How To Disciple Men: Short And SweetНамуна

Know Their Heart

By now, it’s become clear that discipleship begins with relationship, which means moving beyond the superficial and going deeper. It is to go from knowing their name to knowing their passions to knowing their pains.

The purpose of acquiring that knowledge is to open a man’s heart to God’s love, grace, and power. Let’s take a closer look at that through today’s excerpts from How to Disciple Men: Short and Sweet:

“Every man we disciple is just like us — we all have hurts, fears, insecurities, sin, mixed motives, lust, wounds, abandonment, shame, pride, loss, and negative emotions. These heart wounds are the places where real pain, pride, or paranoia exist. But they are also the places that offer the greatest potential for spiritual transformation. God gave Samuel some awesome ministry advice when he said: ‘Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart’ (1 Samuel 16:7).” — Kenny Luck

“How purposeful and intentional are you in getting to know those you lead? Too often — and I know I can fall into this trap — I end up talking way too much about myself. Active listening intentionally builds trust and makes men feel valued. I have heard from many men who are tired of ‘angles.’ Everyone is ‘selling’ something. Men long for relationships that don’t have any strings attached. This includes the gospel.” — Roy Baldwin

“It’s great to be able to say that you led ten men in prayer to receive Jesus last year, but is that really success? How many of those men went on to become disciple-making followers of Jesus? How many later fell away because they still had too many rocks and thorns in their lives? Too often we set new believers up for failure because our goal in sharing with them is simply to lead them to a profession of faith. Our evangelism efforts should move someone past the profession of faith and into a day-to-day walk with Jesus.” — Brodie Cooper

With one more day left in this devotional on how to disciple men, you really won’t be surprised to hear that tomorrow’s focus will be your most important job: “Know Yourself.”