Thoughts on Making Disciples 5

I've been writing about the things that help me with making disciples. Each week, I'll try to recap to keep us moving together.

• The first couple weeks were on motivation: It's a command, and Glory -- God's glory and our glory.

• The last couple weeks were about starting with non-Christians. Discipleship isn't a ministry to Christians but to all people.

This week, I'd like to say a few things on the importance of praying. It's so important that I'd say without praying, you're not going to be making disciples.

First off, if we are to start with non-Christians, Jesus tells us that people can't come to him apart from God. He says, "No one can come to me, unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up on the last day." John 6:44. No one. This thought is supported throughout the Bible, including Paul's assertion that "Thegod of this age has blinded the mind of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel..." 2 Corinthians 4:4.

Even after someone comes to Christ, we can't bring about growth. "I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth." 1 Corinthians 3:6. Paul's thought is supported by Jesus' hilarious (I find the wording entertaining) parable about the farmer, "Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows - how, he himself does not know." Mark 4:27.

I like to define making disciples as leading people to faith and helping them grow to maturity in Christ.

If that's a good definition making disciples, let's review... We can't cause people to put their faith in Christ. We can't make them grow. Only God can. We best be praying.

... You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest. And give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth. Isaiah 62:6,7