The beginning of the year is a time when many people make new goals and resolutions to improve their lives. However, in all the missions we might assign ourselves, it is important that we do not lose sight of the ultimate mission.

We all have missions to accomplish on earth. When you have a lot of things to do, you have to delegate priority. We give priority to time, to cost and so many other things but when your mission has priority, it means you stop at nothing to accomplish your mission. This is the mindset of the Christian prayer warrior.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” – Matthew 28:19-20

Jesus spoke to people whom He had already discipled and tasked them with the mission of making more disciples. A commission is an instruction, command, or duty given Christian. Jesus gave the great commission to every Christian to win souls and preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Jesus never mentioned if it would be easy or not to fulfill the great commission. In my experience in life, this had inevitably gone hand in hand with some form of suffering – not suffering as a result of your own stupid decisions but the persecution that comes from obeying God. 

Every believer is a disciple-maker but before you can make disciples, you have to go through a discipleship process. Although we all have the same mission, how you and I go about it will look different. Let us look at discipleship in three phases; The Call, The Training, and The Mission.

Phase One: The Call

The call is An opportunity where God presents a mission that is specifically tailored to you.

To answer your call, sacrifice is required. Being about the Father’s business demands sacrifice and self-denial. What opportunity has God been presenting to you in the Father’s business? God is presenting opportunities to some, but you are saying no because you are afraid to go through the process of pain. That is the training.

Wild rides start with God; boring lives start with complacency and staying comfortable; God will find someone else. Your “No” is someone else’s “Yes.” God will often call you by presenting an opportunity to you, but the choice is yours to accept that mission or to quit before the training even starts. I am talking about daily taking up your cross, laying down your life and serving God.

As long as you have breath in your lungs, you have a mission. The mission is to bear fruit. 

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.” – John 15:16

It is easy to want recognition in public for the battles you never won in private. Many people want a platform but they are not willing to count the cost of truly being effective.

Phase Two: The Training

Are you about the Father’s business? If you are about the Father’s business, you will be willing to go through the process. The process is training. Training is discipleship. Discipleship is the training ground. Training is for pruning. Train for the mission.

Two things that need to be pruned out of us is quitting and compromise. If you accept God’s call, quitting is not an option. It is a continual mission until the day you die. Compromise is the killer of reverence. Every time you compromise, it continues to get worse and worse. The mission has priority, not your comfort level.

Instructors in training ensure you meet the standard. Before you can disciple others, you must be discipled. When you have humility, your only limitation is your willingness to learn and obedience. Without humility, you have the limitation of your personal ability and attainment.

Humility makes you teachable and trainable.  Complacency in training is dangerous; your enemy is training and scheming on how to take you out of the fight.  Discipleship is crucial; do not take this season for granted; your mission is coming.

The training phase is so vital because it equips you for when the element of danger is introduced. However, many people fall into the trap of becoming so training-focused that they lose sight of the battle they were called to fight.

Phase Three: The Mission

This is what you trained for. Execute the mission, start a life group, step out of your comfort zone.  Don’t give up; if you give up, you will never get to the battle you were called to fight. The harvest is ready. Those who give up before the fight show that they did not go through the proper training.

The training is so difficult because the mission is not easy. Obedience was learned through suffering even by Jesus Christ (Hebrews 5:7-8). Reliance on God is not a season.

Your call or mission is to bear fruit.  Get plugged into discipleship, your training ground for your mission.  Execute your call mission. It will be difficult, and suffering will occur, but obedience will be learned.  You were called to FIGHT!!!

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