Author: David Burnet

I encourage people to learn and grow, including to minister more like Jesus as shown in Scripture.

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Disciple Making Evangelize Gospel Healing Hearing God Holy Spirit Jesus Key Article Kingdom of God Ministry Miracles Success

Disciple-Making on Steroids

Miracle of Jesus Healing a Blind Man

Discipling someone, or several people, can can succeed a lot faster than most of us are used to. I call this “Disciple-Making on Steroids” because this approach is so powerful and fast.

Here’s an example to learn from, that, with variations – depending on your situation, can be done more easily and more quickly than perhaps we have ever seen.

On the street or in a supermarket or other store, or maybe a shopping mall, you see someone who obviously needs healing. Their injury or disability or pain is obvious to you.

So you walk up to them and say, “Hello. My name is ____; it looks to me like you have some” pain, difficulty, injury, disability – whatever it is. Make it easy for them to talk to you about it. Make sure you discover what it is that they cannot do or cannot easily do, because of that particular need of healing.

Ask them if it’s okay for you to pray for them. Most people will be glad for such prayer, if by then you are in rapport. If they are not willing, thank them and let them be.

You can pray for them at a distance if you like.

Keep doing this until you discover someone who is willing to be prayed for.

Pray for them, praying to Jesus, maybe something like, “Dear Jesus, help this person with ____” whatever is needed. They expected you to pray for them, and it’s easy for them to say yes to such a request. Then be sure to quietly but with authority – like when you are talking to a child or a pet and you really mean it – tell that need for healing to be healed. Be sensitive to Holy Spirit and do as seems best.

Ask them to test, to do what they could not easily do or could not do. When they succeed, give thanks to Jesus!

When that does not go well, you can be like Jesus healing the blind man who could see a bit more at first, but needed more healing and said something like, “I see men walking, but they are like trees walking”. So, like Jesus, you pray (and command with authority), healing again.

If you want to do it like Jesus did, and was so successful at healing so often (always), you can do it like this:

Keep testing the healing until it is done. Persist.

Now comes the cool part, disciple making on steroids:

Now that they have been healed, ask them something like, “Would you like to give your life to Jesus and have him as your Lord?” When they say yes, lead them in such a prayer. When they say no, just continue as if they had. Because of what happens next, they probably will.

Take the person who has now been healed and who now has Jesus (or not) in them, and go with them. Find someone else who has an obvious need of healing. Instruct them to pray for and command healing, just as they experienced. Have them heal the person in need. Pray for them and their ministry, and their good success while that do that. Help them out loud as called for and needed.

Now you have someone with you who has been healed, who has come to Jesus (or not, yet). If not yet come to Jesus, ask them if they want to make it official now, and help them accept Jesus as Lord. If not, get their contact information, pray for them, and follow up and give them encouragement and help as you are led with Holy Spirit. Just do the best you can and ask for help through Holy Spirit.

I like to ask for more of Holy Spirit before I pray for someone or minister. My prayer and ministry is more effective when I do this, and I hear God better, too.

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I believe that this is how Jesus wants us to minister in these times. In these days. The time is short: make disciples, with Holy Spirit, on steroids!

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Conversation with God Disciple Making Discipleship Evangelize Faith Friendship Getting Help Gospel Jesus Joy Kingdom of God Ministry Prayer

There are Multiple Biblical Ways to Salvation

John Benitez – Unsplash

Those of us who use even a somewhat Evangelical approach to salvation have a few prayers that we encourage so that someone can experience salvation.

The Bible takes a different approach. So much so that the most frequent method to attain salvation in the bible is one I’ve never seen or heard of being used with a potential convert. By hindsight, this is a bit astounding.

Yet in real life, it makes perfect sense. And the usual prayers are used for several good reasons.

It really is wise and good that we get to know more consciously about Jesus, and Jesus as our Lord. And that this be expressed clearly in our prayer.

So what is this most frequently mentioned method of achieving salvation in scriptures that is so unused for making converts? It’s actually a method frequently used by the rest of us.

A very common prayer, used by many of us when we need help, when we need and want to be saved. Just seldom used to help someone become a convert to Christianity.

What is this frequently used approach for getting help when most needed, but seldom if ever used to help someone become a convert?

It’s simply this: call on the name of the Lord and you will be saved.

Biblical theology is probably wider and more inclusive than our theologies. God is certainly more broad minded than we are.

And this illustrates very well how some things are taught about to us and for us in scripture from many angles, in many ways. And we tend to focus on one way, sometimes proof-texting, yet even so, we tend to focus on one very good way. But God and scriptures offers more options than we often think about and sometimes more options than we even normally trust or believe in.

Thank you, Lord, for being so broad minded, for thinking differently than we do, for being more loving and generous than we yet are able to grasp.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for giving us eternity to continue to get to know you and your love. We need you. And we need eternity to explore and learn about your love and your depth. Thank you, Lord!

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Emotional Pain Empath Friendship HSP Missing the mark: Sin Pain Tribulation

Please Be Careful What You Say….

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dollar-gill-R1lBOCUNHRU-unsplash

Imagine, if you will, being an Empath (feeling what others feel, or even feeling things around you – which can make you a gifted mechanic if you can feel what car parts are like – or skilled with plants or with animals – maybe even gifted with people), and highly sensitive (noticing and responding deeply to all sensory input). These are wonderful and powerful gifts, though not always appreciated by today’s macho, rationalistic society.

(There are Empaths in this world. Most of them are people who are highly sensitive. Some researchers suggest 20% of the population is gifted this way, and they are useful to the rest of us because they notice things we have overlook. Such gifts are especially useful for leaders, for people-groups of all kinds; useful for counselors, healers, and intercessors. For teachers, and all who are gifted leaders in church who help prepare the saints – that’s all of us – for service.)

Imagine being asked to study propaganda in depth, a long series of very convincing videos that explain how a particular group of people (another political party, of course) is full of child molesters, and even people who drink the blood of babies. Seriously. A long series of videos to show and prove how such things are actually real.

And then later being told by others that since you do not happen to appreciate, laud and love a particular politician, you must be one of these awful people you have had rehearsed so much through studies friends repeatedly ask you to engage in.

Imagine, if you will, being sent videos (and very convincing ones) about a vaccine, and being told it is dangerous not only to you, but to people around you.

So dangerous are you assumed you will be, if you take such a vaccine, that a good friend will no longer tolerate being around you or be in your presence because you are so dangerous.

Most people who send such videos and propaganda for you to consume do so with deep sincerity and the best of intentions – to protect you from such horrors.

Some creators of such propaganda also have good intentions, to share an important message. Even when some knowingly and systemically exaggerate to make their point stronger. (When I was younger and more insecure, I used to do such things myself. I understand!)

Imagine, if you will, that you happen to rather strongly suspect that some people are purposely propagating lies. Sometimes for their purposes that they deem good. Others, perhaps, love to share mischief or even wilful evil.

Imagine, further, being told by someone else that your choice to do such a thing as to have this dangerous, killing vaccine – that is so dangerous to yourself and to others – if you make such a choice, this amounts to a decision to be a serial killer.

Remember – as an Empath and highly sensitive person, you imagine and feel the message, it’s details, it’s intent — deeply. Very deeply. Even if you decide for yourself that this propaganda is not real. You are still affected. Even if you happen to believe this is all based on lies being propagated for political purposes. Lies, lies, and more lies – or so it seems to you. Imagine experiencing such things as these.

And you are considered to be the equivalent of a serial killer whose very presence is considered dangerous and unwanted. And you are one of the people in this world who when told they are unwanted, you tend to automatically feel this too much. (I think a lot of us are like this.)

Now that you’ve imagined all this as if you were a highly sensitive Empath (thank you for going along with this), and you’ve taken these things in very deeply – let’s consider something more.

Can such things be real? Maybe all these messages are genuine and always sincere! You just happen to be highly sensitive and empathic.

Nah! Such imaginings are unrealistic and unplausible. Such things cannot be real. No one would communicate such things on purpose, would they? But some people do communicate such things. And many who do so do this with the very best of intentions!

What do you think? What kingdom do these stories and messages come from? The Kingdom of God?

Really?

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Disciple Making Evangelize Faith Jesus Preaching Kingdom of God Ministry

Jesus Never Said that He Came to Save You

In him was Life, and Life is the Light of men. (See John 1:4.)

Sometimes the assumptions built into our local traditions help us get things wrong.

Jesus repeatedly said that he came to give us Life. The Life of God (in New Testament Greek: Zoe). Nowhere in the New Testament does Jesus say his purpose was to come to get you into heaven.

He repeatedly said that he came to bring you Life, Zoe: the Life of God. Heaven is included.

He came to get Life into you: the Life of God. (Something the first Adam lost.) Relationship restored!

Jesus never said to make converts; he said to make disciples. (Converts are included in making disciples.)

He came so you can start helping to bring heaven to earth – now. Wow! You get to help bring heaven to earth.

Salvation is included, and you will go to heaven. And later in our New Heaven and New Earth, God will literally be our Light that we see by, in the Temple.

Help bring Heaven to earth: preach the Good News of the Kingdom. Heal the sick. Free the bound. Make disciples of all nations, all people groups.

Also, you get to pray for heaven on earth:

8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. 9 In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 6: 8-10, NKJV

So…my thesis here is that Jesus did not say he came here to get us into heaven, even though he does get us into heaven when we respond with faith. What he repeatedly said was that he came here to give us Life. The Life of God, in us, does result in heaven. And later, into the New Heaven and New Earth.

It’s like that he did not say we were to make converts. He said to make disciples – this should be our focus when evangelizing. Which will result in stronger and more effective Christians than by focusing on making converts. Let’s follow Jesus and do what Jesus said.

Let’s do and minister as Jesus showed, taught, and as he still says to us today in Scripture, with Holy Spirit. Doing as Jesus teaches is better than following local traditions.

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Discipleship Gifts Holy Spirit Learning Prayer Prophecy

Practice Using Your Spiritual Gifts

Actively Practice using Your Spiritual Gifts

A friend, who believes she has gifts as a prophetic seer and gifts of healing, asked some important questions. This may answer some of your questions, too. We need to practice using our Spiritual Gifts to we become more skillful; just like we need to practice playing an instrument even if you are gifted at music. Here’s our dialogue, lightly edited for clarity.

Q. Will be for Questioner, A. for Answerer.

Q. Will there be anything happening soon in my life?


A. Yes.


Q. Like?


A. You are learning to ask Jesus questions, and pay attention to Holy Spirit for answers.
As you learn to do this, and to act on what you learn, your life will transformed hugely.
This opens whole new worlds of doing and ministry for you.
And you will be adding even more love to your ministry. The generous, God kind of love: agape. As in 1 Corinthians 13.


Q. Amazing


A. When you minister and if someone experiences love, that is successful ministry! This is an important standard to learn.
As you learn and do this, your life transforms even more.
And sometimes you will see or learn that healing has happened (not all healing is instantaneous). You will learn to listen to Holy Spirit for how to love and how to minister; how to use your gifts more and better.
This changes everything!
And you can apply asking Jesus and paying attention to and learning to hear and see answers, and acting on them — then our Lord himself is tutoring you. Your Helper is your Teacher.
He is already in you.


Q. Amen 🙏


A. And you can ask for more of him in you. I find this makes hearing God much more practical and better. When I do this, I hear God so much more and more easily and better. Even though I don’t feel a thing – I can experience the difference, having asked for more of Holy Spirit.
And I can ask for Holy Spirit to be on me more. On me for ministry for others.
Holy Spirit can transform the atmosphere of where you are, the room you are in.
Ask how, and do as you are shown. It’s a wonderful thing to do – for yourself as well as others.


Q. I will


A. People will gradually learn that the atmosphere is better where you are. Some people will learn more quickly, others more slowly. Yet many will learn.
And this opens doors.
For more ministry.


A. People who come to my house report that the atmosphere is full of peace. That’s the Presence and Spirit of God doing that.


Q. Wow.


A. You will do this, also. You will transform the atmosphere of where you live and work. The Presence of God and Holy Spirit will transform the atmosphere of places you go. People will notice and be helped. Some even heal without your doing anything, as Holy Spirit ministers in the place where you are.
You get to be an active participant in all this!


Q. Glory to God!!
Interesting


A. You invite more of Holy Spirit. You are transformed, and Holy Spirit will do what Holy Spirit does in that place and with the people there.
Invite more of Holy Spirit. And receive with faith.
So simple; easy to forget to do. Yet Holy Spirit is literally our Helper. Your Helper.


Q. Got it


A. The same Helper that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you and will help you. Invite and call on and receive more of Holy Spirit.


Q. Ok


A. I find this stunning, I am amazed, and when I remember these things I want to call out to God in praise or even song. (Considering how much I love worship in silence, that’s amazing.)


A. And when you find a partner who will pray for you as you do these things or minister, ministry results will improve even more. And later, you can pray for them as they minister. And talk to each other about how it went. What you are learning. Encourage one another.
Jesus always sent out his disciples in pairs.
When I have no partner, I look for someone who will pray for me when asked. Then I have prayer support while ministering.
They and I can talk about it afterwards, what happened, what we’re learning. It can be exhilarating and joyous.
This is what I want for you; these very things.


Q. Oh how I want this for myself


A. Good!
This is what our Lord wants for you.


Q. God will send me some really special
A. Yes.
You can copy and paste from these notes into your prayer journal, or start one. Or other notes in a file or notebook.
Then start practicing these things and learn as you go. Learn as you ask your Helper to help you learn these things and to help you do these things.
And give you even better ideas, from Jesus. Who knows so much more than you or I.
Here’s an interesting principle, not well recognized: how much you seek God with your heart – is how much God will make himself known and present to you. And even more. He will always do the same or more, as you. (I think more; yet the more you do, the more he multiplies the grace he gives you.)
If he made himself totally known to us, our brains would fry.
So he is gentle and careful. And gives of himself in proportion to how much and how strongly you seek with your heart.

A. – The principle above is courtesy of Al Mack (Nor’west Prophetic).


Q. Amazing and wonderful!
.
A. Yes. So just practice. Look for people who need healing, ask how to heal them, and do as Jesus tells you through Holy Spirit. You will be ministering like Jesus, who only did what he heard and saw.

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Discipleship, Getting Help Faith Holy Spirit HSP Prayer Spiritual Warfare

Clean & Space = Safe

Shower

You can, by faith, ask for and receive and thoroughly enjoy a Holy Spirit Shower. A shower not of water, but of Holy Spirit. Wonderfully cleansing – of anything that does not belong.

What does not belong might be something like a thought or feeling that you’ve kept too long or something you’ve picked up from something or someone else.

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Next, take a few moments. Imagine yourself carefully putting on a space suit. Then,

Space Suit

You can, by faith, ask for and receive a Holy Spirit Space Suit. Wonderfully safe, your personal space and boundaries are amazingly and supernaturally protected.

Notice and enjoy how you are doing, how your experience is different. Enjoy, and praise your Lord.

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Conversation with God Discipleship, Getting Help Faith Father Healing Hearing God Holy Spirit Jesus Key Article Learning Prayer Spiritual Warfare Trinity

Praying for A_____ is Difficult, so….

Leap of Faith, K.B. Owen

This is from my Prayer Journal of today. I was having difficulty praying well for someone I know who needs our Lord’s help. And I was having difficulties, probably because a big part of me is aggravated. That’s not pretty, but it’s the truth. So here is what I wrote; I’ll call this person A______.

I find praying for A______ to be difficult.

So I look to Father, who already had a plan before the beginning, and who looks down on A_______ with immense love.

Then I look to Jesus, who as always is ready to heal.

Then I ask Holy Spirit to tell me how to pray for her. I am to pray with Father’s love and planning for good; pray with Jesus, who is always ready to heal and make whole. And I pray as Holy Spirit is leading me, now.

A______ has been restored and has received complete sozo. So this is how I pray.


Pray according to the nature of each Member of the Trinity, my deepest community and my most real family – who teaches me, mercifully, about how to have more and better faith.

And forgiveness, my ability to forgive and to have forgiven, was included as a free extra – pure grace!

The Trinity is my real family of faith. What a gift!

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Conversation with God Discipleship, Getting Help Ministry Prayer Targets

Intercede for Many

Jesus reaching out to you while in prayer

So a friend updated me about a series of wonderful prayer targets: prayer goals so clear that we can tell when grace happens and God answered those prayers. Which increases faith, wonderfully!

And I have other prayer lists, which have been growing.

So I asked Jesus if I could ask for directions for praying for these many worthy and wonderful Prayer Targets. He answered right away, “Sure! I do it all the time!” And brought to my mind how he intercedes for so many of us – always.


How do you do it, I ask? “Same as always,” Jesus replies. “Father shows or tells me. You can do the same.”

So I asked Jesus if I could ask for directions for praying for these many worthy and wonderful Prayer Targets. He gave me several ways:

  • First, he reminded me of how I used to have index cards with prayer needs and prayer targets, beginning and ending dates; notes on what happened. I got to know them so well I could go through them with prayer intentions that no longer took a lot of time.
  • Second, he reminded me of how I ask for how to pray about something.
  • Then Jesus told me how he can ask for how to pray for many related needs and people – at one time. Father shows him or tells him; Jesus affirms he will tell me such things through Holy Spirit.

So I am exploring this. Holy Spirit groups for me people and needs. And I am following directions, praying as I’m guided.

Continuing to pray until these the prayer Jesus gives me are fully enforced.

And it is very clear to me I have very much to learn. Including things I never thought of, such as praying in the Spirit more, and praying while I dream. And much more, that I do not know about yet.

And I grow to be a bit more like Jesus. And to learn to intercede with much more love and lots more faith (which is much easier when Jesus shows you how to pray through Holy Spirit).

Do this. Intercede for many, and minister more like Jesus.

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Conversation with God Discipleship Hearing God Jesus's Communication Prayer

The Voice of Jesus Plays “Hide & Seek”

You hear the voice of Jesus. You may not always recognize that it’s his voice. Part of the maturing process is learning to hear his voice in more ways – and recognizing that it is his voice you are hearing. That may sound a bit odd. Let me explain.

Jesus says that his sheep hear his voice. That’s us: we hear him.

The paradox is that he speaks in many ways.

And we hear his voice. And we don’t always recognize that it is Jesus who is speaking to us. And there’s more.

The more we learn to hear his voice in more ways, the more often we know we are hearing him.

A result is that we recognize we are hearing Jesus more, and we discover he is already speaking to us in more ways and more often than we had previously realized.

We are learning to recognize our Appointed Lessons.

There’s more.

He continues to surprise us, as we learn not only to hear him, but to recognize that it is him talking to us – and talking to us in more and different ways.

It’s almost like a game: There’s more.

“Hide and Go Seek” – is Jesus playing with us this way? Hiding and challenging us to find him?

Yes!!

Jesus speaks to us in a stream of surprises. His answers often surprise us. His methods of speaking and answering us often surprise us.

We are being drawn in to look and listen in more and more ways, more and more deeply. And our relationship with God is always deepening.

Always becoming…something more.

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Calling Discipleship Gifts Hearing God

Your Gifts and Calling

Where is your sphere of influence, your “metron”? It’s probably larger than you have noticed or expect. Good idea is to do a review of this and ask some good friends you trust.

Who is called to receive through you? Who makes you seem smarter? Who receives well through you – probably one or more people-groups, different kinds of people.

Who are you called to serve? Gifted to serve? Who receives really well through you? Who is smarter when you are with them?

What do people tell you that you are gifted at? (Many of us have a habit of not taking such things told to us seriously. So you can do a careful review of this, too.)

What sorts of people do you love being around? You may have similar gifts and callings or you may have ones that compliment and complete or help balance the gifts of those you serve.

What do you have energy to do? And who do you have energy to do such things with, or for?

I encourage you to experiment and explore. Make mistakes, great ones that you can learn a lot from. 

Let your audience teach you what they need that you offer. And what they want. (Wants and needs do not always overlap.)

I encourage you to review and learn from your mistakes. Especially your big ones. Painful ones. Mistakes you don’t even want to think about. Learn enough through these, and your life will change in wonderful ways.

I’d love to hear from you. And to learn what else you want or need. What I’m missing here and not saying that could be helpful. Any thoughts, ideas or musings that you will share.  

Thanks!