There is no difference between a Christian and a disciple. A Christian is a disciple. The Bible says that the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. (Acts 11:26). The two words refer to the same people.
However, there is a difference between a disciple and an admirer or a fan of Jesus.
An admirer of Jesus likes the teachings of Jesus as long as the teachings do not require then to change. Whereas a disciple lives by every teaching of Jesus.
An admirer is very happy to receive a blessing from Jesus but is unwilling to speak boldly about Jesus around people that are offended by Jesus. Whereas a disciple of Jesus, is confident that if anyone would meet Jesus, they would be greatly blessed and as such can’t help telling about all good things Jesus has done in them and for them.
An admirer, is always asking Jesus to do things for them and they sometimes get offended when there is a delay. A disciple is always asking what Jesus would have them do? The disciple is ever so grateful to be accepted as a disciple of Jesus. They are content to serve Jesus.
An admirer wants Jesus to make his life better. A disciple is amazed about how much they have in Christ Jesus already.
An admirer is not far from the Kingdom of God. A disciple is in the Kingdom. (Mark 12:34).
An admirer has many goals, ambitions, preferences, rights etc. A disciple has only one focus and goal. The one focus of the disciple is to do the commandment of Jesus to make disciples of all nations.
An admirer may claim to be a disciple or a Christian, but that does not make them so. A disciple may behave sometimes like an admirer but they get convicted by the Holy Spirit and repent in tears of sorrow (Matt 26:75).
An admirer calls a disciple a fanatic when the disciple makes the decision to leave everything to follow Jesus. A disciple is so happy to be called by Jesus that they gladly leave all to follow.
An admirer wants to follow Jesus with only minimal change to their lives. A disciple consciously accepts that their old life is dead and they receive a new one as slaves of righteousness.
Are you a disciple or an admirer? The Lord knows those that are his (2Tim 2:19). I have been convicted by the Holy Spirit many times that I am behaving like an admirer. I have repented each time and enjoyed greater fellowship with Jesus each time. I encourage you to repent if you are being convicted!
Who needs love the most? A nice, good looking person or a rough looking, angry looking person?
Most of us are more attracted to nice looking, kind and smiling people. And we tend to scowl at people who scowl at or are rude to us. My guess is that we are attracted to nice looking and smiling people because we figure that they would love us or they would not hurt us.
However, the truth is that, the people that need love the most are those who look rough, sad or angry. I believe they are feeling down because they are low on true unconditional love.
A lot of people around us are low on love. Even the nice looking, smiling person may be low on love. However, if they are still able to put on a smile, they may still have some type of love to run on.
Unconditional love is a desiring the best for the other without regards to how it benefits you. When we have a lot of this coming our way, we seem to have some of it to give out too.
So if we are ever going to see our world changed, we must load up on unconditional love. This is the king of love that God has for us. God loves you because He is God and He is love. There is no condition for the love of God.
As a disciple of Jesus, load up on love by spending time meditating of God’s love and connect with a mature believer who has practiced loving unconditional love. Then go out and love the people you meet without conditions.
When a person is low on true love, they will be very afraid to accept your love because they cannot be sure that it is without conditions. They may react in anger, push you away or raise up some invisibles fences.
If your love is unconditional, then you will keep loving them. Keep loving them. It may take up to a year or two or even five. Keep loving them. This is what Jesus want’s to do. We are His body on earth.
Of course all true love starts with prayer. Here is a sample prayer I use. Oh Lord please love John Doe through me today. He really needs some of the love you are pouring on me daily. I receive more grace to reflect your love to him. Thank you dear Lord.
Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips.” Psalms 141:3 NKJV
I remember someone saying to me when I was younger that negative words are responsible for many of the wars in the world.
I’m not sure if that is exactly right but I know that my own misplaced words have caused tears for people that I love.
It’s better to keep quiet than to speak words that hurt. I also remember hearing someone say that any fool can say words that tear people down but it takes a wise person to say words that build people up!
Negative words create negative thoughts which in turn create fear and failure. God inspired words and prayers create positive thoughts and faith in God which in turn create success!
This prayer is a good prayer! I find that the Holy Spirit answers this prayer by restricting my speech and giving me new words!
My problem usually is saying things at the wrong time. I am so grateful that I have the Holy Spirit that has put a guard on my lips. Many times now, I just sense the Holy Spirit saying to me “don’t say that. Ask a question instead!”
As you continue on your journey of attracting people to Jesus, you will need words. Trust God that you will speak the right words! (John 12:49).
Love is a very interesting word because everyone seems to know what it means but it’s not really as easy to define as you would think. So when Jesus says “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31, Matt 22: 39, Luke 10:27) you wonder what does that really mean. In today’s article, I try to answer this question. I hope that after reading it, you would not only know how to love your neighbor as yourself but you would be loving your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus was not the first person to give this command in the Bible, this particular command was first mentioned in Lev 19:18 and it was quoted a few more times by the disciples of Jesus in (Rom 13:9, James 2:8, Gal 5:14). The most intriguing thing about this statement for me is that in combination with the command to Love God, it is seen as the summary of all the laws.
What does it mean to LOVE?
You do to others what you want them to do to you
You love people regardless of anything (unconditional)
You love them whether they reciprocate or not
You love them even when they don’t like you
You love them even when you don’t like what they are doing
You love them even when you bring them to justice
You love them enough to say NO
You love them enough to say Enough
You always love them.
Because
you could be them and
they could be you!
What does it mean to love?
I got my first definition of unconditional love from a book called Real Love by Greg Baer. If you have not read this book, I recommend it highly. Here is the definition I got from him with some modification.
Love is desiring the best for another person, without regards to what benefit you would receive.
I have since discovered that there is another side to that definition that would make it complete
Love is – Not withholding anything good from another person as long as they are willing to receive it.
So I see Love as a two-sided coin that has these 2 definitions. I have asked God to help me love like this for the last 15+ years. And I must tell you that I have failed a couple of times but all the same, the benefits are amazing. In a few words, what you get is peace and joy.
I know you may be so curious to know how, because you already know what it means to love your neighbor as yourself. Please be patient because once the meaning of love is properly grasped, how to love flows automatically.
You Love your neighbor as yourself by desiring the best things for them.
This means you desire that they are at peace. You desire that they have all the money and resources they need. You desire that they are in good health and that they have a blissful life after this life on earth.
How does this play out? It means that when you think of the other person, you have good and prosperous thoughts about them.
True love starts from thoughts. You can love people you have never met. You can love people who don’t look like you. You can even love people who want to kill you because you can desire good for people who desire evil for you.
I know that this is possible because we see it first in scriptures (Luke 23:24) and also to some extent I have seen it in my life. I believe this is the state that God intended for all humans to live in. A state where we care so much about our neighbor that we are willing to make some sacrifice for them to move forward.
Take note that the first step in loving your neighbor as yourself does not have to do with action. The place to begin is in your thoughts.
Your thoughts about everyone around you should always be thoughts of how to help them be better, live better, be fruitful, have peace and joy.
It is not unusual to imagine that what this scripture is saying is that you keep doing good things to everyone around you until you get burnt out because their needs never end, there are some mean people out there and we all have limited resources.
But this is not what the scripture is talking about. Let me explain. Love should start with having positive, kind and loving thoughts towards everyone no matter how bad they are.
How can we do this? This is how I do it. I really believe that if I were to be in the shoes of any person, be born by their parents, go through the experiences they have been through and have the exact same DNA that they have, I would be them. So I really see others as if they were me just with a different skin and a different upbringing.
This really makes it possible for me to think positive, kind and loving thoughts towards mean and wicked people.
Don’t get me wrong, I still want those who need to be locked up, locked up. And I know that locking them up is sometimes the best thing for them and all the other people around them that I love equally.
You love your neighbor as yourself by not withholding anything good from them as long as they are willing to receive it.
How does this play out practically?
I have made up my mind that the best thing that can happen to anyone around me is for me to be well equipped to be of the uttermost use to them.
For example, if I have enough money to help someone with $5000. It is a good thing. But for me to have $5000 available for him means that in the past I had taken some actions on myself, that made it possible to save $5000 and have it available to help my friend.
This means then, that in order to love my neighbor and not withhold good from her, I must invest in myself much more than I invest in others today so that I can have a greater capacity to invest in other people tomorrow.
How do I love my neighbor as myself by investing in myself?
This means that I must connect properly with God my creator. That is why our Lord Jesus informed us that the first and most important commandment is to love the Lord your God with all…(Matt 22:37).
Connecting with God daily in prayers, repentance, meditating on God’s love and greatness, fellowship with the Holy Spirit and receiving instructions is the first and most important investment you can make in your life. This is so because connecting with God has both a natural and eternal benefit.
When I connect with God, I know that I am benefiting a lot but at the same time I know that I am being loaded with enough love to spread to my neighbors. When you are filled with love, you can share love.
When you are filled with love you won’t look down on another person because they are of another skin colour and when someone who is racist comes around you with contempt, you would be able to see past their hatred and see the evil that makes them do what they do.
After investing in your connection with God, you must devote time to always become better! Invest in personal development or growth in every area of your life. I have come to learn that this is a great way to help people.
When I don’t plan my growth (I learned this from John Maxwell), I won’t grow much and my value would not be much in many ways. I would still be valuable for company, and a few other things but imagine if I was much better at doing one thing and I have a lot of resources that I can draw from. Then I can always help at a higher capacity.
How do I love my neighbor by investing in them?
If I spend all my time developing myself and I don’t have any time to develop others, then I am withholding some good for my neighbor. There has to be a balance.
How do we draw that balance? Here is how I see Jesus do it. He gives the early mornings to connecting with God (personal growth) (Mark 1:35) and gives the afternoon and evening to the people. Then He gives the night again to God and sometimes all night.
What does that mean? We schedule our time with God and time for learning and guard it Jealously – Although we remain flexible enough for God to change our schedule. We also schedule a time to be available to be of help to people that God sends our way.
Do you have a schedule for your time with God? Do you have a schedule or growth plan? Please share with me in the comments section below.
How to love your neighbor as yourself – Non Christians!
We need to define neighbor for the purpose of this article. Like Jesus, I define neighbor as anyone that you get in contact with, such as people you meet at stores, your colleagues at work or school, poeple who live in the same community as you do and in fact every human being on earth 😀!
So how do you love people who do not see Jesus as their Lord and saviour or who do not even believe there is a God?
Desire good for them – what is the best thing that has happened to you? For me it is salvation. So I desire that every person I meet and in fact I desire that everyone on earth will accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
Pray for them – I always pray for everyone around me and we do it even as a family. This should flow easily from the first point. When we desire a miracle for someone it automatically pushes us to ask the miracle-working God for a miracle.
Share with them – when we have prayed, we must not withhold the truth from our neighbors. Develop genuine friendships with them. We must share what we know with them. But we must do it in such a way that we do not violate their freedom. We must offer our love and knowledge of Jesus, not impose. We must always give room for people to accept or reject our offer of generosity. We know that as long as Jesus is in us, they are being exposed to His love through us anyway.
Continue to meet their needs as best as you can and learn what you can from them
Become better so you can help them better.
How do you love your neighbor as yourself- Other disciples of Jesus
We love them the same way.
Desire the best for them – the best thing is for them to have a better and more fruitful relationship with God
Pray for them – to have this relationship and to keep moving towards more joy, peace, love and obedience to God
Share all that you are learning with them without imposing on them
Continue to meet their needs as best as you can and also learn from them.
Become better so you can help them better
Partner with them to get even multiplied results
How do you love your neighbor as yourself ?- Someone Hostile
In this case we assume the person is not a believer and is hostile
Share with them mostly by your lifestyle as much s they can observe from your response to their hostility. I find that when I have a genuine loving thought in my heart for people that are initially hostile, they are sometimes shocked by my lack of reciprocal hatred.
Meet their needs when it happens that you are opportuned to.
Continue to become better
Take the necessary legal action if need be.
Some practical ways to love your neighbor as yourself
Prayer- there is nothing better than this
Listen to them (be hospitable and build genuine friendships).
When they have a need that you can meet, prayerfully meet it but don’t work alone. Invite a friend or family member at least for the prayers
Invite them for celebrations or for dinner at your home.
I am usually very careful with sharing things to do because I find that a lot of people want to rush to do something and then they get burnt out and discouraged.
God is love and love should originate from God. The first way for you to love your neighbor as yourself is to bring them into your special time with God. That is to pray for them. Do this a lot and as often as you can. Please always start here.
If you are a disciple of Jesus and you know deep inside you that Jesus wants you to attract other people to Him, then I encourage you to take my Free BiVo Minister course! I am sure you will want to share it with all your Christian Friends.
What would Jesus Do? If you want to explore this though some more, I encourage you to read the book – In His Steps by Charles Sheldon. This is one of the first books that started me on my life long journey of loving like Jesus.
Making disciples is the mission of every disciple of Jesus on earth. It is should flow out of our relationship with Jesus. I believe that the church can be a more formidable change agent on earth if only we can all be active disciple-makers.
In this article, I present 3 misconceptions about making disciples that are holding many children of God back today. As a BiVo Minister, knowing the truth will make you much more fruitful.
Making Disciples is mainly for Evangelists, Pastors, and Apostles
This is one of the biggest misconceptions that many disciples of Jesus have about making disciples.
I thought like this earlier in my Christian walk. I assumed that because evangelists and pastors were always winning many people to Jesus, it meant that they were gifted and called to do the work and other believers are just to support them with prayers and finances. And from time to time we invite people to listen to these pastors and evangelists.
This assumption is one of the reasons why many believers today have not led anyone to Jesus and have not discipled anyone despite the fact that they could have been saved for several years.
This misconception is very crippling for the body of Christ because in a church of 1,000 adult members you would find just a handful of gifted and full-time ministers. And in a church of this size, maybe you get 100 visitors every weekend. This means that the pastor only gets to use his gift to speak to 100 new people each week at the service.
If however, each adult member understood correctly that they are also called to make disciples, we get 1,000 adults potentially ministering to 1 – 5 people daily. That gives us 1000 – 5000 potential people reached daily.
I know that these numbers don’t translate directly to real life. However, as a pastor, I have come to believe that my work is to enable, encourage, and equip each member of the congregation to be active in making disciples daily.
I no longer measure the strength of a church by how many people are actively engaged in the activities of the church. I now measure it by how many members are actively engaged in making disciples.
Here is what Jesus has to say in Matt 28:18-20 – Go and make disciples. Then teach them to do the same. If you are a disciple of Jesus, you are a disciple-maker or what I call a BiVo Minister.
I don’t know enough to start Making Disciples
This is another misconception I had about making disciples. I thought that I needed to know a lot of scriptures before I could minister effectively to people who seemed to know so much about life and science etc.
Yes, it’s very helpful if you know scriptures but you don’t need more than the few scriptures that impacted you to start.
God set me free from this misconception by showing to me that there are many people who are in need of Jesus and are simply looking for someone to introduce Jesus to them. These people would ask more practical questions. Even if I am not able to answer some of the difficult questions, I can still love the people and let them know that Jesus loves them.
I can still remember when I would feel so deflated when I did not have a good answer to some of the questions that people had. And I would wish that no one would ask those difficult questions.
What I have come to understand is that when people have questions that I cannot answer, I can go and look for the answers for them. However, I must keep looking out for those who are aware of their need for salvation so that I can introduce them to Jesus.
You may not believe it, but there are so many people around you whom you may not know who are crying out for help and Jesus is the help they need. And you have Jesus.
In John 4, we see the story of a woman who had a need for a saviour. She knew that things were not alright with her morally and otherwise but she did not know how to fix it. Jesus was the solution. He showed her love and it transformed her.
The interesting part of this story is that she did not wait for long before she brought a lot of people to Jesus. It’s almost certain that there were some people who asked her some difficult questions but the important thing to note here is that she was able to bring so many to Jesus because she loved them enough to tell them the good news. (John 4:39-41)
Since I learned this lesson, I have enjoyed some very intellectual discussions with different people and I have led those who were ready to Jesus. Some of those who have questions I believe will still find Jesus because every encounter they have with a disciple of Jesus brings them face to face with the love of Jesus in one way or the other. Love you see, is not easy to resist.
So, my dear friend, it’s true that you may not yet have all the answers to all the questions that you will encounter as you attempt to share your faith with non-believers. One thing is sure. You have Jesus and you can share what you know. If you encounter someone that is not yet ready, then trust God that your encounter with them will move them forward.
It is not what you say that converts a non-believer to a believer.
In Luke 10:2 Jesus said to the disciples that the harvest is ripe. What that means for you and I is that there is a lot of work that the Holy Spirit has done in the lives of the people around us that makes them ripe for harvest.
As we encounter people, the ripening process is being done by the Holy Spirit. After a certain amount of contact and life experiences they become ready to be harvested for Jesus (the Holy spirit convicts them). What you say will only bring in those who are already ripe for harvest.
So don’t feel bad that a person did not pray the salvation prayer with you today. Continue to love them and look for more opportunities to present the gospel to more people. You will soon find someone who is ripe because that is what Jesus says and you may later find that the ones who did not believe at first are now ready to believe.
I know a few people who did not follow Jesus all the time we were in university who later received Him and are doing very well now. When we were witnessing to them then, they acted as if they would never get saved.
I don’t have enough time for Making Disciples
I think this one affects a lot of us today. It comes from the idea that making disciples is different from our regular lives and that we do it after doing “more urgent” or “more important” life issues.
It’s easy to think that getting food on the table is quite urgent and it must be done first before investing time in seeking and saving the lost people of God (Luke 19:10) like Jesus.
The fact that you have taken the time to read up to this point shows that you are interested in sharing the gospel, winning souls for Jesus, praying for them, and helping them to become fruitful disciples.
It takes time to make disciples
The truth is that it actually takes time to make disciples. It takes time to make friends that are not believers in Jesus Christ. It takes time to add value to people without any benefits to you other than the joy of blessing others. It takes time to pray for new believers who will make mistakes from time to time. It takes time to be there for people as they sort out their lives with Jesus. Discipleship has some costs!
What we sometimes forget is that although making disciples takes a lot of time, the return on investment is out of this world. The return on investment is not comparable with the investment. The eternal life that the new believer receives, the joy and blessings that the new believer will have and share with the people in his or her life, the contribution that the new believer will make to the work of making disciples cannot be compared to the time investment required.
I really believe that even if one invests 3 to 5 hour everyday for 40 years just for one lost soul to come home to Jesus, it is a very profitable investment.
You can always find time to make disciples
That being said, how then can you find time for making disciples? The first step is to realize and accept that making disciples is your first and most important call in life. It can and should be done as you live your life.
You can make friends at work, in your neighbourhood, at your children’s school and everywhere you go. Making disciples starts with loving people enough to share the good news with them. You can devote 10 – 20 mins daily to pray for the lost people around you. Then you trust the Holy Spirit to lead you and show you when to present the gospel to these people.
As a family, we pray for our neighbours and people all over the world who are not saved. We pray that God would give us the opportunity to present the gospel to them. We also pray that God will use us to show to everyone around us that He loves them very much.
In my own life, what I find that happens to me is that I get busy with urgent activities and I then realize that there seems to be no time to do what I know is more important.
If you are like me, what needs to be done is to consciously prioritize making disciples for Jesus, schedule it, pray about it and celebrate every little progress.
Here is what Dr John Maxwell has to say about making disciples as a lifestyle. There are lots of great tips in this message.
Conclusion
I have shared just 3 of misconceptions that I believe have held many believers back over the years and the truth that counters them. I hope that by reading this, you will become more relaxed and more aware of your role in the great work that Jesus is doing on earth. If you would like to learn how to make disciples with ease even with a busy schedule, I encourage you to take my free BiVo Minister Course.
Are there any other misconceptions you have overcome? Please share them in the comments below.
My guest today on the BiVo Podcast is a good friend. I have known him since 2010. Over the past 10 years he has completed his PhD and started his own company. His testimony would bless you.
Discipleship is simply the process of learning and imbibing the doctrines or philosophies of a specific teacher. In this case, it is the process involved in a person becoming like Jesus.
When I think of discipleship I think of apprenticeship but a lot more. Because as an apprentice, you learn a trade but as a disciple, you imbibe the teacher’s philosophy of life.
Who is a disciple?
A disciple of Jesus is a person who loves people like Jesus and does what Jesus would do.
Do you know that Jesus has put in place a spiritual system to help you access the same power, love, joy, and wisdom with which he operated?
Everything about Christianity is supposed to be about following Jesus and becoming like Jesus.
In a final instruction to the first disciples before Jesus ascended into heaven, Jesus commanded the disciples in Matt 28:18 to make disciples of all nations! They were to do this by baptizing them and teaching them to observe all the commandments of Jesus.
In other words, find people, share the good news with them, if they believe baptize them, and teach them to do all that I commanded you to do. If this is well done, the new disciples will be making disciples.
So you see now that every christian or believer in Jesus is expected to be a disciple of Jesus. And every disciple is called to Make Disciples.
If you would like to learn how to make disciples even as a busy professional, I invite you to take my BiVo Minister Course.
My first experience with discipleship
When I first received Jesus as my saviour and friend, I was so full of joy and I expected everyone to share in my excitement. But this was not the case. A few people were happy that I was happy and others couldn’t care less.
And soon, I found myself wandering away from the Lord and the truth I had received. Although I had begun the journey, I did not have a road map and I was just wandering along.
After a couple of years, I went to highschool and found a group of friends who were growing together in their faith and relationship with Jesus.
They had books, sermon tapes (audio), and they shared these amongst themselves. I was so happy to join this group. It was then that I really learned how to walk with Jesus and live for Him.
You can listen to my podcast interview with one of those high school friends called Dr Joe Omofuma.
What are the major characteristics of true discipleship?
True discipleship should lead the disciple into being like Jesus – A true disciple of Jesus is a person who loves God with everything and loves his or her neighbor as themselves.
Discipleship isn’t just learning some doctrines. It involves changing your previous philosophy of life and imbibing that of the teacher. This process would be different for each individual because our philosophies are also different.
So for us to agree that true discipleship is happening, the discipleship program should include:
Conversion and Baptism
Studies of Scriptures
Learning to hear from and speak with Jesus
Making of other disciples ( Repeating a-c above with other people)
The Cost of Discipleship
Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and takeup his cross daily, and follow Me. (Luke 9:23 NKJV)
Jesus talked a lot about the cost of discipleship (Luke 14:27-29; Matt 16:25-26). As a lead pastor since 2005, I have found over and over again that there is a cost attached to following Jesus.
Jesus never hid the cost. In fact, He made a point of highlighting the cost to the disciples from time to time. I share some of the cost of my discipleship in this podcast (cost of ministry).
Sometimes, we do not want new disciples to know the cost of discipleship.
We feel that if we tell them that “your friends may make fun of you, you may lose your job, family members may not invite you to parties, you may be imprisoned, you may need to go into some dangerous places to find other lost people etc” that they would not want to continue.
What we forget is that when we first surrendered to Jesus, we did not care about all these things. We were too happy to be welcomed into the Kingdom of God to care.
It cost something to follow Jesus. However, it pays much more!!
What is the cost of discipleship? Your life! Discipleship costs your life. You would need to lay down your life and take up Jesus’ life.
The benefit of Discipleship
There are a few more passages in the Bible where Jesus talks about the cost of discipleship such as ( ). However, Jesus talks more about the benefits of discipleship.
What is it? It is the Kingdom of GOD.
When we follow Jesus, we get the Kingdom of God. We get to live the life of Christ. We become children of God. We also get set free from the bondage of sin and the consequences of sin.
As a disciple of Jesus, we really get to live like Jesus on earth. We can live a life that is full of love, joy, peace and the power of God over evil, sin and all the work of the devil.
This life is what is called eternal life. Eternal life starts here on earth and continues for all eternity with God.
Take note that Jesus does not promise us a life without challenges, trials or temptations. What He promises is peace even in the midst of the challenges of life.
In fact, Jesus kept on reminding his followers that the Kingdom of God is so valuable that one would gladly leave all they have so that they can receive the Kingdom.
For the last couple of Saturdays, we have been playing Monopoly as a family. The boys are loving it and we are happy that we get to teach them money and investment in a fun way. Monopoly usually takes a couple of hours, so we take photos of the state of things and continue on the following Saturday.
Why am I sharing this? Well the Lord reminded me recently that receiving the Kingdom of God is like leaving lots of monopoly money and riches, to get real riches in dollars.
Monopoly money is real in the game. It can do a lot in the game but it ends there. The truth, however, is that we live both in the monopoly game (1 hr a week) and in the real world. Anyone of us would gladly lose monopoly money to get real-life dollars.
Riches and fame on earth are like monopoly money. You can afford to lose them to gain real money which is like eternal life. The interesting part is that many times after letting go of your life, so that you can receive eternal life, you actually get a much richer and fulfilling life. You get what you were looking for in the first place.
What does discipleship Involve?
Learning
As a disciple of Jesus, you need to learn all that Jesus commanded. You also need to learn how to how communicate with Jesus. The primary learning material for a disciple is the Bible. It is a good thing for every disciple of Jesus to read through the Bible and have an overview of the redemption story from the creation of the world to the second coming of Jesus.
There are many ways to learn from the Bible. Some of them include, daily personal Bible reading, group Bible studies, reading of christian literature, regular attendance at a weekly worship service etc.
Just learn as much as you can learn and practice everything you learn. There is no use learning if one does not intend on practicing.
I have found in my life that, as soon as you begin to practice what you learn in scriptures, you begin to have opposition. This is why it is important to have a group of other disciples that you are connected with.
Repenting
Repenting is a big part of discipleship because, the Holy Spirit would use scriptures to convict you. You will find many things that you are doing that you shouldn’t be doing. You would also find many things that you should be doing that you aren’t doing.
As a disciple of Jesus and a BiVo Minister, I encourage you to repent as soon as you discover a sin in your life. I remember, when the Lord first started to teach me about unconditional love. I still get some lessons on it till this day.
The Lord would rebuke me a lot for my negative thoughts. When I would feel offended by what someone said or did. I would think something like, this person is wicked and mean. And the Lord would remind me that he or she is like that because they don’t know Him. I would have to say sorry Lord.
Not only would you need to repent for things you do wrong. The Lord would even correct you for things you did and thought were ok earlier in your discipleship process.
I remember the Holy Spirit, leading me to tell my dad that I had misplaced his Bible a few years back. The truth was that I had misplaced my dad’s bible and because I did not want to look foolish and careless, I had pretended to help my dad search for the Bible when he asked me about it. I had to tell my dad the truth.
As you develop your relationship with God, He will purge you of things that would be a problem for you now and in the future. Mine was pride and He has been dealing with it in me.
Reaching out
Every disciple of Jesus is expected to go out and find other disciples. You are expected to tell other people about what Jesus has done for you. Jesus calls us the light of the world. Every disciple should be in the ministry of making disciples.
Are there special people that can help other disciples on their discipleship path? No! All disciples are commissioned to teach as well. You are encouraged to share all you have learned with new disciples. You are also encouraged to introduce them to your church family.
However, it important to mention at this point that we are all called to help other believer grow. Are you currently helping anyone grow?
I hear a lot of believers complain that they don’t have the time. And for any believer that says that, I gently remind them that this is what we are here for. It is a priority. We need to make time for it. It is what Jesus came to do. I talked more about this in my article – Are You a BiVo Minister?
How is your discipleship going?
Remember that we are all disciples of Jesus. We are all being transformed into the image of our Lord Jesus Christ. The situations, circumstances, trials, temptations, relationships and victories in our lives are being used daily by our Lord Jesus Christ to mold us.
What are you learning these days? How are you being transformed? True repentance is not usually a bad thing for a disciple of Jesus. As you are being transformed by Jesus, you will find a lot of things that you are doing wrong. Each time you repent and make amends, you step forward.
Lately our Lord Jesus has been challenging us that our church model is not making it as easy to multiply disciples for Him. He has been helping us to focus a lot more on discipleship.
I have had to repent for not doing this earlier. Although we focused on discipleship, many of the members of our church family had never led anyone to Christ, most are not helping anyone become a better disciple. This is not because we did not talk about discipleship, but we did not create a system that would make it easier for any member to make disciples for Jesus.
Are you making disciples?
Have you led someone to Jesus this year or in the last 2 or 3 years? I know that there are some who have never led anyone to Christ since they became a disciple of Jesus.
If this is you, don’t panic. I thank God that you read this blog up to this point. Making disciples for Jesus does not have to be difficult. You can even do it, with a busy schedule.
You can make disciples for Jesus even if you are not a big “people person” or extrovert. Usually, the reason that many disciples of Jesus do not make disciples for Jesus is because of limiting beliefs. If you change those beliefs, and take up biblical ones. You will find that within the next year or two, you will be discipling one, two or 3 people. In some communities you may be making disciples in 6 months.
I have created a video course on Making Disciples as BiVo Minister. It is a free course made possible by my partners. I strongly suggest that you check it out. Take the course today. It would really make a difference in your personal discipleship.
This is the summary of discipleship in the church. Every believer is called as a disciple of Jesus. Every disciple is commissioned to make disciples. And Every disciple is being discipled as long as they are on earth.
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Please let me know your thoughts and comments below. You are blessed.
If you are not used to church or Bible language you may not know what I mean by prayers for lost souls. If you became a disciple of Jesus recently you may not be familiar with the term lost souls.
In simple terms “lost souls” are people who have not received the salvation purchased for them by God through the blood of Jesus on the cross.
When I first thought of this title, I wondered if I should not use a more modern term – “Prayers for the unsaved”. I decided to use this title because I think it would remind us of the truth that anyone who is not saved is lost according to scriptures.
Yes I know that it doesn’t sound as cool as “prayers for the not-yet-saved” or “prayers for those who are yet to find Jesus” or even “prayers for unbelieving people”
My point here is that the Bible refers to anyone who is not a disciple of Jesus as lost. My aim in this blog post is to press this point to your heart, and my own heart as well because I thought about changing the title of this post.
Once we understand that these people are lost, we are already on the way to being properly positioned to pray effective prayers for lost souls. Prayers is always the place to begin the journey of making disciples.
Who are lost souls?
Okay you would not find the phrase lost souls in the Bible. However you may find it in some newer translations of the Bible. I use the New King James Version of the Bible most of the time and I did not find “lost soul” in there.
A phrase that is close to “lost soul” is “lost sheep” (Matthew 10:6). And with this phrase, Jesus referred to Israelites who did not believe in Him. The 12 apostles were to confine their initial ministry to Israelites. And they were instructed by Jesus to preach the message that the Kingdom of heaven is near.
So Jesus was first to call anyone who did not believe in Him or receive the message of the Kingdom as lost.
Jesus also called everyone whom He came to save as “The Lost”. In Luke 19:10.
So now you see that anyone who does not have the new life in Christ Jesus is lost. And Jesus is still seeking and saving them.
If you are reading this, it is because Jesus has found you and saved you. Not only have you been saved, you want to know effective prayers for lost souls, so that they can have and enjoy the blessing you are enjoying in Christ.
Why does Jesus call them lost?
Jesus calls anyone that does not believe in Him lost because God owns us all. Not only does God own us, but he also loves us. When we choose then to live as if God does not exist, or that He doesn’t care, we are truly lost.
There are many other scriptures that show us how terrible it is to be cut off from God. This is why we must pray for the lost souls. And we must encourage other believers to be involved in prayers for lost souls.
Prayers for Lost Souls? Why?
Have you ever been lost? I am not so good with directions so I have gotten lost a few times. When I was about 5 years old I remember getting lost.
I thought I was following my aunt one minute and the next minute (I must have gotten distracted) I did not see her anymore. Then I saw someone that looked like her, and I kept on getting more lost. Eventually she found me.
What is the point of the story? When a person is lost, in most cases, their actions only get them more lost especially when they don’t know that they are lost.
In the case of those who do not believe in Jesus, they are not only lost, they are also spiritually blinded by a wicked enemy – The devil.
Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.
2 Corinthians 4:4 (NLT)
How do I pray for lost souls?
So in praying for the lost, we need to pray to God so that the lost person is saved and at the same time battle against the devil so that the lost person is delivered from the deception of the devil.
There are 4 parties involved in the salvation of any person or soul. In this article, I use the word soul and person interchangeably. Although in scriptures, the word soul has more than one meaning.
The 4 parties involved in the salvation of a person are
The lost person
The Devil
God and the hosts of heaven
The people and circumstances around them (This party contains other lost people and systems and saved people and systems)
For a long time, I figured that if God wanted a person saved, all God had to do was to save him or her. But then I realized that it’s not that simple.
What I have discovered is that God has done all that He can do within the limits of His justice for the salvation of all of us. Although God is all powerful, He willingly laid aside His power, to give us free will. As a result, we get to choose God and love GOD.
This means that for a lost sinner to be saved, he or she has to willingly accept the finished work of Jesus on the cross.
What does this mean?
Well the first thing is this.
God wants whoever you are praying for to be saved more than you can ever want them to be saved (1Timothy 2:1-4)
Now that we have established that God wants the lost soul to be saved, we have great confidence when we come to Him about their salvation. We also know that we have God on our side. Our prayers for lost souls is not to convince God to save the lost. It is to partner with God to save the lost.
So what we need to pray for, is that the lost person would discover that they are lost. That they would know that Jesus is the way and that they would accept Jesus as their savior and Lord.
But for this to happen,
someone has to share the gospel of the kingdom of God with them
the devil’s power over them needs to be broken so that they can realize that the systems of the world only end in the world.
Okay, the stage is now set for us to begin to pray! After all, this article is about the prayers for the lost.
Pray from the Bible for lost Souls
Remember the reason why we pray is not so that we feel that we have prayed. Or to try to convince God to save the lost.
We pray because we want results. We want lost people to be saved.
I know that you want our loved ones to come into the kingdom of God. Which means that you want to be as effective as possible with your prayers.
What prayer can be more effective, than one that is directly from scriptures? Here are some prayers that I and many believers have used over the years to pray for lost souls and have gotten some results.
Thanksgiving Prayers for lost souls
1 Tim 2: 1-6
[su_box title=”Sample Prayer” box_color=”#2aa9d5″]Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for [ ]. I thank you because you want him to be saved. The blood of Jesus has been shed for [ ]. Thank you for placing [ ] in my life. I thank you that he is alive and still has a chance to receive the Lord Jesus as His savior. Lord, please let things work out so that [ ] would come to the knowledge of the truth about your Kingdom. I pray this in the Name of Jesus.[/su_box]
Mercy Prayers for lost souls
Ephesians 2:1-5
[su_box title=”Sample Prayer” box_color=”#2aa9d5″]Dear Lord, I agree that [ ] is lost. He is dead in trespasses and sins. He does what he wants, without regards to your laws and your love for him. I agree that he deserves the full punishment for his sins, just like I did. Dear Lord, I know that you are rich in mercy, and that your great love towards [ ] is being released right now. I agree that it is your mercy that has kept him alive till this moment. Let your mercy, continue to be extended over [ ] and please let him see how lost he is. Lord show your mercy to [ ], I pray in the name of Jesus. Dear Lord, open the eyes of [ ] to see how much you love her ! In the name of Jesus, I stand against the spirit of the power of the air, that is at work in [John]. I declare, that the blood of Jesus is against you. I break your powers over the life of [_____]. From now on, in the name of Jesus, [John] will no longer walk according to the lust of his flesh and mind. Rather, [ ] would submit to the love and lordship of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.text[/su_box]
Prayer for laborers – Ministers of the Gospel
Luke 10:2
[su_box title=”Sample Prayer” box_color=”#2aa9d5″]Heavenly Father, You asked us to pray to you, the Lord of the harvest to send laborers in the harvest of the world. Dear Lord, please send me and other believers into the harvest of [mention your community, city, or individual], to share the good news of your kingdom with them.[/su_box]
[su_box title=”Sample Prayer” box_color=”#2aa9d5″]Dear Lord, Let [ ] there be various opportunities for [ ] to be aware of your love and how lost they are without you. Please use social media, co-workers, literature and other means to bring awareness of their sin and your solution to them. I pray all this in the name of Jesus.[/su_box]
[su_box title=”Sample Prayer” box_color=”#2aa9d5″]Dear Lord, please give me an opportunity to share your love and the gospel of the kingdom with [ ]. And as you give me this opportunity, I receive boldness to share my testimony and the gospel of your Kingdom. Lord, let [ ] understand and accept your mercy and love. I pray in the name of Jesus.[/su_box]
Please take note that it is hypocritical to ask God to send laborers to anyone when we are not willing to be sent by God to that person.
It is true that in a lot of cases, you may not be the right person to share the gospel of the kingdom with them, but nonetheless, you must be willing to be sent by God.
I am learning everyday that our heavenly Father, asks us to pray because He wants us to be engaged with Him in the solutions that He provides.
Warfare against the devil on behalf of the lost
You may have noticed that a major part of our prayers for lost souls would be in the area of warfare against our enemy the devil. This is because the people we are praying for are lost and spiritually dead because of sin and deception of the devil. 2Cor 4:4 (NLT).
[su_box title=”Sample Prayer” box_color=”#2aa9d5″]In the name of Jesus and by the blood of Jesus, I stand against Satan, the god of this world that has blinded the mind of [ ], I demand that you release his mind so that he can understand the gospel of the kingdom of God. I pray in the name of Jesus, that the darkness around their minds would be lifted up and they would be able to see the glorious light of the good news.[/su_box]
[su_box title=”Sample Prayer” box_color=”#2aa9d5″]I pray that [ ] would begin to see sin as God sees it. That they would be disgusted by sin, convicted and seek freedom in the name of Jesus. I pray that the things of God and the words of Christ would have real meaning to them in the name of Jesus.[/su_box]
[su_box title=”Sample Prayer” box_color=”#2aa9d5″]I pray that every seed of the gospel that has been sown into the life of [ ] begins to bear fruit now in the name of Jesus. I pray that these things that seemed to make no sense to them begins to make sense in Jesus Name.[/su_box]
Supplication Prayers for lost souls (Prayer for natural needs of life)
When people who were not following Jesus came to Jesus for miracles, it was a sign that they had some level of faith in Him. Jesus did not turn them away.
I think the same is true today, if we have people around us who do not profess faith in Jesus and they are in need of a solution, we can give them an opportunity to look to Jesus for help.
I usually would use the opportunity to pray for them right there. At other times they may not ask. And you still wonder if to pray for them and how.
The answer is yes! We should also pray for solutions to the problems of the lost. Here are some examples
[su_box title=”Sample Prayer” box_color=”#2aa9d5″]Dear Lord, I pray in the name of Jesus that you have mercy on [ ] and bring [ the requested solution] to him or her. Let the situation begin to turn around now Lord. Let them see that you love them and that you have a plan for their lives. I pray in Jesus’ name.[/su_box]
Prayers for lost souls in the spirit
Ephesians 6:18
This may be the most important part of this post because if you are praying from your flesh, it has little or no effect. All prayers must be done in the spirit.
Praying in the Spirit means, praying by the strength and enablement of the Holy Spirit. It could be with your regular language or with an unknown tongue (1 Corinthians 14:13-15).
However, I want to add that, you should pray in tongues. Allow the Holy Spirit to inspire you to pray in tongues for the lost.
For those of you who have the gift of praying in tongues, you already know that while praying for a particular subject, after exhausting your language, the Holy Spirit would draw you to do more praying in tongues.
I encourage you to do a lot more of this. Stay in the place of prayer for as long as you can afford to. In my experience, I have found that after praying in tongues for the lost, I sense a deeper burden to share the gospel. I also sometimes find that I am guided by the Holy Spirit to minister more effectively to the particular individuals or to the lost in general.
How long should I pray for lost souls?
As long as it takes. I don’t think we can stop praying for lost souls. As long as a person is alive, they can still receive Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. As long as we are alive we can still pray.
Praying for the lost is one of the first steps in making disciples as a BiVo Minister. Before you try to speak to anyone about Jesus, you need to pray for them first.
Compassion for lost souls
If you have read this post up to this point, then I believe you have some compassion for the people out there who do not know how much God loves them. Jesus had great compassion for the lost (Matthew 14:14).
I believe that Jesus spent time praying for the people who were not following Him. He even prayed for those who were used to crucify Him (Luke 23:24).
As a part of my prayers for lost souls, I also ask the Lord to give me more compassion for those who do not know Him. I ask Him to help me to always remember to pray for the lost. As a family, we pray for our neighbors, friends, and family who are not disciples of Jesus daily.
Here is a testimony shared by Charles G Finney, about a woman who had compassion for lost souls and prayed until change came.
The first ray of light that broke in upon the midnight which rested on the churches in Oneida county, in the fall of 1825, was from a woman in feeble health, who, I believe, had never been in a powerful revival. Her soul was exercised about sinners. She was in an agony for the land. She did not know what ailed her, but she kept praying more and more, until it seemed as if her agony would destroy her body. At length she became full of joy, and exclaimed: “God has come! God as come! There is no mistake about it, the work is begun, and is going all over the region.” And sure enough, the work began, and her family were almost all converted, and the work spread all over that part of the country.
Sometimes, its difficult to pray for all the lost souls around us because some of them cause us great harm. They may try to get rid of you at work, they may be mean to you in the community or just evil to everyone.
This is why we must let the Holy Spirit lead us at all times. It is the Holy Spirit that convicts and draws anyone to Jesus (John 16:8, John 6:44). There is no one too far gone for the Holy Spirit to convict. The compassion you and I feel for the lost is God’s invitation for us to join Him in the works of seeking and saving the lost.
Conclusion
I hope that this post has helped you on your journey towards making disciples for Jesus by showing you how to pray for the lost. And providing some starter prayers for lost souls. Please make up your own prayers from scripture and pray until you something happens.
The answer to this question changes depending on who you ask. My thoughts about this have changed over time as well.
Traditional Definition
A BiVo Minister or a Bivocational Minister is a person who works and earns a living in the market place and at the same time works as a minister of the gospel. Usually, they are also paid some allowance or part-time income by the church or ministry they work for.
My definition of the BiVo Minister
A BiVo minister is a disciple of Jesus, who takes the responsibility of making disciples for Jesus as their primary vocation, and any other job as a secondary vocation. This is without regard to how these vocations are funded.
2 years ago, I thought that a Bivocational Minister is a minister of the gospel who earns income from two different sources. That is a pastor or evangelist who earns money from his or her work as a pastor or evangelist and also as a doctor, teacher, plumber, construction worker, blogger etc. Or who earns income from their work in the market place only, but also serve as a Pastor or Minister.
I also believed that a drummer or Sunday school teacher who earned all their income as a teacher is not a BiVo minister. At that time, I would have described that drummer or choir member as a volunteer at church who is a committed member of the body of Christ.
Around the end of 2019, the Lord began to redefine the Bivocational Ministry to me.
Okay before I tell you about that. Let me tell you that, in 2018 I felt led by the Holy Spirit to devote a large portion of my time and ministry to do one thing. Encouraging and Empowering Bivocational (BiVo) ministers.
What I did not do at that time was to get the definition of BiVo ministers that the Holy Spirit was referring to. So I started a podcast, called the BiVo podcast. It was going well but around the middle of 2019 I found that I just could not continue. My definition of BiVo Ministry was changing. So I stopped.
It’s not really the definition of BiVo Ministry that changed but my definition of disciple became very sharp.
The truth is, I have always focussed on discipleship in my ministry. I believe that Jesus came to make disciples and He continues to make disciples today.
What I did not articulate and accept in 2018 is that once a person becomes a disciple of Jesus, that person has a calling that must be respected as a vocation. What that means to me now is that every disciple of Jesus has a mandate and a calling to make as many disciples for Jesus as they are empowered to by the Holy Spirit.
Before now, I knew and I referred to Pastors who worked full-time in a secular job as BiVo Pastor even though they were not paid by the church. I did this because I knew that for many of those pastors, they saw their work as pastors as a calling. They just happened not to be paid from the church purse.
What is new ? Disciple Makers?
My new definition is that every disciple of Jesus is called primarily as a disciple-maker and as such any other job we do is a secondary vocation. This means that all disciples of Jesus are BiVo Ministers.
A BiVo minister is anyone who is a disciple of Jesus, who takes the responsibility of making disciples for Jesus as their primary vocation, and any other job as a secondary vocation. This is without regard to how these vocations are funded.
How does that affect you?
Well once the Holy Spirit convicted me that every disciple of Jesus is employed by the Holy Spirit primarily as a disciple maker, I had to agree that all disciples of Jesus are BiVo Ministers.
I understand the instruction to the Holy Spirit better now. What I sense the Lord asking me to do through this website and other avenues that open up is to let all disciples of Jesus know that they are either BiVo Minister or Full-time ministers.
My job is to help you realize that you have been employed by the Holy Spirit to call others to Jesus as disciples. You are engaged primarily as a disciple-maker. Any other job or vocation you have is secondary. Your job as a doctor or Politician is designed to assist you in fulfilling your primary call as a disciple-maker.
3 Reasons for BiVo Ministry
1 – Jesus Called You to Be a Disciple Maker
I have elaborated on this already in my definition. Here, I want to show you a few scriptures that will make this more real to you.
Make Disciples
In Matthew 28:18-20, we see Jesus instruct the first disciples about making disciples. He instructed them to teach the new disciples to observe ALL the things that He commanded them.
What this means is that they were to make disciples, who make disciples, who make disciples, who make disciples and on and on. Each disciple teaches the new disciples to obey Jesus. So our primary task as disciples is to make disciples.
Seek the Kingdom
Another text that may help is the one in Matthew 6:33
Here Jesus is teaching His disciples that the primary task of any disciple of His is to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
What does it mean for us to seek the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness? I believe it means that we seek the progress of the Kingdom in us and through us. The Kingdom of God refers to the rulership of God.
So if we are to seek God’s rulership and righteousness first, it means we must put God’s plans and purposes first. We know that God’s purpose is revealed in Christ Jesus. And Jesus has made it clear to us that He wants as many people as possible to be restored to the Kingdom of God.
Jesus is referred to as the first born among many brethren. Jesus wants to place many “Jesus” everywhere on earth, calling more disciples. In actual fact, Jesus wants to live righteously and gloriously through all His disciples. That is what it means for the Kingdom of God to come or to make progress on earth.
“The command to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness first, enjoins upon us to treat this subject as of absolute and supreme importance. This must be the great business of our lives. Nothing else is allowed to have any practical importance compared with this.”
Commit to Faithful men
You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 3 You therefore must endure[a] hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. 5 And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6 The hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops. 7 Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things. (2 Timothy 2:1-7)
This is the way of the disciples of Jesus. Whatever you learn or receive, transfer to other disciples who would comitt them to other disciples.
Are you a disciple?
Now that I have shown to you a few of the scriptures that made it plain to me, that every disciple has a primary vocation called disciple making, I hope you would accept this vocation.
I believe that every disciple of Jesus is called to be a disciple maker. What bothers me is that there are too many believers out there who think that they are disciples of Jesus but they have not accepted this call.
Do you see making disciples for Jesus as your primary call in life? If that is not the case, you are not alone. You can do something about it. You can accept that call now.
You can determine that everything you are and do must contribute towards sharing the good news of the Kingdom of God with others and making new disciples for Jesus.
Take note that, this is simply a change in perspective. It’s easy to write it as a single sentence, but it is a complete transformation for anyone that accepts it.
If you choose to put first what Jesus puts first, then as a disciple of Jesus you will be at peace and you will be successful. You will bear much fruit.
What is your chief pursuit in life? Is it to draw others to Jesus by sharing the good news of the Kingdom? Then you are a true disciple of Jesus. You are also a BiVo Minister if you have a secondary vocation or a Full-time Minister if you have no other vocation.
2. Jesus is fully committed to this Ministry
The first reason why I believe you are called to BiVo Ministry should be enough to convince you.
But if you need 2 more, here is the second one. Jesus is committed to making disciples. Jesus declares in Matthew 16:18 that,
8 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
If you take up this privilege of letting Jesus build His church in you and through you as your primary task, then you are a coworker with Jesus.
I know that many of you, are wondering how you will make disciples. Please be at peace. Jesus is so committed to this business, that if you just yield to the impulses of the Holy Spirit, you will find people who want to be disciples of Jesus.
You are the body, Jesus does the work through you. The most important part is that you choose to accept that Jesus call ALL His disciples as disciple makers.
There is Joy in Heaven and in your heart when a new disciple begins the journey.
Yes discipleship is a journey. It starts when a person accepts that the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus is true and was for him or her. Once a person accepts that Jesus is thier saviour and the call out to Him as Lord, then discipleship starts.
If you have ever led someone to Jesus, and you have experienced the joy that floods the heart of the new believer and yours, you will agree with me that it’s beyond explanation.
Jesus declares it in Luke 15:10
10 Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Every disciple of Jesus has it in his or her spiritual DNA to seek and share the good news with the lost. As soon as you find Jesus or Jesus finds you, it becomes very important to you to share the good news with other people like you.
I know that many of you reading this article may have become discouraged about sharing the good news for many reasons. Maybe you have been rejected, persecuted, ridiculed or you just got distracted.
Whatever the case may be, I hope that you will be encouraged to know that Jesus has recruited you not just to share the gospel but to make disciples for Him. You may also be encouraged to know that Jesus is fully committed to this business and He will provide the supernatural resources you need. Your joy and the joy of every disciple will be fuller as you make now disciples.
This is what I believe Jesus has called me to do with this website. To encourage 1 million disciples to see themselves as BiVo Ministers and to become better at doing it.
A good book to read about BiVo Ministry is BiVo by Hugh Halter. He talks more about bivocational pastors and church planter. It is a very encouraging book for BiVo Pastors.
My addition to the discussion is that you don’t have to pastor a church or have an “organized or registered” ministry to be considered as a BiVo Minister. You can start by accepting the call of Jesus in your life.
Will you answer the call to be a disciple maker now?
If your answer is yes, then you would like my online course on Making Disciples for Jesus called The BiVo Minister.
Your Turn
Do you see yourself as a BiVo Minister? If not why not?
How has this article helped you? What thoughts or questions do you have. Please share your story and experience with us.
Have you ever felt like a failure in ministry even when you are doing well at your workplace? On this episode of the BiVo podcast, I share my thoughts and experience with this.
![Dear Lord open the eyes of [] to see how much you love her.](https://adesobanjo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/open-the-eyes-683x1024.png)
