Monday, January 10, 2011

The Way to Experiencing God as Father (Part One)

While this blog might help with the battles in your mind, nothing can ever change you, except God, himself.

"How does that happen?" you might ask.

You become a disciple.

"You mean like Peter, Paul, John, and those guys? They were just a special few guys a long time ago, weren't they?"

Yes, I mean like those guys, and they were special, because they were apostles, which means something like, "official ambassadors".

But that is not what I mean.

The original churches of the Apostles called all the people who came together to give up their former lives to dedicate themselves to giving all to follow Jesus as part of the local community of believers (the local church) "disciples".

"What is a disciple, and how can I become one?" you ask.

Put another way, a disciple is an apprentice.

"A what?"

In the time of Jesus and the early churches, a boy often lived with his father and learned his trade and was his father's apprentice, being given tasks and instructions from his father in order to learn to do the things needed to be a carpenter, stonemason, blacksmith, etc. Other times, the young man might be sent to another master tradesman to learn his trade, and would leave his old home and live with the master, watching, listening, and obeying him in all things.

"How does that apply to me?"

The short answer is that you ask God to help you find him and his will for you, continually seek to learn more, practicing obedience in all things, one at a time.

That means you give up living the way you always have in order to live in The Father's house and become a lifetime apprentice, learning to follow him and do his will in all things.