Author: Ade

Give me a drink

Would you think that this statement would lead to the transformation of a whole village? Isn’t it interesting to know that the life changing encounter of someone may be tied to a simple question? Or request?

“A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”
‭‭John‬ ‭4:7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Jesus did not start every conversation with a scripture. We don’t have to preach to everyone we meet. In fact, we can learn from Jesus that we can begin a relationship by receiving help from someone!

We must however be ready to share the good news with anyone that is ready!

How then do you know when to share or not? Here is how! You live for Jesus fully and with great joy and gratitude! You talk about Him like you would talk about a loved one. Then you give more details to those who show interest.

This is how you find out those who are ready to learn more! If you mention Jesus in your conversation and the person you are sharing with remains engaged, you can then ask if they would like to know more. If they say yes, then tell them some more. If however the person tries to change the topic or looks uncomfortable, let it go and continue to build the connection! They can be loved whether they believe in Jesus or not.

They may become interested tomorrow, next week or in a few years.

I remember a man we met on one of our outreaches in Kuje! We started the discussion by talking about business and it led to praying with him. I also remember a neighbor who had two big dogs in our neighborhood in Kingston. We started our conversation with discussion about the dogs and we transitioned into faith discussions. She did not become a disciple of Jesus at the time but some good seeds were sown.

There are many people out there all around our cities who have been prepared by the Holy Spirit. I pray that you and I would find someone today whom we can ask a question and it would lead to their encounter with Jesus! We find them by looking out for them!

“And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.”
‭‭John‬ ‭4:39‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Laborers Wanted!

If you say you love Jesus, and you love the people around you, then you should also be willing to do whatever it takes to get as many people as possible into the Kingdom of God by obeying the commandments of Jesus! This is what I hear the Holy Spirit saying to me and His church!

There are many people out there who are waiting for you and I to introduce them to Jesus and the Kingdom of God! They are not hostile, they are not angry. They are hungry for God and they are crying out for God! You and I are the body of Jesus! He can only touch them through us.

Let us pray like never before! Let’s reach out to people around us. Just ask if you can pray with them! Ask as many as you can until you find the one. Then teach them to obey Jesus! Baptize them in the name of Jesus! This is what I hear the Holy Spirit saying to me!

“Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭9:37‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

God knows your heart!

What’s on your heart? What is your most important pursuit? What breaks your heart? What makes you most excited? These are the things that God changes when a person is saved by God!

“God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us.” Acts‬ ‭15:8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Do you find your heart being transformed? Or are you still pursuing the things of the world with a spiritual language? I find that it is possible to simply change our outward behavior and language and not have a heart transformation!

If all you long for and strive for are things on earth! If the people that you admire and look up to are those who have stuff on display! If the things you quarrel about and are angry about are all natural things! If you are not burdened that people are lost all around you! You may not be a disciple of Jesus! Or you have lost your love as a disciple.

It is possible that you find yourself struggling with the new heart that God has given you! I have found myself in this position time after time! I find myself not willing to spend that extra hour in prayer for others. I don’t want to go on without certain comfort of life that I know I can easily get by spending a few months in pursing some business idea or by keeping the money we have! In fact, I have made elaborate plans about some ideas only to find out that the good idea is a distraction to me.

When I am distracted like this, it is because I have looked away from the Lord and allowed the cares of this world to grab my attention.

Although this has happened from time to time, I also know that my greatest desire is to see Jesus glorified and our Heavenly Father magnified every where! I repent and receive grace to get back on track.

What does it mean for Jesus to be glorified?

It means that you are satisfied with Jesus! You are committed to His vision of making disciples of all nations! You are excited by the progress of this mandate! You are fully invested in making disciples. You are prepared to lay down your life if necessary so that one more or many more of these children of God may come home! No sacrifice is too much for you to make as a person to minister to people around you as you obey the Holy Spirit! It means that you have no life of your own but you live the full life of Jesus with unspeakable joy and peace that is beyond understanding!

God knows your heart and my heart! He knows what excites you! If you need to repent, do it now and enjoy the new heart from Jesus! Do you know that when God becomes everything to you, many things that trouble other people would not trouble you?

If you have not taken my course on making disciples with ease, click here now!

Pray Always! Don’t Give Up!

When I here someone say “Don’t give up” I immediately know that it is possible to give up! When Jesus told the parable in Luke 18:1-8 what was His purpose?

Here is what it says:

“Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭18:1‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I believe Jesus wanted them to know that:

  • When praying you would be tempted to give up especially when you don’t get an answer immediately! Don’t give up!
  • Some prayers don’t have definite answers. They are prayers of consecration. You may find yourself losing focus! Don’t give up!
  • You may get just a part of the answer and you may be tempted to stop! Don’t stop.
  • Our adversary the devil will work hard to try to discourage you from praying! Pray anyway!
  • You may not just be in a mood for prayers. Pray all the more and tell God about how you are feeling! Don’t give up!

God uses prayers and communion with Him to build and strengthen our faith in Him! If you know the God that you are talking to, you won’t give up! Rather you will listen for further instructions. This is how intimacy with God is developed!

Oh Lord I receive grace never to give up praying for your church to bring you greater glory!

Let’s keep praying that more disciples of Jesus will become regular disciple makers! Don’t give up! Also keep talking to God about everything and in all situations!

If you have not made any disciples for Jesus this year or last year! Let me show you how you can start to change that! Take the BiVo Minister Course! It’s Free!

Prayer! How often?

We know that God answers prayers. We also know that not all our prayers have been answered. We prayed that the pandemic would stop but it did not! However we have prayed for other things over the years and we got amazing results! So how do we know what to pray for or not?

My answer is taken from the mouth of our Lord Jesus Christ!

“Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,”
‭‭Luke‬ ‭18:1‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

We are to pray always about all things and in all situations! Sometimes we ask for directions and other time we ask for help and still other times we stand on what God told us earlier!

If every request we made to God was answered the way we asked it:

  • The earth would be a big mess because we are always asking for conflicting things anyway! Believe it or not, some people want what you don’t want. Someone most likely is praying for what you are praying against.
  • We would be right to call ourselves God because it would mean that we know the best solution to every situation and how each solution would affect the future.
  • We would come up with a theory that there is no God because no intelligent being would give in to every request from another intelligent being!

So we must pray always about all things and in all situations. That means we should involve God in the totality of our lives. Nothing should be off limits with God! Then we should be willing to believe God when God tells us that it is done!

When talking to God about those who don’t know Him we should ask for direction! Ask for grace to forgive and repent of our failure to care enough! Then stand in faith on God’s Word that he places on our hearts! We must also stand against the lies of the devil by speaking the words of God concerning the person and the situations! Prayer is communion!

Heaven on earth?

Sometimes we can get carried away dreaming about heaven and the afterlife that we forget the purpose that God has for us on earth! Does God have a purpose for earth and the people that live on earth?

Yes! There is a purpose for the earth and a purpose for everyone and everything on earth! That is why Jesus instructed His disciples and that means you and I (BiVo Ministers) to pray like this:

“In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.”
Matthew‬ ‭6:9-10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

God has a will for the earth! God wants the earth to be filled with righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17)! If all the people in a place or community love one another unconditionally, the place would be like heaven! There would be peace, honesty, mutual respect, integrity, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, joy and many other good things!

We are the body of Christ on earth! We are the ones through whom that prayer will be answered! It is through you that Jesus wants to bring joy to the people who do not know Him! This is not a choice we have to make! It’s a mandate we have to fulfill as disciples of Jesus!

Everyday there is someone around you who can benefit from unconditional love! They don’t have to earn it! They just get prayers, kindness, forgiveness, a word of encouragement, a dinner invitation, a listening ear, a gospel presentation, a gift, a loving word of correction etc. Not because we want more members in church meetings, not because we were told to do so but because we are the body of Christ and we are the expression of Heaven on earth!

Let’s not wait for another person to make things better! Allow Jesus to move in you today to bring heaven to someone! You will soon notice that heaven on earth starts from within you! It’s not possible to love unconditionally for a while and not be at peace! By peace I mean inner peace!

It is still the will of God that we multiply (make disciples) and fill the earth! Let’s do it by His power!

As always, thanks for reading! Let’s take action! Join the conversation! Leave a comment! Become a disciple maker! Spread the love of Jesus everywhere!

June Books – Packets of Wisdom!

I enjoy reading and I learn a lot from books. I believe that books are packets of wisdom. In the first week of every new month, I would post a list of the books I read in the previous month and the books I have bought or borrowed to read in the next month. I hope that I would be able to inspire you to read some of these books and share some good books that you have read with me. At the same time, I hope that this habit would inspire me to read more :).

Completed in June

Here are the books I completed in June. This means that I finished reading the book or listened to it on Audible. It does not mean that I started reading or listening to it in June. I may have started earlier.

  • Contagious Disciple Making by David and Paul Watson
  • The one thing by Garry Keller
  • The gospel comes with a house key by Rosaria Butterfield
  • The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy

Currently Reading

These are books that I am currently reading or listening to on audible. Yes I read more than one book at a time.

  • Church History in Plain Language by Bruce L. Shelly
  • Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman
  • The Forty-Day Word Fast: A spiritual journey to eliminate toxic words from your life. by Tim Cameron.

Hope to start reading this Month

These are books that I have already purchased or borrowed and I look forward to reading.

  • The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster by Darren Hardy
  • Spent Matches: Igniting the Signal Fire for the Spiritually Dissatisfied. by Roy Moran.
  • The Kingdom Unleashed: How Jesus’ 1st Century Kingdom values are Transforming thousands of cultures and awakening His Church by Jerry Trousdale and Glenn Sunshine.

Have you read any of these books? Do you know some good books that you think I should read? Please suggest them in the comment section below. Thanks.

A man reaps what he sows!

What comes to mind when you think of sowing and reaping? Some people think of negative seeds and hope they don’t reap multiples of negative harvest. Some think of positive seeds and hope for hundred fold return and a few think in terms of real seeds and harvest.

The apostle Paul made this statement in his epistle to the Galatians!

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭6:7-8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

As disciples of Jesus and BiVo Ministers we are reminded that many times we may not feel like reaching out in love to the people around us! You may be tempted to get tired of making sacrifices to connect with people at work. Let’s remember that seeds sown do not immediately turn into harvest. It takes time and nurture and the miracle working power of the Holy Spirit!

It takes discipline to be a fruitful disciple maker! Praise God we have a helper in the Holy Spirit. There are times when I have wondered if all that I’m doing is even making a difference. Then I sense the Holy Spirit saying, “it’s hard to see yourself grow. Have faith in God! Those seeds of love are blessing the people and they are changing you too”!

Sowing to please the flesh is yielding to the desires to do things that make you look good, feel good and get the glory! The aim of the flesh is self glory and preservation. These things don’t look bad to the natural person but to the disciple of Jesus they are destructive!

Sowing to please the spirit is doing things in obedience to the Holy Spirit. It’s is doing things that bring glory to Jesus! Things that showcase the love of God, the holiness and joy of the kingdom!

Let’s keep sowing to please the Spirit. Let’s meet the needs of the people around us and share the good news of the kingdom of God. If you are not currently making disciples then take the BiVo Minister Course today.

That they all may be one?

Jesus prayed a lot while he was in His body on earth. We don’t have a lot of His prayers recorded. So you can imagine how precious the few we have would be. Jesus prayed that all His disciples would be united.

““I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” (‭‭John‬ ‭17:20-21‬ ‭NKJV)‬‬

As we in Canada celebrate the unity of the country, I think about the unity of the body of Christ and unity in general.

Unity is the by-product of unconditional love. It is what happens when God’s Kingdom comes on a community! Any time we move toward unity, it means that we are choosing to love. Although naturally our love is polluted with pride and selfish tendencies.

Unity starts from the individual. If I unite with Christ and allow Christ to live through me, then I am able to love those who are different from me and pray for those who hurt me.

Unity is not uniformity! When United we see each other’s differences and we celebrate them and use them to make the bond stronger!

As a disciple of Jesus, I must always pray and allow Jesus to use me to unite His body. This includes the multitudes who are yet to be added to the body! And continue to love and pray for those who choose not believe at this time. Jesus is available for all to enjoy!