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The role of a discipler in spiritual growth

Because God manifests His grace through people to people, because His primary modus operandi in the realm of humans is to partner with us rather than to force us, if we are to become frictionless recipients of His grace, we need another human – a spiritual coach or discipler. Yes…
By Seth Barnes

Because God manifests His grace through people to people,
because His primary
modus operandi in
the realm of humans is to partner with us rather than to force us, if we are to
become frictionless recipients of His grace, we need another human – a
spiritual coach or discipler.

Yes, we can do as most people do and wait for events to
overtake us. I was so bull-headed that
it wasn’t until I was 31 before I was able to get to brokenness and some real
growth. If I had sought someone out to
disciple me, I could have avoided a lot of pain.

A spiritual coach becomes the mouthpiece for the Holy
Spirit, bearing witness with what the Spirit may already be telling us and
helping create a critical mass of conviction and direction that results in
behavior change.

In doing so, our spiritual coach has three primary tools at
His disposal, prayer, encouragement, and challenge. Selfish behavior is
extinguished as it is challenged. Loving behavior grows as it is
encouraged.

Thus, for example, does a selfish person become more
giving. Thus does a person who has been unloving come to express love –
at first changing behavior and then as those actions form a sustained pattern,
developing character.

I don’t know how you propose to grow, but it generally
doesn’t happen by listening to tapes or sermons or sitting thru Bible studies,
though those can all be a help.

Growth
happens most frequently when people pray for, encourage, or challenge other
people.

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