While working on a new video for the website to describe the WOW Process, I was praying for ways to articulate the differences between Walking On Water and a traditional small group process. While asking the Holy Spirit for help, I was led to ponder something that I eventually used in the video.
I spent some time pondering what the experience of the Apostles might have been like as they learned directly from the Lord. They were blessed to engage in one of the two forms of education needed to become a Disciple of Christ. I call this passive learning. To be able to sit at the feet of the Lord and listen to His instruction must have been a glorious time.
In passive learning, we simply sit and listen to someone speak, like a homily or lecture or bible study or video. It also includes reading scripture and other books. The goal of passive learning is to learn, understand, and retain the material presented. By doing this type of learning, we come to know and understand the subject.
Thus the Apostles, while hearing the Master teach, came to understand and believe who Jesus was. It is important to note that their witness of miracles and unrecognized experience of the Holy Spirit while Jesus spoke was critical for growing in faith. For the most part, their passive learning revealed their Messiah and His teaching. This created a desire for them to follow Him and give up their other affairs to go.
The other kind of learning that I believe is critical for the Disciple of Jesus Christ is active or engagement learning. For the Apostles, this is likened to being sent out two by two to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick and cast out demons. Like babies who watch their parents walk around their house and eventually attempt to stand and later walk, the Apostles learned from the Lord, the truth of His authority and witnessed healings and the casting out of demons. When the Lord knew they were ready, He sent them out.
This type of learning is active because they must engage the truth in faith with their lives. By going out to proclaim the Kingdom they must leave their comfort zones and place themselves where they must stand on the truths that they learned from Jesus. It is easy to sit passively and learn, but to be in a situation where you must learn to dispose your life and depend on the Holy Spirit to act in the world, is learning on an entirely different level. Why? Because risk taking is engaged in the learning process.
This higher stage of learning, where we actively engage the Holy Spirit in the most protected places of our lives and hearts, causes us to grow through being healed and gaining confidence in God and His Word. The power of the Word of God is found in the ways we choose to apply it in our lives. However, if out of fear we only remain passive in our learning, we never gain the confidence in God and His word and thus never learn to stand on His Truth.
If we are not careful, we will allow the World to tempt us to seek cheap grace. That is, grace that doesn’t cost us anything. We want God’s grace without having to take the risk of failure. As a result, many will never test God’s word because the risk will be too great for their level of faith.
Dc. Poyo, another great teaching. I would like to share something in this line of thinking. When I had what I called my great conversion experience I fell in love with Jesus and His word. I was obsessed with reading and studying, but I started out knowing next to nothing. I had lead a less than exemplary life and had much to change and learn. In the beginning I would have a lot of old friends that would call me and say, “where have you been we haven’t seen you out in a long time and we heard you were going to church.” At first I was a bit apprehensive to tell them how great it was and how much my life had changed. I would share a little bit about Jesus but I was very unsure if I could make them understand. One particular man would call me often and within a few minutes he would ask me about church. One night he called and skipped all the pleasantries and yelled very loud, DON’T YOU KNOW, DON’T YOU KNOW THAT I WANT TO KNOW THIS JESUS THAT YOU KNOW? I was shocked and I told him what very little I knew. When I got off the phone I felt like a complete failure. I said aloud to God, “God if you show me and you’ll teach me, I’ll spend the rest of my life serving you. He did. Very slowly at first, but the more I pushed in the more he showed me. This went on until just a few years ago. I had serious injuries from a fall and a severe case of Covid followed. I nearly died from that and other illnesses followed. I found myself in a very dark place. I still prayed but stopped reading and going to church. I felt very useless and felt like I lost any sort of purpose. The prayer I prayed most often was, God please don’t take your hand off of me. Just recently I heard a woman on the radio say, God knows how much you love Him, but do you know how much He loves you? I had never ever pondered on this. It
was life changing. I still have an occasional bad day or negative thoughts about myself. But I try to keep those words in the forefront of my eyes. Now I want to get back to the place I was where I couldn’t wait to tell people about Jesus and the wonderful things He has in store for them. I am learning more and more every day the Holy Spirit’s presence in my life, and I know that HE LOVES ME.
Thank you Deacon Poyo. You are a light in a dark place.
Susan Thompson
Kokomo.
Thank you, Dcn. Ralph,
Both types of learning are needed! I can attest to the great value of participating in a regular mens group and the powerful way it can help us grow in our discipleship. I’ve been in one for over 40 years.
Mark