Day 77: Prayer Challenge #10: Making Disciples

The call to discipleship is a call to new life. It is about learning the ways of Jesus and unlearning the ways of the world. It is about embracing truth and integrity while turning away from deceptive words and practices. It is the path to life as God intended it to be.

The Eleventh Challenge:

Making Disciples

Pray as you begin: “Lord, show me one or two people who yearn for a closer walk with you. Make me bold and keep me humble as I offer to walk alongside them on their journey of discipleship.”

As you pray, do not be surprised if God brings names to mind. If that happens, arrange to meet with them one at a time and say something like this:

I was praying to find people who wanted a closer walk with God and your name came to mind. Does that surprise you? Is there a desire in your life to draw closer to God? Would you consider coming together with me and one or two others to explore what it means to be a disciple of Jesus in today’s world?

When people respond positively, be in touch with me and I’ll see that you get some resources to move forward in your discipleship journey together.

 

 

Day 76: Come and Die

Luke 9:22-25

And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?”

Comments

Jesus had no trouble attracting followers. Whether out of curiosity or great need, people came to see him heal the sick, give sight to the blind, cleanse the lepers, and make the lame walk again.

When the crowds following Jesus became hungry, he even fed them through a miraculous multiplication of bread and fish.

Jesus emphasized that God’s kingdom offered much, but also that it asked much. He was willing to give his life and challenged his disciples to do the same.

Reflections

People evaluate churches according to the quality of preaching, music, worship, children’s programs and a host of other criteria. What would happen if people began evaluating churches according to how well they challenged people to costly discipleship?

Where do you see prejudice, violence, greed, sexism and other dehumanizing forces at work in our world today? How prepared are you to follow Jesus if it means coming into conflict with such forms of evil?

Prayer

Give me boldness, Lord, when it comes to putting your kingdom and the welfare of others ahead of my own.

 

Day 75: Know and Do

John 13:12-17

When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you?  You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 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.

Comments

Jesus walked everywhere he went in a dry and dusty land that had neither sidewalks nor paved roads; by the end of the day, it was impossible not to be dirty.

Washing a guest’s feet was a sign of hospitality. This would not be done, by the host or hostess, but by the lowliest of servants.

Reflections

Jesus used an action-reflection method of teaching here by doing something and afterward explaining what he had done. Many people say, “I let my actions speak for themselves.” Can you think of a time when someone saw the good news of God’s love expressed in your actions without any explanation by you?

By washing the disciples’ feet, Jesus showed that no act of service was beneath his dignity. In what ways do your pride and sense of dignity interfere with serving those in need?

Jesus said we are blessed not in what we know, but in what we do. Are you experiencing this blessing?

Prayer

Help me find meaning and purpose, Lord, in humble acts of service and in humble explanations of the grace that moves me to care for those in need.

 

Day 74: Transformed

Acts 16:27-34

The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

Comments

The fear in the jailer was well-founded: the escape of prisoners under his charge meant certain death for him.

The transformation in this man from jailer to servant was remarkable. He bathed the prisoners’ wounds that had not only gone untended before, but were likely the result of abuse the jailer himself had inflicted on Paul and Silas. Then the jailer took them to his home, showing them gracious hospitality and serving them with a heart full of joy.

Reflection

In an instant, the jailer turned his back on the life he had known and embraced a new life in Jesus. What kind of instant or gradual transformations have taken place in your life as a result of being a disciple of Jesus?

Prayer

Give me the courage, Lord, to bathe the wounds of those I have hurt, and the grace to serve them in whatever way I can.

 

Day 73: A New Mind

Romans 12:1-2

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Comments

It is not a simple matter to be a nonconformist. Fashion trends, for instance, begin with someone doing something unique or unusual such as being tattooed, wearing baggy pants or having a bared midriff. For a while, its new and different, but it usually doesn’t take long before lots of people are doing it. Then it’s no longer an example of being nonconformist.

The Apostle Paul says the only way to break free from conformity to the world is through a new mind, a new way of looking at things. The kingdom of God is a good example of this, because in it the patterns of the world are broken.

Reflections

Do you think of yourself as a conformist? Are your views in the following areas shaped more by the world or by God?

· Having a good job and being successful

· Love, romance, sex, marriage

· Smoking, drinking, drugs

· Honesty, integrity, self-denial, generosity

Prayer

Show me, Lord, ways in which the world shapes my life without me even being aware of it. Teach me how to know what is truly important and honestly good.

 

Day 72: Come and See

John 1:35-39

The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”

They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

“Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”

So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.

Comments

John the Baptist had been preparing his disciples for the day they would no longer follow him, but would move on to become disciples of Jesus. As soon as John pointed out Jesus to them, they began to follow him.

They asked where Jesus lived in order that they might come and visit him whenever they wanted. Jesus told them to come right then and see for themselves.

Reflections

Who in your life was instrumental in preparing you to follow Jesus? Who are you preparing now to do the same?

Jesus doesn’t often make appointments, telling us the time and place where he is going to be, and letting us fit him neatly into our lives. Have you ever encountered Jesus at a time and place you didn’t expect? What was that like?

 

Prayer

Help me, Lord, not try to fit you into my life whenever I have the time and energy, but to fit my life into yours even when everything around me and within me is going crazy.

 

Day 71: No News?

For as long as I can remember, my daily routine has included reading the morning paper. Several years ago, the Detroit Free Press stopped daily delivery and I made the transition to reading the paper online. Last week my digital subscription ended and I am in a bit of a quandary about renewing it.

Now that we have moved to southwest Michigan, I haven’t decided which paper to read. The only paper that is truly local comes out weekly and is free. I love its emphasis on our area and its notable absence of national and international news that is often so disturbing.

This is my quandary: to be informed often means to be disturbed. I want to know what’s happening, but I also don’t want to know what’s happening.

I also know the answer to my quandary: read the Bible and newspaper hand in hand. I don’t mean this in the way some say they can see prophecies being fulfilled daily in current events. Most of these self-proclaimed “Bible scholars” have little grasp of either the Bible or current events.

The bottom line for me is to focus on the kingdom of God and work with God on the redemption of the world. I can’t ignore what’s happening in the world, but neither can I just read about it. God wants me to be involved. And you too!