Called to Disciple
Little One,
At your appointment last week, the idea of nursing babies came up. Do you remember why?
Not exactly. I think it was something about a supplement that nursing mothers take to help with their milk supply.
What came to mind?
A couple years ago, shortly after I was healed, I had a dream that You asked me if I was willing to nurse a baby.
Do you remember how you answered?
The truth is I don’t remember much about what I wrote. All that I remembered was that there was something about “are you willing to nurse a baby?”
You let your friend read that. What did she say it was about?
Discipleship.
Read it before we continue.
I had forgotten a lot of that!
What were you thinking while you read it?
There are three young women who I have invested an incredible amount of time and love in over the years attempting to disciple. All three women have chosen to no longer be a part of my life. All three have been disappointed by what I have had to offer and, reading this letter, it wasn’t really a letter…
It was, but you did not recognize it at the time because it began with the dream. The understanding you came to was not your own. That was Me speaking to you.
Should I publish it as a letter?
Yes, and in the week that follows, publish this one.
Should I make it sound more like a letter by making it sound more conversational?
No. You publish all the letters unchanged as we agreed.
Tell Me more about the three young women.
I have cried many tears over those three young women. I made great sacrifices for each of them because I felt called by You to spiritually parent them to maturity. My relationships with each of them were during the many years I struggled with bipolar symptoms, but I was always loving to the best of my abilities and, at least as far as I remember, I was always loving and kind.
With each of them, I loved them as I loved my own girls. I had a mother’s heart for them. With each of them, at times, I loved them at the expense of my own girls. They got more time and attention than I gave my own children in those seasons.
Each of them accused me in their own way of not ACTUALLY loving them and not ACTUALLY caring. My heart feels about each of them much like it does about Zander, my full-term stillborn son. There is a little ache in my heart and thoughts about what life would be like if they were still in it.
Each of them have asked me not to contact them and I try to respect that but my heart thinks about them and prays for them almost daily… so it’s hard to just forget about them and move on with my life. Most of the time, if I do send a little something reaching out, I am met with silence and, occasionally, a reminder of how they feel I have let them down.
Little One, each of them longed for an earthly mother concerned with earthly needs. Your heart longed for their SPIRITUAL maturity. What you attempted to provide they resented because they do not yet understand the depth of their need. They’re starving and rejecting the food you offer.
What was the phrase that just came to mind?
It seems flippant or uncaring.
What is it?
“You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink.”
Look up the meaning of that phrase.
“You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink” means that you can offer someone an opportunity or guidance but you cannot force them to accept or act on it. The ultimate choice to participate or change is up to them.
You must let them go.
I have. I had no choice.
You have not let them go. You are carrying each of them as a burden in your soul.
If they were to reach out today and ask you for anything, would you do what was within your ability to meet that need?
Yes, of course.
Would you bring up the past or bring your feelings into it?
No. I would be like the father of the prodigal son: I would run to meet them throwing off my sandals so I could run faster. My heart would be filled with joy!
Little One, it is not unkind to let them go, it is necessary. To hold on is a form of unforgiveness.
What do you mean?! I’m not…
Little one, TO HOLD ON IS A FORM OF UNFORGIVENESS. You MUST let them go. If they should ever return on their own, your arms will be open. In the meantime, you have a nursery full of babies who are hungry. They deserve your undivided attention and affection.
Some of those you are nursing currently will learn what you have to teach them and go on to teach and disciple others. Some will latch on for a while, then fall away. Some will, in the end, reject you because, in the end, they reject Me. That’s okay.
You are to meet physical needs as I provide and as I prompt and nothing more. When your focus is on carnal needs and carnal realities, you become burdened in your soul. When your soul is burdened, it takes the focus off the spiritual needs of the person and becomes distracted by the temporal.
What is the verse that just came to mind?
Seek first the kingdom of God, and all of these things will be added to you as well.
It is not enough for you to trust Me with your own carnal needs. You must trust Me with the carnal needs of every baby I place in your nursery.
Feed them milk then meat from the Word and teach them to trust Me with their natural circumstances.
“Are you willing to nurse a baby?” and this letter are to be the final two weeks of your In Christ Bible study.
What did the woman at the conference this weekend tell you about her calling?
She said that she had been praying for a long time and still did not know what You were calling her to.
What was your strong and immediate response?
I said “Yes, you do! The calling on your life is EXACTLY THE SAME as the calling on mine, and exactly the same as the calling on EVERY SINGLE disciple of Jesus Christ!
Matthew 28:18–20 says that you are called by Jesus to make disciples - meaning, tell other people about Jesus - and encourage them to follow Him as you do. Then, you are to baptize them and, finally, you are to teach them to obey everything that the LORD has commanded you… and all of that comes with the promise that He will be with you, even until the end of the age. There are NO EXCEPTIONS. We are all called to that.
I said, “How you will live out that calling will be specific to your personality and temperament, along with your natural and spiritual giftings but, when you are sensitive to the LORD, He will lead and guide every step along the path. YOU ONLY NEED TO LISTEN AND OBEY.
Every calling BEGINS with discipleship (learning to follow Jesus) and every calling LEADS to discipleship (teaching others to follow Jesus). That’s it.
Yes, Little One, that’s it.
Your calling is not to force-feed Truth to people who are not hungry. Your calling is to stand prepared to feed those who are.
LOVE you,
Daddy
Matthew 28:18-20