Applying the Dynamics of a Biblical Discipleship Framework

At the end of His journey on earth Jesus issued the great commission, exhorting the disciples to make disciples. Discipleship, however, takes on many forms and shapes, depending on the culture in which it is applied. Biblical discipleship, as we interpret it, is about one’s whole being developing and maturing within a Biblical perspective from the foundation up. Through the process of discipleship something real, authentic, and life-changing should be happening.

Jesus modeled a way of discipleship that was based on the way we see Biblical characters being trained or discipled by God. How so? God engages with individuals. He does more than merely teach or instruct. He immerses one’s whole being into a union with Him. He endeavors to touch one’s whole life, topic by topic, issue by issue, fashioning and shaping us like the potter works a clay vessel.

Jesus did this. He nurtured and trained disciples as a father would. He would share profound truths, contrasting the ways of the world with God’s ways—the ways of the kingdom of God. He raised thought-provoking questions that encouraged inquiry and stirred response to bring about understanding and foster growth. He told stories to illustrate heavenly truths. He trained His disciples through practical assignments and as a result, brought about real transformation.

Our hope is that our websites will help foster such a discipleship framework. MyPathwaysDevotional is meant to help you bring God into the equation of every facet of life. The main categories on the navigation bar touch upon ways God brings us into relationship with Him, transform us into His nature and train us to walk through life’s challenges by applying trusting faith and wisdom.

You can focus on topics by scrolling through the Topics section on the right, and also search key words through the Search functionality. Each devotional includes Scripture references and thought-provoking questions to meditate on, pray through and discuss with friends. You might even use the topics to springboard conversation with small study or prayer groups. We will also make available additional resources over time.

How did Paul View Discipleship?

Paul recognized that such a process is challenging. He realized that such a process can only happen through deliberate or intentional effort; and that requires commitment. That’s why he established houses of study within the communities he visited.

That’s our challenge: commitment. Somebody once told me people go through three phases: from curiosity to conviction to commitment. That means growing from being mentally curious to being heart convicted to being actively committed. And commitment takes on diligent pursuit and perseverance.

So how did—and does God—deal with us to build our faith and develop a relationship with us? In the Bible God developed His followers through a framework that involved sacrifice. This is because cultivating trusting faith and a real relationship with God encompasses going against the grain of one’s world—one’s culture. That’s because, as God revealed in Isaiah 55:8-9;

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

So are My ways higher than your ways,

And My thoughts than your thoughts.

That’s why Paul described discipleship in Romans 12:1-2 as not being conformed to the world, but being transformed by the renewing of the mind to find God’s good and acceptable and perfect will. Eugene Petersen’s THE MESSAGE puts it in our modern vernacular like this:

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life — your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life — and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. 2 Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

What “well-formed maturity” did Paul envision? He spelled it out in Ephesians 4:13-14: coming “to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”

So how does all this really happen? The short answer is it happens as we go through life relating with God and others in relationship with God. Such requires a nurturing environment and process. This is because real disciple-making encompasses more than teaching or instruction, but life training through love, accountability and encouragement. From experience I’ve learned that effective discipleship involves several key things:

A desire to foster a growing relationship with the Lord, making this the priority of life

Spending daily time with the Lord, centering one’s life around scripture and prayer

Being immersed in the Holy Spirit and learning to hear and discern God’s voice

Being disciplined to yield, process, understand and obey/act upon what God reveals

Being willing to allow conviction of heart and genuine repentance: turning and changing

Persevering through proactive growth that includes correction and adjustments

Since all people are wired differently, effective discipleship takes on different ways and means. In reality the Lord is the master disciple-maker. He knows each and every soul’s frame. He knows what we need when we need it. He knows the topics which need to be addressed at specific moments along life’s path. Our challenge is being receptive and responding effectively.

Reality is it takes quality time with God and often being still enough to hear and understand. Then it takes courage and discipline to apply trusting faith and wisdom in walking out God’s instruction.

May the Lord bless you on your discipleship journey!