Wayfinder Resources /

Intro to Following

Here, a person incorporates their faith in Jesus into every area of his or her daily life. This includes things like developing spiritual disciplines, learning obedience and growing in the fruit of the Spirit.

Quick Tips:
Followers are ready. They need a challenge. They need places to practice their gifts and get some reps in spiritual life. Take them in, give them something to do. Give them feedback often. Deeply encourage them. It’s both high invitation and high challenge. Help them remember to keep seeking and receiving. Help them build their confidence and start trying their hand at leading others too. Intercede for them. The more they practice denying themselves, the harder the enemy may come at them. Fight for and with them often.

Spiritually

They’re wrestling with what it means to stop negotiating with God—to pick up their cross and follow him.

  • They’re learning to surrender their entire life to Jesus, and let the Spirit lead their days.
  • They’re training in disciplines and skills like repentance, worship, Bible internalization and application, submission to authority, caring for others, worship, hearing from God, prophesying, and more.
  • They’re growing in their spiritual gifts, identifying them and learning from others how to sharpen them for greater clarity about who they are and how they can impact the world.
  • They’re looking at seasons of suffering differently, letting God use it to mature their character.
  • They’re identifying sin patterns, surrendering idols, learning to kick out strongholds and growing in their spiritual authority realizing the power the Holy Spirit offers them.

Financially

They’re wrestling with:

  • How to be a “steward” (meaning someone who manages someone else’s property). They see what God has given them, and they’re looking to invest well.
  • Tithing is becoming the starting place of generosity in their life, and they’re asking God where and how else he wants to use their resources.
  • They see that Jesus cared for the poor, and they’re asking how they can actively do the same. They’re seeking a more personal role in helping the widow, fatherless, refugee, or under-resourced.
  • Their resources may fluctuate from high to low, but their emotional response or personal confidence is secure because they trust that God will provide.
  • They feel gratitude for all they have, thanking God for giving it to them. They’re learning to receive His gifts more without guilt or wondering if he expects something in return.
  • They’re also growing more able to deny themselves comforts to redirect funds to the Kingdom. They don’t need things they used to need.

Intellectually

They’re wrestling with:

  • Realizing they crave more of God than what’s right in front of them. They’re seeking out resources beyond the weekend, hungry for daily input from God.
  • Memorizing Scripture so it can shape their worldview and equip them with a more rooted foundation. They have regular times on their calendar to read the Bible.
  • Knowing how to train to look more like Jesus. They’re actively learning how to do that well by asking someone to disciple them. They prioritize that person or family by making time to be with them, asking questions, and beginning to replicate the good they see.
  • Realizing how quickly their mind turns to things like pride, insecurity, comparison, doubt, and regularly repenting and asking the Spirit to fill them with him instead. They notice when they’re out of sync with God, and instead of negotiating they’re learning to change directions quickly.
  • Seeing they still have plenty of sin in their life, but there’s less and less unrepentant sin that they’re aware of. When they notice it, they start taking it to God and others.
  • No longer relying on their own ability to solve problems in isolation, but choosing humility in asking God and others for help.
  • No longer questioning God’s goodness (at least not like before), but learning to embrace the pain and heaviness of suffering with him. Seeking him on how to see the situation spiritually, fight back, worship, repent and trust in the middle of struggle.

Physically

They’re wrestling with:

  • Making tough calls about how time is spent because they’re tapping into a bigger, better vision. They’re seeing time as a precious resource and learning not to waste it.
  • Denying themselves when they have impulses that conflict with God. Getting up early instead of sleeping in if that’s when they meet with God. Running from sexually tempting situations. Refusing that extra food/drink when your gut tells you to stop. Minimizing and eliminating coping mechanisms like screens or substances and turning to God instead.
  • Giving God one day a week without work to rest and receive from him, trusting that he doesn’t need us to produce results.
  • Learning it’s actually empowering to say no to our instincts. Just because we feel it doesn’t mean we’re entitled to do it. Gaining perspective that just because we think we want it, doesn’t mean it’ll make us happy. Believing that our emotions aren’t trustworthy on their own, so ideas like “it feels right” really don’t matter. Learning to trust God over our bodies, and making choices based on him, not us.
  • Practicing fasting to train our bodies to depend more on Jesus, and to increase intimacy with him.

Relationally

They’re wrestling with:

  • Deepening friendships so they can experience community the way God designed.
  • Identifying strongholds in the midst of community so they’re not in isolation and can confess it to others for healing.
  • Receiving feedback from others with warmth, grace, and openness even if it’s hard to hear
  • Starting to lead others and learning how to lead like Jesus does - with mercy, wisdom, respect, vision, empowerment and grace.
  • Blessing people who have hurt or offended you, committed to forgiving them fully no matter how painful
  • Putting aside our needs, preferences, and schedule to be with others, listen well, serve and sacrifice
  • Respecting others in moments of conflict or in lifestyles that are different. Seeking out chances to diversify relationships and practice empathy.
  • Creating a home life that’s deep, refreshing, hospitable and intentional about modeling the life of Jesus
  • Raising the spiritual temperature in everyday relationships with spouses, kids, dating relationships, or roommates to treat those closest to them the best. Integrating more prayer, intentional conversation, vision, and sacrificial love for ultimate transparency, oneness, and relational health.
  • Starting to spiritual lead others or at least learning how to lead others in the future.