The Bible has multiple bible verses on being a disciple of Jesus. Learning and applying them is key to ourselves growing as disciples, and making disciples of Jesus in all the nations of the world, including the one we are living in. The greatest revelation and authority from Jesus comes through obedience. As we discover what the Bible says about scripture, let’s allow ourselves to be challenged in applying them daily.
My Life of Discipleship without Scriptures
At 12 years old, I was introduced to crystal meth. Shortly after, I got addicted to ecstasy pills and crack cocaine. By 18, I was my way to becoming an incarcerated criminal from a Los Angeles Gang, or being shot or killed by 21.
I supernaturally encountered Jesus in the Philippines through a rapping missionary evangelist in the clubs of Metro Manila, Philippines. This missionary was from Oakland, California, with a similar past of drug dealing and gang activity. Yet, he had one thing I didn’t have, the love of the Father in his heart and over the guidance of life. He rapped about finding Jesus and becoming completely fulfilled in life. Within a month of following, learning what disciples of Jesus do, I radically surrendered my life to Jesus Christ and became a disciple of the Lord. However, less than half a year later, I went back to America, where the next part of my journey took place of discovering God’s loving ways.
I was quickly taken back into the company of my old gang. While I didn’t consider myself a gang member anymore, nor did they, I was still falling back into old sins that I left when I surrendered my life to Jesus. At one point in my early twenties, I even started selling cocaine again. It wasn’t until after I was so deeply convicted by sin, I let go of every care of the world, in order to take hold of my one true love, Jesus Christ.
During this period, I learned one very important lesson. In order for us to be rooted and grounded and have unshakable faith in Jesus Christ, we have to be thoroughly versed and knowledgeable on the Scriptures of the Lord. My greatest downfall was that I didn’t know what the Bible said, and I kept falling back into every new opinion I heard from my friends and the people around me.
Now, more than 10 years later, I am a full-time missionary in Asia; I have a God-centered family, I help lead over 300 missionaries throughout the Philippines in nationwide discipleship campaigns and have helped preach the gospel to over 600,000 people in multiple countries around the world. All of this was only possible because I learned what the Bible taught about making disciples.
When I learned to diligently study Scripture and apply the principles that Jesus taught, my life slowly became more transformed. I now look forward to running the race well with my family on the mission field and raising more and more disciples of Christ that will take leadership in establishing the Kingdom of God all over the Persecuted Nations for the completion of the Great Commission.
Everything that I am about to share are Biblical verses that Jesus taught me on my journey with Him, that had tremendous fruit in my life as He taught me what it meant to be a disciple. My only hope would be that these Scriptures would help, encourage and strengthen your relationship with God.
Discipleship Scriptures for Bible Study
When I first came from a gang into the family of God, I had no idea what Scripture said and what discipleship meant. My understanding either came from a dysfunctional broken family or criminals living together in a drug house. The Bible was the only true source of light and truth I had in my life. The more I grew in Scripture, the more I grew as a stable disciple of Jesus.
- We all start out getting revelation of Scripture from other disciples, but there comes a point where we must get our own personal revelation about Jesus from our own studies (Hebrews 5:14).
- Meditate on the Bible day and night. The transformation of our mind begins with the Lord starts replacing ourold thoughts with His thoughts (Joshua 1:8).
- Study the Bible and be able to preach, teach and invite others into deeper places with Jesus by revealing to them the Word of God (2 Timothy 4:2).
- 2 Timothy 2:15; John 5:39; Acts 17:11; Proverbs 9:9; Proverbs 18:15; Hebrews 4:12; Matthew 4:4; Psalm 119:105; Psalm 119:11; Romans 10:17; Romans 15:4; Psalm 119:9
Discipleship Scriptures for Relationships
Not knowing what the Bible said about relationships, and how they affected my life as a new disciple, was my greatest downfall as a new believer. When I learned what Scripture said about relationships, the wisdom of the Lord truly set me free from a dangerous path and gave me the grace to break free of the endless cycles of mistrust, anger, violence, and addictions in my life.
- The Bible teaches us that we are called to fellowship or have our closest friends with other disciples of the Lord (Ecclesiastes 4:12).
- We are warned to not keep unbelievers in our inner-circle of relationships, because they will negatively influence us (1 Corinthians 5:1-7).
- Marriage and sexuality are a holy priority to God. We should treat our bodies as a temple of the Lord, used only for holy purposes (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
- Hebrews 13:4; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8; 1 John 1:9; Colossians 3:5; Psalm 24:3-4; Ephesians 5:5; Titus 2:12; 2 Timothy 2:22; Galatians 2:20, Matthew 5:28-30; Matthew 5:28; 1 Corinthians 10:13; 1 Peter 1:16
Discipleship Scriptures for Purpose
Finally, purpose with conviction from Scripture is what took my vision as an ex-gangster and focused me on the path as a passionate follower of Jesus. I replaced all my confused purposes with a great purpose of serving God for the rest of my life.
- There are many scriptures that teach us as disciples of Jesus that we have a divine purpose for us, for good and not evil. He wants us to prosper, not live in depression or aimlessness (Jeremiah 29:11).
- Our ultimate purpose is to be loved by God and to love God and others. Whenever this becomes secondary, we start to live unfulfilled and vain lives (Matthew 22:34-40).
- The Lord desires that we are fruitful and excellent in all that we do, as well as, motivated by love at the same time. Sometimes we try to be excellent, but loveless; other times, we can be love-filled, but lack excellence; God wants both. He wants us to be disciples of love that operate in excellence (Philippians 4:8).
- Romans 12:12; Isaiah 40:31; Romans 1:16; 2 Timothy 1:8; Matthew 28:19-20; Genesis 1:28; Isaiah 55:11; Romans 10:13; Acts 1:8; John 3:16; Luke 22:26; Mark 9:35; Isaiah 61:1-2
Discipleship is Centered on the Bible
These scriptures radically transformed my life and taught me what true discipleship with Jesus really is. The more we study Scripture, pray for God’s understanding and heart, and live out what we study, the more we can be a witness of God’s love to those around us, and experience more in our own personal lives.
One of my greatest passions in life now is seeing people step into the fullness of their destiny, knowing they are infinitely loved by Jesus, and having a solid foundation in the Bible.
The Bible is absolutely transformative to my life, the people around me and the nations that God has sent me to. I believe that Jesus is the same for you and everybody else that gives their life fully to Jesus Christ.
For more scriptures on discipleship for leaders, read more here and here.
