Personal Discipleship: Loving and praising God and living in holiness and humility (Mark 12:30; 1 Peter 1:16; 5:6).
Your fundamental responsibility is to let Jesus shine in you and your family.
a) Confess and repent of your sins, and make restitution for any way in which you have harmed or defrauded others in the past. Renounce the devil and all his works. If there is anything about which you are doubtful, remove it from your life. (Luke 19:8)
b) Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ who died for your sins and rose again from the dead (Acts 16:31). Surrender fully to God, doing and saying what He asks you. Pray that the Holy Spirit will fill you so that you know His guidance, power and deliverance from all evil. (John 20:22)
c) Be baptised (if you have not already been baptised). (Mark 16:16)
d) Grow in the knowledge and love of God (2 Timothy 3:16,17; Matthew 4:4). Read as many chapters of the Bible as you can, meaningfully, each day. (Suggested order of books: Mark, Matthew; Daniel 2 (especially verses 36-45) and 7 especially verses 9-14); Acts 7, Psalms 105, 78 and 79 (summaries of Old Testament history); Luke; John; Acts; Genesis; Galatians; Romans; Hebrews (which explains the relationship between the Old and New Covenants), Exodus, 1 & 2 Corinthians, the rest of the New Testament, the rest of Daniel, Proverbs, the rest of the Psalms, the rest of the Old Testament.) When you have read a chapter of the Bible, teach its message to someone else. You could use one of the Bible Study Methods in Appendix 1 at the end of this document. In order for you to feed yourself, it is essential that you learn how to do three things:
i) See what the passage is about.
ii) See what its message is.
iii) Apply this message to yourself and your own circumstances.
More information is given in Appendix 1
e) Use the gifts that the Lord Jesus has given you (Romans 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 12:7-11; Ephesians 4:11-16; 1 Peter 4:10,11).
f) Imitate the Lord Jesus Christ in His way of living (Mark 1:17; 8:34; I Corinthians 11:1).
g) Plan your life and work following God’s guidance (Proverbs 24:27). Keep your plan up to date as the Lord shows the way and His will is fulfilled - each week. You could make projects with specific, measurable goals with dates and intermediate steps.
h) Pray and praise God each day in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and maintain communion with Him by His Spirit (Matthew 18:19; Mark 1:35; 3:14,15; 12:29-30; 14.38; Luke 4:18-19; Acts 26:16-18; Ephesians 5:18-20; Colossians 4:3).
i) Examples of times of prayer:
(1) Your own private prayer each morning and evening - an indispensable part of the Christian life.
(2) Daily family devotions. Pray and read a passage of the Bible together. You could ask each child to take turns to prepare something special. If your family is musical you might include singing. Discuss things that each person might do, at school, at work or while with friends, to glorify God and bear witness to Him.
(3) With other Christians in your street.
(4) Pray-walk your street - with your eyes open, walk along the street praying for people and places as God guides you.
(5) In prayer chains (give out lists with ‘phone numbers – with the group’s coordinators’ names at the top).
(6) In two’s or three’s (men and women separately), perhaps combining with Bible reading and discipleship. Each one could pray for three other people to become Christians.
(7) Prayer with fasting (Matthew 6:16-18).
(8) Half nights of prayer – (perhaps with a varied time of prayer, praise times, prayer in triplets, refreshments, prayer over individuals, etc.).
ii) Examples of topics of prayer – as in the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13):
(1) Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name - giving thanks in all things, praising and worshipping God, and asking that His name will be hallowed in all we do – (Romans 8:28, Ephesians 5:18-20; Colossians 3:17).
(2) Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven - interceding for the extension of God’s Kingdom:
(a) for the conversion, sanctification and blessing of your family, neighbours and friends, your street, council ward, town, city, country, continent, unreached peoples - and all people world-wide - that the Lord will open their eyes to Christ, draw them to Himself, send someone to share the Gospel with them, pouring His Spirit on them, that they may receive salvation, healing and be freed from all evil. (2 Corinthians 4:4; Matthew 9:36-38; 1 Timothy 2:1-6; Joel 2:28).
(b) for compassion, opportunity, boldness and power of the Holy Spirit to be Christ's ambassadors (Colossians 4:3; 2 Corinthians 5)
(c) for love and unity among Christians, and that God will strengthen and protect them (Ephesians 1:16-22; 3:16-21; John 17:20-21).
(d) for God’s guidance in all decisions. Make decisions only through prayer as God gives peace to your heart about which way to proceed in all things. Seek the Lord’s vision and goals for your life and His work.
(e) Listen to God in prayer.
(3) Give us this day our daily bread. Praying for:
(a) our Father's provision for all His children's needs. For food, healing, peace and protection.
(b) leaders of the community, country and world, and for businesses and other institutions (1 Timothy 2:1-4).
(c) God’s guidance and help in your work today. Commit each aspect of the day to Him.
(4) And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us - confessing your sins, the sins of those for whom you are interceding, and the sins of your government, and asking for God’s forgiveness (Daniel 9:4-19). Forgive, before God, those who have offended you.
(5) And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
(a) praying against the wiles of the evil one who will try to stop the work of God (Ephesians 6:10-20). Take your stand by faith on the ground of Christ’s victory on the Cross and claim the exclusion of any influence of the devil.
(b) that God will break the control of the evil one in people’s lives and push back the darkness (1 John 5:18,19).
(c) Praying for persecuted Christians (Hebrews 13:3). Pray that God will help you when persecution comes (Mark 8:34-38).
(6) For Yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. Finish by praising and thanking God.