4 Vital Prayers for Discipleship
(This is Part 3 in our series on Discipleship. Click here for Part 1, Part 2.)
As we saw in our last post, the Holy Spirit is the Chief Disciple-Maker. He calls, convicts, saves and sanctifies the believer. With all of that resting on His work, it seems there is little left for human action in the process of discipleship. Biblically, however, that is not the case. God clearly puts the job of making disciples on the church; on every believer, not just the leadership.
Since the Holy Spirit has the primary role in disciple-making, and we too are a vital part of the process, then it should become obvious that our first step in making disciples is to make sure and do so in partnership with the Spirit! For this reason, prayer is the most vital step in our own disciple-making efforts.
With this is mind, here are four prayers we should all be praying for discipleship:
Pray for Fruitfulness
Jesus very clearly taught us that the fields are ripe for harvest, and that we are to pray for Him to send more workers into the fields (Matthew 9:37-38). Once again, however, as we discussed in our first blog of this series, the call to the harvest field goes beyond “soul-winning.” We cannot just pick the ripe fruit, and leave it laying in the field. We must obey the fullness of the great commission by making disciples of every person the Lord gives us. Therefore, the first thing we must be praying for is our own efforts to be fruitful.
We do this by asking the Lord for clear instructions on what He is already doing in the world around us. God is already working. Likewise, every person we meet has a divine encounter with Jesus waiting for them. As we pray for fruitfulness and give the Lord the opportunity to use us, it will be through us that the Holy Spirit releases those experiences to people. We should be seeking to be the hands, feet, heart, and mouth of Jesus to those around us, most especially those the Holy Spirit reveals to us are ready.
More so, we must realize that every interaction we have with the believers in our life is an opportunity for growth, both in us and in them. We must be praying that our fellowship will be a fruitful time for sanctification, “as iron sharpens iron” (Proverbs 27:17). When we become intentional about praying for fruitfulness in every relationship, in every conversation, in every meal or cup of coffee, we will see our level of discipleship rising.
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Pray for Wisdom
Most of us fear “discipleship.” It is a big, scary word, that requires something of us to build up others, and yet we don’t know what it is, exactly, that we are supposed to do. Even the most experienced disciple-makers run into this challenge because every person is different and has different life-experience and expectations. The good news is that the Holy Spirit knows exactly how to transform the lives of all men back to the image of Jesus, and wants to empower us to do so.
We have such a great promise in scripture that in our serving the Lord and others, we are not left to figure it out on our own. James writes:
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
James 1:5, English Standard Version
Make it a priority to be praying for supernatural wisdom and divine revelation for every discipleship encounter. Even as the conversation moves along, make sure you are listening to the Holy Spirit and asking for wisdom relevant to the things being discussed and how they impact the person’s life. You do not need to be a professional counselor. You simply need to be in tune with the voice of your Father for guidance.
Pray for Receptivity
Up to now, we have been praying for our own ability and effort in the discipleship process, but we also must be praying directly for the ones we are discipling. Most especially, we must pray that they will hear the truth God wants to reveal to them and make life-changing applications according to His will.
Now, this is not praying that they will listen to us and do what we say. It is praying that they will hear the voice of the Holy Spirit through our time together, and do what He says. Even when we are not perfect in getting the point across, the Holy Spirit is more than capable of filling in the gaps where we are lacking. Just as Paul writes:
Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
1 Corinthians 2:12-13, English Standard Version
We must pray for the person to have an open heart, sincerely desiring growth in the Lord, and their ability to receive the truth. We must pray for a willingness to be vulnerable to the process, and to repent where necessary. We must pray for their active attempts to apply the life-giving truth the Holy Spirit is wanting to share with them. These things are their active participation with the discipleship process, and without it, growth will be stalled and our efforts useless.
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Pray for Impartation
Finally, we must realize that for true discipleship to take place, we must be engaging more than just the mental life of the believer. We must pray for God to give an impartation to the person spiritually, which releases righteousness into them as their new identity in Christ, and enables them to stand as a new creature in this world.
Paul said:
For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.
1 Thessalonians 1:4-5, English Standard Version
This means that the evidence of true discipleship does show up when it is demonstrated in the person’s mental understanding of a truth, but it is even more evident when there is a demonstrative experience of life-changing power that bears tangible fruit in their life.
The scripture is full of examples of impartation, where a mature, Spirit-filled and Spirit-led believer lays hands on and prays over the one being discipled, and in a release of God’s power, the one being discipled is supernaturally transformed in some way. This may be being filled with the Holy Spirit for the first time or being “baptized by fire” for cleansing and holiness. It may be the reception of new gifts of the Spirit or another kind of supernatural release. The point is, it goes beyond human ability, as it comes directly from God.
Paul reminds us that the Kingdom of God is not only in talk, but in power (1 Corinthians 4:20). We, therefore, should pray for and expect the power of God to show up in our discipleship efforts. We are not only teachers, but we are the conduit through which the Holy Spirit can touch the person.
The truth is, without impartation we are simply filling the new believer’s with head-knowledge, instead of raising them up as supernatural Children of God, endowed with “every spiritual blessing” (Ephesians 1:3). We must pray for divine impartation to come.
(Click here to continue to Discipleship Part 4.)
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© Anthony Scott Ingram 2019. All Rights Reserved.
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”
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