What You Need To Know In 2013 Shaking The Foundations.

To understand the spiritual atmosphere we are dealing with today we need to have a closer look at biblical accounts. There we will catch a true glimpse of what we are dealing with.

As we have seen, there are many incidents of spiritual clashes for territory resulting in natural manifestations. Earthquakes, storms and shaking, even the dead coming out their graves, all were visible indications when a spiritual conflict was taking place, Jesus on His way to break the power of territorial demons possessing a man in Gedara; Jesus on the cross saw huge ruptures in the natural course of events; and then we saw last time, the shaking of the building when they prayed against the persecution of the apostles.

Jesus said in Matt 24:34 that these signs will happen all at once in a generation,

Trusting God.

Another fundamental element to our walk that we must be taught as disciples is to trust in the Lord with all our hearts.

Pro 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart. Never rely on what you think you know.

Its amazing to me that when approached many times by Christians about certain aspects of my life, when my answer is "I am trusting God", I get this look of "Yeah right!" I look into their eyes to see their reaction to the statement.
Have we lost something?
Have we become so immersed in the systems of this world that we do not know what is to trust in the Lord anymore?
Have we become so 'real' that we despise those that do thrust in God? has our heart become so hardened by the hurts and fears of life that we are scared of trusting the God of the universe?

About 70 times in the Bible we find the term trust in the Lord in one form or fashion or another. To trust means

trust (noun): 'confidence, strong believe in the goodness, strength, reliability of something or somebody', 'responsibility'

have trust in (verb): 'believe in the honesty and reliability of someone of something', 'have confidence in', 'earnestly hope'

As believers, because that's what we are, are we not supposed to be trusting in the Lord?
Pro 28:25 Selfishness only causes trouble. You are much better off to trust the LORD.

You are much better off!! Wow!
There is something about trusting in the God of heaven Who is bigger and mightier than anything else we can imagine on this earth.
So why do we have this problem?
Never should we hinder the trust a disciple has in the Living God. We Should be challenged by it and agree with them in that trust. Over and over again we see the Word tells us not to trust in man, in our own ability, in princes, horses, chariots, idols and other stuff, but to trust in the God of heaven. There are promises to this.

Isa 57:13 When you cry for help, let those idols of yours save you! A puff of wind will carry them off ! But those who trust in me will live in the land and will worship me in my Temple."
Isa 12:2 God is my savior; I will trust him and not be afraid. The LORD gives me power and strength; he is my savior.

When we trust the Lord we are having confidence in His goodness, strength, and reliability; earnestly having expectation in Him who gives power, strength and salvation. It is a heart issue - with ALL your heart. It's boldness and confidence. Its not about being more spiritual than others, its purely that you have or will come to the place where you are learning to trust in Him, have confidence in Him, being bold to lean on, rely on Him for your life.

Now I know there have been many who have used this as some excuse but let us not throw the baby out with the bathwater. As disciples let us learn daily to trust in Him for everything.

Put your trust in God today!
Confess that you are trusting in Him; and then do it! Trust Him!

Why Make Disciples?

Luk 14:25 And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,
If any man come to me, and ...., he cannot be my disciple.

Act 14:20-22 ...and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.
And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught (matheteuo: make disciples) many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch,
Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

It has become clear as I studied the scriptures that the Lord was calling for more than just a decision, He required a commitment, to become an adherent, a disciplined learner, one to be mentored into a new way of life.

large crowds were following and crowding Him. Bustling, pressing against, Jostling to get closer for a better look, to get a healing or something that would possibly manifest while close, these crowds made every effort at that point to be where He was. And yet, Jesus turns to them and says, "If any man would come to me,(and do certain things), he cannot be My disciple."

The crowds are there. I mean what more do you want. They want You and what Yoou can do for them. They want to rely on You. Surely that is all a ministry needs, right? No!
Jesus turns to them and says: "If any man come.... He cannot be My disciple"

He was calling for more than just desire to see and feel. He wanted this specific dimension of commitment, called discipleship. He didn't say, believer, christian or convert. He said DISICPLE!

When we understand the full impact of what this word means and the depth of its commitment, I believe it begins to change our walk with the Lord and how we view the world, how we live and how we believe.

As I studied the Book of Acts, again I did not find and reference to being 'born again, making christians or convert, but over and over again disciples are referred to. In fact, it says that they would make many disciples. that was their focus, their mission. Only once are these disciples referred to as Christians, and that only because they were so living like the Christ that the community could see it and called them that.

It is an interesting exercise to study this book and underline each reference and meditate on it for awhile and let the reference speak to your heart.

If it was imporatnt to the Lord Jesus and to the early church what role should it play in our life and ministry?
How individuals are you spending time with making a disciple? What is the PRIMARY focus of your ministry?