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Discipleship According To Jesus
The day Holy Spirit revealed Jesus to me, — a powerful love hit the room that was way beyond belief. And when the angelic showed up, — I saw a world within a world as the Kingdom of Heaven landed all around. This new discovery got the best of me as I found myself on a journey that was now steering me into a whole new reality along with a whole new way of living. Since that moment, Holy Spirit has became my comforter, my teacher, my navigator, and He’s empowered me and is preparing me even now to walk in the greater things that heaven has planned for these latter days. That powerful and amazing love is STILL pounding away in my heart.
Now that we have entered into a whole new season, — the very power needed for those greater demonstrations as prophesied for these latter days is now searching for a model that is more inline with what Jesus exemplified. As Holy Spirit continually testifies of Jesus, I realized He, the Holy Spirit, is presently preparing a people for the new season at hand. What we’ve engaged with last season was a little different than what Jesus modeled 2000 years ago. With Ekklesia being the original model back in the day, — Holy Spirit is now wanting to re-establish and reignite that very model today. For me, I found that any true discipleship comes with the defining of ones character to be more in line with the true character of Jesus.
As the original twelve were disciples of Jesus, so are we likewise to be His disciples today through the Holy Spirit, — to exemplify what it is that Jesus modeled and to give continuance to the unleashing of His Fathers kingdom. Any resemblance of what that discipleship might look like today is something we call on-the-job training. Holy Spirit, like Jesus, now refines our character as He defines our calling. As Jesus only did what His Father was doing, so are we in our on-the-job training also learning to only do what the Father is doing. Something that can only be accomplished if we allow ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit.
At some point in our discipleship, which varies from person to person, we eventually mature into that place where we can truly walk with all that has been entrusted to us, — both individually and corporately. Where we really do understand the Father’s heart. Where we have learned to listen, obey, and in our childlike faith, simply believe, as we step out from our many fashionable boats. Then, and only then, can He truly commission us to actively engage in the harvest field while tending and caring for those that He has surrounded us with. We are now modeling a model that others can model. Jesus in me, and the hope of our heavenly Father being glorified now becomes a present day reality for us all. But even with our ‘commissioning’ we continue to be disciples, constantly learning, growing, experiencing, and most importantly loving Him. Jesus in us is key to any discipleship. That is the model that needs to be exemplified when being commissioned.
Today, most people already know something about Jesus. The chances of living in North America and not knowing about Him are pretty slim, but huge is the distortion from those who do know Him, and few are those that know about the Kingdom of Heaven that He represents. And this Kingdom is so vital in our discipleship and key to any commissioning. Being a disciple, filled with the Holy Spirit, we now walk this world within a world as His Kingdom comes and His will is done, — here on earth.
Those who have truly gathered around the Lords campfire, well their days of intimacy with their God have aligned themselves for a powerful season. Like the original twelve, this is a gathering that is coming out of their own personal wilderness experience. A gathering that is presently in the midst of transition, a diversified gathering on the move, willing to be discipled and commissioned by Jesus Himself, — all through the Holy Spirit. A gathering that has removed itself from all the obstruction, entitlements and entertainment. A group engaged in genuine love, trained in the wilderness, now embracing unity with one another while honoring one another.
A group diversified as expressed in the four gospels, with an even greater diversification as they now play their part of the five-fold ministry that has been entrusted to them, — apostle, prophet, pastor, evangelist, teacher, or any combination of the five, giving it the creative component that Jesus himself displayed. They will never be exactly like Jesus but Jesus through them will be expressed in all that has been entrusted to them. In a diversity of characters, gifts and ministries, — this diverse Kingdom now has the ability to be expressed on so many creative levels.
After three and a half years of training, the whole discipleship program now spins off into a whole new dimension when Jesus suddenly walks out of the grave. They now tap into an additional 40 days with the risen one, and no doubt those 40 days created a huge shift in their character as their training now had them walking with the risen Messiah.
Well a shift is happening once again, a shift to walk in the greater is now upon our doorsteps. All that is about to be released in this present season will come with incredible power and with an amazing expression as Holy Spirit is about to reveal a greater creative side of our Heavenly Father. Any academics that we add to our discipleship today needs to be prioritized with the original model that Jesus exemplified, — where thy Kingdom come thy will be done plays a major part in our commissioning as we walk out in His character while unleashing His Fathers Kingdom.
Only those who are trustworthy enough without shooting up the camp with religious distortions will be empowered with a greater anointing that Jesus mentioned when pushing the Fathers creative business forward. We are entering a season where we all need to be moving forward. There are those that will take care of the camp while others expand the boarders of that camp, but it’s all the same camp! No longer is it going to be the ‘us and them’, but a camp where we are actually working as a team.
Consider the experience of the original gathering. The disciples saw with a clear lens the ultimate meaning of love as love walked in their midst. Their training came from a living, breathing model set in motion as they watched Him tend to His Father’s business; a model they later replicated after Jesus ascended into Heaven. During that time Jesus clearly demonstrated how they were to operate inwardly with each other and outwardly to the rest of the world: that love for one another, ( the greatest commandment ) must be foundational.
Having this unconditional love grafted in us is critical prior to any commissioning. Many of us have come out of broken families, broken marriages and broken relationships. How is it possible to set the model if we have never fully engaged with a living breathing functioning model that is able to reproduce itself? If we are not walking in the Holy Spirit, where we allow Holy Spirit to mold us, refine us, define us, and disciple us, — how is it even possible for that very model to take root in us? Without Holy Spirit, we end up chasing something that’s very conditional and overloaded with the academics. On so many levels, genuine love and caring for one another was missing during the last season. In many of our structures, the true model as exemplified by Jesus was never fully set in motion. This massive miscue created a huge exodus especially here in North America. Somewhere in the process the waters got muddied. Without love setting the tone, whatever was built prior to the latest exodus had no chance of going the distance. It created a huge vacuum.
Back in the day, love was foundational prior to any commissioning. Jesus, sending us the Holy Spirit now makes it possible for us to walk in the same model that he exemplified as Holy Spirit now becomes our teacher. For those who have not familiarized themselves with walking in the Holy Spirit, nor exercised in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, nor trained themselves to hear that still small rhema voice of our God through the Holy Spirit, — well that kinda makes it tough when laying tracks down on a model that Jesus exemplified when it comes to discipleship and commissioning. Jesus clearly demonstrated on how we need to operate and move forward with the commandment to love one another being foundational in everything we do. He set the tone! He set the model releasing powerful disciples while changing the landscapes as they walked out the great commission. Holy Spirit is doing the very same thing today.
So let’s talk about ‘The Great Commission’ for a moment. Did you know that Jesus never called His final instructions to His disciples ‘The Great Commission’? That’s a title we’ve given to that passage of scripture. It’s recorded in both Matthew and Mark. Let’s remind ourselves of what these passages say:
Matthew 28: 18-20 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” ESV
Mark 16: 15-18 15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” ESV
Jesus’ instructions to His disciples was to make disciples. And herein lies the problem for many of us today: to be one that disciples others, we really need to be engaged in an ongoing discipleship process ourselves, — and I’m talking about something that is way beyond the academics. I’m referring to a boots to the ground approach, being Spirit led, bumping shoulders, refining of character type of discipleship. One that’s Kingdom based and Kingdom experienced as it totally rearranges our dome and defines our character. A discipleship where we learn to function as a group, honoring those that God has surrounded us with. A discipleship where we slowly come to grips with how the Father rolls with His Kingdom — a Kingdom that is nothing close to the kingdoms we are so familiar with. A discipleship where we are letting go of those things that we are so accustomed to and step into something that is more into His likeness where He utilizes us in ways that we never thought possible.
But it all begins and ends with love. Genuine love is foundational to true discipleship. Any form of discipleship where love is not foundational will only generate another set of religious disciplines instead of a true disciple having a genuine passion for the things of God. When we allow ourselves to go through the true ongoing process of being discipled, this will enable us to be invited by our Heavenly Father into His harvest field; to go into the world to preach the gospel, to make disciples of all nations, having signs and wonders accompany us and confirming us that we are about your Father’s business.
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