Mar 24, 2016
Less than a year ago I would have found it strange to raise my hands in worship. Even if a song would say “I lift my hands”, my hands would stay down. Lifting up my hands for praying was also something I wasn’t used to.
We read in Psalm 134 verse 2, “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord.” It’s mentioned in many more places but another one I like is in 1 Timothy 2:8 again “lifting up holy hands…” hands that are set apart for God’s disposal and to do His will.
To me raising my hands speaks volumes. The first thought is surrender. It’s acknowledging I am powerless and it’s outwardly shown. Though there’s a time to throw up your hands because you have been trying to do things out of strength that stems from self and not from God. I have found that choosing to surrender, even when things are not on the brink of falling apart, is crucial. To lift up holy hands in praise, prayer and adoration confirms in me, the relationship between the Creator and His creation that I am, and my dependence upon Him. Active worship has become very important to me in the last six months. Simply lifting up my hands like a child reaching for a father, acknowledging my great need for our Heavenly Father, and having a transparent life with Him, needs to come out in every area of my life because I am a child of God. Lifting up my hands gives me a good perspective of where I’m at, and helps me to have a surrendered life when I’m in the valley, or on the mountain top.
—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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Nov 4, 2015
At some point we have all heard the account from John 4 of Jesus and the woman at the well. I have heard this account so many times that for awhile I actually missed what Jesus was saying when He referred to the gift of God as the “living water.” I was quite humbled at my lack of knowledge for a seemingly elementary concept of Christianity. But when I asked God to please show me what He means when He says the “living water,” His response was almost instantaneous, as if He had been eagerly waiting my whole life to reveal this truth to me.
“What does water do?” came the voice in my heart. Well, let’s see here… Water refreshes, it cleans, it gives life, it sustains life. The world and everything in it cannot stand a chance without water. Of course! How could I have overlooked this for so long?
Jesus was using water to tangibly describe Himself and the gift of salvation in a way that we can understand. What water does for our mortal bodies, Jesus does for our souls!
Jesus refreshes us when we are exhausted. Jesus washes us of our sins and makes us clean. Jesus gives us life and He sustains our life. Without Jesus we are dry and lifeless. Knowing now this tangible way that Jesus is in my life, how could I ever go a day without a drink of Him? And I love what Jesus promises us, “whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:13-14)
I hope you are encouraged in whatever drought you may be facing, that Jesus is the source of your life and refreshment to your soul.
—School of Discipleship Alumni
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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 19, 2015
Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. James 4:14
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21
in·vest·ment = time, energy, or matter spent in the hope of future benefit.
The Lord has been challenging me in examining my heart for its true investment. These verses arouse a soberness that causes me to ask myself, what am I ultimately striving to treasure and invest in?
We have all heard the saying, “Life is precious”. Yes, without a shadow of a doubt, I believe it surely to be true. But what is it about life makes it to be so uniquely precious? The answer is Christ.
As a part of my curriculum this year, I have the great privilege to read the book Character of God’s Workman. Even though I am just a ways into it, this book has made me examine my own life in regards to God’s love for all humanity. There is a part in the book where Nee writes, “Many who would work for God have a serious deficiency, which is, that they are totally lacking in the love of humanity. They lack the proper respect towards men, and they lack as well knowledge of the value of man in God’s sight. Indeed, each and every life on earth has been uniquely designed and created by an absolute wonderful Creator. And in each life is a soul, a soul that needs to hear and know that Love Himself has come to give more than this life ever could provide–eternal life through Jesus Christ alone!
To invest in the lives and souls of others seems like the toughest, yet greatest possible investment on earth. To think about this investment forces me out of my comfort zone, yet it seems like the only possible and worthwhile investment when reflecting on the amazing redemptive plan that Christ has for all the world. Oh to simply invest in a precious soul! This is an eternal investment! The benefits, being eternal ones, are of unimaginable value, as we anticipate to soon gather around the Lord’s Throne to worship Him forever and ever!
So, with life having that much of value, I pray the Lord would make me mindful of His love for all humanity. As we as God’s children, have been huge beneficiaries of His amazing grace, may the Lord use us in the lives of others for whom He has also died and cherishes greatly. As each life is compared to a mere vapor that disappears as quickly as it appears, I pray the Lord might continue to reveal the true purpose and meaning of life on earth. May our hearts be consumed with Christ Himself as our Treasure, and thus have an outflow of a love for mankind.
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Less than a year ago I would have found it strange to raise my hands in worship. Even if a song would say “I lift my hands”, my hands would stay down. Lifting up my hands for praying was also something I wasn’t used to.
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