This week I was visiting my parents. My niece Michelle lives in the adjoining lot and she came over and we were all sitting in the backyard talking. Michelle loves to garden. Every year she plants and tends and harvests and cans fruits and vegetables. And she just happened to mention her apple trees.
She said that the apple trees they planted 3 years ago are doing well. And then she says, “They’ve been growing lots of apples and Eric (her husband) just knocked them all off this week.” I’m thinking, it’s June, why did he knock off all the growing apples? So I ask her.
She answers, “We were told that you are supposed to pick all the apples early in the summer the first 3 years after planting. If you get the fruit off, the tree can put its energy toward growing strong, and after 3 years you’ll get more and better apples.”
And so it is with our spiritual life.
We are the tree. As we grow in faith, we are pruned for our own good. Our faith will grow strong, and it will bear more and better fruit.
I was so interested in the “3 years”. It would be like God to give us an example in nature that mirrors our human experience. Jesus spent 3 years in official ministry in which he discipled 12 men. He then asked them to go into the world making disciples, to become disciplers (Matthew 28:19-20).
In my own life, I look back and see a particular 3 years of my life that changed me. I leaned into God. I pressed into knowing Him. I was also struggling with discontent that I constantly talked to Him about. This was the time that turned my faith into a deep relationship with God. I had been a Christian my whole life, but after that time it was like my faith was on a rock.
When Jesus called each of His disciples, it required a response. They actually did not know what it would be like. But, they chose to to follow Jesus. They wanted to know Him. They wanted to be around Him. They wanted to learn from Him.
Let’s first not forget that it is two-way. We don’t do it on our own. God is calling us to Him. He wants a deep relationship with you. You are reading this because you have that calling on your heart and you want to go deeper.
So how do we participate in moving our faith into a deep relationship with God?
I think we can take example from Jesus’ twelve disciples.
First they said Yes
You are feeling the pull. Say yes. Lean into it. Nothing bad is going to come of that. Don’t rush it. Don’t make it a task with goals. You are not in a hurry. You are starting down a path and God will lead.
For me I didn’t literally say yes, but it happened to me. I was particularly struggling with being single in my late 20s. It was painful. Every single day. I had tried everything that I myself could do. And even when I was getting closer in friendship with a very spiritual man who I wanted to date, it was not moving. I thought I was doing it right. I was not looking in the right places. I wanted someone who loved God like I did. Both the singleness and the strangeness of this friendship was causing me immense hurt. I knew it would not help me at all to go talk to my girlfriends about it. I turned to God in a way I never had before.
And, I was in debt from years of overspending. I started living within my means, paying my debts, and looking to God for the strength to get through it. It was a time of extreme sacrifice and hardship.
I was chasing after God’s care and comfort and wisdom and He held me tightly.
Maybe you are already in it. Maybe you didn’t literally say yes. But today, you can say yes and continue on to…
They Followed Him
Without knowledge of the future, they followed. They just went. All they knew is that they wanted more of Jesus. They wanted to know Him.
After you say yes you may not know how to proceed. You don’t have Jesus here in the flesh. But you can know that you are in it! He is not letting you go now! You can be okay knowing that He will lead you, even though He is not with you in the flesh.
All you need to do in this following stage is keep asking yourself “What does He want for me? What would He think about this? What decision would He want me to make? What are His priorities?”
I like to make a list of all the “things” I do in my life. What are the things that take a chunk of your time or your head space? I write all of these things down in order of priority they have in my life. Then I pray about what God’s priorities for me are. God always convicts my heart of what He wants the priority list to be. This is an important part of the “follow me” step. All the priorities move from “our priorities” to “His priorities” when we decide to follow.
They Spent Time With Him
The disciples lived with Jesus during that time. For us, this part is where we respond by making time to be with God.
I would say, for me, the most intensive thing that I did during those three years is prayer journaling. I definitely read my bible a lot, but I needed to talk. I wrote to God everything that I was going through and feeling. The writing was like a letter prayer.
The praying we hear from our spiritual leaders seems “lofty” sometimes…we think “I can’t pray, I would never know what to say.” God wants for us to pray corporately in our church gatherings, but He desires for us to pray one-on-one (just you and Him), because prayer is a conversation. Prayer is how we relate to God, hence we form a relationship. This changes everything.
Prayer is our words. But the Word of God, the Bible…that is His Words for us. It may feel awkward that you don’t get a two-way conversation with God, but spending time with God in both prayer and reading his Word is how God works in His supernatural way to form His deep relationship with you. Make time to read His Word.
They Learned from Him
Spending time with God in prayer and reading His Word is absolutely essential to form your relationship with Him. He is forming your firm faith, and you can respond by seeking out ways to learn from others and with others. Be in church. Make relationships with other believers. Try a bible class on Sunday or a mid-week bible study or small group.
Look for ways to be learning. You don’t need to take Seminary classes. You just need to make the time and fill it with deeper knowledge. God will provide the opportunities. You say yes and sign up.
They Served With Jesus
Making time to serve God through serving others is how you become the hands and feet of Jesus. You begin to know Him deep enough that you want to be like Him and serve with Him. He will give you opportunities!
Yes, you should just sign up for something at your church that helps the ministry of the church to its members and community. And then also look for ways that you can use the uniqueness of you to serve. That may be a talent that you naturally have, or a skill or experience that is needed. Start serving and then look for that special place that is waiting for only you to fill.
They Became Disciplers
Maybe this part scares you. Wait…what?? I don’t want to disciple others. Yikes.
This doesn’t mean you are going into full-time ministry. God calls all His followers to be discipled and then disciple others. That means that you will become so close to God that you will feel a NEED to help others know God.
It may mean discipling your own children. It may mean teaching children in your church. It may mean making relationships with those in need. It may just be being ready and knowing that God will use you when He needs you. He will use you in someone else’s life to draw them closer to Him.
Don’t be scared of that part. You just take the first step, and continue leaning in to Jesus, and He will lead.
