Discipleship
Disciple means "A pupil or follower of any teacher or school; A follower of Jesus." (Webster). So, a disciple for Christ is one who is willing to follow Christ in every aspect of his or her life. Jesus called his disciples Christians in Acts 11:26 " Thus, a disciple of Christ Jesus is a Christian, a follower of Christ." A disciple is one who is willing to follow Christ. In order to have genuine discipleship you must be willing to follow Jesus. In order to follow the Master we must die to ourselves and follow God with our whole hearts. We have to love the Lord enough to abandon this earth and all of the earthly possessions we have that are only momentary. Christians need to put Christ first in their lives and be willing to forsake or renounce anyone or anything that is not willing to do the same. Once Christians grasp the concept of discipleship and its true meaning of following Christ, then they will be able to become an effective servant for Christ kingdom.
Many people are not able to grasp the concept of discipleship and as a result find themselves trying to serve God and at the same trying to conform to today's society. It is impossible to serve two masters. The earth is a master to some and they are disciples for Satan without even realizing it. Jesus said "No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate one or love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. You can not serve God and man" (Mathew 6:24). It is impossible to cling on to the master and be one of his followers and still grasp on the enticements of this world. Discipleship is about complete surrender and complete surrender is not having God holding one hand while the other hand is holding ...