“From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”  Ephesians 4:16

Discipleship is extremely necessary in the work of the church.  It is the act of believing in a doctrine and then spreading the teachings of that doctrine to others.  To build a great disciple you need to challenge their head, heart and hands.  Well balanced disciples have a satisfied mind, strengthened heart and equipped hands.

Education is the satisfaction of the mind. 

In training disciples put them in classes that challenges their thinking and assign them a mentor that holds them accountable to that education.  Years ago, I had the privilege of sitting in on a Pastoral Training Conference with my then pastor, associate pastor and children’s pastor.  The actual instruction of the conference was really good but what made it extra special was the undivided attention of the head and associate pastor who had amazing insights and really made me think.  I felt so exhilarated by the education which just made me crave more but at the same time made me feel satisfied in my abilities to minister to others.

When your mind is satisfied, your heart is strengthened.  Many times before, I have heard people say they are rundown, emotionally exhausted because they are giving so much of themselves but not being recharged; that’s where heart strengthening comes in to play.  I once heard a pastor say, “you cannot spiritually feed someone, if you are not being spiritually fed.”  A lot of ministers give, give, give, which is very noble, but not Biblical.  God wants us to be in constant fellowship with other Christians and with Him, soaking up His word; growing spiritually so that our heart is strongly protected because when it is rundown Satan can get a foothold.

You cannot just know something, you have to value it and the only way to do that is to put it in action. 

As a disciple, you must put your knowledge into practice and having a strengthened heart will guard you while doing it.  Being the hands/feet of God means putting what you have learned into practice.  To understand the best way to do that, let me quote Rodney from the movie “Robots” when he remembers Bigweld’s motto, “see a need, fill a need.”  In the movie his dad is a dishwasher who always has to bring home his work and rarely gets to spend quality time with his family so Rodney makes him a mini robot to do the dishes for him.

My daddy was great at serving, sometimes to the point of physical pain, he taught me to have a servant’s heart and help whenever I am needed. I’d like to think I am pretty good at seeing the needs of others and although I serve regularly I am planning on doing something big in January.

My daddy and I have always celebrated our birthday’s together but since he passed, I have been trying to do things to make that time a little easier.  When I turned35, I did 35 random acts of kindness in an effort to be the hands and feet of God in mass quantity.  It was a lot of pain and joy, in one birthday.

Have you ever served enough to the point of pain?