When I have taught on what Jesus said His disciples would be and do, I always have those who realize they have been believers for many years, but have never truly been a disciple. Over the years of ministering in many different parts of the body of Christ, I have come to believe that this is true of perhaps 90% of believers. If this is true of you, the good news is that it is not too late and you can become His disciple now, not just enriching your life, but beginning the greatest adventure that can be lived on this earth.
If we have not lived this life as we should have, even if we have been a Christian for many decades, He can make up the time that we’ve lost. Peter said “Do not let this one fact escape your notice, that with the Lord a thousand years is as a day, and a day is as a thousand years” (II Peter 3:8). This means He can do in a day what we might think would take a thousand years, or fifty. It is never too late in the Lord to begin again to walk with Him as He has called us to.
Being a disciple will lead us to the greatest life we could ever have in this world, but it is one of the most difficult things we can do. It is the most fulfilling and wonderful, but it is not for wimps! All of hell will start to recognize us and try to stop us, but as we mature in Christ all of hell will begin to flee from us. We can and often do begin weak and foolish, but we will not stay that way if we follow Him. We will need wisdom and strength that is beyond our natural ability, but He will freely give it to those He calls.
One characteristic of a true disciple of Christ is they will wake up every day thinking, “I’ve got to learn of my Master today. I must learn of Him so that I can become more like Him and do the works that He did.” This is the mentality of those who follow the King. He will be our first love, and if He is our first love, He will also be our first devotion.
Now we will begin to look at what Scripture says about His disciples, beginning with the first mention of a disciple in Isaiah 50:4-5:
“The Lord God has given me the tongue of disciples that I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens me morning by morning, He awakens my ear to listen as a disciple.
“The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not disobedient, nor did I turn back.”
A disciple’s primary devotion is to be like their Teacher, and as it says about Him in Acts 10:38:
“You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”
How would our life be different if we went about every day always looking to do good, having words to help sustain every weary one we meet, and seeing those in need helped and delivered of what is oppressing them? We wouldn’t just go to our job to get work done and get through the day. We would always be looking for ways to do good for others, seeing them healed and set free. We would do the same when we went shopping—not just focusing on what we need, but how we can do good, give a word of encouragement to someone, and let the Helper use us to help others. Doing good must be our main focus in everything just as it was for our Teacher.
Isaiah also talked about listening with “the ear of a disciple.” We are told that Jesus only did what He was shown to do by the Father. In the Spirit, seeing includes hearing and hearing includes seeing. If our ears are always open to the Lord, how often could He give powerful words that could heal and set people free like He did? How much richer and powerful would our life be if we did not waste so much time with vain imaginations from a constantly wandering mind, but were devoted to taking every thought captive and making it obedient to Him, listening to His instructions, and doing them? That is a basic devotion of a disciple.
© 2021 Rick Joyner. All Right Reserved.
