One of the key changes that must take place as you begin to lead others on the journey of discipleship is the recognition of the importance of rhythms. When you are being led on this journey, your leader/guide will hold you accountable for your rhythms, asking about your prayers, scriptural input, and other disciplines. However, as you begin to lead, you won’t always have someone asking you these questions, these you must simply know you need to maintain.

One of my rhythms has been reading through the bible each year. I have done this for close to a decade now and have appreciated the insight that I have gained in looking at the entire story of scripture every year. I don’t necessarily get caught in the minute details during these readings but simply take a bird’s eye view. I don’t always feel like doing my daily reading, I often don’t think I’m getting anything out of it, especially when I am “plowing through” some of the OT books, and yet I have learned to not allow myself to make an excuses but to simply do what I know is beneficial for the long  term.

As a leader, I don’t have someone asking me if I’ve read the current day’s portion, I don’t have someone carving out the time I need to make it happen, I’ve simply had to make it a reality that I will not deviate from. This is what leaders do, they first and foremost lead themselves.

As I recently read in my daily reading, even before the Israelites were led out of Egypt, God was giving them rhythms to live by. The Passover meal was established. “You must remember this day forever. Each year you will celebrate it as a special festival to the Lord.” Exodus 12:14 This was only the first of many such daily, weekly, monthly and annual rhythms that God was helping them establish. And why? “Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” Deuteronomy 8:12-14

I have watched far too many people become “successful” and forget God, and then when life goes off-track, they all of a sudden discover how important these rhythms are. And yet, once life gets back on track, the rhythms also disappear. A leader of others must not succumb to this.

As you lead others, they are looking to you to demonstrate how a disciple of Jesus stays the course. Find your rhythms, stick with them, and establish a life that will not be shaken.

Questions. They are at the heart of any vibrant discipling relationship. A good question will move someone beyond simple information gathering to life change.

Jesus spent much of his teaching in question mode. When he finished the story that we call “The Good Samaritan” he asked “Who do you think the neighbour was?” When the disciples were with him on a boat during a storm Jesus asked “Why are you afraid?” The Pharisees challenged him about picking grain on the Sabbath, and Jesus asked them “If you had one sheep, and it fell into a well on the Sabbath, wouldn’t you get to work and pull it out?” At one point, alone with his disciples, Jesus asked, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” and then, “Who do you say I am?”

Over the years I have experimented with a number of questions to help those I am leading to get to the point to life change. I want questions that will get them thinking deeply, at times I want to “throw them off balance”, ask them something they aren’t expecting.  And although many questions will be topic specific, there are some that I’ve found work in many situations.

One that I’ve used often and continue to use is this: “If you really believed this, how would you live differently?” In asking this question, I like to emphasize the “really” word; saying it only once may not have the desired effect. This question has a tendency to move people away from theoretical abstraction to on the ground, in your face, reality.

Take for example a conversation about sin. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23. “We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way.” Isaiah 53:6. “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” Psalm 51:5.

Many of the guys I’ve met with, if they were honest, actually think that they are okay. Sure they’ve done some bad things, but compared to others, they’re pretty good.

There may be points in time in our lives that we “feel” sinful, yet more often than not, we don’t. So, if I really, really, really, believed these verses, that I am a sinner, that I do “fall short” of God’s glory, how would I live differently? How would my desire to serve God change? How would I treat others, knowing that none of us makes the grade?

In addition, I love to ask guys how they would parent differently. Do they see their children as “sinful from birth?” To be honest, most people truly think that their kids are born good, and that somehow “society” makes them bad. Yet if I truly believed these verses, it changes everything. I am having to mold my kids from a standpoint of “born a sinner” versus a “protect them from other sinners in society” standpoint. Some guys don’t want to hear that.

A well spoken question changes the conversation. Learn the power of the question. Develop your own arsenal. And watch the life change take place.