I fell that stirring...that precious stirring in my heart that the Lord does when He's at work writing a post on my heart.
I love this!
I'd so cherish your answers to this question:
Who is the greatest discipler that you've known?
Tell me all that you can about him or her.
Just mind dump for me, if you will.
Everything...every observation you've made of this person's life. How they live, or lived...how they ministered, to whom they were called.
Tell me...tell me, won't you?
Please.
I sit in great excitement, waiting to read your comments.
If you are so led, link this to other followers of Christ whom you know...I need those with spiritual eyes to comment for this post.
To send this to someone else, just click the little envelope at the bottom of the post and zip it to them via email.
I love you all so much!
I just can't wait to hear from you!
(P.S. I'm writing from Precept Ministries in Chattanooga today. I might just have to pick up a book from the bookstore and offer it as a giveaway. I think I'll do just that.)
I'm depending on ya'll!
More love,
Jes
5 comments:
Who is the greatest discipler that you've known?
I have known many and they all did a precious job in the lives of others. I will tell you of one who seems to be at the forefront of my mind now. Stacy and Paula were Navigator Reps in Okla the last couple of years we lived there. She was thoughtful and intentional in developing a relationship with me. Calling up at the last minute, we would put food together for a meal with whatever we had in the frig. She encouraged me to stay well rounded and to look into ministries outside the church I attended. Paula now writes and speaks and is a good student of the Word. She is still running the race. She is still intentional in what God calls her to do.
Stacy taught me my first inductive study which I hated...haha..it was a lot more detailed then Precept. Why I put Stacy at the "greatest" mark is because he has continued to disciple developing MentorLink which disciples leaders all around the world. He relishes his time sitting before God. He takes time to see us whenever he is in town. He is diligent in prayer for those around the world that are leading others.
We don't see them often now nor do we communicate much, but when we do, during that short catch up time, we see glimpses of God's work continuing in their lives. Isn't that the true test and what everyone wants to see in the lives of those who discipled them. :)
Oops! The last comment was from Candee Sue...ya'll have heard me talk about her, she's my mentor. :)
Jes, you are the greatest discipler in my life! Don't dismiss that...I mean it. You mentor me in many ways as a wife, mother, homeschooling parent, and Precept leader. I have grown so much since our friendship began just a couple of years ago. Even though we had never met face to face I felt as if I had known you forever. You disciple me by your own life and walk with God. You have been transparent and real with me. You have challenged me, stretched me, inspired me, reproved me and I have loved every bit of it. Your love for God's word fuels the fire in my own heart for His precious word. I love you and thank God that our paths crossed via your blog.
At the mention of descipleship, actually two ladies quickly come to my mind.
When I surrendered to Jesus as my Lord 12 years ago, Mary Willis, led a large ladies Bible study group in the church I had been attending. She was raised in the church and had been studying her Bible all her life. She knew how to teach God's word, and she had a heart to teach women.
So when I was saved, Mary turned her affections and attention to me and began mentoring me in the faith. She was always available for me when I had questions (and I had many) and she invested her life into mine for a season or two. I admired her knowledge and her winning personality. And I knew that God had put her together with me, because literally she was always there for me.
I started phasing into a different part of my new Christian life and where Mary left off, Susan Friedman picked up. Susan lived down the street from me and she also loved Bible study. For many years, Susan opened up her home for our neighborhood women for Bible study every Tuesday night. We studied just about every Beth Moore study written plus more. We prayed together and with others. I loved Susan and we seemed to keep each other infected with this urgency to read and study our Bibles. And we talked and talked and talked about it.
When I got saved, I was not sure I could keep my salvation, having been raised in a church that teaches you can lose your salvation. Whenever I would talk to Susan about this, she would always firmly say, "No Janan - this can't be true" and we would enter into discussions (long) about it. She had a very large part in leading me to the saving knowledge that I CANNOT - NO HOW - NO WAY - EVER LOSE MY SALVATION. I will always be grateful for her for that. She and I used to share precious "God Stories" with each other that no one but us could understand. You know, stories where you "had to be there" or you didn't get it. Well, we seemd to understand each others' stories.
Susan was disciplined and punctual in getting up every morning at 4:30AM to do her study before her household woke up. I used to wake up at 5AM to do the same, and on days when I struggled getting out of bed, my thought of Susan already being in her chair for 30 minutes before me was all it took to drag me out of bed and into my study chair. Our conversations were primarily centered on God and His Son Jesus - we both were able to see the same spiritual things that God was doing in our lives and the lives of our loved ones and friends. Susan was my Bible soul mate so to speak.
In a nutshell, each of the women loved the Lord and loved studying His word. They both were obedient to what called them to do, which was to mentor and teach ladies Bible study. Looking back now, what I still see in both of them is that they are still doing Bible study and still spending their own time glorifying God through his word. They both instilled in me a real hunger and desire to study the Bible and mentor/disciple others in return.
And this comment is from my sweet friend Shauna:
I love questions like this. I really have never been formally discipled, and yet there were a lot of people who discipled me just by who they were and their walk with the Lord,
my husband is probably the best I know, he just talks, he just talks about Jesus and what he is learning in the word and he likes to play devils advocate with people.
What I mean by that
is, challenging them on their "Christian" views by questioning them, etc. for instance he did it to one of our highschooler babysitters, he asked her why she believed in God? why are you a Christian? How do you really know God is real? and then when she gave her (somewhat lame) answer he encouraged her in some ways to really seek answers to those things and to know why she believed etc.
He is always throwing out a challenge, and exhortation an encouragement and a word or a prayer at any given moment.
Love it!
Also some of the best women disciplers I know are just passionate about Jesus and really have discipled me by being a friend, sharing life with me, and sharing the Word, wisdom, truth, and Jesus in their lives as well as their faults.
I have appreciated one lady the most in that I have seen her really mess up (lose her cool on a mission trip ;), but how she is just humble and real and repentant in the right way with those around and Jesus and real about the whole situation.
Have learned so much from that lady, just pressing on and pressing in through dry seasons, always willing to share life, speak encouragement and line things up with the truth of God.
I like the ones who will speak the hard things to me in love as well, another thing I appreciate about my husband.
I definitely associate an effective discipler with their real love for me, not that I am some project, but a friend to them.
Those are my thoughts ;)
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