Are you a disciple of Jesus?
I know you’ve probably ‘been saved’, ‘baptized’, and ‘attend church’.
But, are you walking with Jesus?
Do you listen to His voice?
Are you obeying what He has commanded?
Are you willing to go wherever He leads?
Being a disciple of Jesus ultimately comes down to one question:
Is Jesus the Lord of your life?
Stop for a moment and ask Jesus: Jesus… are you on the throne of my life? Am I submitted to you in every area of my life? What do you think of my life right now?
Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” (John 10:27).
Do you believe that Jesus speaks? Do you listen? And more importantly, do you follow?
For the past two years, I have been learning what it means to answer those questions with my life. I have been learning to listen to Jesus, submit to His will, and trust Him wherever He leads. As I sit here in Dallas Airport, I can honestly say that I want nothing more than to be His disciple. I will go where He sends me. I will obey what He asks of me. Not because I have everything figured out, but because I know that He is worth it.
This is what Christianity is about. Being a disciple of Jesus.
The world is loud, and people are listening to it. As Christians, we cannot afford to be passive about what we believe. We cannot allow the world to shape our thinking, our values, and our decisions. We are called to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2).
Following Jesus should change the way we live. It should change our priorities, our relationships, our decisions, and our desires. Jesus never called us to simply believe in Him and carry on living as we please. He called us to follow Him (Luke 5:27-28).
In fact, Jesus said that a disciple is not above his teacher, but that it is enough for a disciple to become like his teacher (Matthew 10:24–25).
The goal is to become like Jesus.
And this is what discipleship is all about.
What I’ve been doing in Maui
For the past two months, I have been involved in a Discipleship Training School (DTS) here at YWAM Maui. We have 32 students who have come from all over the world to spend six months growing in their relationship with Jesus and learning what it means to follow Him.
My responsibility as a DTS leader is to walk alongside these students as they grow in their discipleship. This involves teaching, mentoring, accountability, and simply modeling what it looks like to live for Jesus in today’s world.
There are 12 students on my outreach team (we are going to Thailand in December), including five young men whom I am personally responsible for mentoring and discipling.
A big part of our time together has been challenging the students to consider what it really means to call themselves Christians. Are we actually living in obedience to Jesus? Are we willing to stand apart from the world? Are we allowing Him to lead every area of our lives?
This is not about trying to look more religious than the people around us. It’s about recognizing that we belong to Jesus and allowing this truth to change how we live.
In John 10:27–30, Jesus describes His followers as sheep who hear His voice and follow Him. He also promises that no one can snatch them out of His hand.
There is incredible security in belonging to Jesus. We don’t have to be afraid of following Him wherever He leads, or listening to what He is telling us, because we know the One we are following. He is our Good Shepherd (John 10:11).
And this is the foundation of the message we are teaching our students: You belong to Jesus. Live like it.
Our days here are full. We learn from tenured missionaries each week, serve the island in different ways, practice personal disciplines, and spend intentional time investing in the lives of our students.
It’s a busy season, but it’s an honor to be able to do this every day.
I cannot disciple someone if I am not a disciple myself.
One thing I am learning is the weight and responsibility of discipling someone else.
How do you help another person become more like Jesus when you are so far from perfect yourself?
The truth is, I can’t make someone more like Jesus. I can’t change someone’s heart, force repentance, or manufacture spiritual growth. That is the work of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18, Romans 2:4). What I can do is teach truth, encourage, pray, hold them accountable, and model what it looks like to follow Jesus.
Paul said, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1).
This verse has really stuck out to me this season. I cannot ask these young men to pursue Jesus if I am not pursuing Him myself. I cannot teach them to obey Jesus if I am unwilling to obey Him in my own life.
So, while I am responsible for helping disciple these students, I am also being discipled myself. Every week, it seems there is something new that the Holy Spirit is bringing to the surface of my life that needs to change. It’s humbling. I am following the only perfect man to ever walk the earth, and I have a long way to go.
I’m sure you can relate.
But I find great joy in this, and I hope you do too. We will never be perfect on this earth. There will always be room to grow, more to learn, and more ways to become like Jesus.
And just because we haven’t arrived doesn’t mean we can’t start pointing other people towards our Lord…
Do you agree?
What’s next?
In December, our DTS students will be divided into three teams and sent to Thailand, Nepal, and Bali to partner with local ministries and serve overseas.
I have the privilege of leading the Thailand team.
We will be traveling to Thailand for three months as short-term missionaries. I will be leading 12 students as we build relationships, serve alongside local ministries, and share the love and truth of Jesus with the people we encounter.
I am excited to see what God does through this team. But more than anything, I want these students to understand that missions is not simply something we do for a few months overseas. It is an expression of a life surrendered to Jesus.
After this school, students will have an open door to continue serving in long-term, overseas missionaries with YWAM. However, many will go back to their hometowns and serve as missionaries there. Missionaries at colleges. Coffee shops. Retail stores. Their families. Their churches. Their friend groups.
As disciples of Jesus, we all should be living missionly, wherever God has us.
This is truth.
A challenge for you
I want to leave you with the same question I started with:
Are you a disciple of Jesus?
Not simply someone who believes in God. Not simply someone who attends church. Are you actually following Him?
Are you listening to His voice? Are you obeying what He has asked of you? Does your heart reflect the truths of the Bible? And are you living missionally?
The world will disciple you if you let it. It will tell you what to value, what to pursue, and what kind of life you should live. But Jesus calls us to something different. If we aren’t careful, the world will have our Christian lives watered down to “playing church” (this is a great phrase I’ve heard).
Don’t compromise. Be sold-out for Jesus.
Don’t “play church”. Make a difference where you’re at. Live like the king is coming back.
Because He is.
Are you following him?
If you think of me, please pray that as a ministry, we would be aligned with this passage in 2 Timothy:
“…Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” (2 Timothy 2:3-7)
Pray that we would continue to live in God’s grace.
Pray that we would be faithful to teach others what has been entrusted to us.
Pray that we would be focused, like a soldier who knows his orders.
Thank you for continuing to stand with me, pray for me, and support what God is doing here in Maui. I am incredibly grateful to have you alongside me in this season. I don’t take lightly the opportunity I have to spend my days investing in the lives of these young men and preparing to lead them into Thailand.
That’s all I have for now…
Your missionary barber friend,
Elijah
I would love to hear your thoughts on what I’ve written here. How does it align with what Jesus is doing in your life currently? Feel free to respond with an email or text! My number is (234) 738-8328 🙂