Discipleship

Effective discipleship depends on close attention to the Word of God.

The Spirit of God teaches us from the Word, and then He directs our lives into circumstances that force us to trust the Word and act upon it.

It has well been said that life is a school in which you learn what the lessons were after you take the test. Jesus taught His disciples and then sent them out to serve. They would come back, report on their ministry, and then learn again the lessons they had forgotten. It was only after they had proved what they had learned that Jesus would impart new truths to them.

Just as Jesus shared the Word with His disciples when He was on earth, so He shares it with us by His Spirit (John 16:12-15). The Spirit does not give new revelations, for the divine revelation is settled once and for all in the Scriptures. But He does give divine illumination as He shows us new truths and new applications of old truths.

The Christian who studies his Bible is not searching for truth, but searching into Truth.

Wiersbe, W. W. (1988)