November 23rd, 2022 – 3:15pm – Haifa Hostel, Haifa, Israel:

Today God wants me to write about Discipleship. Today has been a flurry of Hebrew class and weird news around the world… but I’ve been thinking about Discipleship and what it means to me in the context of my life.

I searched the internet on Discipleship and got all the religious answers and each although accurate and true are not what I’m suppose to write about… they are sterile and absent of relational weight. So I’m going to share my version of discipleship…

What does it mean to me to be a disciple of Jesus and how does that look lived out in a practical way day to day in this our modern world?

One simple word: Time… sums it all up.

Love God and then from that place of relationship turn and love the people around you.

Without a strong and sturdy relationship with God you cannot love people. And without giving God a substantial amount of time your relationship with Him cannot grow, broaden, strengthen, and become the central focus of your life.

When God finally answered all my prayer to save me and to rescue me from my selfish life living for myself… He did it His way and in His own timing. He lead me down a path that forced me to spend time with Him and forced me to depend on Him for everything! Looking back across the past four and half years I see with hindsight what He was doing. He was removing all the idols and other things that I filled my life with that distracted me from Him.

As I listened and obeyed Him, He drew me to far away places alone to spend time with Him. He took me deeper into obscurity and solitude to really force me to face Him alone. And through all this time our relationship grew and He Himself discipled me. Day by day, He was my teacher. Day by day, He was my Father and my friend.

Through rising every morning and spending time with Him. Listening to His voice speaking to me. Reading His Word. Worshiping Him. All of these things increased my knowledge of Him. And then as the days went on He would ask me to do something that stretched my faith. Things that took my focus of this natural world and forced me to really and truly out my trust and faith in Him. In small ways at first and then in larger ways. Day by day, moment by moment.

And I am still on that journey with Him. I am here in Israel… in Haifa… going to Hebrew class… staying in a hostel… with only a backpack and some clothes to my name… trust Him to provide my finances so that I can eat, wash my clothes, sleep in a bed… and always He has provided day after day.

You see with God it is a journey of our dying. It is a journey into obscurity. It is a journey into solitude. This is His way. Jesus went into solitude often… and Jesus was in obscurity for the majority of His life. He lived the first 30 years as a carpenter… in obscurity… away from the crowds… but daily about His Father’s business.

When we arrive in the end we will know what Jesus did for those 30 years and I can tell you what He did. He spent a lot of time alone with His Father. And His Father discipled Him in the way He should go. Consider this passage:

“Although He was a Son [who had never been disobedient to the Father], He learned [active, special] obedience through what He suffered.”

Hebrews 5:8 AMP

Consider this! Jesus learned Obedience through what He suffered.

And it is the same with us… I can testify to this myself. As I have listened and obeyed my Heavenly Father I have suffered greatly… but always I have learned deeper obedience. And the depths of my relationship with God have grown deeper and deeper.

So I find my heart longing for more sufferings and more and more trials! I long for more times of the wonderful gift of laying down my will and ways for His will and His ways! I crave obscurity and solitude because those are the places I find Him.

When I am at my lowest and my loneliest and at my most broken because of my obedience to Him that’s when He breaks through everything with His cry of, “This man is mine!” And all heaven hears His cry. He shows me and I feel His great overwhelming love for me. And knowing that I have pleased the One who made me for Himself is all I need.

The day will come when God will open heaven and pour His Spirit out on my life and to those who surround me. This day is coming, I have seen it. But for now I must walk the lonely paths of solitude and obscurity. They are painful paths. Paths you can only walk with complete faith and trust in Him.

So take time today to draw close to Him and let Him draw close to you. Ask Him what He would have you do. And then… obediently do it. No matter the cost for that obedience. Obey and see that God will do for you more and more! My life stands as a witness to the world of what God can and will do through one who is totally devoted to Him.

And I know that when my work here is done He will call me home to be with Him forever. And with Him is my very great reward… Himself forever.