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!
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!
A good friend was lighting a heater, there was an explosion, and his eyes hurt so much he could not open them. So he went to the hospital emergency room.
I asked Jesus how to pray for him. I saw a thick white line out in front of my eyes; I was seeing through the face of the person who was hurt. Normally, I’d ignore such a strange thing to see, continuing to ask for an answer and looking for one. Which would mean I would miss the answer Jesus had already given.
I’ve learned that the first thing I experience after asking is literally the answer as to how I am to pray. So I prayed by seeing that thick white line in front of my eyes, as I identified as though being the person who was hurt.
This made no sense to me. Even more than usual, this made no sense to me. But I’ve been learning that what I experience first, after asking Jesus how to pray for someone or something – is my answer, and this is literally what I am to do.
This morning the line was far thinner. And I continue to pray this way, seeing that white line, no longer thick, as if through the eyes of my friend who had been hurt. Jesus is healing him.
I also realize that even if I am mistaken in how I am seeing what Jesus says about how to pray, when I pray as I am shown, I am praying with faith.
And I realized my friend is getting better, and I knew he would be okay. And I am to continue to pray this way, enforcing the answer to my question about how to pray in this situation, for this person, until the answer is completely enforced and his healing is complete.
And for most of my life I’ve missed the answers he’s given, I suspect, because his answers surprise me so much, seem so unusual and unexpected. And because I had not thought to ask how I should pray; I presumed I knew how to intercede – without asking Jesus and paying close attention to what he says to me through Holy Spirit.
Jesus motivates us to move to a higher LOVE walk – Agapegeek.com
You can heal old memories of bad things that happened to you & old memories of when you reacted badly by applying Agape love. Let me explain….
First, a brief & quick reminder, from 1 Corinthians 13:
4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7, NKJV
So here’s how I do it, I expect this can work well for you, too. (I’d love to hear about your experience with this so I can learn.)
I think of a memory that is painful. First, one where I responded poorly. Then I review 1 Cor. 13:4-7. I see where I reacted without Agape love. I make a new decision, and choose to respond with Agape love, the God, generous kind of love. I choose to respond with Agape qualities in the future. That’s not only a new decision, that’s repentance.
I mentally rehearse or practice having done that. Two or three times if necessary; though once will often be quite enough.
It’s done!
I check to see if my memory of that bad or painful memory is different or better. It usually is.
Then I do this again with a different memory, where I may not have reacted badly, but where I still did not respond with Agape love. I make a new and better decision, with the help of Jesus (which I ask for). A decision to respond with Agape love. Generously. Lovingly. The God-kind of love.
Afterwards, I again check the old memory, am I doing better now when I remember it?
Usually my own response to an event makes a huge difference in how painful the memory is or isn’t.
If I have trouble succeeding with this, I again ask Jesus, who is always near, always at hand (like his Kingdom) – within reaching distance – to help. And I ask for and receive by faith, more of Holy Spirit. I may not feel anything, but I notice I respond differently and can choose Agape love more easily and more deeply.
Let me know how you do with this, I’d love to know!
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Thank you!
-David, David@DavidBurnet.com
P.S. Teach this to someone else, maybe by walking them through it. Jesus and the Jesus kind of love can minister to them, too!
I’ve noticed several things that help me live out of my New Self, my New Person. So I make a list to help me remember and do this, especially when I am under pressure. (So read slowly & meditate, or even better, have a conversation with Jesus about these matters.)
Why is this important?
My Old Person has:
been marked by sin,
has wounds & is reactive (has trauma & PTSD) because of them,
is carnal and fleshly, selfish and mean. Feels smaller than I am.
does not please God.
Does not hear God except for audible voice, which is rare and something I personally have not yet heard.
Carries the curses of a broken world, including sin, sickness and disease. Feels bad.
Cannot minister effectively.
.
My New Person has:
always been free of sin – and has no marks of sin.
Has no wounds and so is not reactive to wounds (has no trauma or PTSD). Feels bigger than I am.
What does it mean when someone has been healed or set free and you see them light up? Is it just gladness for their improvement? Gladness, yes. Being lit up? Might it mean more?
What does it mean when they have Holy Spirit? In biblical terms, in the Greek, they have experienced sozo. Which can mean that they have been healed, set free, even saved. Does that mean all of these or only one of these things? I wonder….
Maybe they just have Holy Spirit on them, helping them heal or be set free. Could be. Like the prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures, they have Holy Spirit on them just for a bit? Or in them? I wonder…and I do not know, yet.
So I will watch. If after being set free and being healed, they stay lit up with Holy Spirit evident in their lives over a period of time, there is a greater chance that they have Holy Spirit in them and not just on them for a brief time. Meaning it is more likely that they have been saved. I wonder, as I watch for such things, what will I discover and see before me that is obvious? I do not know, and I wonder.
I do know this for a certainty. God is more merciful than we are. God loves more and better than we do. And I do know this: God’s theology is wider, more inclusive and more generous than the theology of we human beings.
And so, I wonder. I will ask our Lord. I will listen. And I will watch people who have received ministry with wonderful success. I will see Fruit of Holy Spirit, or not. I will see obvious evidence of Holy Spirit in them, or not.
And I do not know what will become obvious.
Even if it’s only some ministered to who have such evidence of Holy Spirit, and not all or even most, I will rejoice.
And if I cannot identify any with certainty and confidence that they have Holy Spirit…what will I do? I will rejoice!
For our Lord has saved many of us. Has ministered to many of us. And Jesus is still Immanuel, God with us. And he is coming! Hallelujah!
The Purpose of Pain is for first grabbing attention, then to aid healing.
The Purpose of Painis simple. It’s to gain our attention to injury or trauma.
First,to help us see if we need first aid.
Second,to then to aid in protecting and aiding in resolving trauma and healing.
Pain grabs our attention. If a physical injury, do we need first aid? To stop bleeding or to take other immediate measures? If emotional injury, do we need to stop everything else right away because the injury is so large and we have no free attention left for doing other things?
Pain also helps us protect trauma and injury for healing. And this is what too many of us have been missing for far too long.
It’s simple; but I didn’t see this for most of my life. It’s somewhat obvious by hindsight, yet easy to miss or even to dismiss as not important. Especially the second part. It’s done well in two parts, one part after the other:
-1. Pay attention to pain that has grabbed your attention with the “front” of your mind. Assess and do what needs doing.
-2. Pay attention to pain with the back of the mind. The body and mind will work behind the scenes to protect what hurts. And then to heal, and to resolve trauma or injury. This does not need as much conscious attention as assessing and seeing if first aid is needed. Some “back of the mind” attention does need to continue, for the best protection and for the best resolving and healing of the causes of pain.
Both body and mind have mechanisms already in place. And it’s my observation that they work better when attention is continued with the “back of the mind”. Attention will be grabbed somewhat, anyway, because of the pain. But it is safe after the assessment to give only “back of the mind” attention.
This works best when we are breathing with our lower belly or abdomen, rather continuously. How to get stuck in trauma or to not complete processing: stop breathing continuously. Hold your breath for periods of time.
Emotional trauma resolves best when we use our attention properly and continue breathing – without holding our breath.
So….
The Purpose of Pain: is to attract and keep our attention first for first aid assessment and then for continued protection of injury and resolution of trauma and healing.
This works well for all kinds of pain, including emotional and physical.
Especially if you are breathing continuously and avoid holding your breath.
Getting this backwards is how we get stuck and stay in pain. (To get this backwards, keep paying attention with the front of your mind to how much you hurt. You won’t be able to do as much because you have little attention left over. You may become prone to holding your breath, which allows emotional trauma to continue.)
I think this is how David played his harp and helped King Saul when he was bothered by an unclean spirit.
A friend of mine, Gregg McIver, told me of examples where he’d play one of his many flutes and help people who were overloaded and angry, or otherwise in some emotional pain. Helped a dentist relax when facing a difficult procedure. Helped his own self with pain of a tooth having been knocked out.
Keys to Succeeding:
Keep Breathing.
Keep some of your “back of the mind” attention – on the pain or trauma until it resolves.
Keep your “front of the mind” on something else (after the initial “first aid” assessment).
You can do some things with front and back of the mind awareness, like listening to a Native American wooden flute, pan flute or David’s harp with a pentatonic scale. I suspect that wide notes or lots of overtones are an excellent help in holding your attention and keeping it spread out between both front and back of your attention.
That said, how did Jesus do these things? Easy. Simple. He showed us and he told us. (Be careful to notice what he shows us and what he tells us – or we miss important lessons.)
Jesus healed with gentle compassion. This gets your attention right for healing.
Gentleness is related to humility. We hear Father better. We have a better two-way conversation: prayer.
Compassion brings our heart into our actions.
Doing these things, being these ways, you find that your heart and your attention is set correctly and well for healing injury, sickness, or trauma. In yourself and in others.
Go! Share the Good News and heal the sick and free the bound. Go!
A journal entry from later in the day:
I can talk to God in the Spirit, and even without words, yet actively relating and connecting, and actively putting Him and his Kingdom first.
This changes everything.
Even overload and pain. The need to process. (Take time out to process, and talk to God during this. It’s better! He is merciful and good.)
12:20 P.M., 15-Aug-2020
So…be filled with wonder and joy at how wonderful a Lord, God and Savior we have!While you process, talk to God in the Spirit. Relate! Putting Jesus and his Kingdom first. This alone changes everything. And doing this literally transforms your automatic and deep processing, and it takes such processing to a new level that transforms and heals.
So…please practice, practice and practice. Learn this for yourself and make new habits which will serve you and others for the rest of your life.
Life has wounded you – too many times! You hurt inside, because we live in a broken world. A world full of many kinds of trouble.
Jesus has restored you. Completely. Will you take joy in this?
If you live in the Kingdom of God, this is already true for you: you have been and are completely restored. In fact, you’ve even been made better than you were before.
Then you discover that Jesus has actually already restored you. A wonderful discovery for you to make.
This is just a fact. But, for you to experience this as fully and completely as you can, there is a condition:
You trust, rely and really depend on your Restoration more than you trust and depend on old injuries. You trust Jesusmore than you trust the Adversary or in a horribly broken world. And more than you trust old injuries.
Will you do this? (You may have habits of trusting injuries and brokenness more than your Restoration to Wholeness and Joy.)
Want some hints on how to do this even better? I’m glad you asked. Here are some especially uncomplicated ways to accomplish this (life is easy when you are doing these things – hard when you do not). Try them one at a time and discover which you are best at, which is most easy and effective for you.
Follow or walk in line with Holy Spirit. You will experience Fruit of the Spirit, including love and joy. (See Galations 5:16-25.)
Be full of Holy Spirit. Ask for more and receive by faith.
Put the right standing with God and the Kingdom of God first. This will re-align all your values in the present moment, and you will be much more in tune with the Kingdom of God.
Love God with all your heart, soul and strength. Allow God’s love for you to spill over to others.
Trust God and resist evil. In fact, draw closer to God and resist evil: a simple two direction move that will give you freedom and joy!
When you are experiencing God – as Jesus, Holy Spirit, Father – or all of these Persons of the Trinity – and you realize that Jesus is near (that’s why one of his names is Immanuel – God with us), or realize that Holy Spirit actually already lives inside of you, or how much Father loves you and has had good plans for you before the beginning – when you realize and rejoice in the nearness of God or God’s life already in you — life is easier, joyful and you are whole.
Your New Person, created by God as you came into the Kingdom, is already whole and complete and fully restored. Experience this! It’s a glorious way to live.
It is your Old Self that has the wounds and injuries. (Not you.) This is who died when you were born again. Don’t you dare live out of your dead Old Self when you can live out of your resurrected New Person!
Your New Person has nowounds.Your New Person – the real and alive “you” already has Holy Spirit – your Comforter, Guide and your Advocate for when you are being accused.
You have been completely restored, and more. Rejoice! (It’s a choice. An outstanding choice! Don’t be tricked by habits or a broken world or by the devil into living out of injuries that aren’t even alive – aren’t even really yours any more.)
