The first principle of authentic Christian discipleship is that we must choose to look at and define any key words, concepts principles and ideas the way that God Himself looks at them and defines them in His Word.
This Blog Will Discuss:
- The need to develop a discipleship mindset
- Why We Cannot Lean on Our Own Understanding
- Practical steps to developing a discipleship mindset (Including: Letting God, and not the world define our terms and concepts for us.
- What you put in You will harvest
If we are honest, most people will agree that biblical discipleship is something that is sorely lacking in modern-day Christendom. Almighty God willing, this particular blog will publish articles between two and five times a week. With God's help, every single article in this blog will focus entirely and exclusively on the vital issues of Biblical discipleship. This blog will focus on useful and practical strategies to help people walk successfully with the Creator Almighty God, and His Son Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the Savior.
One of the main topics whose various aspects we will periodically address will be how to develop a discipleship mindset. What is a discipleship mindset? The label is exactly what it implies. A discipleship mindset is developing a way of thinking that will help us to walk successfully as a follower of God and Jesus Christ His Son.
Remember that we discussed what is the definition of a disciple, and most particularly what is a disciple of Almighty God and His Son Jesus Christ? Remember that a disciple is one who believes God and Jesus Christ, one who obediently follows God and Jesus Christ, and one who spreads the teachings and principles of God and Jesus Christ to others by their words and by their way of life. So, if you are believing God and Jesus Christ, if you are obediently following God and Jesus Christ, and if you are spreading the teachings of God and Jesus Christ by your words and way of life, then by definition, you are growing and succeeding as a disciple. If this is not happening on a regular basis, then you are either not growing, or you are not genuinely a disciple of Jesus Christ. It is that simple.
Obviously, one cannot successfully believe God and Jesus Christ, and one cannot develop a lifestyle of obeying God and Jesus Christ successfully, without first having a mindset that agrees with God and Jesus Christ.
Beloved, that is not merely my personal opinion. It is God's opinion according to His Word. As it is written:
Amos 3:3 Can two walk together, unless they are agreed? (Amos 3:3 NKJV)The answer is obviously no, two cannot walk together successfully unless they have agreed. So we cannot really walk with God until we allow God to change our heart and mind so that we agree with God.
Do Not Rely or Lean upon Human Understanding
God's word further illustrated the point when He said that there is a way that seems right to human beings, but the end result of those things that appear to be right in our own minds is death or destruction. So critical is this idea, that The Creator made the exact same statement twice in His word (Proverbs 14:12; Proverbs 16:25). The way that seems most naturally correct in the eyes of human beings, will ultimately lead to our destruction. This is why God explicitly told us NOT to rely, not to depend, or not to lean upon our own human understanding. As it is written:Proverbs 3:5-8 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones. (Proverbs 3:5-8 NKJV)The apostle Paul, who witnessed the resurrected Jesus Christ and Messiah, also bears witness to the same principle that we cannot rely on mere human judgment to arrive at the truth, and especially we dare not rely on the collective human judgment of a sinful world that is hostile to God. As it is written:
Proverbs 26:12 Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. Proverbs 26:12 (NKJV)
Romans 8:5-8 For those who live according to the flesh (referring to the sinful nature) set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity (a hostile enemy) against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:5-8 NKJV - emphasis added)This is why the apostle Paul clearly stated that if we are going to succeed at walking with God, we must allow The Almighty to transform our thinking so that we agree with Him. As it is written:
Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1-2 NKJV)The simple truth is that if we do not allow Almighty God to change our minds and our thinking so that it agrees with Him, then we will continue to think according to our sinful nature, we will continue to make choices that are hostile against God, and we will destroy ourselves. There simply is no other reasonable choice except to allow the Almighty God to change our minds, and our thinking, so that we agree with Him, and so that we can walk in His blessing and protection.
How Do I Develop a Discipleship Mindset?
So we know now that we cannot walk with God unless we first agree with God. From God's word, we know that natural sinful human thinking, logic, and understanding is hostile against God, so the person who thinks according to their sinful nature can never please God. We also know from Scripture that if we choose to hold on to our sinful human logic and understanding, we will think and do according to what seems right in our own eyes, and that will eventually destroy us.To avoid this disaster of epic proportions, We must allow the Holy Spirit to transform and direct our minds so that we agree with Almighty God. God used the apostle Paul to write to believers explicit instructions:
1. We are to remember God's mercy (Romans 12:1 a). Almighty God was faithful to us in sending Jesus Christ. Almighty God also faithfully provides for us everything else we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). Keeping these crucial things in mind, it's only right that we should present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice of love and praise, (Romans 12:1 b). In light of God's loving faithfulness, presenting our bodies to Him as a living sacrifice of love and praise is the only right and decent response. Since part of our bodies includes our mind, we need to present our mind and our thinking to God as a living sacrifice as well. As a result of God's character such as His love and faithfulness, we can trust Him to direct our minds and our thinking in the most blessed course, providing we make the choice to present our mind in our thinking to Him in the first place, whenever we are trying to learn or decide something.
2. Make the choice not to be conformed to the thinking patterns of your sinful nature or the sinful world (Romans 12:2 a). Ultimately God will do the transforming work in your mind, but we must make a decision to present our bodies (including our mind and thinking) to God for Him to change us into what agrees with Him. Ultimately God does the changing of our mind, but it is we who make the decision to present our mind and bodies to God for Him to change us. At a minimum, we must choose , to point our mind in God's general direction.
Based on everything that you've read in this article so far, you might agree that it would be a lot easier to live and walk with God if my thinking and attitudes agree with God. So, how do we do that? How do we really point our minds in God's direction, so that He can transform our mind to agree with Him, and so that we can be that living sacrifice of praise to God that we wish to be?
- Recognize and acknowledge the areas where there is a problem. Beloved, like it or not we no longer live in the garden of Eden before the fall. We live in a sinful world. We have knowledge of good and evil. We have a sinful nature. We live in a sinful world that is hostile against God. We must fight against our own sinful inclinations as well as resisting the influences in the world. Very often, we allow our own thinking and attitudes to be influenced by these things much more then we should. One of the very first sins performed in the garden of Eden after disobeying God, was shifting blame. As the old saying goes, "After they sinned, Adam blamed God and blamed Eve. Eve blamed the serpent, and the serpent had no leg to stand on." Yes, it is true that my culture, my upbringing and my circumstances have influenced my thinking, but my own choices have also aggravated the problems I have in my thinking. Each of us has to own up to that. So how do I know when I'm having trouble in my thinking? Truthfully, anywhere you are having a problem believing the word of God, believing the Holy Spirit of God, or obeying God's direction, then you probably have some kind of stronghold in your mind that must be overcome. Whenever you find that you are struggling to obey the written word or the Spirit of God, then part of the struggle must be a stronghold in your mind somewhere. On the occasions when you encounter such resistance where you're struggling to believe and obey God, it is an indication that in that specific area, you still need to bring your mind under obedience to God and Jesus Christ.
- Always Let God Define Your Terms: One of the ways that the world infiltrates the thinking of the would-be disciple of Jesus Christ is in the realm of definitions. Think about it. We all know for example, that God's word requires us to be loving, right? Theoretically even the sinful culture agrees that people need to love each other more. So what the sinful world then tries to do is to simply change the definition of love, for example. Over the past few decades global culture has managed to redefine love to mean absolute tolerance of every philosophy, every idea, and every behavior, except for the biblical worldview. In recent years, the mantra, "Tolerance is equal to love," has become the prevailing philosophy. Based on the Scriptures that we have already studied, the successful God follower cannot possibly accept every philosophy, every idea and every behavior is equally valid. Therefore, according to the prevailing philosophy of the world, Christians are not tolerant, therefore they are not loving, and therefore it is okay to revile and reject them because they are intolerant and therefore unloving. What then happens in many cases is that the believer or the Christian’s objective is to love. He or she naturally does not want to be viewed as being unloving by the very people that they are trying to reach for Christ, so the natural temptation than is to adapt to accommodate the sinful world's definition of love in order to appear more loving, so that they have a better chance of being heard when they try to share the message of Christ. In order to seem more loving (according to the new definition of that term by the sinful world), we do not address issues of sin and repentance, judgment and condemnation, the consequences of ungodly behavior, or the need to pursue holiness before The Holy Almighty God, because such issues would make us look intolerant and therefore unloving in the very eyes of the people whom we are trying to reach for Christ. Unfortunately what we have done often without realizing it is to allow the sinful ungodly world to define the standards of righteousness for God's people. The problem with accommodating the sinful world view, is the accommodation and appeasement of sin never stops. the sinful world view continually pushes the church to accept more and more wickedness in order to appear more tolerant. The result is that the church becomes less and less godly every year. God is the Creator of all things, He knows how it's supposed to function. The way we defeat a lie, is with the truth. So, what is the truth about the situation?
- First, God IS Love (1 John 4:8). That means that everything which God thinks, everything God desires, everything Almighty God says, and everything God does is motivated and powered by the truest representation of love. According to His Word, God gave a very detailed description of true love (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).
- Second, True love requires intolerance of certain things: Does God's definition of the word love actually require that I tolerate every philosophy, every idea, and every behavior, in order to show love? Absolutely not! In fact, Scripture requires that I do exactly the opposite of what the sinful world considers love. As it is written: "It [meaning love] does not rejoice in [meaning it does not endorse , celebrate or support iniquity, sin or unrighteousness (1 Corinthians 13:6)
- Remember, “Garbage in, garbage out" Finally, one of the most crucial things that a believer who wishes to develop a discipleship mindset can do is to be very careful about what he or she puts in their mind in the first place. It is a lot easier to keep one's living room neat and tidy if they do not choose to allow wild horses to trample through it in the first place. Developing a godly mindset requires that I be very selective about what I choose to put into my mind on a regular basis. prayerfully consider your conversations. Does what you choose to talk about most often support or hinder your growth in Christ? The same question could be asked about what you choose to read, what you choose to listen to on the radio, what you choose to watch on television or movies etc. Please do not be deceived. the things that we choose to put into our being through our five senses will have great impact on our ability to believe and obey God. As it is written:
Galatians 6:7-8 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. Galatians 6:7-8 (NKJV)
Always consider what you want to harvest before you plant the seeds in your mindGod be with you
Michel Lankford1. Scriptures designated (NKJV) are taken from: The New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, used by permission. All rights reserved.
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