As long as I have known the Lord, my desire has been to be like Him, to truly be His disciple. It was so exciting to attend John Wimber’s healing conferences years ago and learn that Jesus’ ministry, including praying for the sick, was for all of Jesus’ followers, including me. Wimber taught that the men Jesus chose to be with Him were examples for all of Jesus’ followers today.
How did three years with Jesus change these ordinary men so dramatically that they went from cowering in fear to boldly sharing the truth of the kingdom of God with power and love everywhere they went? They were completely dedicated, amazingly courageous, powerfully anointed and overflowing with love. They exhibited everything that I desire to be, but I don’t feel I’ve arrived.
When I asked him how to become as devoted, courageous, anointed, and loving as the early disciples, here is His response: (His words to me are in blue)
The role of experience in discipleship
“A disciple is made by experience. This is experience with Me at your side.
All of the spiritual disciplines are important, but they are only the base, the bedrock upon which a disciple’s life is built. Knowing the Bible is the framework upon which I build. Experiences, where the truth of the Bible is seen firsthand, are what make up the disciple’s house.
It is through experience that intellectual understanding becomes reality. It is through experiences that My truths are revealed, seen and believed. Therefore, experience makes thoughts, ideas, doctrine and theology, and Bible truth a reality. This is true knowing.”
Experience teaches us Jesus’ ways
Through experience My ways are reflected in your life, My ways are manifest. Then My ways are real, not just theory. When My ways become your reality, you think and act like Me. When you live in My ways, you are being like Me. This is the goal of discipleship–letting My ways become your ways.
It is through experiences that you prove this to be true. Without experience My ways are only matters of the mind. But as you experience My ways in your everyday life, My ways become reality. And as reality, you embrace them, you receive them, you see My ways for what they truly are. Then you see that My ways are your ways – you live out of My ways. You are a disciple.”
However, I know there is more to being a true disciple than just experience. I asked, “How does experience interact with the spiritual disciplines that I have been learning all these years?
“The spiritual disciplines prepare you to experience My life. You learn to see Me and thereby live like Me. The spiritual disciplines prepare the way, but experience makes it your reality. So cultivate these spiritual disciplines:
- Reading and knowing the Bible
- Prayer
- Personal time with Me
- Practicing the fruit of the Spirit
- Sharing love, grace and mercy.
These prepare your heart to experience My life in and through you. Through practicing the spiritual disciplines you believe, but experience comes when you act like you believe. The experience is a direct result of your believing actions!
Through the spiritual disciplines you come to know Me. Then, by knowing how I act, you act. Then, you experience Me and the effects of My presence. This results in you being more like Me, My true disciple.”
Compared to Jesus’ disciples I feel like I still fall so short. I often feel my prayers are ineffective, I am too insecure and fearful, and I long to be more loving. Rather than getting down on myself, however, I’ve learned that what really matters is that I spend time with Jesus AND I try. This means I have to choose to step out in faith, speak out without being fearful, forgive, and choose to be loving. When I experience success, I believe more and act more like His disciple.
I encourage you to do the same. Spend time communing with the Lord and go and do the very things He and His disciples did. I believe you will see His ministry flow through you. I would love to hear your comments and experiences as you put what you learn from your experiences into action.
If this post has been helpful to you, please share it with your friends. Please subscribe if you want to receive these posts automatically in your email.
Hello Michael,
Tonight I went to church which is formatted like a small group. After the teaching there is a discussion time that has questions that pertain to the message which was based on Daniel 4. A gentleman and his wife were in my group and he revealed that he had returned to following the Lord just this week after falling into depression, alcohol and drugs. The six of us prayed and thanked Jesus for this man’s renewed commitment and through tears, him and his wife were encouraged.
The amazing thing to me was how easy it was to believe that this man and his family would be blessed greatly through his hardship because I have heard so many testimonies of people who experienced watching their father endure failure and betrayal and then give up only to later return and fight with new vigor for not just what they had before, but for far more. Now that the Spirit of God has filled him with promises of a hope and a future, he will persevere for himself, his family, and his ever present Lord to be the disciple he was created to be. That is how Daniel did the hard stuff. That is how this man will do it. That is how I will do it.
Thank you for being a great example of God’s love for me. My experience with Kingdom Partners and especially with you and Norma has changed my life forever and allowed me to witness the miracles of the Holy Spirit for myself and others over and over again. I believe!