Intentional Disciple: Discovering Your New Identity in Christ

By Sherry Dale

“I have never seen so much rich, in depth content, saturated with Scripture, contained in a one month devotional. Yet it is simple, understandable, and practical! This book is ‘on point, no fluff!’ It will challenge you to GROW!”

- Billy Beacham, director of Student Discipleship Ministries

Bring the Word of God to life.

Both new and renewed believers will be encouraged to see life, relationships and circumstances from a Biblical point of view as they purposefully learn to read and apply God’s Word daily to life.

In Intentional Disciple, author Sherry Dale offers a thirty-one-day devotional geared toward creating a holy habit of putting God first in time alone with Him. Through scripture, prayer, and journaling, this tool supports your passion for a deeper relationship with Jesus and guides you through various topics within the Bible.

Simple, understandable, and practical, this mentor-in-a-book will challenge you to grow, strengthen your new journey of grace, and inspire your confidence for this walk of a lifetime as an intentional disciple.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Sep 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781664202344

Sherry Dale

Sherry Dale passionately encourages all believers to follow the prompting of I Peter 2:2,3 (NASB) and “grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.” She considers this book a spiritual call to action for all disciples of Jesus Christ to purposefully obey Matthew 28:20 by not only learning what Jesus says but sharing it with others. What began as a small Freshmen girls’ bible study from a college dorm room in Mississippi has continued to grow. Whether in small groups or large group gatherings, compelled to teach others how to follow God’s Word, Sherry strives to help all ages apply it to everyday life. As a minister’s wife for over 38 years, Sherry sincerely appreciates the journey that God has led them on. Whether inside the church or outside the church, she realizes that though mission field locations may change, His mission never does. For the past 17 years, she has been serving and loving God’s youth as a middle school teacher. When Sherry is not teaching, writing or enjoying her happy place at home, she can be found within the community at one of her pop-up booths. As founder of Missionary Marketplace, she actively supports the empowerment of women and children at risk of trafficking by providing a market for local and global missionary artisans. Sherry and her husband Jack enjoy living in beautiful Tennessee, where they are blessed to have two grown children, Summer and Jackson.

Book preview

Copyright © 2020 Sherry Dale.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-0233-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-0234-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020915478

WestBow Press rev. date: 09/10/2020

Scripture quotations marked (NASB) taken from the New American Standard

Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977,

1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New

International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica,

Inc.® Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.

zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks

registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.®

Scripture quotations marked (AMP) are taken from the Amplified Bible, Copyright ©

1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living

Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale

House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture marked (KJV) taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible,

English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing

ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture from the New Testament in Modern English by J.B Phillips

copyright © 1960, 1972 J. B. Phillips. Administered by The Archbishops’

Council of the Church of England. Used by Permission.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993,

2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved.

Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries.

Scripture quotations marked (TEV) are from the Good News

Translation in Today’s English Version- Second Edition Copyright

© 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.

Scripture marked (NKJV) taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright

© 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (TLB) are taken from The Living Bible copyright

© 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale

House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (CEV) are from the Contemporary English Version

Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.

Scripture quotations marked HCSB are taken from the Holman Christian

Standard Bible®, Used by Permission HCSB ©1999,2000,2002,2003,2009

Holman Bible Publishers. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®,

and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Contents

Foreword by Billy Beacham

Preface

Introduction

Day 1 What Are Your Intentions?

Day 2 A Disciple by Invitation

Day 3 A Disciple by Definition

Day 4 Being a Disciple Makes a Difference

Day 5 The Mission of a Disciple

Day 6 The Way of a Disciple

Day 7 The Identification of Baptism

Day 8 The Walk of Baptism

Day 9 The World Takes Notice

Day 10 The Language of an Intentional Disciple

Day 11 How Do We Learn This Love Language?

Day 12 The Treasure of an Intentional Disciple

Day 13 Speaking to God in Prayer

Day 14 Evidence of Our Love for God

Day 15 What on Earth Does Love Like?

Day 16 About Face

Day 17 Family Reunions

Day 18 Spiritual Gifts

Day 19 Called to Freedom

Day 20 Locking the Doors to Temptation

Day 21 Looking for Fire Escapes

Day 22 Mercy Scars of the Warrior

Day 23 Intentionally Be Still

Day 24 Intentional Forgiveness for Ourselves

Day 25 Intentional Forgiveness for Others

Day 26 Fight the Good Fight

Day 27 Garden Friends

Day 28 The Heart Test

Day 29 Intentional Aim

Day 30 Worry Not. Fear Not.

Day 31 Your God Story

About the Author

Dedication

I dedicate this book to my husband Jack. Thank you for your perpetual joy that wakes me with a smile every day, for your unending love that seems to never end no matter what comes our way and your constant encouragement cheering me from every sideline. You inspire me to be the best version of myself for Jesus. There is no one else that I would rather grow up and grow old with than you.

Acknowledgement

First, I would like to thank our Heavenly Father. My highest honor is to share Your love with the world. May any and all glory be Yours.

I would especially like to thank Becky Getz for her many hours of kind, editing feedback and to Laura Taliaferro, who kept me accountable to never stop this project. Everyone should be blessed to have an amazing cheerleader like you.

And to all of the encouraging friends who have helped bring this book to life, thank you. What a blessing to sit at the feet of Jesus and study His Word with you, to carry one another’s prayers to His throne and to see His face revealed in yours. You each are a gift to me.

Finally, with deepest appreciation, I especially would like to thank my darling daughter Summer for her expert advice and encouragement throughout this project. Thank you for being the first set of eyes to read and reread so many scribbled pages and for always hearing what I was trying to say. And to my precious son Jackson who I can always count on to motivate and remind me to fully share what God speaks. Thank you both for always believing in me. I love you both more than life will show.

Foreword

Wow! A masterpiece! I have never seen so much rich, in depth content, saturated with Scripture, contained in a one month devotional. Yet it is simple, understandable, and practical! This book is on point, no fluff! It will challenge you to GROW!

I have known Sherry since she married Jack, decades ago. Jack interned at our ministry and we later served together on staff. I was their Sunday School teacher when their daughter Summer was young. Sherry is the real deal! Her faith is unwavering! Her heart is sold out to Jesus! Combine that with her experience as a wife, mom, and many years as a middle school teacher, and you understand how God so masterfully used her to chronicle these essential truths of the faith.

It will challenge you to go deep, yet in very practical terms. I believe this book is so anointed because Sherry lives it …day in and day out, in the trenches of life. Sherry is a woman of God (WOG), and her desire is to challenge you to become a woman or man of God (WOG, MOG) …or if you are a young person, a YWOG or YMOG.

I have never met a single person that became a godly Christ follower by accident. You purpose to. It is your choice! As this book states often, it must be intentional if you desire to be His image bearer!

I often ask people about their spiritual journey and how they view their current spiritual growth curve. A common response is, Well, right now, I have kind of plateaued, not really growing, but not necessarily falling away either. There is a serious problem with that answer. It’s impossible! You do not spiritually plateau. Just like any plant life or other living thing, you are either growing or dying —no plateau! Jesus said, there is no neutral ground …if you’re not helping, you’re making things worse. (Mt. 12:30 MSG)

This devotional tool will help get you growing again and chasing after your Savior like never before. I once heard it said, The Christian life is either a whole lot more than I am experiencing or a whole lot less than it is cracked up to be. I was the former and had to intentionally choose to dig into God’s Word daily, and then the experience was off the charts! Everyone around me could see the radical difference because it was obvious that I had been with Jesus.

You will always find time for what is most important to you! We all worship something. If Jesus really is important to you, you will find time for Him daily. I can think of no better way to jumpstart your walk than this guide of non-negotiables of the faith that will help you dig into the Scriptures.

A verse that continually came to mind as I was using this devotional is when Paul said, All I want to know is Christ (Phil. 3:10 CEV) My goal is to Know Him (Phil. 3:10 HCSB). My favorite version is the Amplified Bible: For my determined purpose is that I may know Him that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly… to be continually transformed in spirit into His likeness…

Paul pretty much sums up this book, "For my determined purpose is that I may know Him!"

As Sherry often admits throughout these devotional