Discipleship Starts in the Home

Discipleship Starts in the Home

     One of my desires is to sit through the foundational class on The Way of Abundance and Power as often as possible. As a disciple in the household of The Way, I always treasure those times to hear the Word and to fellowship with other like-minded believers. As I’ve made this desire a priority, I have seen through the years that God shows me specific truths in the class that help me and inspire me to live life His way.
     When our children were small, I was sitting through a session of the Foundational Class. At one point the eyes of my spiritual understanding were enlightened by a wonderful truth in regard to raising children. The teacher was speaking of how God framed and restored the second heaven and earth by the power of His spoken Word, as detailed in Genesis. God took charge and made everything fitting and beautiful. This orderly environment provided an ideal setting and a godly framework for mankind to walk in the way of abundance and power. It was then that I realized we too could provide an orderly and godly framework in our home while raising our children to be disciples.
     Just as God took action in Genesis by the power of His spoken Word, we too can take action with God at work in us and develop a beautiful and fitting plan to build God’s Word into the lives of our children. While endeavoring to raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, I consistently ask myself, “Am I framing them? Am I restoring them? Am I bringing order to their situations?” In doing so, I provide a tender and loving environment in our home for training our children in the way they should go. Then they can begin to fulfill God’s plan for their lives by learning how to love, worship, and fellowship with Him and to walk with abundance and power.
     With loving and persistent effort, we can bring God’s goodness and His excellence into the lives of our children and raise them to be disciples.
Isaiah 8:16:
Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.

     The Bible’s first occurrence of the English word “disciple” is found in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is written for our learning in this Grace Administration in which we live. From this verse we learn that God’s Word is the foundation for providing a godly framework of discipleship in the home. The words “testimony” and “law” refer to God’s Word. In training our children to be disciples, we teach them how to “bind up” or bring God’s written Word close to their hearts and retain it securely within their minds. To “seal” means to protect securely, as a valuable treasure. The Word of God is the greatest treasure we can teach our children to bind and secure within the innermost part of their hearts and minds. As our children retain the Word in their hearts, they can live it and share it with others.
     An effective tool we have in our ministry for retaining the Word is packets of little cards imprinted with scripture, called retemories. A number of years ago, our family lived with another family of believers. The other mom used her musical talents to put the retemories we were teaching our children to a catchy tune. In this way, our young disciples committed many scriptures to memory.
     Five years later, our older son was attending his last day of school in the sixth grade, and his favorite teacher was retiring. This teacher was cleaning out his desk at the end of the day and shared with his students the significance of certain things that he always kept in his desk. He pulled out a small Bible and told the students that his favorite verse was II Timothy 2:15. My son raised his hand and said that he knew that verse. The teacher had him recite it for the entire class.
     Through disciplined and repeated practice, our son had securely bound and sealed like a treasure that scripture in the innermost part of his heart. His quality of life as a young disciple opened the door for him to serve by speaking God’s Word at a moment’s notice. How thankful I was to see the fruit of training up our child in the way he should go.
Proverbs 22:6:
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

     The Dake Annotated Reference Bible provides a note on this verse that gives us a broader understanding of how to “train up a child in the way he should go”:

…Give him a complete series of instructions on every step he is to take. Drill him thoroughly on how to perform his duties, how to escape danger, and how to appropriate the blessings of the way. Stamp these lessons deep on his soul and lead him to practice them until they are part of his life and nature. Bathe him in prayer and instil the fear [respect] of God into him….

     The core curriculum for this complete instruction needed for us to “train up a child in the way he should go” today includes The Way of Abundance and Power series. Our children need to be rooted and grounded in the dynamic operation of the nine manifestations so as to be fully equipped to prevail in all of life’s challenges. As they walk in the fullness of the power of the gift of holy spirit, they will appropriate the spiritual blessings God has prepared for them. As we teach our children, showing them how to continue in the Word, they learn to have the disciplined believing required of disciples….

This is an excerpt from the September/October 2011 issue of The Way Magazine.
Copyright© 2011 by The Way International. All rights reserved.
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