Tag: Gospel

commanding sickness

Christian Healing: Healing By Command

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In the last post, we discussed the believer’s authority to heal, and primarily the transferring of that authority from God, through Jesus, to His disciples and the church. We said that the practice of the believer’s authority is linked directly to the believer’s level of belief in God’s desire to heal. In this post, we will now turn our attention to the practical side of the authority to heal, and discuss how it is our privilege to command sickness and disease to leave, in Jesus’ name.

Once again, we look first to Jesus as our example in healing the sick and practicing authority. What stands out to me is that in the gospels, whenever Jesus healed the sick, it was always accomplished in one of two ways. He either healed by physical touch or he healed by commanding the disease to leave.

The act of laying on of hands in scripture is always a physical outworking of the anointing of God on a person, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, when Jesus laid hands on someone, I believe it was a practical example of healing through the anointing, which we will discuss in a future post.

For now, I want to focus on Jesus’ practice of commanding or rebuking sickness in people’s bodies, which, instead of demonstrating His anointing, was a manifestation of His authority over the power of sickness and death.

Commanding Sickness is Demonstrated by Jesus

Over and over again in the Bible, when Jesus heals the sick, we see Him do it through a verbal command, either toward the sickness itself, towards a person’s body, or towards a demonic spirit which was causing the disease.

Jesus Commanded Diseases to Go

One of my favorite phrases in the New Testament is “…Jesus rebuked…” This is used in reference to all sorts of earthly phenomenons, such as calming storms, yet most commonly we hear it in regard to sickness. For example, not long into His earthly ministry, Jesus meets Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, who has been sick for some time.

And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.

Luke 4:38-39

Jesus doesn’t pray for the woman. He doesn’t implore God to heal her. Instead, He speaks directly to the disease and commands it to leave her body. In His authority from God, He spoke and the disease responded by leaving! Remember, Jesus said that He did nothing, except what God revealed to Him to do (John 5:19). That means that as Jesus healed every sick person around Him, it was God’s will being fulfilled!

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Jesus Commanded Bodies to Receive Healing

Not only do we see Jesus speaking to disease to leave people’s body, but we also see Him speaking to people’s bodies, commanding them to recover from their physically broken state. Take, for example, His healing of the blind man, Bartimeus:

And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

Luke 18:40-43

As Jesus spoke to bodies, they responded to His authority, and recovered. 

Jesus Commanded Demons to Leave

Another demonstration of Jesus’ authority to heal people was in His rebuke of demonic spirits that were causing sicknesses and diseases. Remember, disease and demonic torments are both results of mankind’s fall into sin. Therefore, the sinless Son of Man has authority over all these things. Take the example we discussed in the last post, of Jesus healing the epileptic boy, after His disciples could not:

While (Jesus) was coming, the demon threw (the boy) to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.

Luke 9:42 

In Jesus’ ministry, we see Him commanding disease to leave in all forms! Jesus commanded invasive sicknesses, like viruses and infections, to get out of people’s bodies. He spoke to people’s bodies to be healed of their own brokenness, like blindness and deafness. He also took authority in the spirit realm, which caused many people’s afflictions, and not only healed them, but also got rid of the tormenting spirits.

Jesus’ Disciples Also Healed by Command

From this discussion, we might well conclude that Jesus’ authority to heal was all-encompassing! However, it did not stop with Jesus. When He gave His authority to His disciples, they responded by practicing their authority in the same ways He did.

Jesus’ Disciples Commanded Diseases to Go

As we have already talked about previously, the Bible records that before Jesus ever gave His Holy Spirit to the disciples, He transferred His God-given authority over sickness and disease to them!

And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal… And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. 

Luke 9:12 and 16 

Although this verse doesn’t specifically say they “rebuked the sicknesses” verbally, there is no implication in Jesus command or in their practice that says they were praying for the sick and asking God to heal. It was the disciples who were healing, with the authority Jesus gave them. As disciples following a Rabbi, they most likely did this the same way He demonstrated.

Even after Jesus left this earth and gave them the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the Bible still records that the Apostles were the ones active in healing people. They weren’t praying and asking God to do it.

Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles (not by the hand of God). And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico…The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

Acts 5:12 and 16 

Jesus’ Disciples Commanded Bodies to Receive Healing

In the same way that Jesus spoke to people’s bodies to recover, the Bible records the disciples doing so as well. One example is the first miracle after Jesus gave the great commission and left. While going to the temple to pray, Peter and John healed the lame beggar, sitting at the gate of the temple courts:

But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”

Acts 3:6 

Peter spoke with authority, in Jesus’ name, and commanded the man’s body to function correctly. And it did!

Jesus’ Disciples Commanded Demons to Leave

Not to leave anything out — remember, Jesus promised that all who believe in Him would do the same works that He did (John 14:12) — the bible also records that the disciples, too, cast out demonic spirits that were tormenting and afflicting people. Take the story of Paul, who was being followed around by a demon-possessed girl:

And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.

Acts 16:18 

The disciples of Jesus demonstrated the same authority as Jesus by commanding sickness, bodily afflictions, and demons, “in Jesus name!”

The Authority to Command “In Jesus’ Name”

This brings us back to the point we made before: Jesus said in John 14:

Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

John 14:13

The authority of a believer, today, does not come from within ourselves, and it cannot be something we claim for ourselves. Our authority is explicitly given by Jesus, the same as it was to His disciples, and therefore we can only accomplish the things He commanded us to do, by doing them “in His name.” It is the name of Jesus that is our ‘badge’ of authority.

When Peter was called to the authorities and had to explain the healing of the lame man mentioned above, he goes out of his way to explain that it was not his own authority, but that of Christ, that the man was healed:

And (Jesus) name—by faith in his name—(God) made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

Acts 3:16 

One of my favorite scriptures in the Bible is when the governing authorities take note and wonder if this authority must have come from Jesus, because these men on their own were nothing:

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

John 4:13 

Later, as the church prayed for more boldness to continue doing what Jesus had commanded them, it is clear that they understood there was a distinction between the hand of God working sovereignly, and what was being done through them by the authority in His name. 

And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

Acts 4:29-30 
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The Authority for Healing Continues in the Church

Now, knowing that Jesus passed His authority to His apostles and the other early disciples, and that His expectation is that His Kingdom and authority would continue to grow in the earth (Isaiah 9:7), it is not surprising that Jesus’ stated intention was that His authority would remain with His people, the church, until His second coming!

Authority is in the Great Commission

Once again, this command to “heal the sick” — complete with His authority to do so — continued in the church after His departure. It is an inseparable part of the Great Commission.

And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Mark 16:17-18 

Although citations are impossible and I cannot give a full account in this blog post, I can boldly say that Christian history has recorded healing in EVERY branch of the church since Jesus spoke the Great Commission. Even in the most cessationist denominations, room is occasionally given to pray for the sick, and at times healing miracles have been recorded by all of them.

God is Glorified by our practicing Authority “in the name of Jesus”

The Bible is clear of Jesus’ intention that believer’s would use the authority given by Christ to the church. This is not an abuse or a misuse of His power. It is how He gets glory! We need to practice doing what He said, even more.

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:17 

The Great Controversy: Can Man Tell God What to Do?

One of the biggest criticisms I see of those who practice Christian healing is that “these healers command God, telling Him what to do.” 

If that were the case, I agree with the critics that it would demonstrate the utmost arrogance by mere men, elevating themselves above God Himself. However, from my own experience in the healing ministry and in my observation of dozens of other healing ministers, both contemporary and historical, this is a major misunderstanding by the critics of the practice of healing.

I have never seen a credible healing minister command God to do anything! Yes, they do make commands, but God is not the target; sickness is, the same as it was for Jesus and the early disciples. Even though this practice is often called a “prayer of command”, the truth is that this is not really a prayer to God, petitioning Him to move. Instead, this is an exhibition of the believer’s authority, which was first demonstrated by Jesus Himself. 

When speaking in training conferences and discipling believers to pray for the sick, I am always diligent to make this distinction clear. “As believers, we ask God to heal, and we command sickness to go. Don’t get this confused. We do not ask sickness to go — ‘oh cancer, please, if it be your will, leave this body…’ — nor do we ever command God to do anything — ‘Lord, I command You to remove this cancer…” To do those things would lead to devastating results in the pursuit of healing, and would bring a major level of sin into our relationship with the Lord. 

However, as we are careful to point our commands appropriately, it is a practice as old as the New Testament for believer’s to speak to sickness, in the Name of Jesus, and command it to go.

It’s Time to Use Your Authority

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, then you have been given His authority as His representative in the earth. In His name, you have the right to speak to every manner of sickness, affliction, and demonic torment, and command them to go! What is lacking is a motivation among God’s people to do what Jesus told us to do, either due to a lack of belief, or a lack of boldness to operate in our authority.

If you lack belief, then please go back and read my previous posts, dig into scripture, and see what Jesus says you carry. If you lack boldness, then do as the early church did, and pray for God to give you more. However, to be faithful to Jesus’ command to heal the sick, you are eventually going to have to look at the sickness in front of you and command it to go, “in Jesus’ name.” 

As John Wimber is often credited with saying, “faith is spelled R-I-S-K.” It is one of those things that you will never know, until you try! I cannot guarantee anything, concerning your efforts. There are often other, unseen realities at work that may prevent healing from coming immediately, yet that is not an excuse to not make the attempt! Jesus wants the sick to be healed, and He wants you to be the one doing it. So go for it! “In Jesus’ name,” tell those diseases to get out and not come back. (Then share your testimony with me, so we can celebrate and give glory to God together)

What Are Your Thoughts?

In our next post we will turn our attention to the Holy Spirit’s role in healing ministry, and how to work under His anointing to see even more power for healing in your life.

Until then, I would love to hear your questions, thoughts and testimonies in the comment section below.

As always, if you are enjoying what you are reading here, I would be honored if you would subscribe to my weekly email below. You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for regular updates and ongoing #ChristianLife and #GospelLeadership insights!

If you’re enjoying the content I produce, a little caffeine to keep me going would be appreciated!



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© Anthony Scott Ingram 2020. All Rights Reserved.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

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My Journey Into Healing Ministry (part 2)

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…Continued from Part 1

To South Sudan

After Randy Clark prayed for me at Voice of the Apostles in 2012, and the conference ended, I went and saw my family for a few days, before getting on a plane to fly to South Sudan.

This trip was the most extreme and difficult mission I had ever taken part in up to that point. Our host told us that our precious time in Uganda would look like life in America compared to what we would face in the remote, tribal area we were working in.

To get there we flew from the U.S. to Nairobi, Kenya, then took a very small plane to Lokichoggio, Kenya. (Each person was only allowed 15 pounds of luggage!) Arriving at that small airport, we were told it should take an hour to reach the border, and less than 1.5 hours, total, to get to Narus, our final destination. As we waited for a few hours for our drivers to arrive, we quickly figured out that something was wrong.

We soon learned that it had poured rain all night, causing the vehicles to be delayed getting us. Then for the next 6, mud-soaked hours, we crawled to the border in our little hatchbacks. Arriving there, we were forced to leave the cars and wade across the flooding riverbed that marks the Kenya-South Sudan border, then deal with an immigration officer who was angry about having to work so late in the day waiting for our team. This was just the start of a rough trip.

The Road crossing the Kenya/South Sudan Border

From there, the next couple of days were marked by team members freaking out over a lack of plumbing, bats circling overhead in the rooms, and rats coming out of mattresses while some of our ladies slept. Finally, after resolving that we are not going home because God had called us there, our team organized ourselves for a morning of prayer and worship. From that moment on, everything changed.

Healing Breakthrough

After praying for the sick regularly for over a year, it was on our third day in South Sudan where my healing breakthrough finally came. As our team ventured out to the mango tree where our host church gathered, most of the team members were talking to some Taposa women who had come around to see the whites.

My attention, on the other hand, was drawn to the old man, sitting alone, at the base of the giant mango tree. When I got close to him, I could see that all the color in his eyes had gone, and that he was completely blind. (I would find out from his family on my return trip the following year that he went blind from alcohol poisoning, after a lifetime of drinking almost a gallon of the local brew each day.)

Suddenly I was overcome by a love for this man (compare to Jesus’ being “moved with compassion in Matthew 14:14). I collapsed in the dirt beside him and laid hands on him and began to pray.

I have no idea exactly what I was saying in this prayer. For the first time, I was being led in healing prayer by the Spirit alone, and prayed in faith, absolutely believing something was going to happen. After a few minutes, one of our Ugandan pastors came and began praying with me. Slowly, over the next 20 minutes or so, we began to watch the color come back to his eyes. As the team gathered around to see what was happening, it was obvious that his sight was getting better.

The blind man in South Sudan – my first healing.

When we first began to pray, all he could see was the difference between light and dark – the same way we can see light and dark if we close our eyes. As we prayed, he began to say things like, “I can see the green on the trees.” “I can see the brown from the dirt.” We kept praying. He began to say, “That one is a black man. This one is a white woman.” It was obvious to all that God was working a miracle.

We couldn’t remain there all day. Arrangements had been made for us to make our way to visit a hospital or prison or something. The trip kind of blurs in my mind now. As we left him, however, I knew the man was going to be completely healed.

It didn’t take long to find out. At the end of the day, as our team met for supper back at our base camp, one of the local pastors we were working with came running into the dining room, very excited. “Pastor Scott, the blind man you prayed for is completely healed. He is walking around the village by himself with no one leading him! Everyone is talking about this miracle.”

We found out from there that each morning this man’s children would bring him to the “church” tree, and sit him in the shade with his jug. They would bring him lunch there at some point, then come back in the evening to collect him and take him home. When he was now walking around without being led, it was sure to capture people’s attention!

Healing Evangelism

This whole trip was loosely planned, because you never know how things will go in the bush of Africa. The next morning, very early on, we sent a local pastor to a village just over an hour away, where we were told the gospel had never been preached. We sent him to ask if we could bring our team and share with the people. The response of the village chief left us amazed at God’s goodness.

He told our pastor that he had been approached by many missionaries over the years, but had never allowed them to come to his village. He didn’t want their stories. However, he then said, “…but I heard about the blind man, and we want those people to come here.”

A couple hours later, we gathered our team into the cars and were on our way. We didn’t have a sound system or any cool media technology. It was just our small group of believers, off to see what God would do.

Once in this unreached village, I was given the privilege of sharing the Gospel with around 40 people who had gathered to hear what we had to say. My first question was, “how many of you are Christian?” All of them put their hand in the air. I was perplexed, but quickly realized my mistake. This was South Sudan. Politically, Northern Sudan was Muslim, but Southern was “Christian” in the Catholic-empire sense of the word.

My question that followed, then, was, “how many of you have ever heard of a man named Jesus.” This time, none of the locals raised their hand.

I began to share from the Bible on who Jesus was, why He came, and how each person can be saved. I told them of how Jesus had worked in his lifetime to get this message to the world, then continued through the early disciples, and now the church. When I gave the invitation, there was quite a bit of excitement as all 40 people raised their hands to get saved by Jesus!

Afterwards, I couldn’t help myself. I began sharing how we had been praying for people all over Narus, our village base of operations, for various issues from wanting to be pregnant, to finding work. Then I shared the story of the blind man, and told them, “we want to pray for you too.”

One of the Taposa we met on this mission.

We decided it was wise to have men pray with men and women with women, due to some cultural sensitivities we had discovered the day before. As eager as the men were to be prayed for, none of them came to me at first. They were waiting in respect as one of the old village elders came to receive first.

This old man walked with the help of a stick, and was very slow. A 10 meter walk took 2-3 minutes for him, unassisted. I patiently waited, out of respect, for him to reach me. He told me how his knees had been very damaged in the fight for freedom and other tribal wars in the past, and asked me to pray.

At the time, I was praying with another gentleman – a very devout leader in his cessationist Baptist church. He was already skeptical of the blind man’s healing, wanting to know if we could verify he was actually blind before we met him; ignoring the fact that we personally watched the color return to his eyes.

I placed my hands on the old warrior’s right knee, while my doubting companion grabbed the left. I prayed. As soon as I finished, the old man tested out his legs, and… nothing.

There was no change to his condition, and he thought that I wasn’t understanding the problem correctly. I assured him I understood the need, and explained to him about the passage where even Jesus had to pray for someone twice (see Mark 8:25). I said, “let’s pray again.” (This received an awkward glance from my prayer partner, but he relented and grabbed the knee again.)

This time, as soon as we finished praying, I asked the man to test them out. He took one step, then took off running around the village center completely healed! I was so excited; I was shouting more than he was. My prayer partner, not so much.

More Healings

The next man to come forward was another warrior with the same issues, and the pattern followed the same. We prayed once, nothing happened. We prayed a second time, and he ran around completely healed.

The third man had major back pain and was unable to lift or work easily. After a couple of prayers the pain in his back completely left. At this point, so did my prayer partner. These healings were challenging his faith to the point that he went to pray with someone else.

The fourth man was different. He, too, was walking with a staff due to worn out knees. I prayed for him once, but by this point his faith was high after seeing all the other healings, that he didn’t check himself before taking off running. He wasn’t healed. He reached the edge of the village center and collapsed in more pain.

The thing you need to understand is that these are a warrior tribe. Every man carries an 8-foot spear and can be very aggressive. They also value their elders. Now we had broken one of them. As everyone’s attention turned to the elder who had collapsed, out of fear for what might happen next, I took off running to the man, praying “God, we broke him worse. They’re going to kill us. Please, You have to heal Him now!”

As I reached the man, I immediately began praying for him again. This time, he listened when I asked him to test it out first, and praise God, he was completely healed.

The one who didn’t test it out first.

Church Planting Made Simple

About this time, the chief, who had missed our meeting due to other commitments returned and began asking his people what was going on. All of the testimonies of how God was moving in salvation and healing through many members of our team overwhelmed him. He immediately asked us to take up a permanent place in their village. They led us to the edge of town where they donated a large plot of land to build a church and anything else we wanted to do (hospital, orphanage, etc.). 

They pleaded with us to stay, so much, that in their limited understanding of what had happened, they thought this power was coming from us, and not God’s Spirit in us. They went as far as to ask if we could leave some of our white women so that they could “mingle the blood” and receive this power. We explained to them that the power was not in us, but in Jesus through God’s Spirit, and that He would do these things through them if they learn to follow and obey him. We promised them that our local pastors would begin coming to work with them regularly in discipleship, then quickly left for the protection and comfort of some of our team.

I can happily report, however, that today, 8 years later, there is still a growing church in that village led by the pastors who took us there in the first place.

Here is the recap video of the entire South Sudan mission. The blind man can be seen at 7:27. Some of the warrior’s knees being healed is at 10:29.

I can also happily say that the senior pastor who hosted us on that first trip, a Ugandan missionary to South Sudan, became a good friend of mine. In fact, he has since began transitioning out of South Sudan (leaving the ministry there in the hands of the other pastors on his team) and is now planting a church in Busia, Uganda, under the covering of Sozo Ministries, the ministry God led me to open in 2015.

Ministering Through Words of Knowledge

It is difficult for me to share how much the healing ministry has shaped my work for the Lord in the years since this first breakthrough.

Upon my return to Haiti, immediately following this trip to South Sudan, healing began happing every week in church services. 

As I returned to the U.S. at the end of 2012, I saw that my opportunities to pray for people were becoming less and less. Deciding I needed to grow in my understanding of this gifting and have accountability to press in for more, I signed up for Randy Clark’s online healing school, which pushed me to continue praying for the sick and growing in the gift. (I am now a member of Global Awakening’s Association of Healing Ministers, and last year I was ordained by Global Awaking — Randy’s Ministry in the U.S.)

It was through Randy’s program that I learned how to receive Words of Knowledge for healing, which has become one of the primary ways I minister in healing (and more).

In 2013, I had returned to traveling around the world with Heart of God (HGIM); Haiti, Uganda, Kenya, South Sudan, India, Israel. Little by little the gift continued to grow.

On a 9-day trip to India in 2014, the pastors kept me on a crazy preaching schedule. We did 2 half-day pastor’s conferences, one night open air crusade, and preached in 17 churches around the countryside. Not having time to prepare for each meeting, I really began to depend on words of knowledge to be able to minister. I would spend time praying in the car, on our way to each church, asking God to show me what to speak and what He wanted me to do. 

Inevitably He would speak to me about scriptures I was supposed to share and show me pictures in my mind of how He wanted me to pray and minister to people. Surprisingly, praying for the sick was becoming a large part of what He was showing me to do. In one church He told me beforehand that every person with back pain would be healed. (They were.)

Praying for a Hindu man’s back pain

On that one trip to India, I saw more healings in 9 days than I had seen combined since South Sudan two years prior. As is sadly, often the case, the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit brought in controversy among friends, and unfortunately, this large number of healings led to some challenges within the organization I was working for. As an interdenominational ministry, it was clear that not everyone in leadership believed the same about healing that I did. The Lord began to lead me to check my motives and make sure this calling was from God, and to see where He would take me next.

A New Ministry

The month before my trip to India, I had attended a gathering of the International Society of Deliverance Ministers, invited as a part of Randy’s healing program. There, I received two prophecies which would shape the current era of my life. One prophecy was a confirmation of my calling and concerned a shift in the ministry I was doing coming “very soon,” and the other was about God having “all the funding” ready for my “new ministry.” 

At the time, I held those prophecies loosely, until the following March, when in a season of prayer and by mutual agreement with the leadership, I resigned from HGIM. To be clear, this was not a divisive and angry split. Both sides felt like it was God’s timing, and I remain friends with everyone in that organization!

Immediately I began work on registering Sozo Ministries, Inc. with the state of Texas and working on non-profit status. We took the name “Sozo” because it is the Greek word for “saved” or “salvation” in the New Testament. However, if you look it up in a concordance, it means complete salvation – body, soul, and spirit – meaning that in Christ’s atonement are the promises of salvation from sin, physical healing, and spiritual deliverance from the devil.

Since the foundation of Sozo Ministries in 2015, we have seen over 2000 people healed from various physical diseases.

My Healing Ministry Today

As I now live in Uganda with my family, and lead almost 40 churches registered under Sozo Ministries in Uganda and Kenya, it is amazing to look back and see this journey the Lord has brought me on.

Today, I spend my time not only preaching the gospel and praying for the sick, but training other pastors and believers to do the same. If you have time, you can watch some testimonies on our youtube channel:

HEALING TESTIMONIES

Throughout the year I preach in churches around East Africa (and in other countries as God opens the doors), and see healing happen in every single service.

Sozo pastors plan gospel crusades throughout the year, and I have the privilege of preaching to the lost, and again, in every single meeting people are getting saved and healed.

The largest event I am a part of is the annual Global Outreach mission, in partnership with Living Water Ministries, Uganda. It is my privilege to help train the outreach team in healing ministry, then to lead the healing session at each mega crusade. Last year’s team saw over 600 healings during the three-week outreach. Less than 100 were through my prayers. It came through those who had been in the training and walked out equipped and filled with faith!

The Lord has connected me with other ministries operating in healing and equipping the church for the supernatural, which has allowed me to bring ministers like Kimberly Cleveland of EquipNations and Jim Wietner from the Global School of Supernatural Ministry to help take our work in Uganda and Kenya go higher.

All in all, I can say that being a part of what the Lord is doing in saving the lost and healing the sick around the world is one of the greatest privileges of my life. Looking back at the 16 year old me, I could never have imagined things going this direction, but I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

To be truthful, in many ways I feel like my journey into healing is still just beginning. The blind man’s healing was less than 7.5 years ago! I cannot wait to see what the next few decades hold.

It’s Your Turn

Hopefully sharing my journey into healing ministry has encouraged you in some way, to pursue God for more in your own life. The Bible encourages us to pursue spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 14:1) and seems to imply in many places that you will receive the gifts you ask for. So go after Him for more!

I would also ask you to pray for me. While I am confident that God heals, and see him do so often, I know there is more. I also know the challenges that come from, both, believers and nonbelievers concerning healing, and I need the boldness to remain faithful to God’s calling.

Finally, I will say that if your church or ministry is wanting to learn to operate in the healing gift, or wants to plan a gospel-healing outreach, it would be my pleasure to be invited to speak, or to offer guidance to your team in any way possible.

INVITE ME

As always, if you are enjoying what you are reading on my blog, I would also be honored if you would subscribe to my weekly email below. You can also follow me on Facebook and Instagram for regular blog updates, and other ongoing #ChristianLife and #GospelLeadership insights!

If you’re enjoying the content I produce, a little caffeine to keep me going would be appreciated!



© Anthony Scott Ingram 2020. All Rights Reserved.

Cover photo by Sozo Ministries, Inc.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

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Principles From Joshua: #1 – Boldness Comes In the Presence of the Lord

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If you are in ministry, I am sure you know that the visions God gives for the ministry are usually much bigger than the personal abilities of the ones He calls to complete it. This is normal. God’s plans will always be far greater than our own. If we are left to ourselves, we ought to be completely incapable of accomplishing them. The truth is, however, that too many people in the ministry find themselves living small lives and not accomplishing the visions God has given because their inadequacies and self-consciousness overwhelm them and paralyze them with fear. There has to be a secret to changing this. Well, it actually isn’t a secret at all. As we spend the next few posts looking at principles from the book of Joshua, today we will see that “boldness comes in the presence of the Lord.”

A Little Background

The book of Joshua begins with the death of Moses. The Exodus period and forty years of wandering in the wilderness is complete. Now it is time for the people of Israel to come into the land of their promise. It is at this point that Joshua, who had been the assistant to Moses for many years, as well as one of the original spies going into the land, is called by God into ministry leadership. 

The Lord said to Joshua, “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses” (Joshua 1:2-3).

So Joshua is the new Moses. He is the head of the nation of Israel, and will now lead them into their inheritance.

There’s Still Something Missing

Filling the shoes of Moses was a big task. This man had led Israel for decades, and did so with many unusual talents. Moses spoke to Pharaoh with authority. He called down plagues on Egypt. He parted the Red Sea, brought water from a rock, and stood face-to-face with God, receiving the law, when all the people trembled and sought other idols. Moses was graced with supernatural wisdom in dealing with the people, and continually received revelation on where the people should go or what they should do.

Moses led Israel, not by his own strengths and abilities, but by walking daily in the presence of the Lord. That was the promise God made to him at the burning bush encounter! 

“Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?’ He said, “But I will be with you…” (Exodus 3:11-12).

Now, after years of the supernatural taking place, Joshua is called to take over for Moses? Joshua is called to lead the people into an even more dangerous place, conquering kingdoms and claiming the promised land? How is he supposed to do that? Who wouldn’t be afraid?

In the midst of this calling is where God’s promise comes to Joshua, just as it had to Moses. “Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you” (Joshua 1:5).

The Fear-Breaking Presence

Moses was afraid of Pharaoh and the people of Israel when God called him to lead the people from Egypt. It was only on the promise of God’s abiding presence that he agreed to go. Over and over again, in his life, he brings this promise back to the Lord. In Exodus 33:15-16, Moses essentially tells the Lord, “If Your presence is going to leave me, then kill me now. I’m not doing this without You.” He knew that his fears were justified, if the overcoming power of God was not at work in and through him.

In Joshua, it is now this same fear-breaking presence of God that comes upon him. Immediately after making the promise to be with him, God expects Joshua’s outlook and expectation to change.

“Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them” (Joshua 1:5-6).

Joshua’s strength and ability to fulfill the vision the Lord gives him is directly tied to the presence of God in his life. Boldness comes in the presence of the Lord!

It Bears Repeating

God continues speaking to Joshua concerning the mission ahead of him. He gives an overview of the inheritance at stake. He then directs Joshua to keep righteousness according to the law of Moses as a priority. This would be a sign of his being “strong and courageous” (see Joshua 1:7-8).

Then, once again, so there is no misunderstanding, God makes clear the source of this boldness. “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).

From this point forward, throughout the book of Joshua, we see the presence of God at work, enabling Joshua to do everything God directed him to do. The Lord parted the waters so they cross the Jordan river on dry ground, the same way their ancestors crossed the Red Sea. Joshua is continually directed by the voice of the Lord in where to move, where to rest, how to build, and who to attack.

Over and over again, the miraculous is at work in Joshua’s life. Just think about the wall falling at Jericho as an example.

What About Us?

For those of us in the church, this principle is unchanged. While circumstances have changed in the details: how God saves His people, who is called to ministry, how we are called to serve, etc. What remains the same is that the task is much greater than we are. God is calling us to take the Gospel to every dark corner of the earth. That is scary! He is calling us to disciple entire nations. That is beyond any of our skillsets! 

The only way we are able to do everything He asks of us, and fulfill the visions He gives, is to find our boldness in His presence. It is the same for the church as it was for Joshua and Moses! Our boldness comes in the presence of the Lord. The New Testament spells all of this out for us.

The Promise Is Made

In Jesus’ final day on earth, right before He ascended to Heaven, He reiterated the promise to His disciples. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).

This isn’t the first time He told them that His presence would be with them, even if not physically. In John 14:12, He told them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.” 

They were dismayed at His announcement that He was leaving, but in John 16:7, He again promises His presence to lead them and guide them in the work. “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”

In Luke’s recollection of Jesus’ final commissioning, He writes that Jesus said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Once again, His presence is tied with the strength and courage to fulfill the work God has called us to do in the earth!

So What Do We Do?

If it isn’t obvious already, we, too, must find our boldness in the presence of the Lord.

He has called you, as a believer, to do the work of saving the lost and expanding His Kingdom in the world. This task is bigger than you are capable of doing. The natural tendency is to be overwhelmed by the size of the mission and to shrink back in fear.

We cannot!

Just like Moses; just like Joshua, and just like the first apostles, we must learn to depend on God’s presence to give us courage. We must listen to His voice for the wisdom of what to do and how to go about it. 

“God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7). We cannot let fear of failure, nor the size of the task ahead of us pull us down. It is true that everything is against us. We are fighting against bigger and more powerful enemies than Joshua did, and our enemy is actively seeking our destruction (see John 10:10). It is true that we are sometimes lacking in our knowledge and education. It is true that our finances run short. It is true that the size of our teams helping us complete the work are too small.

Yet it is still true that none of those things matter, because we have the presence and power of the Lord working on our behalf.

So what do we do?

  • We seek His presence, daily.
  • We listen for the voice of God. (See my blog series on hearing His voice, here.)
  • We await His instructions and wisdom to do the work.
  • We look for opportunities for Him to demonstrate His power.
  • We lay down our fear and find rest in the confidence that He is with us.

This is the principle we learn from Joshua, which has been demonstrated in every generation of believers in history! “Our Boldness Comes In the Presence of the Lord.”

Time to Take Action

So what about you? Do you live in fear of the calling on your life? Are you overwhelmed because God’s vision is too big for you to pull off alone? How can you seek His presence today to begin to turn things around? How does your prayer life need to change? Where do you need to seek wisdom and boldness to move forward? I would love to hear from you in the comments!

If you are enjoying what you are reading on my blog, I would also be honored if you would subscribe to my weekly email, below. You can also follow me on Facebook and Instagram for regular blog updates, and other ongoing #ChristianLife and #GospelLeadership advice!

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Level 1 Discipleship: Share the Gospel

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As I shared in my last post, there are four levels of interaction that take place when making disciples. The first level is the starting point of the gospel, as we go into the world preaching the gospel to the lost.

While we will not spend much time in this series on the practicals of outreach, I feel it is necessary at this point to discuss how to present the gospel to the lost, as this is the place where their discipleship begins – the point of salvation.

Briefly, I want to share with you two methods of gospel presentation, that will enable you to keep the story of the gospel in mind in any opportunity to share with non-believers. Each of these methods will utilize four key words that will keep you on track for sharing the gospel. They are not original with me, but have been effective for years in my own mission work.

After sharing these two methods, I also want to share with you the importance of incorporating your personal testimony in your outreach efforts.

Method 1: The Ground-Level Gospel

I call this the Ground-level gospel because it keeps the story very personable to the people we are sharing with. Though using scripture is always necessary, this method doesn’t go as deep into the history of the bible as the second method will. It is very simple, and may have even been the method used by the person who led you to Christ. 

The four keywords for this method are GOD – MAN – CHRIST – RESPONSE. As I have written in our ministry’s team training handbook:

“In this way of presenting the Gospel, you begin by explaining who God is; that He is perfect and holy, and that when He created everything in the universe He made it ‘very good.’ Because God is perfect and holy, He cannot associate Himself with the unholy. This brings us to the second point.

“Man, though he was created holy in the image of God, chose to disobey God’s command and eat of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. With this one action, sin entered the world and man lost his connection with God. The judgement came with the curses pronounced in Genesis 3, as well as eternal separation from God in this life and in the next.

“This is where Christ comes in. When you have a Holy God, and a sinful humanity, there has to be a major move on both sides in order to make reconciliation. So when Jesus was born, what happened is that God took on flesh and became a man. He lived a sinless life according to the law of God, then died in our place, taking our punishment for sin, and offering us new life and righteousness through faith in Him.

“With these three things in mind, the person being ministered to is then called to a response. Will they accept Jesus as their Savior and be reconciled to God through faith in Christ, or will they reject Christ as Savior and continue in life separated from God?”

Method 2: The High-Level Gospel

Though the first method is simpler, and can be used for a quick presentation of the gospel, the second method is, by far, my favorite. This method uses the full story of scripture to lay out God’s beautiful plans, the problem of sin in humanity, and the reason for which Christ came into the world. It can also be shared conversationally when giving an explanation of your faith, without adding the immediate pressure of a response, if the person is far from getting saved. Instead, it can act as the starting point to impart faith in God, that may lead to a later decision.

The four keywords for this method are CREATION – FALL – REDEMPTION – RESTORATION. Again, let me share form our ministry’s training manual:

“God created all things in the beginning and made them good. He put humanity in charge of His creation, giving him authority to rule as a steward of God’s universe. Again, this creation was perfect and holy, and man himself was righteous having been created in the image of God.

“When mankind first sinned against God, known as ‘the fall,’ not only was man affected with the curse, but the whole creation as well. This is why everything we see in the world is not as it was originally intended to be: war, famine, violence, natural disasters, etc.

“Another downside of the fall was that the authority over the earth which God had given to mankind was then delivered to the devil, who has become ‘the God of this world’ and ‘the prince of the power of the air…at work in the sons of disobedience (lost man).‘

“Redemption is a theological word meaning that on the cross, not only did Jesus die for our sins, but that He also came to break the curse over creation and reclaim what was lost in the fall. According to Luke ‘…the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.’ This goes beyond just the salvation of souls, but also the the redemption of righteousness and justice in the earth, and ultimately the authority over creation. This is why after the resurrection, Jesus tells the disciples that now, He has all authority in heaven and on earth.

“This is where personal salvation comes in. If Jesus is the Redeemer of all things, that means He also redeems us, and brings us back to our original intended relationship with God the Father. He also gives us new life and restores our ability to walk in holiness by faith in Him. Though we are not completely perfected in the moment of salvation, we now recognized Jesus as the Lord of our life and submit to Him. As we work to build our relationship with Him, we also begin to be conformed to His image once again, just as we were originally created to be in the beginning.

“This presentation of the gospel also looks forward to the day Jesus returns and we will see the final restoration of all things back to the way God intended them to be in the beginning. Sin and death and the devil will be dealt their final blow. Jesus will judge the world according to whether or not their faith was in Him, and then He, along with all those who believed in Him as Savior will see all things finally made right. There will be a new heaven and new earth, and all the promises from the Bible will finally be fulfilled. This should get us excited.“

One final note about this narrative: even if you do not use this method for reaching the person in salvation, it is an important story for them to understand once they are saved. Therefore, if the person gets saved using method 1, then method 2 should be used at the beginning of their Level 2 Discipleship.

No matter which method you use to preach the gospel, what must be made clear is that our goal in Level 1 Discipleship is to take a lost person and lead them to salvation in Christ. We must be bold to share the gospel, and we must give them the opportunity to accept Christ as their personal Savior. 

Using Your Personal Testimony in Sharing the Gospel

Let me once again share from Sozo Ministries’ training handbook:

“It is not enough to know the gospel story with your head. You must also know it to be true and effective with your experience for your words to carry any meaning to those you are sharing with.

“Your testimony is your personal connection to God’s story in human history and is a tool He will use for leading others to Himself. 

“The Hebrew word for testimony, ‘edut,’ and the Hebrew word for witness, ‘ed,’ both come from a root word meaning ‘to duplicate or repeat.’ This means that in sharing our testimony, we are asking God to repeat the action in the lives of those we share with. This can be our salvation testimony as well as our testifying to other works of God in our life. It is a way of saying, ‘If God did it for me, He can do it for you.’ This honors God by giving Him credit and raises faith in the person making a way for God to do it again for them.

“If sharing a testimony is declaring ‘Do it again, Lord,’ then is it any wonder that all throughout the Old Testament God commands His people to share the testimonies of His faithfulness with the next generation? Psalm 119 continually talks about remembering God’s testimonies and delighting in them. It is also the privilege of the Christian that we get to be Jesus’ story-tellers as we are called to be His witnesses to the world. Remember, “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

Sharing your personal testimony requires you to know where you were before Christ found you, how the gospel came into your life, and the change God has brought in you now.

I am not the man I was before Christ saved me at 16 years old. I was a teenage slacker, alcoholic, trying drugs and experimenting sexually. Even in church, I was a hypocrite, drinking with my youth leader on Saturday nights. Thank God, He used a man bold enough to preach the gospel to me, and though I knew the stories of Jesus my whole life, I finally put my faith in Christ to be saved. Today, I am free from all those addictions and perverse lifestyles. I am faithfully married, and have the privilege of sharing this gospel all around the world.

What is your Gospel story? It is not a shame to share what your lost self did before Christ saved you, as He will use it to bring others to Himself. We must know the gospel in our heads and with our lives. Then God will use us to reach others as well.

(Click here for Level 2 Discipleship – The Basics of the Faith.)

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

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6 Essential Elements of a Discipleship Strategy

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So far in our discipleship series, we have discussed the theology of discipleship: what it is, why it matters, how the Holy Spirit works, and how we can partner with Him. Now we will begin to shift our attention to the practical side of discipleship and begin to look at how a church or a ministry can organize a discipleship strategy to effectively lead people to maturity in Christ.

We will begin by looking at six necessary elements of a successful discipleship strategy.

1. The mindset of a disciple-maker.

Hopefully by now you agree that we must begin with the conviction that we are called to make disciples and not just to make converts. Although this one should be obvious, it isn’t always followed through in the practical workings of ministry. This is why we have spent the last few weeks looking at the disciple-making mindset.

Nevertheless, at risk of overstatement, before you can practically begin a successful discipleship program in your ministry, you must be committed to seeing discipleship as the goal. If you are simply content with “soul-winning,” and consider it the purpose of evangelism to just get people saved, you will fall short of the Great Commission. Discipleship is the goal.

If you do not make the commitment now, that discipleship is the priority, then it will be easy to let it slip to the side when it becomes difficult or inconvenient.

2. A mature disciple to be the leader or mentor.

Again, this one sounds so obvious, but as we have seen over and over again in our ministry in Africa, one of the greatest challenges to seeing leaders making disciples is that the leader all-too-often was never truly discipled himself or herself.

As the leader of the ministry, it will be up to you to set the pattern for discipleship in how you disciple others. In time, you will raise up other leaders around you who are capable of carrying on in the same work you have begun (see Ephesians 4:11-12).

When the time comes for others to be called by the church to step out in discipling others, it should be clear in their Christian walk that they have been discipled and are capable of walking in maturity as a believer, knowing the word of God, and hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit.

One point of consideration that may have practical value in your ministry is that as you add official disciplers to the ministry, who are not pastors or staff, then the person must clearly have the authority of the church leadership behind them to facilitate and teach.

We commission pastors. We commission evangelists. We commission deacons. What is interesting to me is that I have never seen a church commission people to be disciple-makers. Maybe we should begin.

One other note here, while it is true that every believer should be making disciples, what we are talking about here is a strategy for your ministry as a whole. How your “official” team leads in life and in discipleship will set the pattern others in your church follow.

3. A time and place to meet regularly, outside of normal church meetings.

Your Sunday morning church service or Wednesday night prayer meeting are important parts of your ministry, but keep in mind that these events are not ideal for real life discipleship. While people need to hear the preaching of the word and be involved in other elements of church life, discipleship must take place on a more personal level.

You may even want to consider a location outside of the church facilities. Meeting in homes or public coffee shops may be more preferable, as it is easier to relate to one another, and if people are more comfortable, they are more willing to open up and share their lives.

There are other challenges that can be addressed by meeting outside of “church” as well. People coming from other religious backgrounds such as Islam, or people with spouses hostile to the church will have an easier time taking part in the discipleship process if they do not have to sneak into your church for the meeting.

4. A bible-based lesson plan for teaching the basic truths of the Christian life.

The Bible is God’s Word given to guide us in life and Christ-likeness. Therefore, any discipleship strategy we employ must be grounded in the scriptures to be effective. We cannot simply press people to conform to our church culture, or a list of religious rules and expectations.

As we continue in this series, we will look at this topic more in depth, but we must at least touch it here. The Bible reveals Jesus, and therefore it is in the Bible that we find out who we are supposed to become in Him.

5. Outside opportunities for real-life application.

New believers are some of the most passionate to share their faith and teach others what they are learning. As such, our discipleship strategy must also include opportunities for the new disciples to step up in real life applications.

In the now classic book, “The Purpose Driven Life”, Rick Warren says that Christians must be involved in five areas of spirituality: Discipleship, Worship, Fellowship, Service, and Mission. I would contend that if our discipleship programs do not offer the opportunity to step into the other four areas, then we miss the point.

As a disciple becomes more mature in the Lord, they will begin demonstrating and participating in these things on their own, outside of officially scheduled events and programs. Once again, however, I would press that it is in the patterns set in their early discipleship that they will continue on in them. 

We must teach people to worship the Lord and to serve, and to give them opportunity to reach out to the lost and share their lives with other believers.

6. Ongoing accountability and counseling for disciples, continuing long into their maturity in Christ.

We must see that true discipleship is a lifelong journey toward Christ-likeness, and not something that can be completed with a 6-week course or a few Bible studies. We must take into account that as one “level” of maturity is reached, there is still a call to come up higher.

Even as people mature into the Lord, we must include the opportunity for continued growth through higher level discipleship meetings, biblical counseling, and personal accountability.

The greatest leaders in the church have still not attained to the image of Christ, so continuing the discipleship process is necessary for us all. Therefore, do not limit your discipleship strategy to only new believers. Find a way to incorporate it for everyone.

Conclusion

Discipleship is not automatic. It requires leadership, and it requires a strategy. 

As we continue to look at what this entails over the next couple of weeks, I hope you are hearing the Lord leading you and your ministry to grow in this area, and that these posts are helpful to you.

Photo by John Thomas on Unsplash

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Why Discipleship Matters

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I live in East Africa as a missionary. What I have found where I live is that there is a passion for outreach and evangelism that is lacking in many parts of the world. In almost every church there is a willingness to gather together for open-air gospel crusades, door-to-door evangelism, and other forms of outreach. This is very different than where I come from in America. As a former leader in multiple churches in Bible-belt, Texas I know from experience that it is a difficult thing to get large numbers or Christians together for sharing the gospel, and if you try to do an open-air meeting, it is usually not-well attended.

In Nigeria and other places, Reinhardt Bonnke leads mega crusades attended by millions of people daily. It is an incredible sight, seeing the faces of people stretching past the horizon. However, a few years ago, I attended a Bonnke Crusade in Houston, Texas – one of the largest cities in America – in a stadium that only has about 22,000 seats plus whatever can be added at ground level. From my perspective, the stadium appeared to be one-third of the way full. I don’t think that is the fault of Bonnke. It is because the churches and believers in Houston weren’t unified to see the crusade become a success.

Here in East Africa, the church is good at outreach. They lead big crusades. Churches coordinate together to form mass choirs. Teams are able to canvas an entire city, door-to-door, in a few days. And it is common to see thousands of people put their faith in Christ. I am truly impressed at what I see here!

Can I tell you what the church is not good at in East Africa?

We are not good at bringing the harvest into the barns and preserving the fruit! All too often, the harvest is simply left laying out in the field where it was picked. Churches go out and lead many people to Jesus, yet do not do well (on a large scale) at turning those converts into disciples! 

This is not just an East Africa problem. This is epidemic! It is becoming a whole-church problem!

The Great Commission

“And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has  been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them  in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them  to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”

Matthew 28:18-20, English Standard Version

The problem with the lack of discipleship strategy is that the commission of Jesus on the church was not to Go and make converts! It was never to simply to go, preach the gospel, and lead people in a prayer to accept Jesus as their savior. It wasn’t even to go and do signs, wonders, healings, and miracles so that people see the power of God!

All of those things are great, and we need to do them even more. However, until we take those who pray the prayer and those who are touched by the power, and bring them into the body of Christ and disciple them, we are failing at the mission given to us by Christ.

If someone gets saved, but does not get discipled, we are picking the fruit from the tree, but leaving it laying in the field. To say it another way, we are becoming spiritual fathers and mothers to people, long enough to give new-birth, then leaving them as bastard children in the world, with no nurture or guidance to help them grow.

Defining Discipleship

The Lexham Theological Workbook says: 

“Discipleship is the process of devoting oneself to a teacher to learn from and become more like them. For the Christian, this refers to the process of learning the teachings of Jesus and following after his example in obedience through the power of the Holy Spirit. Discipleship not only involves the process of becoming a disciple but of making other disciples through teaching and evangelism.”

So discipleship is the process of taking a lost person, seeing them saved by introducing them to Jesus, and then walking with them into maturity as a believer in their relationship with the Holy Spirit. 

I used to think that discipleship looked different: The first steps begin small – things like repentance of sin, baptism, church attendance – then as time goes on, the person should grow to learn to pray, study the scriptures, and serve. Eventually, they step into leadership and begin evangelizing the lost, teaching biblical truths to others, and discipling others in their own Christian walk.

Those things are good and necessary, but as I have grown in the Christian life, I have come to know that those things are only the actions of a disciple. They don’t make a disciple.

Converts vs. Disciples

Truly making a disciple is taking the now-saved person and helping them draw closer to the Lord; to Hear His voice; to walk in obedience to Him; to learn their identity in Christ, and leading them to fulfill the destiny God has for them in such a way that gives all the glory back to God. That will involve all the action steps listed above, but it is also so much more!

Let me break this idea down a bit:

Q: Should a new believer come to Church?

A: Yes, obviously!

Q: Is it the goal to simply get a new believer to attend church? Is that “success?”

A: No.

The goal is that the person learns to worship the Lord and serve God’s people! Church attendance is necessary, but it is not the final goal. Church attendance should lead the people into the life of worship and service.

I hope you can see the difference: A convert becomes a church attender. A disciple becomes a worshiper and a servant.

Our job is to take a lost person, bring them to Christ in conversion, and then continue the process of leading them to become mature disciples. This is how we preserve the harvest Christ has given to us.

Discipleship matters because the world is full of converts to the Christian religion, but God’s desire is mature sons and daughters. We have to do more than go into the field as harvesters, we have to invest the time, energy, and resources to preserve the harvest God has given.

We would love to hear from you in the comments: Have you been discipled by mature believers in your Christian walk, or were you left to struggle on your own? How are you investing in the next generation of believers to see them grow to full maturity in Christ?

In This Series

In this series on discipleship, we will look at:

As we go deeper into how discipleship works, I pray this series helps you as a believer to create a strategy for discipling others. Don’t forget to subscribe! You might also enjoy this video teaching I did recently on this topic, also called “Why Discipleship Matters.”

Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash

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3 Keys for True Kingdom Promotion

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Recently, I was discussing the idea of Kingdom ” promotion ” and advancing in ministry life with a fellow missionary and friend. We were discussing all the great things we see God doing in our ministries, and dreaming of the ” more ” we are believing will come. As we discussed where God was taking us, though, we also began sharing how we see God using other people around us, who seem to be a little farther on the journey than we are. These are people we look up to as examples, and who we aspire to emulate in certain ways. However, the dark side of comparison soon came into play in the conversation as well. After doing a little heart-check, it became clear that there are obstacles in our own hearts that keep us from the ” promotions ” in ministry and God’s Kingdom which he wants to move us into. Before we can get our promotions, we must first deal with our hearts concerning two chronic problems in the body of Christ today: criticism and jealousy. 

Two Hinderances to Kingdom Promotion

The first heart problem – criticism – creeps in when we judge someone who ministers differently than we think they should be doing it, or we devalue their ministry because it does not measure up to our standards and preferences. These criticisms may be because their ministry isn’t doing as well as our own, and therefore we think they haven’t figured out what we have, or it may be because their ministry is thriving and growing, and as ours is not doing as well, so we assume they must not really be as faithful to the gospel as we are, and are simply entertaining people in order to draw a crowd. 

The second heart-problem – jealousy – comes into play when someone has something we don’t or has achieved a level of success which we think we deserve more than they do. This could be invitations to speak at prestigious events, or public recognition they receive from the community, media, or internet traffic. It could be as little as them raising their support for their small mission field assignment quicker than we do. Jealousy can hit us at all levels of ministry, large or small. 

Not only are these problems destructive to our own ministry and what God wants to do through us; they are detrimental to the mission of God in the world. When these two problems rise in our hearts, they reveal a judgmental spirit at work in us, which seeks to break unity in the universal body of Christ, thereby hindering the fulfillment of God’s gospel commission.

Identifying Jealousy and Criticism

Jealousy and criticisms among ministers are not new things. Just look at the disciples. They were constantly arguing about which one is greater (Luke 22:24; Matthew 18:1) and seeking an opportunity to sit at Jesus’ side when the Kingdom is fully come (Mark 10:37), while also trying to hold down those who were not one of the group (Mark 9:38-40). These were issues then, just as they are now, and they were issues that Jesus immediately sought to correct in them. 

Secondly, we must all admit that this isn’t just an “out there” problem. The truth is we all deal with these tendencies on occasion. 

I recently had lunch with my senior pastor, a church planter, his associate pastor, and seminary student. In the course of    conversation there was name-dropping of ministers we associate with (or would like to). There was some talk of church sizes, number of salvations, and programs — you know, all the normal minister-to-minister conversation stuff. I am not downplaying that it was an enjoyable lunch. 

However, if I am honest about encounters like these, it is sometimes too easy for me to walk away looking at the good things God is doing in someone else’s life and ministry and be overcome with a jealous desire for Him to do it for me; even ignoring the things He is doing in my own life already. Now, that isn’t my heart 99% of the time. The truth is, most of the time I don’t even think to look for self-promotion. I want people to see Jesus, not me. Yet there are times when I am feeling like things aren’t going the way they are supposed to, or at least as good as they could be, and the jealousy bug creeps in. 

Three Keys for True Kingdom Promotion

As I began to pray about this issue and ask God how we should protect our hearts from jealousy in the Kingdom of God, He gave me a few key things that are vital to not only preventing criticism and jealousy from taking root, but are vital for us in receiving the legitimate promotions in our ministries which the Lord wants us to receive.

1. Intimacy

John 15:4 — Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

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If we really want to fulfill the destiny that God has created us for (Ephesians 2:10), we won’t find it by looking at what other ministers are doing and how God is using them. Instead, we must look only to God and see what He wants to do in us. It is in intimacy with Him that we find out who we are and what we are called to do. (Check out this video I did on “the heart of intimacy.”)

2. Faithfulness

Luke 16:10 — “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.”

Luke 12:48 — “…Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.”

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Once we have been in the secret place with the Lord and received our individual assignments from the Holy Spirit, the key to receiving more opportunities, and bigger, bolder assignments, is that we first be faithful in what He has called us to today. It is great to dream about the future and to ask God to give you big visions for where He is taking you. However, we cannot pursue the visions of the future so much, that we neglect to act on His directions for today. 

Our faithfulness today builds a trust in us in the Kingdom of God, demonstrating that we can be trusted with more! 

3. Honor

Matthew 10:41 — The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward.

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It is a well-established principle in scripture that shows when you honor what God is doing in another, it opens up a supernatural pathway for Him to do the same for you. I believe one of the primary reasons our enemy stirs us up to jealousy and criticism in our hearts is because he knows that dishonor will block us from receiving that blessing for ourselves. 

To me, this fact is the most interesting reality concerning jealousy! We get jealous because we want what they have, yet the Bible teaches that the way God intends us to receive what they have is by first honoring that God is doing it with them! Jealousy and criticism are the Devil’s sinful alternative to God’s calling on us to show honor, created to block us from receiving an impartation of what they have. Romans 12:10 actually teaches us that if we want a competition in the Kingdom of God it is to “outdo one another in showing honor.” 

I believe it is time for the church to seek unity, be faithful in our own callings, and to grow in honoring God’s hand on others. It is time to be building one another up and reaching out in fellowship, rather than criticizing and giving into jealousy which tears down and only looks inward. 

It is time for each of us to fight these judgmental spirits in ourselves. It is time for us to seek intimacy with the Lord, be faithful in whatever He calls us to do, and to honor His work in others. Then we can celebrate together as He promotes each of us upward in His timing, for the sake of the Kingdom of God. 

(This post was originally published July 27, 2015. It has been revised and edited for reposting.)

Photo by Jake Hills on Unsplash

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