ARE YOU PRACTICING??
There is without a doubt some people who are innately talented, but even then they must still practice much if they are going to succeed to be truly proficient. Just recently I read Andre Rieu’s autobiography where he states that as a child he hated having to practice his violin every day, much preferring to be out with his mates playing football, One day everything changed and he started to enjoy practicing, but to become the Violinist he is today he then still had to practice day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year, to become the Violinist he is today.
I have said all the above, as I think about a statement by the Apostle John (“The Disciple whom Jesus loved”) he with one of the three disciples (with Peter & James) who had a very intimate relationship with the Lord. You know my definition of Biblical Discipleship is THE DISCIPLE MAKER WALKING WITH THE NEW BELIEVER FOR AS LONG AS IT TAKES UNTIL BEING A CHRISTIAN IS TRULY A LIFESTYLE. I sincerely believe this is the type of Discipleship John had with the Lord Jesus. John writes in 1 John 3:7 NKJV He who PRACTICES RIGHTEOUSNESS is righteous, just as He is righteous.
AMP. N.T. He who PRACTICES RIGHTEOUSNESS [who is upright, conforming to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action, living a CONSISTENTLY CONSCIENTIOUS life] is righteous, even as He is righteous.
It would seem to me that everyone who comes to Jesus needs someone to walk with them continually(FOR HOWEVER LONG IT TAKES, until the New Believer is CONSISTENTLY CONSCIENTIOUS, and practicing righteousness as a lifestyle.
This sure cannot happen over night or over a few months, as the new Believer has to become aware :
- The “depravity of his heart” Jer. 17:9 NKJV The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it?
MESSAGE “The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can work out.
PLUS
The New Believer must recognise:
2. The many tricks of the devil, and learn what God has made available to him as far as armour and weapons.
Eph. 6:11 AMP. N.T.Put on God’s whole armor [the armor of a heavy-armed soldier which God supplies], that you may be able successfully to stand up against [all] the strategies and the deceits of the devil.
MESSAGE So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way.
NKJV Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles (TRICKS & TRIP UPS) of the devil.
The new Believer:
3. Needs to know (by revelation) that Jesus not only took our sins away when He was crucified, but that our old depraved nature was also “rendered powerless” when Jesus died Rom. 6>6 NLT We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.
MESSAGE Our old way of life was nailed to the Cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin’s every beck and call!
PASSION that our former identity is now and forever deprived of its power? For we were co-crucified with him to dismantle the stronghold of sin within us,
We sure brought a lot of old habits and attitudes with us when we were born again. These three areas I have mentioned above takes considerable time to “dawn on us” for the “penny to drop”, the information to become revelation. The 12 inch drop from head to heart. (whatever you want to call it) that is why a Disciple maker MUST for as long as it takes walk with the new Believer, and see him constantly PRACTICING RIGHTEOUSNESS.
If you don’t have a Mentor (Disciple maker) please seek one out soon, and become by the Grace of God all he wants You to be amen.
