Ade – Page 6 – Ade Sobanjo

God can use a simple prayer when the heart is right!

In the move of God that was experienced in Wales in 1904, God used a simple prayer to do a big work.

If someone prays that God should send the Holy Spirit today we would all agree that the Holy Spirit is already here and that the prayer needs to be modified.

But God knows the heart! He doesn’t only consider the words. I believe the Lord will eventually correct us when we use the wrong words but we don’t need to worry too much about words when we really want the glory of God with all our spirit soul and body.

Here is what happened in the first week of the move of God in Wales!

The first week of revival under Evan Roberts culminated in a powerful Sunday evening service. Here is Roberts’ description of the events.
By midnight the whole congregation was “overwhelmed with tears…Then the people came down from the gallery, and sat close to one another. ‘Now,’ said I, ‘we must believe that the Spirit will come; not think He will come; not hope He will come; but firmly believe that He will come.’
Then I read the promises of God, and pointed out how definite they were. (Remember, I am doing all under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and praise be to him.)
After this, the Spirit said that everyone was to pray. Pray now, not confess, not sing, not give experience, but pray and believe, and wait. And this is the prayer, ‘Send the Spirit now, for Jesus Christ’s sake.’ “The people were sitting, and only closed their eyes. The prayer began with me.
Then it went from seat to seat—boys and girls—young men and maidens. Some asking in silence, some aloud, some coldly, some with warmth, some formally, some in tears, some with difficulty, some adding to it, boys and girls, strong voices, then tender voices.
Oh, wonderful! I never thought of such an effect. I felt the place beginning to be filled, and before the prayer had gone half way through the chapel, I could hear some brother weeping, sobbing, and saying, ‘Oh, dear! dear! well! well!’ ‘Oh, dear! dear!’ On went the prayer, the feeling becoming more intense; the place being filled more and more (with the Spirit’s presence).”
The sixty or more remaining at this time now gathered around the revivalist, many almost overcome with awe. Some called out, “No more, Lord Jesus, or I die!” Others cried for mercy, weeping, singing, praising, and lying prostrate on the floor in agony of conviction for their sin. Eventually they closed the meeting, and Roberts got to bed at 3:15 A.M.
By now simultaneous revival had also come to Gorseinon, with praying, weeping, and singing such as people had never known before.
Revival Fire, Pg 190 – Wesley Duewel

When they asked the Holy Spirit to come, they wanted the manifestation of the Holy Spirit and He manifested with great convictions!

Let’s continue to pray for the manifestation of the Holy Spirit as we interact with people daily, at our Discovery Groups, at our workplaces and our church meetings! Let’s ask in faith!

Desperate for a move of God – Evan Roberts

What can we do to catalyze a move of God? My answer is prayers! If we want God to move we must ask!

If you want to pray for a move of God, then the move of God has started in a way because, it is the spirit of God that draws us to pray!

When the world wide move of God started in wales in 1904, Evan Roberts had been praying for a about 13 years! Here is a quote from Revival Fires!

Roberts began to pray for 100,000 souls, and God gave him the assurance that 100,000 would be won to Christ. He testified, “The divine fire has taken hold of us.”Roberts felt the necessity of full obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit. He envisaged taking a team of young people with him in evangelism across Wales. He kept urging the people to surrender fully to the Holy Spirit and to obey Him.
Revival Fires, p185, Wesley Duewel

Let us keep praying and let’s not stop until we experience a move of God! While praying let’s follow Robert’s simple instructions during the revival!

Throughout the revival period he repeatedly emphasized four points: (1) confess openly and fully any unconfessed sin; (2) put away from your life anything doubtful; (3) obey promptly anything the Spirit tells you to say and do; (4) confess Christ openly.
Revival Fires, p189, Wesley Duewel

Cute little baby?

Whenever I read about the hurtful and wicked things that people do to others, I always remember that the person who is behaving like a monster was once referred to as a cute little baby.

How does a cute and adorable baby become a “monster”?

I believe a baby becomes a “monster” by acting out more of the negative thoughts that comes to their heart than other people who learn to say no to negative, unloving thoughts.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.””
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭17:9-10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

This is why we preach the gospel of the kingdom of God. Every “cute like baby” must be born again to receive pardon from a just God and then to receive a new heart that loves God and others.

You and I have been called to this task. Every disciple of Jesus is called to invite everyone on earth to receive pardon and a new life in Christ!

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2:1-2‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Labor of Love

There is labor involved in love. It takes time and energy to develop friendship. It takes time and conscious effort to know your neighbor, invite them for dinner, help them when they need it.

“We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” ‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭1:2-3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

It takes time and energy to do a discovery bible study and start a discovery group. It takes time and energy to visit people in the hospital, in the prisons and in the homeless shelters.

There is labor involved in loving the people we know. There is labor involved in loving the people we don’t know very much!

I thank God for helping us to do this labor of love?

It’s worth it. We all came to this earth through a labor of love by our moms. And if you ask any mother, she would most likely say it is worth it!

People are also born into the kingdom of God through a labor of love! And it is so worth the labor!

You are blessed!

Work of Faith

Everything we do as believers is to be done with faith in God. The simple way to say this is this:

Everything we do must be because we trust that God is true to His words!

“We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” ‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭1:2-3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Wether you have a specific scripture in mind or not, there should always be a scripture that gives you an assurance that God is true to His word.

So when we pray, it is because we know that God answers prayers not because we have no other choice.

When we love and care for strangers it is because we know that God loves them and we trust that God wants to manifest His love through us!

The work of faith therefore is the effort needed to consistently trust that God’s word is true when you have so many other voices around you fighting for your trust.

You may have a voice saying that you are not useful to your neighbor who has a very big house. The work of faith is what you do in your heart to say no!

I am useful to everyone around me because my prayer to God affects them, my smile at them affects them and God who made them and put us around each other has a plan.

I remember, the Holy Spirit helping me to stay in faith for so many things! Things as little as, say hello to that person over there. And big things like move your family to Kuje.

This is the work of faith. It is a daily work. To us believers it’s like breathing. You do it so many times in a day without sweating. But once in a while you feel it because the resistance is much!

Praise be to God for the Holy Spirit who helps us with our work of faith!

This is how we are able to continue to be effective disciple makers!

People of Peace?

When I first learned about people of peace in the context of disciple making, I felt that a light bulb went on in my spirit. It was a big aha moment for me. Thanks Peggy for drawing my attention to this.

The concept of the “man of peace” is taken from Jesus instructions to His disciples in Luke 10.

“Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you.” Luke‬ ‭10:5-6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Here is how I interpret this!

When you go out to share the good news of the Kingdom of God, you should look for people who are open to the message and to you as a messenger and disciple of Jesus. They welcome you as a person, they are happy for you to meet their family or friends even though they know that you are a disciple of Jesus.

When you for find these people, stay with them (have regular meetings with them), help them discover Jesus and show them how to become disciples of Jesus. Baptize them and their family and coach them to share what they are learning with other people.

The key is this! You spend most of your time with people who are open, and then coach them to do the same. That way as an outsider or missionary you can move on to other communities after some months or one or two years in a region.

Those who are not open today may become open tomorrow!

I desire a world where everyone would love like Jesus and live like Jesus!

Do you know you are not working alone?

God has used Olu and I to plant 4 churches so far since 2005. That was when we did not know about Disciple Making Movements that are planting churches in thousands.

In every city that God has sent us, we have always found people who want to know God and who have been prepared by God to work with us. And these people are always people who we had never met until we got into that city.

God has many people in every city. Wherever God puts you, be sure that He has people there. Even at your workplace! These people will receive you and the gospel.

“And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.””
‭‭Acts‬ ‭18:9-10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

We are now learning to empower these people of God and equip them to plant smaller and more replicable churches.

This week look out for people that God has placed at your workplace to help with sharing the good news of the kingdom of God and new life in Christ Jesus! They may not know Jesus now but they would be open to you even when they know that you love Jesus with all your heart.

To find these people or this first person, you would need to show your love for Jesus and speak about Him.

You would not know that they are people who are open to God if you don’t show that you love God.

Loving people is a very good way to show your love for God and then talk about God.

Disciple Making Lessons from a Pandemic

There are many things we can learn from this pandemic. Here are just two that apply to disciple making.

Every Disciple must be equipped to replicate anywhere

I don’t like to compare the life of Christ to a virus but just like the virus that does damage by replicating quickly and repeatedly the disciples of Jesus are to replicate the life of Christ quickly and repeatedly and shine as light in a dark world and bring love to a selfish world.

We must do whatever it takes to help everyone connect with Jesus!

Although some countries did not do as much as others. Nevertheless, most people made a lot of sacrifices to help flatten the curve of those that were being affected by the virus.

So also all believers must do all that lies within our power to get the message out. We must make all efforts to get Bibles into the hands of people and show them the power of faith in the Lord by leaving live filled with unconditional love!

Please share your lessons with me if you have any! I love reading from you and it makes the post richer.

We need a move of God in Canada!

And we can have a move of God if we are willing to pray until we see the move of God!

Prayer precedes all moves of God! When prayers increase then you know that a move of God has started.

“All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.” Acts‬ ‭1:14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Here is a testimony of a person who was involved in a move of God in Northern Ireland in 1859.

I read this from a book titled Revival Fire by Dr Wesley Duewel – Chapter 20.

A well-educated merchant of high morality suddenly saw hell opened before his eyes, and an irresistible power seemed to force him headlong into it. He looked around and said to himself, “I know where I am. This is the church where I usually worship. I am under a delusion.” But as he looked down, there was hell! He arose from his seat and seized the back of the pew in front of him. The smoke from hell seemed to rise in his face. He shuddered and his heart cried out, “My sins! My sins! I am lost!” He staggered out of the building and went home. “Had anyone asked me, where are you going? I would have answered, in calm despair, I am going to hell.” Upon reaching his room, for several hours he called out to God for mercy. Then God’s promises came to his mind. He joyously seized them, and “a heavenly radiance” spread over his soul. He arose a Christian. He raced out into the night across town and knocked on his business partner’s door. When the door opened, he called out, “I have found Christ and have come to tell you!” They prayed together, and three days later his partner was converted.

It’s amazing how people can be transformed by God in response to prayers!

Let’s pray every day until we begin to have testimonies of daily transformations like this!

You are a gift to the body

Every organ in the body is precious. I imagine that the left ear may not even know about the right ear.

I don’t think each organ says thanks to the lungs for what it does. Nor does the lungs say thanks to the other organs.

You are a gift to me and I am a gift to you even when we don’t feel it.

Although your toe nails don’t know about the lungs, everyone is affected if the lungs begins to fail.

“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” Romans‬ ‭12:4-5‬ ‭ESV‬‬

You are precious to Jesus and you are precious to me even if I don’t know you.

More importantly though, I need you to fulfill your function at your full capacity.

I need you to love like Jesus and live like Jesus. I need you to shine your light to those around you and glorify our Heavenly Father.

It matters to me and to us all that you reach out to those who are hungry for God and start a discovery group with them!

You are a cell in the body of Christ and so am I. We need each other to be functional.