The BiVo Minister Blog

Pray more for other people than you pray for yourself

I am always interested in seeing people all around me happy and doing well. I believe that if a person is properly connected to God, other aspects of their lives would be well. (Matt 6:33).

That is why I am sharing this tip about effective prayer. If you spend more time praying for other people, you would be operating in love! God is love (1John 4:7-8). You will see miraculous answers to your prayers and your faith would be strengthened.

What should you pray for?

Pray for them as you would want to be prayed for! Ask for things that would last for eternity for them! Pray for things that when they receive would make them useful to you and to the kingdom of God. Don’t forget to mention their names.

Here is an example of how Paul the apostle prayed for the Colossian church. Col 1:9-12

I pray for my neighbors, friends, partners, church, people on my mailing list by name regularly. It’s such a powerful practice and I have testimonies. Many testimonies!

Please share your thoughts in the comments section below. Thanks.

Do you listen to God when you pray?

Prayer is way more than just talking to God! It’s more of hearing from God and responding to God! (Rom 8:26)

When you pray try not to pray only about the things you prepared, listen in your spirit for inspiration from God on what to ask for and on what to do! (John 10:27).

God speaks to us in different ways so look out for His instructions! Many times you will get an idea, a thought or a scripture from deep within your heart! Pray about those topics and continue to let God lead you!

A story about listening to God and obeying Him.

Here is a story I read in a book by a pastor called A. B. Simpson titled “walking in the spirit”. This happened in the early 1900s so bear with the way they spoke then!

It’s the story of a woman who got God’s instructions to go to a train station and get on the train but did not know why! But she knew God! Be inspired!

A saintly spirit whom God has greatly used in personal messages, tells how once she was distinctly sent by the Lord on a certain train; but when she arrived at the station the train was crowded and the guard told her she could not go.

Still she waited, having learned that a point-blank refusal is often the best evidence of God’s working; but just as the train was about to leave, suddenly the guard came to her and hurried her into a carriage which had just been put on.

There she found herself sitting beside a young gentleman, and immediately the thought came, “This is the service the Lord has sent me to do.”

After a little she introduced the subject of personal religion, but he haughtily replied, “My family object to my being talked to on such subjects.” “My dear sir,” she replied, “I had supposed that this was not a question for your family, but for yourself.” “Then,” he answered, still more stiffly, “I object to be talked to on such questions.” It seemed as though the way of service was blocked, and yet the unerring Spirit had led her there.

Then the thought came that she should give him a tract, and that God would bless the silent messenger even after they had parted. But as she searched through all her pockets she found she had forgotten all her tracts. Suddenly, amid her movements, her valise fell on the floor, and all its contents were poured in disorder at their feet.

With the instincts of a gentleman he helped her to pick up the wreck, when suddenly her eye fell upon a single tract that had fallen out with the other articles; but as she picked it up she felt, why, this will never do, for it was a tract especially addressed to a young man that had just been saved from shipwreck. But the same unerring Guide whispered to her to put it in his hands and ask him to read it.

He took it, having grown a little freer, through their better acquaintance, and as he read the title his face became deadly pale.

Before he had read the second page the tears were pouring down his cheeks. “Madam,” he cried, turning to her, “who told you about me?” “Why, no one,” she answered, “what do you mean?” “Why,” said he, “Some one must have told you; did you not know that only last week I was rescued from shipwreck?”

It was the arrow of the Infinite One whose wisdom never fails, and the humble worker, waiting His bidding, had not been suffered to err. The message reached his heart, and ere they parted he was saved.

This is the true secret of effectual service, and when He becomes to us the Wonderful Counselor, we shall always find Him also the Mighty God.

Please share your thoughts in the comments section below. It encourages other readers!

Do you talk to God about your inner life? Your thoughts?

Who is the real you? The one we all see outside or the one only you and God know?

The correct answer I thinks is both!

The external you is a reflection of the internal you. If you work on the internal you, the external you would be transformed automatically!

If you work however on the external you, only more frustration, shame, fear, doubt and confusion results!

This is why it is important to start your prayers by acknowledging the greatness of God and confessing to Him our failures so that we can be forgiven and transformed. 1 John 1:9-10.

When sin and personal ambitions are removed from our hearts, we get answers to our prayers!

Think of it. If you are asking for what God wants, why would He not answer?

But if you are asking for what God wants but you are asking so that you look like a successful minister, what would a loving Heavenly Father do?

So as you seek to be a disciple maker, talk to your Heavenly Father about your inner thoughts and ambitions. Remember the people that have offended you! Do not waste time praying for other things without genuinely desiring to stop all known sins and personal ambitions.

Spend as much time as you need asking the Lord to take over the seat of your life and thoughts.

You will get more results from prayer when your heart is truly seeking the Glory of God.

Recently I found myself seeking for more people to attend a meeting but then I could also sense a subtle but real desire for me not to be a failure behind that desire.

It doesn’t matter if you are seen as a failure or not. What must be topmost in your heart is that the will of God (salvation) be done!

As you pray this week. Let the Holy Spirit show you your heart and your motives. Then ask God for grace! Receive grace to let go of those thoughts and choose to live only for the glory of God.

Talk to God about your inner life!

Do you have a scheduled prayer time?

Over the next couple of posts, I would share some tips on how to pray more and get more results through prayer as a disciple-maker or BiVo Minister.

These posts will be short, so that I can just focus on one tip at a time.

Here is the tip for today!

Schedule your time for prayer! Make it at least 60 mins long.

Over the years, I have discovered that when I have scheduled my prayer time, I have prayed more and gotten more results.

Here is a thought for you. If it is not on your schedule, then it may not get done. If it is on your schedule there is a greater chance of it getting done.

In my experience, I have scheduled different times in different seasons. There was a time that I prayed from midnight every day. There was a time that I prayed from 8 pm. At another time I prayed from 5 am.

After all these years and after changing from season to season, I am settling down to a morning time of prayer in addition to other times of prayer. (Mark 1:35).

Here are a few more tips on this.

  1. Don’t be too ambitious – Start small and grow (I suggest you start with 60 mins)
  2. Protect your schedule jealously – See it as more important than a meeting with the most important human on earth.
  3. Stick to it and get back on track even after missing a few days.
  4. You may only get 40mins of productive time. Don’t let this bother you.
  5. As things change, don’t change the time. Just add new times. You can schedule an hour in the morning and another hour at night.
  6. Pray for the lost daily.

Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Can a believer honestly pray too much?

It’s so easy to say that “we need to do more than just pray”. One wise servant of God responds that “you cannot do more than prayer unless you have prayed”.

It is so easy to let prayer fall to the background while we engage in unending activities.

I don’t believe a person can pray too much. I have shared with you on this blog how 2 women over 80 years old with one of them blind prayed for revival in their village.

When we pray with faith, and listen for instructions. We cannot pray too much.

True prayer does these!

  • It makes us aware of God’s position on an issue.
  • It makes us open to God’s directions for a situation.
  • Prayer helps us to step aside so that God’s will and power can be revealed.
  • Prayer transforms us, such that we become agents of God’s kingdom and conduits of His wisdom.
  • It’s in the place of prayer that we know exactly what to do. There is no need to take action if your action is the wrong action.
  • When God moves in response to prayer, He does in hours what a group of people could not do in years.

You cannot pray too much. I know I pray too little. I know we can all pray more. Why don’t you pray more?

4 Ideas of What to Say When You Go Looking for a Person of Peace!

When you go out to look for a person of peace what exactly do you say?

This is a question that I guess is on your mind and that of many other people who are new to disciple making by looking for a person of peace.

It is a good question and I would give you 2 types of answers!

The first one is this! You would need to trust God to give you the right words. But the words don’t matter as much as you think because God has prepared the people long before you decided to go out to find them.

In one story, the non-believer had dreams of the disciple-maker. So when the two of them met, the conversation unfolded naturally.

So if you pray and go out consistently, you will find that the words to say will flow spiritually!

That being said, you would need a reason to be in the community! Here are a few reasons that I have used and other people have used that I have read about.

  1. We are praying for people in the neighborhood would you like us to pray with you?
  2. We are part of a church in the neighborhood and we would like to know how the church can be of help. Would you like to share your thoughts with us?
  3. We are going around this neighborhood looking for young people who need to learn a skill we would teach them how to use computers (we used this in areas where there were many young people without jobs). We had some good connections. With this method, you will need to tell the people that show interest that you are disciples of Jesus.
  4. We are in the neighborhood showing people how to improve their relationship with God. Would you like us to show you how?

Whatever the reason you use, make sure you confirm with the Holy Spirit and look out for people who open up to you after you make it clear that you are disciples of Jesus!

These methods are good in places where there is religious freedom. You will need to be more discreet in places where the people are hostile to the disciples of Jesus!

What reasons have you used in the past? Please share in the comment section below.

9 qualities that make a disciple of Jesus attractive!

What made the first disciples of Jesus attractive? What makes you look at a person and say, it is good to serve God?

When we went to Kington to plant a church in 2010 we met a lady called Alita that always reminds me of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus! Alita makes you want to serve God more! She is a senior but she has the joy and passion of a youth! Her love for God is contagious.

It can be tempting to think that you need worldly influence to attract non-believers to Jesus. However, from my reading of the Acts of the apostles and the New Testament, I see that it is not worldly influence that makes a disciple attractive but her power with God!

These are 9 qualities that scriptures teach us that God wants to display in all the disciples of Jesus.

Love for God that is reflected in love for everyone around you.

Joy that comes from being loved by God that is reflected in creating a welcoming and joyful atmosphere around you.

Peace with God, that is reflected in people wanting to make peace with God when they are around you!

Patience with God because you know how great God is, that translates to patience with people because you know that God is in charge of your schedule.

Kindness to people around you because you continue to enjoy the kindness of God which is demonstrated first by consistently forgiving all your sins and His blessings that you enjoy moment by moment.

Goodness – this is a quality of God that compels you to always think of others before you think of yourself.

Faithfulness to God because you know that God cannot fail. This then translates to faithfulness to people around you because you know that God is involved in all your relationships.

Gentleness that God places on you because you know that God is in you and He is the highest authority in the universe.

Self control that comes from being very aware of how empty you are without God. This reflects in how you refuse to do things without sensing God’s guidance.

With these you will have power with God and no human will be able to stand around you and not be moved.

Some would love you because they love God. Others would hate you because they are very far from God!

Who is a person of peace? How do you recognize them?

Jesus told his disciples to look for a person of peace when he sent them out in Luke 10:6.

It is wise to use the same method when going out to make disciples. This is even more relevant when you are trying to reach out to a community that you are not living in.

Here are a few characteristics of the person of peace according to this scripture.

A person of peace;

  • welcomes you or shows interest in communicating with you.
  • is willing to help you in some way or the other.
  • Is hospitable to you – offers you some kind of food, drink or a place to stay or sit. If it’s in the workplace, the person of peace tries to help you to settle into the workplace.
  • Listens to what you have to say.
  • is willing to let you speak to the people around them (family, friends etc).
  • accepts your prayers and is grateful for them.
  • asks genuine questions about spiritual truth

The first test is the welcome test. When you greet them or say peace be unto this house. The one that shows interest and welcomes you is a potential person of peace.

When I go out with a group to knock on doors, usually we would find one or two who would ask us to come in and sit down.

You then proceed to say what you have come to do.

I will share some ideas with you in my next post of things that you can use as an entrance into a community.

3 Reasons why disciple making movements start slow to go fast

I have read in David Watson’s book titled “Contagious disciple making” that it takes about 4 years for a movement to take off. I am sure there is room for a miracle where it takes shorter, but in general, it takes time and there are good reasons for that.

There are reasons why it takes 4 years. Here are 3 reasons. There may be more but I present only three.

1) Finding Disciples takes time (Persons of Peace)

It takes time to find people who love the Lord, and who are willing to commit themselves to a life of disciple making. Most people love the Lord for what He gives to them, they are not thinking of giving up their lives to follow Jesus.

2) Developing a multiplication mindset takes time

When you find people who are saved and are passionate for disciple making, it takes time to train them to think in terms of multiplication instead of addition. What most of us are used to is the disciple maker, making converts and adding up the numbers in hundreds or thousands. We don’t realize that we can also recruit people to recruit and then we have multiplication.

3) Getting out of God’s way takes time (sometimes)

It takes time for the disciple maker to get rid of the desire to be someone. To be an effective disciple maker, you must be ready to simply be an invisible tool in the hands of a mighty God. This is why you will pray a lot more than you have ever prayed.

If you are thinking of starting a discovery group today, then expect a miracle but be ready to spend the next 4-5 years before you get to the 4th generation of your group. By 4th generation I mean some in your initial group starts a group and someone in the group starts another group. You> John> Jane> Joe!

Imagine what happens if another person in your initial group does the same and all the people in John’s group. The numbers begin to multiply. That is why it is wise to take the time to allow the Holy Spirit to do the transformations in your heart and in the heart of the people in your first group.

So don’t get worried if you are doing the right things but you are not seeing much outward results. Spend more time in prayers, in the word, and amongst the lost. Your will see the fruit in due time.

August Books – Packets of Wisdom!

I enjoy reading and I learn a lot from books. I believe that books are packets of wisdom. Every new month, I 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 or sometime in the future. 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 August

Here are the books I completed in August. 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 August. I may have started earlier. If I finished the book, it means that I liked it and got a lot from it. I don’t read books just for the sake of it.

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. When I need to learn more about a subject, I usually pause the book I am reading and I start the new book. There are some books I read on a schedule. Right now I am reading Church History on a schedule.

Hope to start reading

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

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. I got some recommendations last month and I look forward to more. Thanks.