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makes disciples who also make disciples. But how do you start
discipling someone?
Prayer
Love
Building Relationships
Leading by Example
Spirit-Led and Spirit-Empowered Discipleship
Equipping Others to Equip Others
Group Discipleship
Mentorship
Teaching from God’s Word
Living Life Together
10 Lessons on Discipleship
To begin, let’s look at prayer and it’s role in discipleship.
1. Prayer
Before you start discipling others, you need to first spend time
praying for those whom you will be discipling.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.
2. Love
The love described here is agape love. It is used 115 times in the New
Testament and describes a love that is unconditional, sacrificial and
humble. It is the love that only a God who is love can give. In other words,
we cannot grow or conjure up this love on our own but it must come from
God. We must allow Him to mature it in us as we know Him more. Timothy
was to be an example in regard to his love of God (John 14:15 states love
is shown with obedience) and his love for other people.
The full display of His love was seen on the cross, as He gave His
life willingly for all those who believe in Him.
We must lay down our wants, desires, time, and money to fully
invest in the lives of others God has put before us so that they can
experience His unconditional love.
When people see how much you love them just as Christ loves you,
this can bring radical transformation as God works in their hearts to
love others around them.
3. Building Relationships
A third aspect of discipleship that we learn from the Bible is to build
relationships.
Jesus knew that His time on earth with His disciples was short. But
this did not stop Him from developing deeper relationships and
investing in people’s lives.
As you study the life of Christ, you will discover that Jesus was
consistent and intentional in His relationships with His disciples and
also with all the people He met.
One such example is found in Luke 19:2-10, where Jesus
intentionally seeks to spend time with a man who was a rich tax
collector.
In Jesus’ day, tax collectors were often rejected because they did
not have integrity with the money they were in charge of. However,
Jesus still sought this man out to reveal that His purpose is to seek
and save the lost.
And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and
was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd
he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up
into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.
And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus,
hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”
So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it,
they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” And
Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give
to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”
And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a
son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Luke 19:2-10
When you want to build relationships, you need to put other’s needs
before your own. One of the best ways to build deeper and
meaningful friendships with people is to ask them to tell you their
story. Then sit there and listen to them.
4. Leading By Example
Jesus never forced people to follow Him. He called people to
Himself.
Jesus led and taught by example. One such action was by washing
His disciples’ feet.
If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash
one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just
as I have done to you.
Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a
messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed
are you if you do them.
Some translations say “in word” but the meaning is the same, the words we
use, the way we talk, and what we talk about are all important to God.
Ephesians 4:29 says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your
mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their
needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” (NIV)
As you meet with people to disciple them, how are you practicing
servant leadership like Jesus did?
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will
teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
Without the leading of the Holy Spirit, you are going to hurt people
in the process of discipling them. You cannot disciple people on
your own strength and understanding.
The Holy Spirit teaches us how to be sensitive to the needs of
others and how to approach them with the truth of the gospel in
love.
We need to trust that He will lead us to do and say things that only
reflect who Jesus is as we lead by example, but we can also know
and rest in the truth that He gives grace to those who are walking
with Him daily.
By spending time with Jesus, you will gain a bigger heart for His
people and be led in the Spirit to lead others where He wants to
lead them.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will
be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the
earth.
He is the one who will empower your ministry to be fruitful for God’s
kingdom.
In the Bible, we read that Jesus trained His disciples during His
three years of ministry so that they could train others. This is seen
in His final commands to His disciples before He ascended into
heaven.
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been
given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe
all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of
the age.”
7. Group Discipleship
Another lesson we can learn on discipleship from the scriptures is
Jesus also discipled in a group.
In the time and culture Jesus lived in, it was appropriate to teach
people within a group. While Jesus did have one-on-one
interactions with His disciples, most often we see Him explaining a
parable or leading by example to the whole group.
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not
neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another,
and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
The Bible teaches the importance of having mentors in your life who
are older, wiser, and more mature in the faith.
As you are discipling others, find a mentor who can teach you how
to disciple people. Ask them for wisdom and advice on how to equip
others and lead them to Jesus. Sometimes you just need someone
to listen to you process discipline others.
Having a mentor will not only encourage you in your walk with the
Lord but give you helpful tools to help equip others in training
others.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be
complete, equipped for every good work.
You are to be a living example of how to live a life worthy of Jesus Christ.
In these days He went out to the mountain to pray, and all night He continued in
prayer to God.
And when day came, He called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom
He named apostles: Simon, whom He named Peter, and Andrew his brother,
and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas,
and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, and Judas
the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
If you are not first invested in prayer and spending time with the
Lord developing intimacy with Him in your relationship, then you are
going to end up doing things on your own strength.
Prayer and intercession help you rely on the Lord for wisdom,
strength, and direction.