A Disciple Revival!

A Disciple Revival!

By Pastor Mary Ann Wray

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.

Matthew 28:19

I was saved in the 1970’s during the Jesus Movement and Charismatic Renewal. Raised as a Roman Catholic I had no clue what having a personal relationship with Jesus meant, much less the reality of the Holy Spirit. God apprehended me in a Catholic Charismatic prayer meeting and my life was forever changed! Back then, a lot of emphasis was placed on discipleship and small groups. I thank God for that because I don’t think I would have survived the following years without this as a foundation in my life. I believe that discipleship started to lose its emphasis and become somewhat of a ‘lost art’ in the 1980’s with the onset of televangelism, Word of Faith and Healing Ministries. This is not to say these things were wrong; I believe they were part of great moves of the Spirit and church restoration/ reformation. However, I do believe this era in Church History caused a major shift in the way we looked at and functioned within the local church to a large degree. This in turn affected the overall outreach effectiveness of the Kingdom of Heaven in the earth.

The focus was largely put on ministry gifts and as a result we lost the main purpose of following Christ in complete surrender forsaking all, and making other disciples. We were and are supposed to be doing the same things Jesus did but instead we watched it on T.V. and witnessed miracles in Camp Meetings! Sitting in a seminar or auditorium, listening to a lecture and only receiving information/ revelation is not discipleship. It is education. Is education important? Absolutely yes, but education in and of itself is not discipleship. When I mentioned sitting in a seminar listing to a lecture and receiving information I wasn’t referring to assembling as a Body in a Local Church for worship and teaching on Sundays etc. That is a very important part of Body Life and Discipleship too. However, Jesus' model for discipleship was not patterned according to what we’ve called discipleship in most of the Western Church World today.

For the purpose of this discussion, I just want to point out that Biblical discipleship involves one on one, and open dialogue with other believers at different stages in their spiritual development. The younger believers can ask questions within a small group discussion that they can’t in a seminar or during a sermon. More seasoned disciples can and should be demonstrating the “how to’s” for others as role models and release them to do the same. Sadly, we just haven’t seen much of it in the past 30 years. I do believe there is a shift in how we do church, however!  A disciple revival is coming! More and more believers are recognizing something is missing in their spiritual walk and they are crying out for mentors and spiritual fathers and mothers!

After Jesus spent a year and a half modeling the Kingdom to His twelve followers, He gave them power to do the same. For the next year and a half they applied everything He taught them. Then Jesus coached them further on how to balance the power of God, His agape love, servant hood and everyday life. He frequently brought correction and direction as needed. I believe we all need to be in a continual mode of discipleship for our entire journey this side of Heaven. In other words, even after reaching “spiritual adulthood” we need other associates to be accountable to and be sharpened from. We also need others to pour into. We need a Paul, Barnabas and Timothy in our lives to have a well-balanced spiritual life-walk. As a young believer, you may not think you are ready to develop a ‘Timothy’ but that will happen as soon as you lead a friend or family member to Christ. Before you know it, you will be sharing everything you know with him/ her and taking them alongside of you to follow Christ! Holy Spirit will give you words of wisdom and knowledge for the things you don’t know to assist them in the journey!

A Paul is someone(s) we glean from. They may be more developed in a similar gifting than we are, or have a different gifting altogether. They may have a different working or administration of a similar gift. Honestly, some of our mentors should have a different ministry gift altogether. It takes five to thrive!  As we mature our Pauls’ become Barnabas’ co-workers! An example of similar giftings but different administrations is seen in Peter and Paul. Both Peter and Paul were Apostles but they administered their apostleship differently. One was an apostle to the Gentiles the other to the Jews. Peter moved more in the power gifts and Paul moved more in the revelatory gifts as seen is the epistles he wrote to the various churches. Paul brought more correction to the church it seemed than Peter did. Paul even withstood and corrected Peter for resorting back to circumcision. They were of two different streams but they knew one another through association. What if Paul never heard of Peter or visa versa? How could he have spoken into his life? Peter could have lost his way altogether and become shipwreck in his faith. We all need others to keep us in check and help us see our blind spots. One may have a revelation that the other needs to help them in a difficult situation! In a multitude of counsel there is safety! Should this ever stop in our lives? There some things we can only receive from the Father, and there are other things we can only receive from other ministry gifts and disciples. God has designed us to be interdependent parts of the same body!

The Barnabas’ are those we co-labor with that may be gifted differently than we are but have the same Kingdom vision. They are also the ones who speak up for us, sometimes validating our ministry and encouraging and correcting us: iron sharpens iron! Timothy’s are someone(s) we can pass our mantle to and impart what the Father has given to us through a deepening relationship with one another.

I believe the Father wants this dynamic in our life at all times. It requires self-lessness, sacrifice, and an open mind and big heart. I’ve noticed that after a spiritual pruning and transition, the Lord will usually bring new acquaintances across my path to help disciple. I have also found myself more open to new and different ministry gifts after a time of transition because I realize how deficient I am in a particular area that God wants to perfect in me. We need the impartation from many different types of gifts to continue to evolve and grow into the full measure of the stature of Christ! We only know in part and prophesy in part. There are diversities of gifts, diversities of administrations and diversities of workings within the compendium of ministry. Therefore, the more valid and credible ministry gifts we open ourselves up to and associate with by the Spirit, the more revelation and impartation we can receive for the ‘next’ thing God has for us! His mercies truly are new every morning and He uses others to help usher us into that new thing!

We ought to pray that the Lord would introduce us to new apostolic, prophetic, pastor/ teacher and evangelistic ministries. This will help to enlarge our borders, stretch our thinking and broaden our understanding of the Kingdom of God. It’s part of forming the “New Wineskin” that Jesus constantly calls for in order to receive the New Wine of the Spirit! There are many streams flowing out of the river of God. I think we do well to drink from different streams especially during times of transition. By doing so we are able to see through a different set of lenses other than those we might be accustomed to. Glasses have a tendency to become foggy and dim through handling and the impressions of our own ‘fingerprints’. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of our God. The holy dwelling places of the Most High! Psalm 46: 4

Recently the Lord gave me a prophetic word for my life and I also shared it with our church. It is out of Isaiah 43: 18-19. “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” In order to come into a ‘new thing’ we have to release the old and forget the former in a sense of the word. That’s exactly what happened with the twelve. Jesus called for an ‘abandonment’ of their former ideologies in order to receive Kingdom revelation. It’s not just the negative things from our past we need to forget but we must be willing to relinquish our past successes by ‘casting our crowns’ at the foot of the cross! Otherwise, we can become puffed up. What was once fresh has a tendency to become stale and dry just like the day old manna in the desert. He requires constant faith from us, but once we become ‘accustomed’ to a certain way of doing things and rely on that paradigm, we cease to walk in ever increasing faith and trust in the Holy Spirit’s leading and power. We may not even be aware that this is happening. We tend to become very comfortable with the familiar. We will always have those memorials of faith and victories to refer to, but we can’t build an altar and camp there forever!

God is always doing something new. He wants to reveal His plan and purpose in different seasons and dimensions of the Spirit that change and increase within us. He is wanting us to be able to transition into those new things without a long hard struggle. When struggles begin to happen within ourselves and around us we may not realize what’s going on at first. We may even experience attrition or severe hardship in some key areas. He allows it so that He can get our attention. The very things that were once easy albeit relationships, work, ministry etc. suddenly take a nose dive. Father is trying to bring us into a greater dimension of faith and trust. It’s a season of transition! Therefore, He will force us if He has to, to let go of the familiar and former things through dis-ease (not disease) and unfeathering our nest of comfort! During these times of transition, I find myself asking the Lord with times of fasting, to help me pray new prayers, show me new scriptures I haven’t noticed before, give me new insights into familiar passages, bring me new relationships and introduce me to new ministry gifts. I believe it’s His way of expanding and broadening us so that we might receive the more He has “if” we are willing to let go of the former in exchange for the new!

Getting back to Jesus’ model of discipleship, we can see a pattern that I believe, if followed, will cause us and others to be transformed into lifelong disciples for Jesus Christ. We can each help usher in a Disciple Revival! Discipleship along with worship is the framework God uses to stretch, grow and develop us from glory to glory in intimacy with Him and effectiveness in ministry. Here are some key pieces to the prophetic puzzle that when connected, give a panoramic view of what it takes to be and make a disciple in the Kingdom of God…

1. Conversation (He would ask the disciples a question or visa versa to begin dialogue not monologue)

2. Explanation that brought Revelation (He would explain the meaning of His parables and teachings, answer their questions, and give the disciples a chance to ask more questions for clarification and understanding).

3. Correction (The disciples had many wrong mindsets that Jesus had to correct. Their past experiences formed a theology He had to dismantle before He could build them for Kingdom construction. We too need to forget former ways of doing things and be willing to become new wineskins).

4. Demonstration (Jesus modeled the Kingdom of God to the disciples i.e. water baptism, healing the sick, casting out devils, raising the dead, preaching the gospel, forgiveness of sins, caring for the poor and servant hood, to name a few!) Are we demonstrating this to those we are mentoring or have we lost our edge in the anointing?

5. Impartation (After he demonstrated the Kingdom to His 12 He gave them a portion of the same power to do what He did by breathing on them). He imparted His life and spirit into them! Are we ‘hogging’ all the gifts Holy Spirit has given us and the anointing for ourselves and to build our own Kingdom or His? Ask God to give you mentors that will impart their life and spirit into you.  Without it you can't fully develop into who/ what He's called you to do! Likewise, be willing and available to give away what the Father has given to you. It’s in giving that we receive!  I believe this dynamic keeps us sharp and pliable. A true test of humility is whether or not you can receive from the ones you are discipling or those who are ‘younger’ than you spiritually! Samuel was used by the Lord to bring a hard word to Eli. At least Eli was humble enough to recognize God’s voice, which happened to be corrective, through the young prophet!

6. Activation/ Application/ Accountability (The disciples went out and DID what Jesus taught them through demonstration). They came back elated and overjoyed that they could do what He told them to do! But he answered with a corrective statement. “Don’t rejoice that the demons are subject to you. Rejoice in that your names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life!” They needed a reality check. So do we from time to time else we become spiritually delusional. We all need accountability!

7. Maturation (Jesus continued to teach the disciples after they received His authority and power about the importance of proper heart motivation, servant hood and meekness). Gifts without the fruit of the spirit leads to spiritual bankruptcy. The true test of spiritual maturity is how well you can love through difficult seasons and difficult to love people.

In summary, a disciple is a lifelong learner. This shouldn’t stop and I don’t think it ever will in eternity. Our Heavenly Father is so magnificent in all of His attributes that we will ever be learning about Him forever! How much more do we need Him NOW!