Fill and a Little Spill – Part 1
In the last few weeks, I’ve had the privilege of speaking to many women about the topic of discipleship. It’s so important to realize that the Lord intends for us to be available to be both poured into and to pour into others. At Highpoint, my husband recently taught a series called The Bucket Project: Fill Me Up, Pour Me Out. In essence, that’s the Christian life. The Lord fills us up in order for us to pour into others.From recent conversations, I’ve been reminded that the enemy would be perfectly happy if all Christian women felt inadequate to speak into another woman’s life. In reality, this paralysis of inadequacy keeps many of us just sitting on the sidelines. The lie ends up looking something like this: Instead of seeing God use us, we’re certain we don’t know enough of the bible to help another woman. Even if we didn’t fail the imaginary bible drill, we’ve certainly voided our usefulness because of some regretful decision we made in our past. Giving into either of the enemy’s lies of inadequacy leaves him the victor and us disabled.[bctt tweet="Giving into the enemy’s lies of inadequacy leaves him the victor and us disabled."]The truth is we must embrace the idea that discipleship isn’t a science. It’s messy. It isn’t perfect and was never intended to be. God fills us up and sometimes we spill a little when we’re trying to pour ourselves out. That’s normal. There’s only been one perfect discipler and He was perfectly aware of our abilities (and inabilities!) when He called us to go and make disciples.As you prayerfully consider how you can make yourself available to the Lord, here are 3 important principles to consider when it comes to investing in others:
1. You aren’t responsible for everything.This is true on many levels. First, you aren’t expected to be able to disciple someone in every facet of life. God will bring different people in different seasons to pour into each of us. You’re only responsible for pouring into someone what has been poured into you. You aren’t expected to know everything or even be a counselor. There are many times when my answer is “I don’t know.” That’s perfectly OK.
2. God can use our failures in discipleship.All of us have failed. Don’t think you’re automatically disqualified because you’ve stumbled. If you’ve allowed the Lord to teach you from your failure, then you’re prime to help protect another woman from going down a similar path. No one wants to be discipled by someone who appears to have no flaws. When your disciple sees that you’ve learned from your failures, you give them permission to be authentic with you.
3. It isn’t always a great match.Not every discipleship experience is a homerun. It’s important to clearly define expectations and goals on the front end. This helps a ton, but even then there are times when you’ll find that the discipler/disciple relationship isn’t a great fit. Normalize this so you don’t allow the enemy to convince you to never disciple again simply because you had a less than stellar season with someone.
What if you told the Lord you were willing to pour into another woman and you began to pray now for Him to bring someone into your path who you could begin discipling in January? 2016 might be your most satisfying year yet!Tons more help on discipleship can be found on chrisconlee.net. Check out Discipleship 601 to know how to get your discipleship started off right! Prefer to listen rather than read? Go to iTunes and check out the discipleship/mentoring podcasts on Love Works with Chris and Karin Conlee.[bctt tweet="No one wants to be discipled by someone who appears to have no flaws."]