Perhaps the earliest Christian confession of faith is the statement “Jesus is Lord.” Missionary statesman and author, E. Stanley Jones, used three raised fingers (the peace sign plus ring finger) to represent these three profound words.

This theme is woven throughout the New Testament.

• “…preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all).” Acts 10:36
• “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Rom. 10:9

How does the Lordship of Christ relate to the four phases of Discipleship Counseling? [1]

1. Christ’s lordship initially – redemption

When a person repents and believes the gospel, they received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. There is a recognition of His authority and saving grace. The believer gives this “pledge of allegiance” at salvation. Therefore, if the counselee is not a born again, the goal is for them to bow the knee and become a citizen of God’s kingdom by grace though faith (John 3:3; 1 Cor. 1:9; Eph. 2:8,9; Col. 1:13

2. Christ’s lordship wholeheartedly – identification

Although every believer confesses Jesus is Lord, the path of discipleship includes the call to wholehearted surrender. The discipler can use Romans 12:1,2 (along with GFI’s Total Commitment page) to guide a person in this process: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (cf. 1 Pet. 3:15). Notice that this appeal is to those who are already saved – “brethren.” Although appropriating Christ as Life in identification (Gal. 2:20) is more than surrender, it is not less than this. This commitment to fully yield to the Lord is not a promise of perfect submission but a sincere relinquishment of our relationships and rights, enabled by the Holy Spirit.

3. Christ’s lordship victoriously – liberation

Jesus Christ “was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 1:4). His ascension further demonstrated His supreme authority: Jesus Christ “has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him” (1 Pet. 3:22). God “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Col. 2:15). Because of Christ’s Lordship—and the believer’s identification with Him—the disciple can submit to God, resist the Devil and demons must flee (James 4:7). “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” because He is Lord of all  (1 Cor. 10:5).

4. Christ’s Lordship daily – devotion

Even when the disciple yields to God wholeheartedly (Rom. 12:1,2), this needs to be reaffirmed daily. “And he [Jesus] said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me'” (Luke 9:23). As someone has observed, “the trouble with a living sacrifice is it may crawl off the altar!” As the Lord Jesus persevered in submission to the Father (Phil. 2:5-9) so must we. But this is inspired by the indwelling Holy Spirit and motivated by grace., “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil 2:13).

By clarifying these aspects of the discipleship process, several misunderstandings can be avoided:

• Lordship salvation. This confuses phase 1 and 2, implying that unless a believer is 100% surrendered, his salvation is called into question.
• Equating surrender with identification. In Discipleship Counseling, sometimes a counselee has fully surrendered and thereby assumes that is all that is called for to experience the abundant life. However, the good news of identification with Christ needs to be discovered and reckoned personally true (Rom. 6:6-11).
• Teaching grace and identity in Christ without wholehearted surrender. In some cases they have learned about grace and their new identity but have not “sanctified Christ as Lord in their hearts” (1 Pet. 3:15), or continued with yielding their physical members as instruments of righteousness (Rom. 6:12,13). The Life that Christ wants to live through us will be a righteous life.
• Teaching spiritual warfare principles out of context. The believer is not trying to attain victory, but appropriates a victory already won, celebrating Christ’s lordship and being seated with Him in heavenly places (Col. 3:1-4). In James 4:7 “Submit to God” comes before “resist the Devil.”
• Neglecting the need for daily surrender. The present tense command to “be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Eph. 5:18) requires yielding to God’s benevolent, gracious control. Otherwise, selfish resistance to God’s will grieves/quenches the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30; 1 Thess. 5:19). Our Lord instructs us, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (John 14:21).

It was previously mentioned that three raised fingers were used by E. Stanley Jones to signify “Jesus is Lord.” Perhaps four raised fingers could represent the four phases of discipleship counseling: redemption, identification, liberation and devotion. If so, the thumb could symbolize Christ’s Lordship – submission. And your thumb can touch each of your other fingers, illustrating the relevance of Christ’s lordship in each phase of discipleship.

Let’s continue to joyfully confess “Jesus is Lord” in our personal life and ministry.

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[1] The Four Phases of Discipleship Counseling chart was developed by the author and is used in the Discipleship Counseling training at Grace Fellowship International.

For further reading on these four aspects of Christ’s lordship, see

1. https://truelife.org/search-result/lord?lang=en
2. https://gracenotebook.com/total-surrender/
3. https://www.ficm.org/ministry-materials/free-resources/ Steps 4 and 5
4. https://gracenotebook.com/taking-up-your-cross-daily/

Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version

Copyright © 2025 by John Woodward. Permission is granted to use this article for non-commercial use if credit is given to the author and GraceNotebook.com.