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Have you ever made a list of your discipleship essentials? What are those key qualities and convictions that you see as non-negotiables to build into the lives of those you disciple? What&rsquo;s on your shortlist?
After 32 years of college ministry, I&rsquo;m more convinced than ever that identity in Christ must be on my shortlist. From what I&rsquo;ve seen, the secure laborer who has their confidence, significance, and worth rooted in who they are in Christ are typically more fruitful and last longer than those who don&rsquo;t. The secure laborer is a stronger leader, better relationally, and more dependent on God than the laborer who gets their identity and significance from their own performance and the opinions of others.&nbsp;
One of my mentors through the years in campus ministry has been Mike Hearon. Mike was one of the founding fathers of Campus Outreach and was on staff for 39 years. Mike wasn&rsquo;t just fruitful in multiplying laborers or even teams of laborers; he multiplied regions of laborers. Mike shared with me the results of a study CO did several years ago about the key qualities that the most fruitful Regional Directors had in common. There were two key qualities they each had, and one of those was that these leaders were self-differentiated: they could distinguish between themselves and their performance (success or failure) and acceptance.&nbsp;
They were secure. Their security meant they were willing to risk and lead courageously instead of being held back by the fear of failure. They weren&rsquo;t people pleasers which helped make them bold and decisive leaders that others wanted to follow. They could take feedback and criticism instead of getting defensive. These directors were more vulnerable and real instead of trying to manage an image. These qualities are the fruit of someone living out of their identity in Christ. The data from Mike&rsquo;s research reinforced what I have observed through decades of ministry: living out of our identity in Christ is powerful.&nbsp;
Identity is one of those topics that is much easier to have head knowledge about than it is to live out practically and daily. That&rsquo;s what makes the book of Ephesians so amazing. Paul not only unpacks the beauties of our position in Christ, but he also gives practical instructions to make walking in our identity in Christ a lifestyle.
What Paul says about identity is so revolutionary that he actually stops twice during the writing of this letter to pray that his audience would get it. He says if they truly comprehend it, they will &ldquo;be filled with all the fullness of God&rdquo; (Eph. 3:18-19). Do you want your life and the lives of those you lead to be filled with all the fullness of God? This should motivate us to understand more completely our identity in Christ and how to live it out. &ldquo;Sit Walk Stand: Living Out Your Identity in Christ in a Sexualized Culture&rdquo; is a six session video Bible Study in Ephesians. Paul not only explains the truths about our position in Christ, but he gives practical steps to make living out our identity in Christ a lifestyle. The leader&rsquo;s discussion guide makes it easy to lead a small group or an individual through the study. Check out the trailer and the entire series here. <a href="https://thefreedomfight.org/sit-walk-stand/">https://thefreedomfight.org/sit-walk-stand/</a>

Via Students

 The Power of Identity: Building Fruitful Disciples Who Last

Have you ever had a spiritual conversation with someone who thinks they are a Christian and thought, &ldquo;They just need to know the grace Jesus has shown them&rdquo;? We become weary after sharing the gospel with people, seeing them be amazed at the beauty and simplicity of salvation by grace through faith alone, only to be dumbfounded by their replies when given the opportunity to follow Jesus. They say, &ldquo;Oh, I&rsquo;ve accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior when I was 10, and I&rsquo;ve been baptized.&rdquo; What do you do then? You can&rsquo;t say, &ldquo;You ain't no Christian! I just heard your moralistic therapeutic deism description of your faith!&rdquo; Or maybe you can, in a nicer way.&nbsp;
I&rsquo;ve shared the gospel with over 1,000 people, mostly here in the United States. The majority would say they are Christian. Why is it that during the course of our conversation, 90-95% (yes, we quantified it) proved to be putting their faith in their good works rather than Jesus alone? Their moralism was pulling their faith. After many frustrations like the scenario above, we came up with a tool that forces the listener to choose a salvation based on works or a salvation based on faith. It&rsquo;s called &ldquo;The Train&rdquo; because it shows what engine is pulling their faith: their good works or the work of Christ. If you learn better visually, <a href="https://youtu.be/W0k6FMmS1KI">here is a video that explains this illustration clearly</a>.
First, you should listen to the person&rsquo;s story as you&rsquo;re talking with them. I like to paint a scenario: &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s pretend you died. God asks you &lsquo;Why should I let you into Heaven?&rsquo; What would you say?&rdquo; Make mental notes of what the person says next. In my experience, most people will say something like, &ldquo;I tried to be a good person,&rdquo; &ldquo;I went to church,&rdquo; or &ldquo;I went to some Bible studies.&rdquo; Their list of good deeds may go on a while. It&rsquo;s harder to prove to ourselves we&rsquo;re good enough than it is to prove to God!&nbsp;
Next, begin to draw on a napkin or paper the very things they just listed in your own stick figure artwork with a plus sign (+) between each. I always begin by drawing a large cross representing Jesus because they do believe in Jesus&rsquo; existence. Then I draw a church building followed by a Bible. My favorite is drawing a stick figure standing in a tub of water representing a baptism. A smiley face representing &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a good person&rdquo; is perfect. All of these things, in the mind of a moralist, add up to equal eternal life. Your equation should roughly look like this:&nbsp;
Jesus + X + X + X + X = Eternal Life

At this point, I&rsquo;m explicitly clear that this is a man-made religion and does not lead to eternal life.
Next, I say, &ldquo;This is what God has shown to us in the Bible leads to eternal life.&rdquo; Now, your goal is to draw the exact same figures but rearrange the equation right underneath your first drawings. It should look like this:&nbsp;
Jesus = Eternal Life + X + X + X + X

I tell my friend that we need to have 100% faith in Jesus alone. When we have 100% faith, we have 100% eternal life. I don&rsquo;t have to do good things to go to heaven one day, it&rsquo;s already been promised to me so I can&rsquo;t help but do good things. These good works are not giving me salvation from my sins, they&rsquo;re a product of my salvation. Jesus is the cause. Good works are the effect.
Finally, I draw an &ldquo;A&rdquo; next to the top equation and a &ldquo;B&rdquo; next to the bottom one.&nbsp;
Jesus + X + X + X + X = Eternal Life. &nbsp; A
Jesus = Eternal Life + X + X + X + X&nbsp; &nbsp; B
Ask, &ldquo;Which one of these best represents your life up to this point? Be honest with yourself.&rdquo; Remember, you&rsquo;ve already told them that &ldquo;A&rdquo; is the wrong answer and a man-made religion. In my experience, 90-95% of the people who call themselves Christians will say Train A. I&rsquo;m explicit at this point by telling them, &ldquo;The Bible says you do not have eternal life because your faith is actually in yourself and not wholly in Jesus. What would it take for you to move from &lsquo;A&rsquo; to &lsquo;B&rsquo;?&rdquo; This is your chance to listen again to see if they&rsquo;re understanding what faith means. The beauty of this tool is you can make it personal to each person you&rsquo;re sharing with. I always struggled in math class, but this is one equation we can&rsquo;t get wrong.&nbsp;
<a href="https://youtu.be/W0k6FMmS1KI">Here is a white board video</a> I created to help our students remember how to share the Train. Hopefully it&rsquo;s helpful for you too.

How to Share the Gospel with Those Placing Faith in Good Works

&ldquo;Never stop praying.&rdquo; - 1 Thessalonians 5:17 NLT

Prayer is a conversation with God. We talk to God, God talks to us. We listen to God, God listens to us. It&rsquo;s a two-way street. Yet, sometimes it feels like a one-way street. Sometimes, we do all the talking and no listening. Sometimes, it feels like God isn&rsquo;t listening. Sometimes, it feels like a dead end street and we just can&rsquo;t even bring ourselves to talk or listen. When we experience prayer as a one-way or a dead end street, it should be a&nbsp;huge wake up call&mdash;like a warning light on the dashboard of the car. You know, the one that has been on for months. The one you&rsquo;ve told yourself you will get checked soon.
Truth is, we all go through times and seasons of difficulty in prayer. For a variety of reasons and circumstances prayer can feel frustratingly fruitless. Even so, feelings and perceptions are not always reliable indications of our reality. Sometimes, God chooses not to answer our prayers because He has a better plan (check out <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+55%3A8-11&amp;version=NLT">Isaiah 55:8-11</a>). Sometimes, God chooses not to answer because there is something in our life that needs dealing with first (see <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+66%3A16-20&amp;version=NLT">Psalm 66:16-20</a>). Sometimes, there is relational conflict that can hinder our prayers (check <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Peter+3:7">1 Peter 3:7</a>). Sometimes, there is a lesson or blessing within the circumstances and concerns that are consuming our attention and prayers (read <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+12:7-9">2 Corinthians 12:7-9</a>). All of these scenarios can stretch us, grow us, and center us on Jesus if we allow them to.
Unfortunately, for many who catch an on-ramp to the highway of difficult prayer, it results in a quick off-ramp to the nearest parking lot of prayerlessness. They just get out of the prayer journey all together and say, &ldquo;been there, done that&hellip;didn&rsquo;t work&hellip;next please.&rdquo; Nothing could be more detrimental to your faith or more pleasing to the enemy.&nbsp; If you parked your prayer life, go pick it back up. There&rsquo;s a good chance your perception was the problem not your prayers.
What we perceive as ineffective and a waste of time is often what God sees as powerful and essential. So much happens in and through prayer. We humble ourselves and draw near to God. We acknowledge God as King and sustainer of all of life. We recognize the limits of our own strength and the limitlessness of God&rsquo;s strength. We recognize our finite minds and his infinite wisdom and knowledge. We confront our unloving selfishness as we are embraced by God&rsquo;s selfless love. In short, prayer transcends our experience and transforms our existence.&nbsp;&nbsp;
When we find prayer challenging, fruitless, or feel like God is silent, heed the words of Paul, &ldquo;Never stop praying.&rdquo; Why? Because prayer draws us into transformation and growth. Perhaps God wants us to trust him more and not answer the way we think is best. Perhaps God wants us to see where something in our life needs an adjustment. Perhaps God wants us to seek reconciliation or forgiveness within a relationship. Perhaps God&rsquo;s allowing the circumstances or experience to protect us and bless us from something worse. Perhaps, God&rsquo;s simply inviting us to persevere in pursuing him because he knows the process is transformative.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Prayer can be frustrating AND still transformative&mdash;just like working out regularly. Results are incremental at times, significant at times, but the overall experience is that we are getting in better shape, breathing easier, getting stronger, etc. Prayer, too, transforms our minds and hearts, incrementally at times and significantly at times. Overall, as we continue to pray, we grow in trust and intimacy with God, in our ability to release our fears and worries to Him, in hearing His voice and promptings in our life, and in our willingness to follow and obey. It&rsquo;s no wonder Paul admonished us, &ldquo;Never Stop praying.&rdquo; God is listening, he knows you, and he knows what&rsquo;s best. Let those three truths expand your perception, unpark your prayer life, and rekindle your conversations with God.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;