Listen – Day 30

Leading by Listening

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” James 4:8

Not all of us are naturally born leaders – but all of us are born to be disciples. God has given us everything we need to be successful disciples for Him from which our biggest gift is listening to Him. The closer we draw close to God, the closer He draws to us until we hear Him clearly in our lives. And being a good disciple, comfortable in your hearing gift we can lead others to Christ Jesus.

When disciplining someone to Christ it’s also important to listen to them too. To hear their heart and understand their journey will give you spiritual insight in their lives which the Holy Spirit will highlight for you to use as foundation blocks to walk a mile with this person.

• Show that you care. Make time to listen to someone without interruption. “Listen to hear and not to answer” is an anonymous quote I take to heart when listening to someone. Sometimes ‘what’ they say is not what their hearts are communicating.

• Engage Yourself. Listen and respond as the Holy Spirit guides you to fully understand what matters to them most. Engagement shows that you value the person and you are listening.

• Be Empathetic. Life happens at such a fast rate that we sometimes find it hard to keep up. Although someone else’s story might not be as sad or heart-breaking as your own, it’s still as bad to them as the day it happened.

• Don’t Judge. This is not only applicable to the person you are listening to but also those they might talk about. Be careful to jump on the bandwagon to bad mouth people. (Yes, that is a form of judging)

I pray that this devotional highlighted your spiritual hearing gift and that God will bless you in it. Practice makes perfect. All you need to do is… Listen!

Prayer: Father, thank You for the opportunity to have shared this devotional. Please bless the Knowers, Feelers, Hearers and Seers and teach them to use their gifts to be disciples and leading them to Christ by listening to You. Amen. ©

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