I sat down to prepare for study in the Word of God.

On my phone, Bible Gateway was reading to me because I hadn’t yet started my study. I was just finishing breakfast (maple and brown sugar oatmeal with pieces of apple diced and mixed in).

So I was listening to the Bible being read from my phone while thinking:

“what am I to work on (reading) this morning?”

(As usual, I had no idea how things would unfold during this time that was spent in the presence of the Lord; and as usual I am never left disappointed.)

As I sat listening to the Bible being read to me from my phone, while eating my breakfast and trying to decide where I would pickup my studying at – as if it is really my decision to make when my steps are clearly being ordered, I then heard something that caught my attention.

Immediately I knew that  I need to do a Live Broadcast on social media regarding what I heard, so I began to prepare – It’s coming. Its definitely coming – if our Heavenly Father allows me to share this.

In the process of crossing my T’s and dotting my I’s I stumble over a little something extra that catches my attention in the word of God. So, I find myself asking the Holy Spirit a question:

“Is there a difference between disciples and believers?”

And the conversation/journey begins…

“And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.”            John 10:16 NKJV

HOLY SPIRIT (HS): “Why do you ask?”

Me: “Because in John chapter 17 I am again noticing that Jesus prayed, not just for his disciples (17:6-19), but also for all believers (17:20-26).”

“I have seen this before, but for some reason it is just really standing out to me to the point that I actually want to know, “is there a difference”?”

There was silence, but it did not alarm me because I knew what I was preparing to do. GOOGLE it. Lol.  I just didn’t know of the wealth that would unfold after I did all of my research.

At this moment, I want to share that this writing began at 5:30am on Saturday, Oct 16, 2021, and has continued into Sunday, Oct 17, 2021, in the early morning, where the Holy Spirit continued to show me the difference between disciples and believers

So, of course, I Googled it, and was led to a news paper article that was very interesting.

As I took my time reading the article, for understanding ( the link to the entire article is shown above); and looking up the supporting scriptures, I ended up stopping to do a quick video to share on my social media account because of what I read.

Little did I know that I would end up writing and sharing here. I hope that I am able to post the video here also; but in case I am not able to do so, let me share first what it was that I read that so stood out to me that I needed to stop in the midst of another amazing studying that I was preparing to share, just to share this one…

Be careful of those preachers who dilute the message of Jesus to help Christians feel comfortable with their Christian faith. They prevent the growth of the Christian believer from becoming a Disciple of Christ.

A smooth and undisturbed Christian life is not a good sign of Christ’s discipleship. A disciple of Christ is generally misunderstood, opposed, rejected, persecuted and put to death.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, “Salvation is free, but discipleship will cost you your life.”

“If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you.” ((Jn 15:18,19)

Amalanathan, J. (2019, October 5). Believers or disciples? lewistownsentinel.com. Retrieved October 16, 2021, from https://www.lewistownsentinel.com/news/religion/2019/10/believers-or-disciples/.

I thought this was very interesting because it became clear to me the difference between the two – between the believer and the disciples.

“Salvation is free; but discipleship will cost you your life.”

I began to realize that both are believers, but the disciples take believing to the next level. They are willing to sacrifice for, or die for what they believe; whereas, believers still want to enjoy the creature comforts that come with life on earth. See the example shown in the picture below.

Oh, Wow! I get it now. We all start off as believers. But it is growth that will take a person from simply believing to becoming a disciple. So the very last commandment that Jesus gave to his disciples was that they were to now, “Go, therefore, and make “disciples”.”

Matthew 28:19-20
New International Version
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Jesus said, make disciples, baptize them, and teach them to obey. Now that last part is a huge part because of what Jesus said at Luke 6:46.

Luke 6:46
New International Version
The Wise and Foolish Builders
46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?

So, one of the key differences between believers and disciples is their obedience to the word that they say that they believe. This can also be seen in what we are told in James 2:14-26 about not just having faith but also having works that demonstrate our faith.

So, now I can understand why it is that disciples and believers have struggled so much so in their relationship with one another.  For those of us who were seeing this struggle between the two “folds” of sheep (which is what Jesus Christ himself called it when he spoke to his disciples of these other sheep who were also to be brought  in so that we could all be one flock with one shepherd at John 10:16), we have struggled in trying to define what it was that we were seeing; and our struggle to speak what we were seeing could have possibly caused some confusion in the past as well as some hard feelings.

I will not downplay the fact that disciples have been annoyed by believers. The reason for the annoyance has been mainly because of the lack of faith – the same thing that annoyed Jesus when he was on the earth; and really the only difference is that one is willing to sacrifice all for what they believe and the other just isn’t there yet. They believe alright. But they are not willing to sacrifice; and the truth of the matter is that this is not something that should be forced. It is something that one grows to because of love. Even Jesus himself said, ” greater love has no one than this: that one would lay down his life for his friends”.

So this really is not an issue of belief. Both the disciples and the believers believe. But this is really an issue of growth in the area of our love and appreciation of that which was done for us. It is not a given. We grow in our love.

Now, we are ALL believers. But not all believers are disciples. 

Another place that we see this difference is in the area, or the point, of abiding. The believer is in the world, but when they are no longer a part of it is when their desire is no longer for the things of this world.  It is when their life’s walk demonstrates through the acts (works) of their faith, that they are no longer impressed by the things of this world that the transition of growth from being not just a believer but a disciple has occurred. This is not overnight. It is a process.

Where the believer still enjoy the things of this world, the disciple’s desire has begun to change and become more sacrificing. As the believer becomes a disciple, they will begin to sacrifice more and more of themselves, their time, and their resources to live for the Lord. 

Let me interject that our Heavenly Father made everything in this world, and HE gave man dominion over the things of this world so that it could be graciously enjoyed. There is nothing wrong with enjoying that which our Heavenly Father has given us. The problem comes into play when we begin to put “created things” above our  Heavenly Father. It is at this time that these things become idols for us unknowingly (and maybe for some, knowingly).

This is a problem because we were created to love the Lord with our whole heart, mind, and soul; and a result of this being a problem is how bad we have treated our home. We have abused our home by putting the use of it before our Heavenly Father instead of allowing our Father to teach us about our home. (That’s a whole separate discussion.)

So in the requirement to “make disciples”, what we are to then do is to teach believers that all we need and could ever want in life is found in our Heavenly Father and it is Him that we should live for. We teach this by doing as Jesus said at Matthew 28:20, “teach them to observe all that I have commanded…”

Teach the believer to read God’s Word.

Teach the believer to not just read, but to study and dig into the Word of God as if it was their favorite piece of steak.

Teach the believe to not just read, and study God’s Word, but to also obey it.

As they learn and experience from their lessons the truth of God’s Word and the blessings that comes from being obedient, they they, the believer, will grow to becoming disciples also. This is because they too will know the truth that there is not greater riches or love than that which is found in our Heavenly Father.

Matthew 6:33
New International Version
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

I want to close by saying that this why Jesus told Peter to feed the lambs and the sheep. A lamb and a sheep is the same animal. What distinguishes the lamb from the sheep is their age. You can tell the age by looking at the mouth. Lambs do not have teeth. A sheep will have one tooth.

This is significant because out of the heart the mouth speaks. So the mouth exposes the heart condition and it is the heart that shows the difference between the disciples and the believer because one has a heart that will sacrifice themselves and the other would rather save themselves.

Very interesting.

But I will end here for now.