipled and trained in the ways of God, I feel as though it is this core value that has become an increasing reality in my life.
When first pondering upon this truth- the Christian life made possible only by Christ- it seemed rather like a gimme. However, only now has the Lord been teaching me in a greater measure of the significance and necessity of His Spirit being preeminent in my life.
In a recent message we heard by Major Ian Thomas, he states, “ Christ is the only One capable of living the Christian life”. Oh the thought! When I ponder upon this, I must humbly conclude that this is the only thing that makes sense. I find myself coming repeatedly to quick failure when attempting to live the Christian life in the flesh. One author put it well when he declared, “There is nothing more nauseating than the flesh trying to be holy”.
Although the Lord has had to remind me of my neediness for His Spirit, I am blessed and relieved by the liberating thought that I simply will never have what it takes to live for Christ, but He sure does! I am challenged to remember this beautiful promise! My flesh must die, and then I will be able to live. It is in the moments of feeling strong that I invite a dangerous conception of following Christ in my own so called strength. Through self-denial, I must stay needy and completely dependent upon Christ alone.
Praise God for His Spirit that does indwell us, as we can be sure that His power and enabling that has kept us until now will continue to sustain us until the end.
“For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you. 2 Corinthians 13:4
—School of Discipleship student
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Apr 9, 2016
When I first started to read True Discipleship, I realized that I would be getting a lot of answers to questions that I had had in the back of my mind. Questions about Scripture passages like, “…If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Matthew 16:24 (KJV)and “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:33 (KJV). A few of the statements that Jesus said sound so radical, to the point of impossible. The thought that runs through my head is, “forsake all? is that even possible?”. The truth is that I can’t and never would be able to forsake all, because my flesh wouldn’t allow me too. The Holy Spirit in me is the only way. I cannot live a perfect life no matter how much I try but Christ indwelling my heart changes me more and more into his image. Christ enables me to be a Christian. I claim what Paul said ” I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 (KJV)
Believing that Jesus walked the earth is easy. Believing what He said and obeying requires faith and trust in God. To be a true disciple of Christ, I must hail Him as King over my life and obey when He speaks. Yet Jesus offers so gently, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Matthew 11:29. What does it cost on my part to be a true disciple and what is my motivation, is now the question. My part is surrender completely and know that Christ is worth it and worthy of all praise. Radical is the normal for a Christian because Jesus is the Christian life, He showed us how to live — To be different and to stand out by how we love one another (John 13:34-35).
—School of Discipleship student
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Apr 3, 2016
Last year I had my relationship with God and that was good enough. I knew what I wanted to do and how I wanted to live to please God. Hmmm, there are a lot of I’s in that sentence. Then God brought me to Gospel for Asia’s School of Discipleship, not only to grow me in my walk with Him, but to show me the importance of walking with other Christians. Just like the song “They Will Know We Our Christians by Our Love”, God created us to live together in unity; to work together and encourage one another.
Right now for class we are going through the book of Philippians. Paul’s love for the church stands out to me, it was his desire and goal to serve the church and see his brothers and sisters grow in the Lord.
He says “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labour for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.” Philippians 1:21-26
Paul was so selfless and willing to give up his wants to pour himself out for the benefit of the Philippians. If it helped anyone, Paul was willing to do it. This shows me that I can’t just have my relationship with God; Jesus says we love Him by obeying His commands, and the second greatest command is to love one another. How can I love God when I live only for myself and refuse to serve others?
If I was faced with the choice like Paul to meet Jesus and be free at last from trials or to continue living and encourage others, what would I do?
—School of Discipleship student
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Apr 2, 2016
In 1 Kings 17 Israel was going through a drought, because of the nation’s rampant idolatry. The Lord commanded the prophet Elijah to go to Zarephath where a widow would provide food for him. He obeyed the Lord and found a woman at the gate of the city gathering sticks. He called her and said “bring me a little water in a vessel that I may drink” and “bring me a morsel of bread in your hand” (verse 11-12). The widow had very little ingredients left, just enough to fix one meal for her and her family. She had no expectations to live after the meal, embracing the reality of starving to death. But Elijah tested her faith and obedience by telling her to use the ingredients to make food for him first, and then to use the left overs for her and her family. With that command, came promise: “the jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth” (verse 14). The widow obeyed the command of Elijah and had faith in the promise of God. Her faith and obedience led to God’s promise being fulfilled in her life: “the jar of flour was not spent; neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that He spoke to Elijah” (verse 16).
The widow’s faith enabled her to willingly sacrifice and obey what the Lord had commanded through Elijah, and so, the Lord blessed her with an abundance of flour and oil, so that her and her son would not starve during the drought. Her obedience, sacrifice, and faith in God gave her life and freedom from death. She is an example of what it looks like to give to the Lord whatever He requires of our time, our earthly possessions, and our energy.
During my time here at School of Discipleship, I have been learning how to die to self. It was hard to commit my life to the Lord knowing that I would have to sacrifice the goals and plans that I had set for the next coming years. I knew that God’s will was perfect, and the promises that He has stored for my life would be well worth it, but I couldn’t give it all away without a blueprint of what my life would look like. My hands stayed closed, but slowly I began to open them by seeing the lives of the missionaries in Asia who are willing to die in order to fulfill the will of God. They opened as God began to speak to me through His word, and the widow of Zarephath is one that He had prepared to convict my heart. She obeyed God, even if it meant death because she had great faith in His promise. Because of her obedience, God rewarded her with Life. Even though I do not have a clear view of what God has for my life, my faith is greater than my fear of failure. I can give my life to the Lord knowing that the life he has planned for me is far greater than the one I was holding on to.
“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:1-2
—School of Discipleship student
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It seems unbelievable that we have just over five weeks left until we are finished our year! I remember that the end looked so far away, but yet, how quick the time has flown. I can hardly grab on to one day until the next one budges in. God has and continues to be so very gracious and faithful!
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