Your Discipleship Journey

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus’ public ministry began this way:

‘From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him.’ (Matthew 4:17-19)

Those who followed Jesus and were made into ‘fishers of men’ are known as his disciples. In Jesus’ time a disciple was a pupil of a teacher who spent hours each day learning and then practicing what they had been taught. And for Jesus’ disciples it came to mean a lot more and went beyond the normal teacher-student relationship. They not only learned from him but gave to him their exclusive allegiance and loyalty, regardless of the cost.

Listen to how a number of leading Christian authors have described ‘disciple’ and ‘discipleship’:

‣       A disciple of Jesus is “a learner or pupil who accepts the teaching of Christ, not only in belief but also in lifestyle ... learning with the purpose to obey what is learned.” (J. Oswald Sanders. Spiritual Discipleship)

‣       “The disciple is one who, intent upon becoming Christlike and so dwelling in his “faith and practice,” systematically and progressively rearranges his affairs to that end.” (Dallas Willard. The Spirit of the Disciplines)

‣       “Jesus’ call to discipleship is not an invitation to participate in a programme or even to share in a cause but to be with a Person, so that he can make us into the people he wants us to be. The call to discipleship is the call to relationship, a relationship that will gradually make us all that God intended us to be.” (Peter Maiden. Discipleship)

‣       “Discipleship is our opportunity to tap into the infinite resources of God. It is our chance to give our lives to significance rather than mediocrity. In discipleship we are not doing God a favour. He is doing us a favour.” (Walter Henrichsen. Disciples Are Made Not Born)

Your Discipleship Journey (YDJ) is a series of studies, which looks at how Jesus discipled his first followers and how they responded. It is based on the Gospel of Matthew, which was chosen because it was the gospel most widely used in the early church for teaching. In regard to this, David deSilva wrote in An Introduction to the New Testament, “It was an exceptional textbook for doing the very thing Jesus commissions at the end of the Gospel: making disciples (not just converts) by teaching them to live as Jesus instructed.”

We notice from the Gospel of Matthew that something significant happened to Jesus’ disciples between Matthew 4:19 and 28:19. In Matthew 4:19 Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” - so they needed to be made into something they were not already. In Matthew 28:19a Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations” - which means that Jesus knew that they were ready to go and make other disciples.

Between Matthew 4:19 and 28:19 the disciples were changed, transformed, and made into disciple-making disciples of Jesus. The goal of YDJ is to allow Jesus to do that with us, to make us into the people he wants us to be - disciple-making disciples.

The Disciplines

When we looked at the exchanges between Jesus and his disciples in Matthew’s Gospel we noticed over one hundred and ten examples of Jesus teaching and modelling specific disciplines to his disciples. These have been categorised into seven key disciplines:

1. Repentance

2. Faith

3. Loving

4. Praying

5. Knowing the Bible

6. Sharing the Gospel

7. Giving - Money and Time (Serving)

At first glance, it might appear that some disciplines that are often emphasised in churches and in books about discipleship are missing, for example, worship and fellowship. However, Jesus’ disciples were not specifically taught how to worship by Jesus, but rather that true worship comes from a repentant, faithful, loving and praying heart. Likewise, they were not taught how to fellowship with each other, but that this would naturally flow from right attitudes to loving, giving and serving God and other people.

It’s important to note that, while we will be looking at each of these disciplines to learn about them and how to put them into practice, it's not doing the discipline itself that makes us better disciples. Spiritual growth comes through doing the disciplines within a relationship with Jesus. As we practice the disciplines we experience his grace, his love, his blessings; as he makes us into what he wants us to be, his disciples.

In Life with God, Richard Foster wrote,  “We do not acquire godliness the way bodybuilders build muscle … We pray in order to engage in relationship, not to count how many minutes we spend as if tracking the number of repetitions in a set or the number of sets in a workout. We immerse ourselves in Scripture to engage with the living Word, not to measure our biblical knowledge the way weight lifters monitor how many pounds they can bench press.”

Outline of Studies

Each of the studies of the disciplines includes the following:

[1] An Overview of the discipline, which includes:

[a] a description of the discipline

[b] how Jesus taught and modelled the discipline to his disciples

[c] how the disciples, specifically Peter, learned to put the discipline into practice

[2] Questions relating to the Overview

[3] Digging Deeper questions

[4] Activities, for example:

[a] personal reflection and response to the discipline

[b] writing prayers and praying with the group

[c] presenting Bible studies

[d] writing and presenting testimonies and stories from the Bible

[e] identifying your spiritual gift(s)

Focus on Peter

Item 1.c. above mentions that we look specifically at the Apostle Peter to see how he put the disciplines into practice.

There are a number of reasons we chose to focus on Peter for this purpose:

1. Peter was with Jesus from the beginning of his ministry. He saw and heard first-hand what Jesus did and said. We can be certain that his commitment, perseverance and loyalty as a disciple of Jesus throughout his life, even to death, came from a conviction that he believed that all of what Jesus taught is true, and that Jesus is the Son of God.

2. The second reason we have chosen Peter is that it is widely accepted that Peter was the major source of information for the Gospel of Mark (and therefore also Matthew) and one of the interesting aspects of this is that Mark’s portrayal of Peter is somewhat negative. Given that Peter provided this material to Mark, it shows that Peter had no problem having his weaknesses and failures exposed for all to read about in the gospels.

3. The third reason we have chosen Peter is that the New Testament makes it clear that he wasn’t perfect. He had weaknesses, he had doubts, he was involved in conflicts, he made mistakes, and he failed Jesus a number of times, including denying that he even knew him. He was just like us, an ordinary person - a child, a sibling, a spouse, a worker - who Jesus took, taught, transformed, and made into one of his disciples. We can be encouraged that if Jesus could do this for Peter, he can do it for us too.

4. The fourth reason is that, other than Paul, Peter is the person we have the most amount of post-gospel information about. From the first fifteen chapters of Acts and Peter’s two letters we can see how he put the disciplines Jesus taught him into practice.

In the DVD, In Pursuit of Peter, Con Campbell says that Peter is a “very relatable human [and] what’s great about all that was achieved through Peter is, it shows you that God can do amazing things through ordinary people who make mistakes.”

And Paul Barnett wrote in The Importance of Peter in Early Christianity, “Peter is no stained-glass saint. Jesus of Nazareth was the catalyst who changed Peter’s life direction. It was Jesus who recruited Peter, renamed him, trained him and commissioned him for his life’s work. The Peter story is testimony to divine grace. God took this flawed man and made him a ‘rock’. Divine grace did not make him perfect, for elements of the  old weaknesses remained. In that sense Peter is a symbol of hope for other flawed people whose lives the grace of God can remake.”

The Discipline

At the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, even before he called some fishermen to follow him, he began preaching to the people of Galilee with the words, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). The first thing Jesus told people to do was — REPENT — and he told them they needed to do it because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. To put this another way — Jesus was saying that because he had now come to earth and brought the kingdom of heaven with him, people needed to repent. If they hadn’t repented before, now was the time to do it.

While Jesus is sinless and never needs to repent, repentance was, and is, his top priority for others. Why? Because repentance is necessary for people to enter the kingdom of heaven and have a relationship with God.

So what is repentance? What does it mean to repent?

When looking for a definition for the word ‘repent’ as it was used by Jesus, we need to look at the Greek word used in the New Testament. And it is also helpful to see whether there is a difference between the word used for ‘repent’ and the word used for ‘confess’ in the New Testament.

The Greek word used in the New Testament for ‘repent’ and ‘repentance’ means: to think differently, to reconsider, to have a reformation. The word used for ‘confess’ means: to acknowledge, to give assent to, to profess.

We can see from these definitions that the difference between ‘confessing’ and ‘repenting’ is that confessing is something we do with our mouth (profess) while repenting is something we do in our mind (reform). To confess is to tell someone what is on our mind while to repent is for us to have a change of mind, which would then, hopefully, flow into a change in behaviour.

Peter Maiden, a leader of Operation Mobilisation (OM) for nearly 40 years, describes repentance this way: “This is how the Christian life must begin. There must be repentance from sin, a turning away from sin in our lives and a turning in faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ. This turning away from sin means a decisive decision to totally reject all known evil in our lives. So even though we are made new in Christ, we must continue to carry our cross. Continual repentance and a constant turning to Christ for forgiveness and strength become the pattern of our lives. We learn to build into our lives habits, which keep us looking to Christ, relying on his Spirit’s power and rejecting the constant pull of the flesh towards evil.” (Peter Maiden. Discipleship)

To repent is to set our minds to turn away from sin and evil and ungodly things; and turn towards Jesus, his kingdom and his will for our lives. And Peter Maiden tells us that this is a continual, constant, ongoing practice so that we build godly patterns and habits into our lives. Repentance is a discipline that we need to practice on a daily basis. Turning away from the temptation of the kingdom of the world and turning to the forgiveness and love of the kingdom of God should become a daily discipline for those who love and follow Jesus.

Jesus and the Discipline

As we have seen, Jesus boldly taught repentance at the start of his ministry and he continued to emphasise the requirement for repentance throughout his ministry.

For example, when Jesus sent his twelve apostles out on a short-term mission, having instructed them on what to do and say, ‘they went out and proclaimed that people should repent.’ (Mark 6:12)

And Luke recorded the following interaction between Jesus and his disciples towards the end of Jesus’ ministry on earth. ‘Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”’ (Luke 24:45-48)

Despite Jesus’ emphasis on the need for repentance, the disciples, including Peter, still managed to misunderstand what it meant to repent and follow Jesus. In the classic encounter between Jesus and his disciples in Matthew 16:13-23, when Jesus asked them who they thought he was, and some had answered incorrectly, Peter replied (v16), “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Wow! This was an amazing proclamation by Peter, and Jesus told him that this truth had been revealed to him by God the Father in heaven. Peter surely felt good at this moment and that he was on the right track with Jesus.

But then Jesus went on to describe how he must suffer and be killed, but would rise again on the third day. Peter couldn’t accept this and he took Jesus aside to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Matthew 16:22-23)

What a come-down for Peter. One minute he was being affirmed for being correct about who Jesus is, and the next minute he was being chastised by Jesus. Surely Peter would have been confused by this. But Jesus didn’t leave Peter to wonder what he did wrong. He let Peter know that he was being influenced by Satan, and that Peter needed to have a change of mind. Jesus told him that he needed to reset his mind, away from the things of man, towards the things of God. Jesus wanted Peter to not only confess his sin and to confess who Jesus is, but he wanted him to repent, to turn away from the kingdom of the world and Satan, and turn toward the kingdom of God.

Straight after this, in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus said the following, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26)

Here Jesus was describing the change of direction required by his disciples for their lives, which starts with repentance — denying ourselves and turning away from our desires; and turning to and living for Jesus.

Peter and the Discipline

Peter learned what true repentance is the hard way. Not only in the episode from Matthew 16 (above) but even more so during Jesus’ trial and death, when he denied Jesus three times. (Matthew 26:30-35; 69-75)

Peter made many mistakes, but his life is an example of how God can turn people around — ordinary people, like Peter the fisherman, and like you and me. In John 21:15-17 we have the beautiful story of Peter’s restoration following Jesus’ resurrection. Peter went fishing and Jesus turned up on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. After Peter jumped out of the boat and swam ashore to be with Jesus, Jesus asked Peter three times if Peter loved him, and three times Peter told Jesus that he did, the third time saying, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”

Later, after Jesus ascended into heaven, the believers, who were gathered together, were all filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2). Immediately Peter began to preach the good news of Jesus to the crowds gathered in Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost. When the people heard what Peter said, they were cut to the heart, and asked Peter and the rest of the disciples, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter answered, “Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:37-38)

Shortly after this Peter healed a lame beggar at one of the temple gates (Acts 3). The people were amazed and astounded that Peter could heal this man who had been born lame. Peter preached the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection to them and said, “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out.” (Acts 3:19)

It is clear from these passages in Acts chapters 2 & 3 that Peter had finally understood what it meant to repent, to follow Jesus and be his disciple. And we can see how far Peter had journeyed with Jesus — from the time when he rebuked and denied Jesus in Matthew 16 & 26; to Acts 2 & 3; and then to the time when he wrote his first letter.

Listen to the words of Peter and marvel at how far Peter had come on his discipleship journey.

“Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.” (1 Peter 1:13-23)

What incredible words from an ordinary person, a simple fisherman, a man who had publicly denied Jesus. And while Peter didn’t use the word ‘repent’ in this passage, it is laced with the language of repentance. He told people to prepare their minds and not to be conformed to former things, which is very similar to Paul’s words in Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Peter told the people he wrote to that they had been ransomed from futile ways; that is, Jesus had died for them and that he had called them to turn away from their futile ways and turn to the holy ways of God. And reminiscent of John 3:3, Peter told them that they had been born again; they were new creations, dead to their old life, and reborn into a new kingdom and eternal life.

Peter had changed and he encouraged the readers of his letter to change. A change that we can see in his life and a change that is equally available to us through Jesus. It’s a change that starts with God’s grace to us, our faith in him, and the daily practice of the discipline of repentance as we travel along our discipleship journeys.

The Discipline

Probably the most famous definition of faith, at least from the Bible, is Hebrews 11 verses 1 & 3, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.”

In this passage, faith is expressed in terms of assurance, conviction and understanding. So faith isn’t blind and it isn’t a wishy-washy kind of hope; it is a certain and sure belief in something, even though the faith-filled person cannot see or touch the thing they believe in. To have faith in something is to believe and to trust that it is true.

And this is exactly what Jesus said would be required of us. Shortly after his resurrection, Jesus said to Thomas, one of his twelve Apostles, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (Read John 20:24-29)

So where does this faith come from? How can we get and have this faith that the Bible talks about?

In Ephesians 2:8-10 Paul wrote, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

We should note from this passage that our salvation is secured by God’s grace and through faith. And all three of these; salvation, grace and faith, are God’s gifts to us. Grace can be defined as God’s unmerited favour and blessings towards people, and because of God’s grace and love he sent his only Son, Jesus, to die on a cross and rise again in order to make salvation possible for those who would believe. Faith is what God provides to us so that we can believe in Jesus and not perish but have salvation and eternal life. (John 3:16)

We are saved by grace through faith, and not by doing good works. There is nothing we can do to earn or achieve our salvation. But the passage says that our salvation and faith should, indeed must, lead us to do the good works which God has prepared for us to do and to walk in. The idea of walking in the good works is that they are ongoing and continual, not spasmodic and every now-and-then.

James, the brother of Jesus, said in his letter that real faith demands action, that we need to do something with our faith. “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? … faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead … For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” (James 2:14, 17, 26)

So faith is a gift from God, it is poured into us to achieve our salvation, and to bring us into a relationship with God through Jesus. But this faith isn’t intended to stop with us. Faith is intended to be used by us to do works and bear fruit.

In Matthew 13 Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower and describes how a sower scatters seed. Some of the seed scattered falls in good soil and produces a harvest. The seed in good soil represents people who hear the word of God and understand it, which means they believe it and have faith in it. Jesus said, “As for [the seed that] was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (Matthew 13:23)

There is a link between faith and fruit – between the outworking of our faith and the outputting or bearing of fruit. Notice in the passage that all the people who are like the seed sown in good soil bear some fruit. Some 100, some 60, some 30; but none bear zero fruit.

Jesus and the Discipline

Jesus spoke and taught about faith often, sometimes to acknowledge the faith of someone, and sometimes to rebuke the lack of faith in others. And sometimes the lack of faith that Jesus rebuked wasn’t because the person didn’t have some faith, but because that in a given circumstance they failed to exercise their faith and they stopped depending on the one they had supposedly put their faith in.

We can see from the following examples that the people who Jesus affirmed for their faith did something, they acted, they demonstrated their faith publicly. And they seemed to be assured and convicted that Jesus could do what they asked for.

Jesus and the Centurion: ‘When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, “Lord, my servant is lying paralysed at home, suffering terribly.” And [Jesus] said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed” … When Jesus heard this, he marvelled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith” … And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.’ (Matthew 8:5-8, 10, 13)

Jesus Heals a Paralytic: ‘And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to his own city. And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, “Your sins are forgiven”, or to say, “Rise and walk”? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home.’ (Matthew 9:1-7)

Jesus and the Bleeding Woman: ‘And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well.’ Note that it wasn’t the touch of Jesus’ garment that made the woman well, but the faith to do it. (Matthew 9:20-22)

Jesus and Two Blind Men: ‘And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.” And their eyes were opened.’ (Matthew 9:27-30a)

In the following two examples, where Jesus rebuked people for their lack of faith, we can see that this lack of faith was related to them having some doubts and fears.

Jesus Calms a Storm: ‘And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marvelled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”’ (Matthew 8:23-27)

Jesus Walks on Water: ‘Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”’ (Matthew 14:22-33)

You may have noticed that the people in the two examples of lack of faith are actually the disciples of Jesus; and in one example, it was specifically Peter who Jesus rebuked for his lack of faith. Clearly Peter had some faith as he was already following Jesus and doing what Jesus told him to do. And in the case of walking on water, he believed he could do it if Jesus commanded him, and he even got out of the boat to do it. So it wasn’t that Peter didn’t have some faith. His problem was that he lacked enough faith. At a critical moment Peter had doubts and fears. For a moment he stopped looking to and listening to Jesus. Maybe he let other voices into his head. Maybe he allowed the prevailing circumstances to dictate his response and diminish his faith.

Peter and the Discipline

After Jesus’ ascension into heaven and the coming of the Holy Spirit things changed for Peter. It appears that his doubts and fears subsided, the other voices in his head had less and less influence, and his faith and belief and trust in God grew to become the focus of his life and the driving force for his words and actions.

In the story of Peter healing a lame beggar in Acts 3, Peter said that it was through faith that the man had been healed and made strong, “by faith in his name … the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all” (Acts 3:16).

Previously Peter had believed that he could walk on water with Jesus’ help, but then had doubts and fears. In the episode in Acts 3, we see that Peter not only believed that Jesus could heal this man through him and their faith, but demonstrated his absolute faith in Jesus by not having any doubts and fears and disbelief in what Jesus would do.

We can see the extent of the change in Peter when he put pen to paper and wrote his first letter.  There’s no signs of doubts and fears, instead we can see the extent of Peter’s assurance and conviction of what he knows God will do, based on God’s grace and his faith in God.

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 5:6-11)

Faith is a gift from God. God gives us faith so that we can believe in him and accept the salvation he has secured for us. But God intends for our faith to grow. Sometimes this growth comes through the faithful example of other Christians, sometimes through the teaching we receive from the church, sometimes through our reading and study of the Bible, sometimes through inspiration and revelation from the Holy Spirit, sometimes through praying and answers to prayer, and other times through hardship and suffering when our faith is tested.

Someone once said that “faith is like a muscle” and it needs to be exercised for it to retain its usefulness. Exercising our faith is a discipline which we need to intentionally put into action, to test it and stretch it. Sometimes, like Peter trying to walk on water, our faith will falter. But like Peter, we must not give up. Like Peter, we need to throw ourselves into new situations that require faith, and allow that faith to be tested and grow into maturity as we continue on our discipleship journeys.