The 21 Laws of Discipleship

1. Transformed by the renewing of your mind.

2. Transformed by training.

3. Transformed by worship.

4. Transformed in community.

5. Transformed by habit.

6. Transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

7. Transformed by imitating a godly example.

8. Transformed by trying really hard. (Yes, discipleship does include trying really, really hard.)

9. Transformed by faith.

10. Transformed by speaking the truth. We are changed more by what we say than by what we hear.

11. Transformed by pain.

12. Transformed by the gospel.

13. Transformed by service.

14. Transformed by finding and using the way of escape.

15. Transformed by going all-in.

16. Transformed by time.

17. Transformed by prayer.

18. Transformed by understanding and using the principle of replacement.

19. Transformed by confessing sin.

20. Transformed by living life in the kingdom.

21. Transformed by sovereign grace.

Memorizing scripture is the best way to renew your mind. But it is not the only way. The Navigators teach five ways of grasping the Word and use the hand as an illustration.

The “Word Hand” shows us the five methods of “getting a grip” on the Bible:

• Hearing the Word taught by pastors and Bible teachers.

• Reading the Bible to gain an overall picture of God’s Word.

• Studying the Scriptures to make personal discoveries of God’s truths.

• Memorizing God’s Word to help guard against sin and make the Word readily available for witnessing or helping others.

• Meditating on God’s Word—thinking of its meaning and application to our lives.

All five of these methods will form an unbreakable bond between the disciple and the Word. Just as you can grip a physical Bible far better with five fingers than you could with only two, you can grip the word far better with all five of these than you can with only one or two.

The research is in
There has been a good deal of research done in recent years into what transforms people’s lives. This is what researchers and students of the subject have found:

No Spiritual Discipline is more important than the intake of God’s Word. Nothing can substitute for it. There simply is no healthy Christian life apart from a diet of the milk and meat of Scripture. The reasons for this are obvious. In the Bible God tells us about Himself, and especially about Jesus Christ, the incarnation of God. The Bible unfolds the Law of God to us and shows us how we’ve all broken it. There we learn how Christ died as a sinless, willing Substitute for breakers of God’s Law and how we must repent and believe in Him to be right with God. In the Bible we learn the ways and will of the Lord. We find in Scripture how to live in a way that is pleasing to God as well as best and most fulfilling for ourselves. None of this eternally essential information can be found anywhere else except the Bible. Therefore if we would know God and be Godly, we must know the Word of God—intimately.

Willowcreek Association surveyed people from 1000 churches to discover what transforms the mind. Here is what they learned:

Reflection on Scripture Is the Most Powerful Spiritual Practice for Every Segment

We would love to print the header above this paragraph across the top of the program for every church leadership training event in the country. Reflection on Scripture is, by far, the most influential personal spiritual practice …

And that’s only part of the story. Because when we statistically compare the responses of those who take the REVEAL survey, of all the personal spiritual practices, we find that Reflection on Scripture is much more influential than any other practice by a significant margin.

A survey of 70,000 churches confirmed these findings:

Research into the spiritual lives of seventy thousand Americans—of all ages, from nearly every corner of the nation—is proving something many Christians have doubted: There’s power in God’s Word. A majority of those we surveyed showed us that consistently engaging the Bible is the key to knowing God intimately, getting unstuck, and growing spiritually.

There are significant differences in the moral behaviors and spiritual maturity of believers who read or listen to the Bible at least four times a week compared to those who read or hear Scripture less often or never at all.

If you want to live the Christian life, you can’t do it by merely trying really hard. You must be transformed. You must be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You must be transformed by scripture. You must be transformed by memorizing, meditating, reading, hearing, and studying God’s Word.

But even that is not enough. We are transformed by the renewing of our minds. We are transformed by training ourselves to be godly.

Josh Hunt, The 21 Laws of Discipleship (Good Questions, 2024).

Check out our Bible Study on the 21 Laws of Discipleship by Josh Hunt

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