Bible Reading: 2 Chron. 18; 1 Thes. 3:1-13.
“For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord.” – 1 Thessalonians 3:8 (KJV)
When the Lord Jesus was crucified, the people then thought that was the end of Christianity. However they forgot that the Lord had appointed twelve disciples, one of whom betrayed him. It was these disciples that spread the gospel through the continent by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Thus, the Lord laid the principle of discipleship as a way of spreading the good news. This worked effectively and is still working today.
This is the same process adopted by Apostle Paul and why he said in 1 Thessalonians 3:8 (KJV): “For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord.”
For if the Thessalonians remain steadfast in the Lord, they would preach the gospel after Apostle Paul would have gone. Now it was not only that the Thessalonians preached the gospel, but that they also kept the letter written to them such that it has become an epistle for our Christian living.
We believers of today also need to ensure that we disciple others and that they stand and remain steadfast in the Lord such that they would continue to spread the gospel to every part of the world through the power of the Holy Spirit.
To ensure this, we need to teach them the gospel, guide them on how to teach others, lead by our example and guide them to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that they can also bear the fruit. Galatians 5:22-23 (KJV): “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
Manifesting the fruit of the Spirit shows that they have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Action Point: Father, give me the grace to disciple others better than I have been discipled, in Jesus name.
Bro. Biodun Oyapero