Day 16: Together in Disciple-Making
In 1 Samuel 22-26, we find David not yet on the throne, but in the wilderness. He is rejected, hunted, misunderstood. Yet, something powerful is happening despite his circumstances.
1 Samuel 22:2 tells us: “Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them.” (NASB)
David didn’t start with ideal followers. He started with broken, struggling people. But in the wilderness, he didn’t just lead them – he formed them. These men would later become David’s mighty men.
Disciple-making often begins in unlikely places with unlikely people.
For Singapore to turn Godward, we must shift our mindset. We are not just building churches, we are raising and forming disciples. And disciples don’t always come polished. They are often in distress, searching and stuck in their lives.
Disciple-making often begins in unlikely places with unlikely people.
David showed us three key principles:
1. Disciple-making happens in the wilderness
David didn’t wait for a palace to start building people. He did so in caves, deserts and moments of crisis.
In Singapore, it’s easy to rely on structure, programmes and stability. But God often forms deep disciples in messy, real-life situations: In the marketplace, in homes, in struggles, and even in our failures.
Who are the “distressed” people around you that God is calling you to walk with?
2. Disciple-making requires modelling God’s heart
Twice over, David had the chance to kill Saul, in 1 Samuel 24 and 26. And twice, he refused.
In 1 Samuel 24:6, David said: “Far be it from me… that I should do this thing to my Lord, the LORD’s anointed.”
David’s men urged him to take revenge, but David chose honour, restraint and trust in God.
Who are the “distressed” people around you that God is calling you to walk with?
Here’s the key: David wasn’t just teaching with words, he was shaping his men by example.
If we want Singapore to turn Godward, we need disciples who reflect God’s character: integrity over ambition, mercy over revenge, trust over control.
People don’t just need instruction – they need models of godliness.
Pray for the people who are your models – that they will keep holy lives.
3. Disciple-making multiplies transformation
Those who gathered to David came broken, but they didn’t stay that way. Over time, they were transformed into leaders and warriors.
This is the heart of disciple-making – transformation that multiplies. Imagine if every believer in Singapore intentionally sought out and discipled just one or two people – not perfectly, but faithfully.
What if Singapore’s “wilderness moments” of pressure, busyness and uncertainty are actually God’s opportunity to raise disciples?
A nation doesn’t turn Godward through events alone, but through lives changed, then changing others.
We pray and look for someone to disciple us. But would you pray and look for someone to disciple as well?
David’s wilderness became a training ground for a generation. What if Singapore’s “wilderness moments” of pressure, busyness and uncertainty are actually God’s opportunity to raise disciples?
Who has God placed in your life right now?
Not to fix, but to walk with.
Not to impress, but to form.
Not just to gather, but to disciple.
Let us pray together.
Lord, turn our hearts toward disciple-making.
Help us see people the way You do – not as problems, but as potential. Raise in Singapore a generation of disciples who reflect Your heart, who walk in integrity, and who multiply Your life in others.
Use us, even in our wilderness, to turn this nation Godward.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.