Tag: discipleship

Good Morning Sunshine! You Must Commit Your Works To God, So That Your Thoughts May Be Established!

Proverbs 16:3 AMP ~ “Commit your works to the LORD [submit and trust them to Him], And your plans will succeed [if you respond to His will and guidance].”

What do think about when you hear the word “discipleship?” If you are like me, your mind should have immediately thought about what to do for someone else. But in the terms of discipleship, you must first be a disciple yourself before you can help someone else to become one!

When you gravitate toward the process of helping others mature in their faith and you are not mature yourself in your faith, that’s a problem. Most people tend to think of discipleship in terms of a program that you do rather than you are being someone. It is with this mindset that you are “Trying to put the cart before the horse.” This phrase means, that you are trying to reverse the proper order of things. You must be, before you do! Being must precede doing! I’m going to say this again, you must be a disciple before you can make a disciple! There are no short cuts in this process! You must follow the proper order of things in order for you to be successful and established!

Just as a horse needs to be trained first, before he can pull the cart, so does you, you must be spiritually trained, you must be focused, you must go through an internal transformation in your life through surrendering, prayer, learning the Word of God and developing an intimate relationship with God as you pursue your faith. So, before you do anything, before you say anything, you need to Commit yourself to God and every thought you think today, so that every thought will be Established by God, Himself!

First thoughts God, second thought God and so forth, so everything that you think of and everything that you do, the work that you do will be Holy Spirit led, which will determine your success for this day. Trusting totally in God and not in yourself or in your own abilities so that every situation and every plan that you make today will be successful, because you committed your work to God and He established you!

You need to commit everything that you do to God, with your whole heart! So many times, you can fail at committing whatever you do to the God, by being superficially. Think about it, you say that you are doing this for God but in all actuality, you are doing it for yourself, and then you try to call it God! That’s not going to work! Then there are other times that you will give God the initial control only to take it back the moment things stop going the way that you expect. You expected God to do it all and you give or do nothing, and you wonder why you did not succeed. It’s all because of what you did not do, you didn’t commit it or you to God!

You must have a balance, as you commit your work to God, you need to trust God as if everything depended on him, while working as if everything depended on Him. For you can do nothing without God! You must commit everything that you are doing to God from the beginning! I want to let you in on something, the truth is more often caught than it is taught. You teach what you know, but you reproduce what you are! You cannot reproduce anything that is not in you! If you don’t know the Word, then you can’t teach the Word, if you don’t know how to be a disciple, a servant then you surely cannot tell or teach anyone else how to become either!

For you to be an effective disciple, you must know the Way, the Will, the Word and the Truth of God, and you need to recognize this, that discipleship, means that you must know your identity in Jesus Christ before you can show someone how to be an active disciple, you must to take Jesus seriously when He tells you to, “Abide in me, and I in you.” John 15:4-5. Discipleship begins with abiding in Jesus, that it! Then, and only then, can you say like Paul, “follow me as I follow Christ.” As a Christian, you should always put the Gospel and the Kingdom of God before anything else you have planned that your thoughts may be established in Him!

Let’s Pray:
Thank You Father for establishing my thoughts today. Father, I roll every care and concern over on You, that my thoughts to line up with Your thoughts, so that my plans will be successful. Father, I want Your Will to be my plans, and I want Your Glory to be my goal. Father please remove from me and my mind any plans that will not bring You Glory. Father remove every influence and distraction that is in my way, that I may see clearly the work that you have put in place for me to do! Father, guide me into areas of blessing where Your Grace leads and I will commit ways, my plans, and my works to You and to Your Glory. Father, I commit every idea that I have to You, for I know that it came from You in the beginning. Father use me to be a blessing to others and may others be a blessing to me to. Father, I trust You for everything, I trust You to make things happen in Your time and that what is not part of Your divine masterpiece for my life, they You will remove it! Father, thank You for the work that You gave me to do, for I know that Your plans are always best and include my eternal welfare. So, I will rest securely in Your wisdom as I do what You have entrusted me to do, thank You God for establishing me and my thoughts today. It’s for Your Glory and my good. In the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen!

Blessings…
Love, Minister Jean

Good Morning Sunshine! Know Your Place! Part 3!

Matthew 28:19-20 NIV ~ “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

As I was talking with a lady about yesterday’s devotional, “Know Your Place”, was still in my spirit! So, today let’s look at it from this point of view! The process of duplication! Jesus said that we are to make disciples! Preparing them to do battle in the invisible realm. So how do you do that, by duplicating! By becoming a disciple that can disciple! 

Have you ever been discipled by another believer? Is this how you found out about Jesus Christ? Somebody helped you in the process of coming into your faith. Now after you came to Jesus Christ, did anyone help you grow and become more like Jesus? Or, have you ever been in the one doing the disciplining, helping someone come to into their faith and helping them grow as His disciple? If you answered yes to either one of these questions, then you already know what disciple making! But if you answered no, fear not, for help is on the way! 

Have you ever felt like evangelism and disciple making is someone else’s job, I’ve come to tell you that you are wrong! This is every one’s responsibility! This is not optional! Mark 16:15, “He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” God is equipping you and making you a warrior that’s armed and ready for battle! 

This was, and still is, Jesus’ plan to spread the Gospel of God’s kingdom throughout the world, and you and I have a part to play daily! If you are planting oranges, what fruit will come up? Will it be pears or apples? No, it will be more oranges, that’s what you planted and that is what’s going to grow and be produced! Simply put, you are to reproduce yourself by taking them through the same basic teaching and training that Jesus Christ has given you! 

Jesus call you to make disciples! And this is how you are to do it:

First, you must know what a disciple is and the purpose of it! Jesus set the mission in place and gave it to His disciples before He returned to heaven. This mission has never changed it’s been handed down from generation to generation by the faithful, and now the responsibility rests upon you!

Secondly, Jesus’ made the plan simple, one disciple will turn around and make another disciple, who would in turn make another disciple and so on until He returns! Jesus is counting on you to fulfill your assignment, and there is no Plan B! 

Thirdly, you are to be the light and salt! Let the Light that Jesus Christ put on the inside of you, shine bright for all the world to see Matthew 5:14. And then you are to be flavored just right so that you know what to say in season and out of season! Matthew 5:13!

Fourthly, when Judgement Day comes, and your life is on display before your Father. The question will be did you obeyed His command to go and make disciples? Nothing else will matter! 

Following Jesus Christ as a disciple is a true Christian, there is no phony or fake about you. Being a disciple is the process of learning how to become more and more like Jesus Himself. The heart of this process is learning and obey Jesus and in the power of His Holy Spirit! This means that you love Jesus with your whole heart, you know how to serve others and not just those that you like, you can serve anyone, you know how to deny your flesh, you know how to forgive, and you live a Holy and Righteous life! Your foundation is firm and secure, and what you have learned you know how to apply and put it into action by sharing with others, which is the process of duplication, making disciples! 

This last thing that I’m going to say is the most important thing you need to know, and it is provided by Jesus Christ Himself! Philippians 2:10-11! He told His first disciples, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” Matthew 28:20. The promise of His Presence, the Holy Spirit will remain in full force for all who follow in His footsteps. He will be with you every step of the way as you seek to do the work of making disciples, work that you could never do in your own strength, the process of duplication! 

Let’s Pray:

Thank You Father! Father I can’t thank You enough for all that You have done for me! Father, thank You for those that You sent cross my path that spoke Your Word and discipled me. Father, make me over, create in me a clean heart, one that sees You and Your Hand in everything! Father I pray for those that I disciple, that they would receive Your Word and be firmly planted and rooted in it and that they would grow to be mature and fruitful disciples of You! Father, help me to understand that they are Your children too! Father, I pray for Your protection and covering over every step that they make and that they will be guarded against the enemy’s schemes and that they would be surrounded by a community of disciples who can encourage and support them as they grow in faith. Father, Thank You for the privilege of being a part of Your Kingdom work in the lives of others. Father, Thank You for equipping me to be a warrior for You and teaching me how to do battle in the invisible realm! May Your Name forever be Glorified in my life and through the lives of others! And may our witness and testimony to others draw them even closer to You. In the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen! 

Blessings…

Minister Jean