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 8, 2016
Praise God! We are already in the last third of the School of Discipleship year, which seems absolutely absurd! Truly, God continues to amaze me!!
We had the privilege of hearing our leader, Bro. KP, teach about depending on God. A few words he said caught me a bit in my tracks. He said, (in my summarization) “We must remember that God cannot fill His Spirit and blessings into hands that are already full.”
So often, I desire that God would fill me with His Spirit. I want to be full of Him. But I then question myself, Is God able to fill me with Himself, if I am already full of other things? Do I even possess the room? In absolutely everything that God gives, which far exceeds anything earthly, why do I still find it excruciating, to empty my hands of everything earthly, in order to hold on to Him?
Some of a quote that puts this well is in the journal of Jim Elliot. The quote reads,
“Father, let me be weak that I might lose my clutch of everything temporal. My life, my reputation, my possessions, Lord, let me loose the tension of the grasping hand. Rather, open my hand to receive the nail of Calvary, as Christ’s was opened, that I, releasing all, might be released, unleashed from all that binds me now. So let me release my grasp.”
Oh, that I would learn the blessedness of depending on Him, surrendering to Him, clinging to Him, and seeking Him! Only then, can I really be a true disciple of His, and discover His true worth!!
—School of Discipleship student
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Apr 7, 2016
I haven’t yet figured out why girls go to the bathroom in pairs/groups, but I do know that we often go shopping in twos or more so that we can get a second (or third, or fourth) opinion on an outfit – to ask “Should I buy this?” Our friends often hold a place of an advisor.
The other day I saw a jacket that I really liked and was reasonably priced. Now, you must understand that I am not a fashion-conscious person at all and I hate clothes shopping, so if I see something I like that fits and is decently priced, I will buy it.
I wanted to get this jacket, but then I started thinking… do I really need it? No. But I really like it. The price is good. However, the money could be better used elsewhere. I would definitely wear it a lot and get the value’s worth of it. I went back and forth, and finally, I said, “God, should I get this?”
I’d never asked God for fashion advice before. (Not that I usually ask fashion advice much of anyone.) But I realized that this is what it means to seek God in … everything. Even in something that seemingly is as trivial as “Should I buy this jacket?”, if I ask God whether it honours Him, well, the question itself honours Him if I follow His (fashion) advice.
—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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Mar 26, 2016
Today, as I was praying, God reminded me of a phrase that was once quite special to me. The phrase is “a man after God’s own heart.” In my early teens, I spent a lot of time reading the books of Samuel and Kings. At the time I was looking for insights about faith and how people were demonstrating faith. I didn’t really understand faith so I ended up reading these books over and over and I became very familiar with the stories. It was at this time that this phrase began meaning a lot to me.
In my early twenties God brought me to a place where I spent a lot of time in the gospels and the teachings of Jesus. This concept of being a man after God’s own heart was kind of placed on the back burner for a time. Now God is bringing the two concepts together for me.
In class we have been learning about having a radical Christian lifestyle. A lifestyle in which we renounce and hate everything, that would keep us from pursuing our Father with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. It is a lifestyle where we renounce everything as we pursue Christ.
What is it that enables us to do these things? How do we get from knowing that these are the right things to do to the place where we are able to do it? This is where I see being a man after God’s own heart fitting in. It is when we have that heart that we are able to pursue Christ radically without worrying about what others will think.
What does it mean to have a heart after God? I believe it means to be absolutely controlled by the Spirit of God. When we are totally yielded to His Spirit, we can live the radical life. The life and love of God will flow out of us. It will no longer be a standard that we are attempting to attain to but it will be a lifestyle that naturally flows out from the Spirit within us. This is having a heart after God. This is being a radical disciple. The life controlled by the Spirit is the life of True Discipleship.
—School of Discipleship student
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School of Discipleship Vision/Goal 8: Understand that the Christian life and ministry cannot be lived apart from God’s help.
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