Category: Discipleship

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Conversation with God Discipleship Jesus's Communication Leadership Learning Ministry Success

Jesus Was Never Boring

Jesus Invites – by Sitara

Jesus never taught a class. You will find no classes taught by Jesus in Scriptures. He did not teach in a linear way. What he did was something far better.

Jesus had conversations. He responded to questions or things said by people he wanted to disciple or teach. He responded to what they were interested in.

Or he showed something, told stories or parables: he gave interesting, attention grabbing examples. Then continued the mutual conversation.

Sometimes he answered questions. Sometimes he changed the conversation – such as about not being so happy that even demons obey you – don’t lose perspective: what’s important is that your name is written in heaven. Notice that the starting point for changing a conversation or introducing a new idea begins with what the disciple, the person who is learning – what they are saying.

When I mistakenly try to teach people things, they resist – covertly, usually. Sometimes overtly. It does not work out well. And I have tried to do this too often. Too often I have been slow to learn.

But, when I respond to something that someone says or asks, I am building on what they are already interested in. Their motivation is already present. I even build on their metaphors: I use them or change them, or use them as an agent of change (when I transform a metaphor someone identifies with, they may also change.) Or I tell stories or parables or in other ways give examples, just like Jesus did.

This works out very well, I have their attention, interest and motivation: I am talking about things they are already interested in. Much more effective than talking about things I am interested in. Tremendous difference!

Have conversations. Start with where the disciple or the person who is learning already is. Build on or transform their ideas. Like Jesus does. He did it in Scripture, and he still does this in our hearts. You can join with Jesus and do this too.

Disciples and other people will learn more easily, learn better, and are more likely to remain interested and motivated.

If you want to have class outlines of what you want to teach, that’s fine for you. And you can use these powerful points in conversations, demonstrations, examples, stories and parables. Teaching more like Jesus. And teaching less like boring people who are trying to force their ideas onto someone else who is not yet ready, nor yet deeply interested.

Teach more like Jesus. You can do this!

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Discipleship Key Article Leadership Learning Ministry

Learning Contract

Even Joy is Learned in a Context – pexels-pixabay-51953

A Learning Contract is a special context for powerful ministry, including disciple making.

Most frequently implicit or ignored, it can also be explicit – and when there are difficulties – just about any difficulties, an explicit Learning Contract can be an immense help.

What situations call for a good Learning Contract? Ministry, including healing and exorcism. Discipleship, including teaching and learning. Counseling. Therapy.

One of the most common problems when learning and growth are not taking place as wanted is the lack of a good Learning Contract.

So…what is a Learning Contract? First, it’s a context. Context provides an element that is likely to control or limit and what will happen. When a situation is chronic and problematical, the context is nearly always a problem. Look for the context when things are not working well.

What sort of context is a Learning Contract? It’s an agreement to learn and an agreement to teach.

Counseling, teaching or other ministry without an agreement to learn and an agreement to teach – too often goes poorly. When ministry is not going well – make a Learning Contract.

Too often a people try to minister, counsel or teach without an such an agreement.

A contract says what people involved will do, and often what will happen if they do not do as agreed. It provides a context for learning and ministry of all kinds. It is an agreed upon context – without which it is difficult to make things to happen.

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Calling Create Discipleship Leadership Ministry Miracles The Word

God Speaks and Creates. You Speak & Move Your Mountain.

God Speaks and Creates; You Move Your Mountain – Becker Griffen, Unsplash

God said. And creation happened. God said – and what he said happened. You speak, declare, create, or call – in Jesus….

You can Declare. Let there be peace. Let there be love. Let Jesus be known.

You can create, in Jesus, who is the Word. Create peace in your family.

You can call. See Calling, Part 1 of 3. You can call a situation into being, into existence.

You can transfer power and authority. See Overview.

Jesus spoke to a fig tree, it obeyed. Jesus spoke to the wind and waves, and the storm quieted. Jesus taught us to heal, and demonstrated speaking to the need – we should do the same.

I have heard of people speaking to tornados, which changed course.

I have called for electricity to be restored, and when I am totally determined and single minded – easier to say than to do, I have experienced several times the electricity coming on within a second and a half. So many times this has happened, it cannot be a coincidence.

When you speak to your dog, your dog knows if you really mean it. When you really mean it, your dog is much more likely to obey. This is authority. You can feel it when you speak with such authority.

So speak to situations, to your mountain. As Jesus has been teaching you to do. And delight in results! Give thanks and rejoice!

Jesus, the Word, teaches and empowers you. Use what you have been given. Learn. Explore. Be willing for failure to take place – you can learn a lot this way!

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Discipleship Hearing God Holy Spirit Jesus Ministry Prayer Prophecy

The God Listener

Hearing the Voice of God

We all want to hear God well, and nearly all of us want to hear God better.

There are horse whisperers, people who pay exquisite attention to horses and learn; there are dog whisperers, people who pay wonderfully attentive attention to dogs.

What you may not know is that there are people who help you hear God better. Not prophets who hear God for us, sometimes. (Although since Jesus came, we are to hear God for ourselves, and what a prophet says should resonate because of Holy Spirit confirming to us what a prophet says.)

These are people who are what I sometimes call, “God Listener’s”, and their job is to help you hear God better for yourself. That’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?

There is a long tradition of such ministry, going back to at least the “Desert Fathers”, usually solitary monks who lived in the desert. From them a succession of ministers have helped people hear God for themselves.

Today we often call these people, “Spiritual Directors” or “Spiritual Friends”. You can look up these terms, they are well known. There is a long tradition of such people who help others to hear God better. This is a precious ministry.

They don’t listen for you; they help you hear God better for yourself. A ministry worth having, if not having always, at least sometimes.

We have all had periods of time that are rough. I remember one particular time when that was happening to me. My computers were not working right. My dogs were misbehaving. Around the house things were not working well or would break. I prayed about it, for these things and against these things. I finally decided I must be having a problem with demons. So I told them to leave. Usually not a problem for me – but the problems persisted.

So I called on a God Listener who I knew was very good with unclean spirits and asked for help. She managed to convey to me rather quickly that the problems were not demonic in origin. The problems were being caused by my own attitude. She told me that my wrong attitude and my own energy was causing the problems with my computers, dogs, and household appliances.

This was not what I wanted to hear. I wanted her to fix the problem for me. (Sound familiar?) But, I knew she was right. Holy Spirit confirmed what she was saying.

So I changed my attitude and my energy. The problems quickly went away and disappeared. I was blessed to have the help of a good God Listener, because I needed help to hear God well. And to solve problems that I mistakenly thought were being caused by demonic spirits when it was my own attitude and energy that was causing difficulties.

When you have big problems, opportunities you are not sure what to do with, when you need good guidance – a God Listener can be a huge help – so you can more reliably and accurately hear God for yourself – especially when doing so matters even more than usual.

You can easily learn more about God Listeners, Spiritual Friends or Spiritual Directors. There is more information than you might at first suspect.

One place you can explore and learn about Spiritual Directors is on Facebook, the Group, “Holy Listening-Spiritual Director“. Also on a related website called, “Holy Listening“.

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Discipleship Key Article Lessons Ministry

Context

When Jesus reaches out, everything changes

Context shapes and even controls what happens; Jesus was a master with the powerful and loving use of context. No surprise, really. But we do have much to learn from him about what he did with context.

This is a very common and too often an unrecognized issue. So much so, that when you are having repeated difficulty with an issue, it’s a good idea to examine the context. Context seems to control or limit what is likely to happen in that context.

Jesus frequently told his disciples to preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God. And in that context, to heal the sick and free the bound. Preaching the Good News of the Kingdom of God (that is near or at hand) is a context that makes healing and freeing the bound much more easy. When people agree to be ministered to or healed, or to accept other kinds of ministry, a Learning Contract has been established.

Jesus always created what amounts to being a special kind of context for healing or for other ministry: a Learning Contract. An agreement to learn or do something that everyone agrees to implicitly or explicitly. Which creates a powerful context for successful ministry.

When Jesus came into a place, he changed the context. The atmosphere changed: he carried the Anointing and great compassion. Everyone noticed him. Such a context makes healing people and freeing the bound much easier.

You can learn to do this because you carry Jesus in you, and you are in Jesus Christ.

So practice being more and more aware of context, and good timing – which is part of a good context. Minister with greater ease and effectiveness, and celebrate the Life Jesus brings more often and even more joyously.

This is a great way to live!

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Discipleship Faith Friendship Getting Help Pain Purpose

Improve & Transform Terrible Memories

Astronomy Photographer of the Year shortlist - in pictures
Father and son observing Comet Pan-Starrs in Massachusetts

There is a straightforward way to transform terrible memories, which I just recently discovered and noticed through a Facebook friend, Henry Kanu, who lives in Sierra Leone.

This works so well for me because I already have experience with and belief in a particular promise of God: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good”, Romans 8:28a., ESV.

Henry Kanu and I were discussing and exploring this promise, when Holy Spirit prompted me to test this out and prove it to myself – even further.

So I thought of two memories that I considered terrible memories of things I had experienced. (My wife’s unexpected death and a painful childhood time.) Then I applied God’s promise to those two memories.

Remarkably, they no longer seemed like terrible memories; there were just precursors – things that happened first, before God tuned those experiences into good things – which I can now easily notice and appreciate. I am grateful for what has happened.

Applying God’s promise literally transformed the memories from being of things I felt were bad – into memories of how God made good out of those things. I literally remember and experience the blessings that God gave as a result of these experiences.

They no longer were terrible memories for me.

If you have enough experience &/or enough trust in this promise from Romans 8:28a, I believe this transformation can easily happen for you, too.

And if you need more experience with this promise, I recommend you do two things. First, meditate on God’s promise. Second, remember some specific things that are terrible memories, and notice how God turned these experiences into something good for you.

After doing this for a while, see how the promise may help you transform a memory of something that felt bad, and that you thought of as a terrible memory.

I believe you will notice as I have, a memory of something you thought of as being bad and that felt bad – can be transformed by applying God’s promise of Romanss 8:28a.

Oh – and it’s an excellent idea to give thanks for the improvement and transformation to Jesus. And to praise him for this. Which will have the side effect of nailing down the transformative experience of a bad memory into being the start of something good that God has done for you.

Thank you, Henry Kanu. And most of all, thank you, Jesus Christ!

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Conversation with God Discipleship Hearing God Joy

I am Learning to Hear God Better

I am learning to hear God better. Isn’t that a wonder – how such a thing can happen?

This can happen during all of our life, if we ask and if we pay attention. Ask. Pause. Listen. Look. Feel. Notice what appears in our minds, etc.

I also feel I am getting to know God better. You can, too! I expect that learning about God more deeply and better is something that goes on for eternity.

Our creator has made us with a capacity for learning. Which can lead to a lifetime and – an eternity of continuing progress through various lessons.

Just the idea of this fills me with wonder. How about you?

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Discipleship Getting Help Jesus's Communication Joy Kingdom of God Prayer

Weary? A Slightly Surprising Answer

Rest in Christ

28 “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30; https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+11&version=NRSV

When you are weary, rest and relief is available. It may be a little different than expected, though; Jesus is often surprising.

I’ll get right to it, no fooling around and being careful and slow. Here it is: he will give us rest. Especially as we add to ourselves some of his qualities. Such as being gentle and humble of heart.

When we are learning from Jesus and allowing him to take our (heavy) yoke, not only is he stronger than we, he is also being gentle and humble of heart.

Which means we are not being proud, when we ask him like this. Not being proud, when we are being gentle and humble of heart.

I don’t know about you, but when I am weary and find rest, by hindsight is is easy for me to be clear: while I was weary I had been being proud. Carrying a heavy burden and being proud about it.

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Conversation with God Discipleship Hearing God Holy Spirit Joy Learning Ministry Miracles

Rest and Dream

Rest and dream. Be inspired. Like Jesus.

Artwork by Greg Olson

Pause. Just rest and watch the sky.

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Discipleship Getting Help Leadership Learning Ministry Prayer

Discipling like Jesus

Jesus had a pattern for making disciples. We can see some of it in Scriptures, and we can make educated guesses to fill in some details. How he taught was common to Hebrew teachers, rabbi’s, in those days.

I’ve spoken with seasoned disciple makers and missionaries who’ve done this, and they helped me get an even better practical picture.

First, as with everything, get guidance. Then pray. Pray with clear prayer targets – such as successful disciple making of disciples who make yet more disciples.

The basic pattern is simple: show, tell, and do. Probably even explain, show, discuss. Repeat until they are ready to do.

When you care, being a disciple is easy. (Good Friday by Anita Brown.)

The pattern is not classroom instruction, reading about or learning about things. It’s being shown, discussion before and after. It’s learning to do what you do. With an explanation. It is not learning about things. Theory isn’t nearly enough.

It might have worked something along these lines:

  • First, discuss what you will do, what they will see, especially so they know what to look for, what is significant.
  • Demonstrate in front of them, so they can see.
  • Third, discuss how it went. How it was as you’d hoped and expected, things that were different. Issues and complications, if any; and especially how it went well.
  • Let them ask questions as part of this discussion. Answer.
  • Maybe show them several times. Is often a good idea, especially with something new.
  • Send them out to go do as you did.
  • Have them report back to you. Let them ask questions. Make comments so they learn even more. (If they rejoice that even demons do as they command, give them the perspective that yes, this is good, and that it is even more important that their names are written in heaven – for instance.)
  • Send them out again.
  • Repeat this cycle until all are satisfied that good learning has taken place.

Disciple making is demonstration with explanation. Then they demonstrate, and ask questions, and you give additional perspective as is useful.

Disciple making is not a classroom activity. It is not talking about things. It’s being shown and then doing as shown. With explanations as is useful.

Additional notes:

  • Train disciples in how to make disciples. They will demonstrate. Disciples multiply by themselves, making disciples.
  • Disciples normally go out and minister in pairs. Ministry is normally in pairs. Always minister in pairs when you can. The more senior is making a disciple of the less experienced person. The less senior person assists and helps the more senior. This gives them something useful to do and provides practical help.
  • When ministering, when one talks, the other prays for the one ministering. Results are much better this way.
  • Grab someone out of a crowd who is watching, if you have no one else. Let them assist you and pray for you while you minister. Help them learn and discuss what happened. Not just ministering, always teaching.
  • A prayer support group is even more helpful. Set one up. If nothing else, find local people who are sympathetic and ask for their prayer support.
  • Prayer support is primarily for the minister, so they are more inspired and do well. They will do better. The people praying will pay more attention as they are invested, and they will learn more. Prayer is not primarily for the person being ministered to, as tempting as this may be. It could be helpful, but not nearly as helpful as praying for the person ministering.

Go, and make disciples. Make mistakes. Admit them and discuss them, so everyone can learn from them: we learn a lot through mistakes. Share the learning, and do not hold back such a wonderful opportunity. And of course celebrate what goes well!

This is the pattern that Jesus used. Go, and do the same.

And, there is a next step….