Following Jesus

Let’s go back again to the words of Jesus:

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Matthew 28:18-20

The next step is called “discipleship” = to become like Jesus, to get to know Him better, to trust Jesus in all aspects of your life.

Once you get to know God and Jesus and are saved, do you already know everything there is to the Kingdom of God and your own salvation, can you just take it easy and cruise along?

No, that step was just the beginning of a journey, a life-long journey in fact, walking together with Jesus.

Sometimes the statement “just read the Bible and pray and everything will be alright” is mocked and criticized for being too simple to deal with life’s problems. If it’s said just as a phrase, that might indeed be the case. However, in essence, it’s true! You only get to know God better if you really know what He is saying to you through His Living Word (we already talked about that it is not a normal book), and when you are in constant contact with Him through prayer.

Ron remembers: “When I was first still in police custody, just a week after being arrested, a girl I had met just a couple of weeks earlier, came to visit me and she eventually managed to get a few of my belongings back from the (corrupt) police. One item was my Bible. My old school Bible from 7^th grade in fact, a Swiss-German translation. I still have no idea why I had taken it off the shelf at home and tossed it into my briefcase, prior to that fateful flight to Lima, but there it was again in my hands. The only item to remember me of my home town. I had forgtten how to read it, so I started at page 1, as with any regular book. This time, the first verse already blew me away: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1). That started the greatest spiritual journey and adventure of my life and I’ve read it cover to cover several times. Without this book, I never would have gotten to know God and Jesus. I am still reading it today, some 40 years later.”

There is no substitute for personal Bible study. You must read the Word daily and meditate on it, if you want to hear what God is saying to you. We can provide you a link to a Bible study in English here: .

Talking directly to and with God. Anyone, anywhere can talk to God, no need to dress up or put on make-up, just come as you are! He will listen to you.

Again, Ron remembers: “On the night before my last business operation in Peru, Sep 8, 1982, I prayed to God that He would let my drug deal work out alright. I was not a member of any church or religion at the time, but I kind of believed that there should be a God somewhere who takes care of fate. Well, less than 12 hours later I got busted and flung into one of the worst prisons in the world for the next 37 months! Did God not hear or answer my ‘prayer’, albeit said for the wrong reason? Oh yes, He did, but in a different way I had anticipated, obviously. Although it took me on a journey through hell, including the betrayal of my former German partner in crime to the drug police, which caused this whole disaster, it eventually all worked out. Just as in the story of Joseph in the Old Testament, who was also betrayed by his own brothers into slavery and prison in a foreign country, he could tell them in the end:

But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.

Genesis 50:20

Jesus left a specific instruction to His disciples as to how to pray:

Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”

So He said to them, “When you pray, say:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us day by day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.

There are more aspects of discipleship which we could discuss more in detail, but to mention just a few more:

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:20

Even when we are born again and have become a new creation in Christ, we still carry around our old nature like a sack of old clothes or weapons on our back and must overcome and extinguish our destructive behavior patterns, such as a bad temper, worry, addictions, sinful habits. Some of those may disappear at once, others take a whole lifetime of to deal with.

In 1986, Ron and Gary arrived from Peru in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to continue the FPF mission there. Just at the same time, the famous movie “The Mission”, starring Robert DeNiro, Jeremy Irons and Liam Neeson came out, featuring events at the Iguaçu waterfalls between Paraguay and Brazil in the 1750s. The main character, Rodrigo Mendoza, a former mercenary and slave trader, in penance and depression for killing his brother in a duel, accompanies monks on the way to their mission in the jungle and only finds true freedom and redemption after letting go of his heavy burden, a sack containing his old armour and sword, in a dramatic scene:

Those who let themselves be controlled by their old nature live only to please themselves, but those who follow after the Holy Spirit find themselves doing those things that please God. Following after the Holy Spirit leads to life and peace, but following after the old nature leads to death, because the old sinful nature within us is against God. It never did obey God’s laws and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their old sinful selves, bent on following their old evil desires, can never please God. But you are not like that. You are controlled by your new nature if you have the Spirit of God living in you. And remember that if anyone doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ living in him, he is not a Christian at all.

Romans 8:5-9

This can be very difficult. But it is a joint venture with God, who has come to live in us through the Holy Spirit, giving us the strength to do that. We cannot be passive though but must do our part as well. Like a farmer who must go out and tend his field, sow the seeds, spread fertilizers, fight weeds and pests, while trusting that God will provide the sun and the rain to make his crop grow.

Many fail here because they never join a local church. It could be that they were never part of a church and feel awkward to walk into any church service, especially when they have been in prison. What may the other people think about them? It helps tremendously if one knows another Christian who could help in finding a suitable church, even to do the introduction. To follow the Christian way and live out the faith, however, is meant to be in fellowship with others and not solitary like a hermit. Christians need other for motivation, learning, inspiration, teaching, growing in faith, correction, worship, service and mutual love.

Jesus prayed and exhorted unity and staying attached to Him on various occasions:

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing… This is my command: Love each other.

John 15:7, 17

…that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you… I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

John 17:21, 23

Paul describes the church as a living body:

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

Romans 12:4-5

We already read above (in Galatians 2:20) that in our new life, Jesus Christ lives in us. This is an amazing concept, which no other faith has! The Holy Spirit in us not only gives us comfort, peace and guidance, but also gifts we did not have before for serving and blessings others.

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Colossians 1:27

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.

1 Corinthians 6:19

We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.

Romans 12:6

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

1 Corinthians 12:4-7

The main purpose of our discipleship is to understand that God has adopted us as His children, and He is transforming us to become just like Jesus.

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba (‘Daddy’), Father“. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

Romans 8:14-16

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

Romans 8:28-29