Mark DeJesus's Blog, page 116

The Best Thoughts to Look For

You may know what kind of thoughts are not helpful for you. You may know what you should NOT be thinking about. But now what? What’s the point in getting rid of toxic thinking if you are not developing thinking that is helpful for you. The Scriptures give us an amazing grid of what to look for when developing your thought life. Remember, only you can decide what you are going to listen to in your thinking.

Only you can decide what you are going to listen to in your thinking.
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Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

If there was ever a Scripture that most people do NOT practice, it is this one.

Do you notice that most of what is listed here is not what many spend their time thinking on or even talking about?

God wants us develop radar for the best kind of thoughts and move towards them. If there be any of these characteristics presented, direct your thoughts towards them. But what do those words mean?

Take a look:

The Best Thoughts Are Thoughts that Are:

1. True

Thoughts that are true are first based on God’s truth. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, so our meditation needs to fall on who He is and the nature of God working in us.

True means not concealing or hiding things, which means that in our thoughts, we are walking in the light of God, so as not to live in the shadows of the enemy. In a world that thrives on secrecy and hidden evil, we let the light of God expose our thoughts to bring purity to us. When we pursue what is true, we pursue the light, meaning we are not trying to play games with ourselves or deceive others in our motivations. It means we choose to pursue true and unhindered relationship with God, ourselves and others.

Walking in the light of truth is a place of love, not punishing exposure. Truth exposes, but it must be done in love.

Walking in the light of truth is a place of love, not punishing exposure.
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Satan is an accuser who loves to take some facts and mix it with lies to present it as the truth. Its important to know when it comes to God’s Kingdom, facts are a lot different than THE truth, especially the truth that sets us free. Just because you see some facts, doesn’t mean it lines up with the truth of who God is and what He can do in a situation.

The news and media thrive on taking partial facts or rumors and presenting them as gospel truth, yet a higher place of maturity is learning to have a filter for only what is true in the deepest sense.

In order to walk in truth, we have to be careful about the modern gossip culture, which gets us caught in relational webs of lies. Some helpful things to live in:

If I am not a part of the problem or the solution, I try to not make it a topic of idle discussion.
Listen to news first person whenever possible.
Be careful to not take a truth and apply it out of order.
Don’t judge without love. Remember that mercy triumphs over judgment.

2. Honest

An honest filter looks out for those things that are honorable. The word honesty speaks of cultivating honor and where we foster thinking surrounded by honesty, integrity and love. Honor is a high value in the kingdom, especially when we are able to honor others who, from man’s view, don’t “deserve it.” True honor is not just expressed externally, for that can easily be done as lip service. True honor for others begins as a deliberate intent of the heart.

We can defend our thoughts and actions of dishonor towards certain people as valid expression with an excuse that we “just being honest.” Yet honesty here also involves honor. In a culture that will quickly dishonor a leader, president or famed person, a believer with a healthy thought life will still seek to honor a person as a human being, created in the eyes of God for His purpose.

Learning to honor others, even when they come against you and slander you is a power place of true spiritual authority.

It is my desire to cultivate a culture of honor in my life and relationships, where I honor who God made someone to be and honor where they are in their life. Honoring people in your thinking and actions will do more to bless them and change their life than bringing any form of religious correction that shames them. In the midst of a disrespectful and dishonoring generation, those who step up to honor authority and see value in others will gain the mass reward of touched lives.

Our highest priority ought to bring honor to God, yet in that flow, we ought to love and honor one another. This means that I should give honor first. I do not wait for someone to honor me before I give it out.

3. Just

God loves justice (Isaiah 61) and He desires that we be carriers of proper justice in our world. That which is righteous and just looks not only for fairness, but for the execution of what is right in conduct and action towards others. Believers should be the first to plead for those who cannot defend or stand for themselves.

Our thoughts ought to lean on seeing help brought to those who are not helped. We must never let our thoughts stray from helping the widows, the poor and seeking proper justice for the ignored.

Thinking on thoughts that are “just” focuses our attention on the blessing of others, especially those who have been wronged or are in need.

4. Pure

Developing meditation and patterns that focus on pure thoughts involves keeping our motives pure, for we can be easily deceived as to our true motives.

Purity is a condition of the heart where a person has truly allowed the work of God to bring transformation to the inner man.

Psalms 24:3–4 Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully.

Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.

Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.

One of the characteristics of today’s generation is the loss of purity in our thoughts and meditations. So therefore, we carry a shame on our lives that affects our ability to have the best relationships, with God and others. Moving towards thoughts that are pure takes an intentional investment, in the secret place of our lives. Many think they can get away with meditating on impure thoughts, but at some point what you tolerate will at some point dominate.

The garbage you tolerate will some day dominate.
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5. Lovely

This work lovely is a combination of the word phileo, which is “brotherly affectionate love,” and another word meaning “to move towards.” Lovely thoughts will stir us in loving affection towards each other. Loveliness motivates us to think about others, rather than being so entrenched in our own battles. It also teaches us to find the jewel in every person and identify loveliness in every situation that we are in.

Putting on this cloak of phileo love (affectionate love from the heart) creates an atmosphere that extends love towards others and makes them feel accepted. How can you begin to stir up lovely thoughts about others in your life?

6. Good Report

This one could change your life today. Simply looking for a good report in all things sets you up for a hope that in unshakable.

A good report is a reputable or trustworthy report. In the Scriptures, God said, who has believed our report? (Isaiah 53:1)

Can we fix our view on good things, a good report of the future, a good report about others and a good report about ourselves? The Gospel means good news, and our spiritual DNA thrives on the hearing of and meditation on good news. In fact, the Bible tell us that a good report makes our bones fat! (Proverbs 15:30)

A good report does not mean living in denial. It means focusing on the ability of God in the midst of our circumstances.

7. Virtue

Thinking on virtuous things involves meditation on who God is, while letting His nature join us in our thoughts. Virtue is the divine power and nature of God working through us; the essence of God being revealed.

The nature of God and His virtue must be added to our faith so that we can manifest who God is.

Virtue actually left Jesus when they touched Him. He was so full of God that it poured out to everyone who interacted with Him. Virtue is what can be released in moments of ministering to others. You don’t minister just what you have, but who you ARE in God!

You give out what you have received, where who God is in you blesses someone else. Meditate and dwell on the great power of God that dwells in you richly. Ask Him to take His nature and let it flow out of your members to others!

8. Praise

Praise is the expression of a narration, telling the story of who God is and all that He has done. This word speaks of a story that presents God and His greatness. It involves a declaration for all nations to hear.

Praise raises God to the highest place in our hearts, so that all His enemies become scattered away. Praise is always preceded by the cultivation of thanksgiving. You cannot have powerful praise without thanksgiving and gratitude being offered up. We enter His gates with thanksgiving. We then proceed to His courts with praise after thanksgiving has been stirred up properly. If you desire for heaven to open up over your thinking, then learn to cultivate a thankful heart that opens the window for dynamic praise.

Praise raises God to the highest place in our hearts, so that all His enemies become scattered…
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For our thoughts to produce life, we must make an intentional effort to cultivate a praiseworthy atmosphere in our hearts:

Praise must begin with thanksgiving. (Psalm 100)
Praise involves remembering (Psalm 143:5, 1 Samuel 17:37)
Praise declares who God is. (Psalm 91:2)
Praise involves encouraging ourselves in the Lord. (1 Samuel 30:6)
Praise is words spoken to God. (Hebrews 13:5)
Genuine praise to God needs to be spoken to each other. (Ephesians 5:19–20)
A heart of praise looks for things to praise God about! (Philippians 4:8)
Praise sets the stage for powerful worship and intimacy to grow. (Psalm 95:1–7)

Question: What of these thoughts can you begin applying right now?

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#078: How to Keep Fear from Trapping You [Podcast]

In Today’s episode we want to discuss How to Keep Fear from Trapping You. Are you walking around feeling like you cant break free from a overall heaviness surrounding everything you do and think the worse of everything. Are you at a place in your life where you feel frozen in some areas and stuck? Well all of that is coming from a root of fear in your thinking and we want to help you break free.

Listen in!

Recommended Resources:

Book: I Will Not Fear

Audio Teaching Resource: Dismantling the Armor of Fear (50% off this week)

Listen by Using the Player Below or with the Following Platforms

 

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A Call to the Overcomers

The following is an excerpt from an exhortation given at a recent conference, where I felt a stir to awaken the heart of the overcomers.

There have been blurred lines when it comes to Christianity. You can wear the title of a Christian like anything else, with no cost, no sacrifice, no inconvenience and very little heart-connected investment. Being a Christian has become another bumper sticker you can place on your car that blends in with all the other labels of society. Today you can say your a Christian or a believer and it have very little meaning on how that affects your relationships, decisions and effectiveness on this planet. People have accepted living a life with little change, not much transformation and coming to peace with mountains that have not moved.

Many believers have been lulled into a place of convenience over passionate conviction. Today, we are at a spiritual crossroads, where this is all changing. The blurred lines you see in the church today are about to become clearer. It will become very clear who is for God and who is not for Him. It will be demonstrated by the fruit in their life. There is no longer going to be a generic Christianity in the house of God. The heat is rising. I am not looking for those who just say with their mouths they believe. I am looking for red hot, fire breathing Christians that have given themselves fully to love with Me and passionate love with each other.

The call today is a call to the overcomer. No longer just calling yourself a card-carrying Christian is gonna make it today. As the heat rises, there is a sifting going on across my whole body. Many will collapse under the weight of this sifting, because there was no solid substance in them to bear through the weight of what came against them. Other are quitting. They still attend church and play the church game, but inside they have quit. I say today let the quitters quit and the haters hate. Because I am looking to sift out those who were never with me to begin with.

The house of God needs to be sifted so that what remains is of me. The rust and contamination can not be sprayed over with Jesus paint. It must be burned off. And the reason it hurts so bad to have this garbage burned off of people is that the contamination has become so much a part of God’s people that who they are and the junk have become one.

This is not the season for the easy or cushy. This is the time for the rising of the overcomers. This is the time for my remnant to truly be established. I am looking for those who, come hell or high water, remain faithful to the end.

America has been conditioned to a Christianity that is instant, comfortable and convenient. The moment I do not move in the way they expect, they lose heart and fade in their pursuit. I am looking for a bride that is passionate about getting married and cannot be swayed by circumstances. I am calling for people, that instead of falling apart, they climb to another level in perilous times.

I want a body that knows how to love Me and knows how to love one another. Many are crying out to see God work, but they ignore the work of God that needs to be seen by serving their brother and sister. I want a people that are passionate about seeing one another grow into mature sons and daughters of God. I am looking for a people that know how to forebear with one another and walk in the unifying power of my Spirit.

I am building something in you that no program or man-made structure can build. I am building a church on an unshakable identity as overcomers. I am raising you up a people with a humble heart, who have gone through the fire, so they have an authentic fire to offer their world. I am not interested in fake fire, strange fire or manufacture fire. I am interesting in releasing a pure fire.

This fire is only available to the overcomer. . . the remnant . . . the ones who remain to the end. I am not interested in how you started. I am calling you to a strong finish. Today you have a chance to join the ranks of freedom fighters for the Kingdom of God. I am calling you to the heart of an overcomer.

Revelation 2:7 NKJV

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.

Respectfully Submitted,

Mark DeJesus

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God’s Plan for Your Transformation

In these days where change is needed, we have to understand God’s blue print for becoming conquerors and overcomers. Although every story has unique bends and turns, there is an overall narration from God’s Word that we can rely on for our journey of transformation. Isaiah 61 gives us a foundational tapestry that every overcomer needs in their life. Whether its physical healing, emotional healing or simply overall change, the journey of transformation is so much more effective if we can understand the following precepts.

1. You Need a Revelation of Father God’s Love

Isaiah speaks of the Spirit of the Lord GOD has anointed me. This word Lord is not Jehovah, but in this case, it is Adonai. This is speaking of the anointing that Jesus carried of the Father’s heart, a downpouring of Father God’s love and acceptance for you. The majority of our generation, including Christians, have no clue about the depth of the Father’s love, especially becuase our relationship with our earthly fathers has been so tainted and scewed. Relating to our heavenly Father is challenging, because we were not given a template to relate to Abba or Daddy in a way that is healthy and without fear.

The vast majority of people never remember hearing their earthly father say, “I love you. I am proud of you. You are a good son. You are my precious daughter.” So no wonder we lack a healthy radar in hearing that from God. Without this revelation, the rest of the journey–and lets be honest– the rest of our Christian walk, is pointless. Until the church experiences the vast love of God in our hearts, we will live our lives trying to earn approval or search everywhere to substitude our void with counterfeits.

2. You Need to Know God is Good

One of the greatest wars facing the world today is the battle over the goodness of God. People have the question revolving in their hearts, “Is God really good?” The answer to that question all depends on your spiritual lens of life. Do you understand the enemy’s involvement in this world? Do you see the access satan’s army has been given in the hearts of mankind? Do we realize that we have a decision in this matter, to choose life or choose death?

When you have a healthy spiritual war lens, you can understand that God is good and the devil is bad. All good things come from the Father and all evil has its source in sin, which is satan’s ways. He is the father of lusts and the father of all lies. He is a wicked counterfeit father, but one people listen to every day. When his thoughts find agreement in the hearts of people, his mission to steal, kill and destroy manifest on the planet.

Those who recieve the work of Christ in their life have a mandate and responsibility–to manifest the goodness and glory of God on this planet. We are the ones called to demonstrate the heart of Father God and represent the good heart of the Father to the world. When we don’t it is not God that allows evil to manifest, its people that allow evil to maifest on the planet. Are we taking our responsibility seriously?

Without a spiritual war lens, people are left to become angry with two people; either God or themselves. Both targets are a bad idea to get angry with. First of all, you are never called to be your own enemy. You don’t wrestle against any human being, including yourself. Your enemy is invisible, seeking to find agreement in your thoughts.

Second, God is never your enemy. He is for you, but the enemy would love to reak havoc on your life, and then blame God for the calamity. Restoring transformation involves restoring the grid of goodness in your life. If God is good and always good throughout His nature, what does it look like to talk to a good Father?

3. You Need to Admit You Need Help

Only those who are hungry, humble and teachable will enter into their full potential. When I minister on the power of the Father’s love to break our bondage and hangups, I am still shocked to see a look on people’s faces that says, “yeah I got that. I’m past that.” Since when did experiencing the love of God become a place of arrival? There is no end and limit to His power and love.

The moment we feel like we have arrived somewhere is the moment our growth is stifled. Only those who continue to remain as a child will inherit the full potential of what God has for us. A child remains teachable, to the point that he or she approaches every subject as a novice, so the greatest amount of revelation can be received. The moment we think we have arrived, we limit our ability to intake new insights.

4. You Need Heart Healing

Every person is born with a love bucket, that can only be filled with Father God’s love. That “love bucket” is our hearts. Wherever love has been missing or compromised, brokenness resides. Jesus had a challenge getting the Old Testament people to understand their hearts were broken. The same is true today: the church wants freedom and power without addressing her brokeness. So we trudge forward with deep battle wounds, so instead of marching, we are limping ahead, wondering why we are struggling to make progress.

Many say, “the past is the past.” Yet this is not true if the past is still affecting your present. Unresolved brokeness will infect many areas of our present. This is why we must continually bring our hurts and pains before our Father, so He can heal us and empower us to move forward with a pure vision for our future.

5. You Need to Hear the Message of Transformation FIRST, So You Can Then be Equipped to Walk It Out

There are things you need to be equipped with that you are not aware of right now, so you will need to press in to understand the tools at your disposal.

The message of Isaiah at this stage is to proclaim freedom to the captives. We need to actually hear the Word of freedom and then respond to it by walking into that freedom.

Many people want God to rescue them out of their prison. When in reality, God often gives us a picture of freedom first, so we can learn what living in freedom is like, so we can then step out of prison and into that freedom.

God wants us to hear that message of freedom first, so by faith we step into that freedom. When we hear the message of freedom, God teaches us what freedom looks like, so when we step into it, we are equipped to remain in that way of life.

Many people are asking God to rescue them from something, when in reality, He is asking them to step out of the freedom that has already been made available to them. The As a believer, the Kingdom of God is within you. Instead of waiting for something to land on you somewhere over the rainbow, take hold of the freedom available to you in God and step into it today!

6. You Need to Leave Prison

Getting out of your chains is up to you. Yes, you need to be taught, healed in brokenness. You need God’s power to do this. But what are you waiting for? At some point we need to make a firm decision to walk into the land of promise–the place of freedom and healing that Christ paid for. God first teaches us how to live in the land of freedom, so we can shake off the chains that hinder us and walk it out.

What are you waiting on God to do, when in fact, God is waiting for you to step out of your prison and into the place of freedom. Like the lepers in the Gospels, sometimes you need to leave where you are to go into the place of healing.

To do this, we have to confront our patterns of victim thinking, self-pity and self-loathing that keep us in places of hopelessness and feeling stuck. At some point we have to say enough is enough. I want freedom and I am willing to do whatever it takes to step into it today.

The message of the Gospel is empowering, showing you there is hope to step into your freedom today. But each of these steps is critical to receive the maximum manifestation of God’s work in your life.

Your freedom begins today. Listen to it and respond by leaving your prison!

Question: Which step do you need to enter into today to deepen your spiritual transformation?

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#077: How to Deal with Pain Effectively Part 2 [Podcast]

On today’s episode we are continuing our conversation from last week on How to Deal with Pain Effectively. We want to talk about this further and discuss more on how we can move into effective processing of pain and how to maneuver through really difficult times of experiencing loss of hope, failed expectations and things out of our control that seem to come our way and blindside us.

Last week we discussed some extreme ways of coping that we fall into and scenarios which would or could bring about deep grief and brokenness. We get into some very personal application of this that we have processed through in our own life.

Take a moment to listen in and share with those you know who need encouragement.

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Two Dysfunctional Responses to Pain

The question is not, “Will you face pain” because everyone to some degree will face pain in their life–wounds from broken relationships, disappointments and heartache will pierce us and come our way. The question is more, “What will you do with the pain?” Everyone has to answer this question and make a decision for how we plan to deal with the struggles we face in life.

We Shove It Down

The first avenue many take is the “shove it down” approach. We do what we can to quickly move on from the pain and get back to life, with little time addressing sorrow or grief.

Our culture does not know what to do with times of brokeness. When someone else is going through a hard time, we have no idea what to do, so we either say something unhelpful or we quickly try to get the person back “in the game,” when we don’t know how to give time to walk through sorrow.

We have been trained that strong people do not cry or stop when painful times come. But isn’t pain a sign that something needs to be addressed? We wouldn’t tell someone who had a laceration on their leg to just keep walking. But how often do we want people who have gone through tremendous heart ache to just “get over it”

Then we wonder why people manifest breakdown in their bodies and minds years later. A lot of it has to do with the fact that we are not dealing with pain, but simply shoving it as far down as we can.

Pain that is not processed well will come come out in some form and fashion. It will manifest through anger, emotional shut down or twisted communication. Because we lack skills on dealing with pain, in shoving it down, we also invite addictions to come in as outlets. Drugs, sex and alcohol are the common ones, but workaholism, pouring yourself in your kids while ignoring yourself and hyperchurch involvement can also be ways we manifest denial.

People I have worked with who have experienced PTSD understand that one of the best tools at their disposal is being able to simply talk it out. Talking it out gives room for the pain to breathe and become nurtured.

We Obsess About It

On the other hand, there is a tendency to hyper-focus on woundedness, difficulty and hurt. This is where we can become victims and never arrived to a place of solution. The one who obsesses over an issue thinks that the more they think about it and talk about, the more they will come to solution and resolution. When in fact, the issue they are trying to address is now growing and overpowering them.

We can easily make the mistake of overthinking about pain that we give those areas too much life.

What we focus on will grow. So if we continue to see ourselves through the lens of unresolved pain and brokenness, that is what we will become and manifest.

Neither of these two reactions to pain really help us in anyway. We have to be willing to address past pain; to grieve it, forgive and begin a renewed experience. The enemy’s works that keep you bound from your past pain can be freed, but we have to be willing to go through the process of healing. This has to be done wisely, with the help of others and with the power of God’s love. In that, will we only see true freedom come forth from our pain.

Question: In what ways do you need to deal with pain in a more effective way?

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Six Types of Unhealthy Fathers

So many have a very hard time connecting and relating to God as a loving Father, mainly because of their flawed earthly experiences. For all of us, we have had an upbringing with a father who exhibited one or more of the following traits. With most people, there is an overlap of these they have experienced from their own father.

Here are six common unhealthy father experiences that can hinder our understanding of a loving heavenly Father.

1. The Harsh Father:

This type of father may have been friendly, but his oversight of the children was strict, harsh and usually riddled with anger out bursts. The family did not feel safe to make mistakes around him. He may have even been religious or even a pastor. He put strict rules and regulations on the home that became more constricting then life giving. His words were more guilt-ridden than loving. In this atmosphere, many began to see God as very moody and angry.

2. Addict Father:

His lack of self love drove a deep need to be loved, which propels men deep into addictions, ranging from alcoholism and drug abuse, to pornography or gambling addictions. Each addiction has a damaging effect on the house. Kids become vulnerable to fear because of the emotional instability that dad had. Their upbringing becomes so twisted that they cannot relate to God in clear and stable ways.

3. Performing Father:

This is the dad who immersed himself into work or activities that involved work-like projects. He was very uncomfortable to simply sit down with his kids and have a heart to heart conversation. He rarely sat still or relaxed–he was always working on something. He was very comfortable at work and performed well there. In fact, people at work thought he was great.

However, when he came home, he got lost in another work task or home improvement project. In his mind, his way of showing love was through working and doing projects; yet what was really needed was his loving presence relationally. His ability to be the loving leader in the home was put on the shelf. He was a slave instead of a son. He evaluated his identity on what he did, not on who he was.

4. Passive Father:

The performing fathers were often very connected at work but disconnected at home. Because they often lived performance lifestyles, they carried a work persona that was fabricated. This pleased the coworkers, but when he came home, he collapsed onto the couch and was emotionally unavailable. He did not lead the home, which left Mom to do everything around the house, including caring for the kids and doing spiritual activities with them–like prayer or Bible reading.

5. Absentee Father:

This is the father who was never around. He was sucked into work, ministry or removed himself completely, absent either physically or emotionally. This pattern runs deep in many family lines. Fathers become overwhelmed with their fears and abandoned the duty as leader of the home to pursue something that allows them to avoid the pain. This abandonment can be detrimental to a child’s emotional development as well as their physical health in the future.

6. Abusive Father:

Abuse comes in many forms; usually through physical, sexual, verbal and emotional pathways. All of them form intense wounds in our lives that keep us from understanding love and also allow the snares of the enemy’s strongholds to remain intact. Even a father’s silence when he should speak for his children is a form of abuse. It allows a child to be hung out to dry while the enemy’s snipers take aim.

These manifestations in our fathers contribute towards keeping us from receiving the Spirit of Adoption from God. Instead of being grounded on love and acceptance, our lives become infused with rejection. Instead of living out of the spirit of Adoption, we end up living on a foundation built by a spirit of rejection. As a result, we feel unloved and unaccepted, with an impression that we need to earn love or find counterfeit ways to feel loved.

The quicker we notice the how these traits may have affected us, the quicker we can begin to recongnize how we transpose that unto God.

Question: In what way can you begin to renew your lens so that these six areas do not prevent you from a deep, loving and intimate relationship with Father God? 

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#076: How to Deal with Pain Effectively Part 1 [Podcast]

Today we take the time to talk about a subject many people struggle with, and that is dealing with pain effectively. How we process through painful things in our heart is one of the most important areas for our overall growth. Yet many people deeply struggle with how to deal with the pain that comes their way.

So today, we are going to tackle the ability to grieve properly in a way that helps us move on into greater freedom. We are not just talking about pain coming from the death of a loved one, but also grieving loss in life, relational breakdowns, broken dreams and areas of disappointment. If we process through pain effectively, we can actually come out stronger on the other side. But are we facing these issues effectively? That is what we want to talk about.

How effectively are you at processing pain in your life?

What things can you do to walk through pain and overcomer? Hear our story and be encouraged to go to the next level.

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Finding Dad in the Bible

When it comes to spiritual growth, our ability to connect to God deeply has a lot to do with how we see the word Father. The reason is because God is Father. If we have a faulty lens of what a father is or should be, we will carry a distorted lens in our relationship with God.

Millions of people have difficulty relating to Father God and much of this goes back to issues regarding their earthly father. A relationship with a father should be a fruitful experience, so that we can more willingly relate to our perfect Father in heaven.

When approach God, we can not only call him Father, we can communicate even more intimately to Him, by using the word, Dad. In the ancient writings, the word Abba, is a personal and intimate reference to Daddy. Its what a child calls their father in settings where they can be themselves, jump into daddy’s arms and just feel loved.

This is what God is heaven wants for you. But many cannot connect to Dad when it comes to God for two main reasons:

Their experience with their earthly father left wounds in their heart that does not allow them to connect to Father God intimately as Dad.
Religious training has taught us that calling God “Dad” would be irreverent or sacrilegious, even though the word Daddy, or Abba is used in the Scriptures.

The word Abba, which means Daddy, is used 3 times in New Testament Scripture. It is expressed once in Galatians, once in the Gospel of Mark and once in Romans.

And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
Galatians 4:6

The usage of Daddy in Galatians was to help move the believers out of a slave mentality and into a son mentality. God wanted them and us to walk with a new lens on life–not based on what we do, but who we are.

And He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”
Mark 14:36

Another place Abba was recorded is in the Scriptural account of Jesus praying in the garden, just before He would be led to suffer and die. This time of prayer was no doubt the most intense time of His earthily life. As Jesus prayed out to the Father, He was facing the most excruciating thoughts and challenges. His prayer was so agonizing, the Bible says that drops of blood fell from his pores. Although it is biologically possible for our bodies to do this, it would take a great deal of intensity for it to happen.

All throughout His life, Jesus lived in deep communion with the Father, and it was here in the garden that He needed His Father’s strength the most. No human being could understand what He was enduring. His disciples fell asleep praying. His friends were unavailable. Only the Father could meet His need for strength anyway.

Jesus’ cry to the Father was very honest. It is totally possible for You Father to change this situation and make way another option. But I choose to do Your will, which You sent me to this earth to accomplish. When Jesus addressed His Father, He did not just use the formal word for Father. He also addressed Him by the intimate expression that we were trained to use from childhood. He cried out to Abba. Daddy!

His cry is basically saying, “Daddy, if there is another way, please show me, but because You are My Father, I choose to do Your will. And I know that You are with me and will give me the strength to fulfill this.” In His most challenging moment, there was no time for formalities. Jesus needed His Daddy. So do you and I.

During our days of struggle and uncertainty, there is a cry within that wants to know “Daddy, are you gonna be here for me?” In His most challenging moment, there was no time for formalities. Jesus needed His Daddy. So do you and I.

We long to know that as little children, but we also need to know it as spiritual children of our Heavenly Father. We need to know we can come boldly before the throne of grace and cry out “Daddy, I need you right now.” Because of Christ’s example, I can have the honor of busting into heaven’s courts as God’s child to boldly ask for Him in times of need.

But this Daddy revelation brings it to an entirely new level. Without this Daddy understanding, we will not be able to receive the strength that Jesus carried in His life.

The third place we see the word Abba word used in Scripture is back where we have been reading, in Romans 8.

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
 Romans 8:15

Developing an ongoing relationship with Abba helps us to firmly establish our sonship and adoption. The key ingredient to note here is that the manifestation of receiving the Spirit of Adoption is being able to cry out to Daddy without feeling weird or uncomfortable.

Being able to cry out to Daddy helps to ward off any attempts of the enemy to place roots like rejection, fear and insecurity into our lives. This Daddy-Child relationship is what needs to be firmly built up in our lives to ward off the enemy’s devices, which seek to separate us from this understanding.

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What Discipleship Is and What it is Not

Making disciples is an amazing investment; one that requires great dedication and sacrifice. It is the greatest command that Jesus gave us, to make disciples all over the world.

But what is a disciple? In its literal meaning, it is a pupil or a learner. A disciple is one who is receiving through another vessel the ways of Christ, so they can be equipped to walk intimately with God throughout their own day to day life.

Making disciples is the heart of ministry. And ministry is very simple. It is the Holy Spirit working in a human being towards another person.

To make discipleship effective, the person giving out and the person receiving need to be aligned with God’s heart to walk in the fullness of this process. No method or formula can overthrow a genuine work of God between two people. That is why we cannot understand the power of discipleship without understanding relationship.

Discipleship Involves Effective Relationships

God’s desire is that His invisible nature be made visible through our relationships. Discipleship then becomes the laboratory by which we all grow up and process out our relationship with God. How we relate to each other is a key litmus test to the quality of our walk with God.

Those Being Discipled Need to be Teachable and Hungry

There is no point to discipleship if the person being discipled has not positioned their heart to learn, be taught and grow. They have to take full responsibility for their growth and transformation. In doing so, our discipleship process involves being connected to those who become our teachers, overseers and spiritual fathers.

This environment becomes so much more fruitful when the person being equipped is teachable; meaning they never act like they have arrived or know it all. They are always hungry as a child to be fed and grow. The hunger cannot be stirred up for them. There must be a internal work of the Holy Spirit in their heart to keep them humble in their journey to learn and grow. When someone is hungry and teachable, there is nothing that will stop their growth.

Discipleship Involves Fathering

The highest level of discipleship involves spiritually fathering people, where we spend invested time in relationship. Over time, the person is empowered to journey to the next level in their walk. Fathers are more than teachers. They do more than teach precepts, they model out and process through life with the one being discipled. They show they have the person’s back. They do not control, but they excercise a father’s heart to empower. Just like a good biological father’s job is to train up a child to eventually live on their own, a spiritual father empowers a spiritual son to become all he was intended to be.

Discipleship Involves Being Available

As Christians, we are called to be disciples. So who are you discpling in their journey? Most believers couldn’t list one name. Yet discipleship is one of the most important needs in the body of Christ.

Discipleship Involves Standing in the Gap at Times

Discipleship often involves seeing the gaps in people’s lives and introducing them to Father God’s power to fill in those gaps in their life. True discipleship shows that only God can satisfy the desperate needs of a man or woman’s heart. Yet we cannot just expect people to get everything on their own. They need modeling and at times help to enter into their own encounters with God.

God is their source, but we can be reservoirs of that power into their lives. This is not something that we perform our way into. Discipleship involves just being available in relationship. All we need to do is be who we are in God and allow the Holy Spirit to flow through that.

Discipleship involves just being available in relationship.
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A lot of times in discipleship, we need to be available to watch and pray. Sometimes its also just as important to NOT step in, because the Holy Spirit needs to show the Father’s agenda in their life. We cannot be their Holy Spirit or try to control anyone’s actions. Oftentimes our heart’s focus should be that God would bring His goodness and show His strategy over this person’s life. Sometimes my prayer is not so much, “God what should I do” but “how can I stay out of your way, God?”

Here are some other things we need to remember that discipleship is NOT:

1. Discipleship is NOT hand holding every day.

Too often our discipleship relationships become codependant, where the leader is wanting freedom more than the learner does. This creates a false burden bearing situation that causes many believers to enter into burnout.

2. Discipleship cannot be done in a classroom only.

The greatest work of discipleship is involved in powerful relational interaction. Classrooms are great places to learn and allow God to shine His Word over our hearts. Yet only in the context of relational exchange–doing life together–that we gain the freshest fruit of God’s transformational power.

Sometimes the most spiritual thing to do is to bread bread together; eat and share life so that the issues of our heart can come to the surface and God can deal with us. This means that powerful discipleship relationships are only effective to the degree that there is honesty, transparency and authenticity.

3. The one doing discipleship is not the source.

It’s important that we honor the people that God puts in our lives to disciple us. Sometimes we are ignorant that some people around us are on assignment for our growth and equipping. Yet at the same time, we cannot make these people our source. A classic mistake occurs in discipleship when we move from honoring the work of God in someone, to instead making the person our source instead of God.

Question: What aspects of discipleship here do you find to be helpful. What thoughts do you think help to the effectiveness of true discipleship?

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