Video: Feel the Struggle

Day 6: Feel the Struggle

My husband, Bob, took a swift‐water rescue training course with five of his kayaking friends. They were boating difficult rivers together and wanted to take the training to all be on the same page in case of an emergency. Over three days, they learned both skills and more about each other. They learned that Jeff could not throw a rope, but he could expertly navigate his boat to any point on the river. Bob was slower at knots than Lucas, but he could see the whole situation and what needed to be done in an emergency. And Lucas - he was fearless. They learned that no one was good at everything. Everyone had strengths, and everyone had limitations. As they embraced who they each were, and what they were each good at, they were empowered and celebrated for what they specifically had to bring to the table.

God knows who we are and how he made us, with our own personality, strengths and weaknesses. Jesus calls us to make disciples without asking us to change our specific mix of personality and spiritual gifts. In fact, they are part of the unique way we disciple others. People connect with God in different ways and they respond naturally to different personality types. So all kinds of disciplemakers are needed for all types of people. That is how each of us do our part and all the parts work together to make the whole described in Ephesians 4:16.

As we learn, listen to, and understand our unique designs—and the designs of those we disciple—we gain insight into the different ways people can be used by God. Our handcrafted humanness can often be overlooked when it comes to disciplemaking, but it is vital to how we live out our story.

Disciplemaker Pro Tip

We need to allow Holy Spirit to lead the disciplemaking process or we end up relying on ourselves and our own understanding. We can feel inadequate when we realize we don’t know everything or we can take it personally and feel rejected when someone we are discipling disagrees with us. Guidance from Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth (John 16:13) and together we will grow in maturity (Ephesians 4:14).