Discipleship

Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

John 15:18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

If we fear death or redicule or even what others think of us because of our walk with Christ then we can not be disciples of Christ.
In order for us to truly walk with christ we must die to ourselves and what the world thinks of us. In doing this we obtain the freedom to speak what “Father” wants spoken. Many people miss what is said to them by the Holy Spirit because of the fear they carry of what others think of them. Some simply ignore what is being said while others openly and willingly disobey what they are told to do or speak. It is time we, as the body of Christ, begin to listen to what the Holy Spirit is speaking to us in this hour that we may obtain our freedom and become true disciples of Jesus Christ.


The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Jn 15:18-19). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

Fences to Freedom

Many of us grew up in households where we were told how worthless we are or how we would never amount to anything. In response to this we would build fences to protect ourselves from those who hurt us. Later in life as we meet new people and they, not knowing of our fences, cross those boundaries and hurt us. Again we build fences to protect ourselves. We keep building fences till one day no one can reach in to us because of all the wire and hurt we have.

C.S. Lewis talks of giving all of yourself to Christ in his book “Mere Christianity”. My question is how can we give all to Christ if we are hiding behind our fences? The answer is, it is not possible to give it all or in some cases even part of it to Him. Christ wants all we are and all we ever hope to become that He may make us into what He wanted us to be in the first place. In doing this He grants us true joy and peace in all we do and through all of life’s good and bad times. The only way we can obtain this is to begin to climb those fences and take a chance on our hearts running free and beginning to care once again about ourselves and people in more than a what can you do for me fashion. Once we climb those fences and get from behind them we can give all there is of ourselves to Christ and He will give all there is of Himself to us.

Perfect love

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” Hester Prynne gave birth to a child of an adulterous situation. The child, Pearl, was born and was very healthy and beautiful as most babies are. Her mother dressed her in the finest clothes she could make. Hester, being a seamstress, made the clothes very well. The author goes on to say that there was no way for the baby to be pretty because it was born into a sinful situation and that nothing good could come out of a situation like that. In my own life I can attest to how God can take a sin filled life and transform it into something of beauty and joyful. How He takes a past of sin and wreckage and turns it into His glory.
There are many in churches today, like the crowd in the book, who throw words of stone that kill the spirit instead of words of love that heal. Sin should never be condoned in our churches, but it is our job and responsibility as Christians to love the back slider back into a healthy relationship with Christ and with the body. Scripture says that Satan is the accuser of the brothers. I suggest to you that when we begin to throw words of stone at those who are weak and back slidden we are being used to do Satan’s bidding not God’s. Personally, I think it is time we stop allowing Satan to use us the way we do and become the strong right arm of Christ we are called to be and learn to love people where they are and how they are, instead of expecting perfect actions from them while excusing our own inadequacies. Today we should make a vow before God to love sinners, be they back sliders or totally lost, with the same compassion that Christ does.
I pray one day we can become without spot and wrinkle and be blameless before God so the Son will return. Until that day let Jesus’ words ring true. John 8:7 But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."

Living Transparent

In C.S. Lewis's "The Great Divorce" there are two kinds of people in the book. The people in hell are ghostly and have no substance. They tend to be unhappy and make excuses for not being happy instead of facing reality. The people who are in heaven are solid and filled with joy and compassion. They work hard to convince the ghostly people to stay in heaven and find the joy they seek. The solid people are naked and are perfectly happy being this way. This is a great analogy for how we as Christians should be during each and every day of our lives here on earth. I do not mean we should go without clothes, but we should live our lives as though we had nothing to hide. This is actually shown in scripture as well in the fact that Adam and Eve did not know they were naked until sin entered the world. Gen. 3: 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they ?knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves ??loin coverings[1]. Adam and Eve had nothing to hide from one another until they ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Then they hid themselves from God and from each other. If we live our lives completely open and transparent we obtain freedom. The simple fact that there is nothing anyone can hold against us since everyone knows it all anyway shows one of the many ways our honesty and transparency allows our freedom from bondage. James 5:16 Therefore, ?confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be ?healed. ?The effective ?prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.[2] If we are not transparent there is no way we will ever be obedient to this passage and in not being obedient to God's word in any part we lose part of the blessing it is to walk with Christ. By being transparent with each other we will know how better to pray for each other and in so doing we can obtain the promise of healing from this passage. Through this healing we find our hearts filled with the joy and love of Christ. Do not allow your blessing of this promise to be withheld because of your own pride or because you are afraid of allowing others to see the real you. Without the real you there is no transparency and without transparency there is no healing.

Laying Down Your Life

John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.

What does laying your life down really mean? Is it simply to physically die for someone? I think there is much more to it than that. I think it is more appropriate to say it means to lay down your pride and your reputation and everything you live for in order to help a friend. To me this is truly laying down your life. I wonder what this world would look like if all Gods children started living their lives from this perspective?

Guardians of Truth

I wonder what the difference would be if we as Gods kids started seeing ourselves as guardians of Gods word? While guarding it finding out what it says for our lives, instead of trying to find out from a selfish stance what Gods word says for me? I think we should begin to look at Gods word as the true gift it is and begin to accept the fact that God has called His people to be guardians of truth, which is His word, instead of always asking what’s in it for me. We can guard the word by allowing the Spirit of God to write it on the tablets of our hearts as He explains it to us. And then repeating it as the Holy Spirit shows us not as our lmited minds can comprehend.

Too Many Minds

In the movie “The Last Samurai” Tom Cruise is being taught how to fight with a sword and he is told he has too many minds. He is thinking of the sword and the people watching him and of the enemy. He is instructed to only have one mind.

I wonder how many Christians need to heed this same advice when it comes to Christ. We tend to try to pray and worry over money. We attend church thinking of what’s for lunch. We read our bibles and think about work or our spouse and any other number of things. God wants us to have but one mind. The mind of Christ that is stayed upon Him in all things Spiritual as well as material and emotional. Be one minded in your pursuit of God and find the peace and the tranquility that your heart desires.

1Co 2:16 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.