Somebody has a question about why mentoring is important, and what is the role of the mentee?
In the first five chapters of the Book of Proverbs, we read lots and lots of instructions from God about paying attention to His words, and inclining our ears to His sayings, and of paying attention to wisdom and hearkening to its voice. In other words, a good mentee should have an ear that is willing to hear and to learn.
Some church members are carried away by funfair in the church, meeting new people, making new friends, catching business associates and pursuing contracts. These things are good and can help in strengthening the relationships that form part of the backbone of a good vibrant and successful church.
It is important however to note that if we have to come to church, and sleep while the message is going on, and wake at end of the sermon not hearing anything that the Pastor said, we end up achieving nothing. There is a spirit responsible for that- called the spirit of slumber eyes, which deprives God’s people who are weak anyway of the opportunity of being properly taught or fed anytime they come to church or attend a spiritual meeting.
God has however through technology, made it possible for all of us to go back and listen again and again until we are fully inundated with the message.
One simple sign of immaturity, is always wishing that the pastor will hurry up, with the message. The reason is so that we can go and pursue contracts, and meet new friends, and or go do something that we think is more important to us.
The truth is that all that is nothing but leaving the substance to pursue shadows.
Another sign of immaturity, is that we want to give praise and worship, or as some newcomers simply call it-music, 5/6 of the time, and give only 1/6 to the word and teaching, and some people friendly churches have adopted these things and now, they just party and party and party, and in the end, the preacher will come in and give a twenty minute, people-friendly dead message, and everybody goes home feeling good and happy, but empty.
Then, why mentoring? The Bible makes us to understand that when we are born again, we are like children; we are called the children of God. The same Bible tells some things about children, for instance, in Proverbs chapter 22 and verse 15 we read:
“Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of correction will drive it far from him”.
The word of God is akin to a rod. If you can remember the rod of Moses, it was latter named or became the rod of God with which Moses performed miracles. However a day came when God told Moses not to use that rod again, but to speak to the rock, and he did not understand that there has been a shift, and it cost him his ministry-that is by the way. God then told Joshua to ensure that the Book of the Law does not depart from his mouth, that through it he shall do valiantly.
Therefore the Word we hear becomes a rod to drive away foolishness from us because sin is literally bound to the heart of man, but thank God for Jesus Christ, and thank God for his word which has always put sin where it belongs.
Again, in Proverbs 19:13, and 29: 15 we read as follows:
Proverbs chapter 19 and verse 13 “A foolish son is the calamity of his father: …”
Then again in Proverbs chapter29 and verse 15, we read a most profound scripture here that says it all “The rod and reproof, give wisdom: but a child left to himself brings his mother shame”.
Is it not clear what the Bible is saying here yet? I believe that the following scriptures will easily and sequentially show us all that we need to know about the beauty of mentoring through the word of God, and of receiving such instructions.
Let us look at Proverbs chapter 23 verses 19, then 22-26.
Proverbs 23 verse 19 “Hear my son and be wise; And guide your heart in the way.”
This scripture instructs the child of God to hear and be wise. This scripture tells us the importance of listening and hearing the word or the instruction, it is bound to make us wise. I equally believe that the second part which talks about guiding your heart in the way tells us that the instructions of God are like the rudder of a ship to our hearts.
This is very much like that scripture in the book of Timothy, 2 Timothy 3 and verse 15, “ … and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise through salvation in Christ Jesus”.
A look at Proverb 23 and verses 22 to 26 will go a long way to show us how to become the best as a mentee.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
A GOOD HEART, WILLING TO TEACH; A GOOD EAR, WILLING TO LISTEN-THE BEAUTY OF MENTORING.
The church is more than just a social club, or a partying joint. I know that today we like to talk about having a Holy Ghost Party, because some people in the World try to make believers feel that there is something they are missing by not attending their worldly parties where they drink liquor and mess up their lives. The truth of the matter is that there is no place as sweet as being in the presence of the Lord.
There are no drugs that can get you high enough, no liquor that can get you flying or drunk enough and give you a good feeling , like what you can and you will feel when you filled with the anointing of the Holy Spirit, when you enjoy the presence of God in worship.
In spite of all these things, the Church is more than a partying joint, it is actually, a training institution, a lecture house, a university that houses and disseminates the highest level of wisdom and knowledge.
The pastor/pastors and teachers, and the rest of the gifts to the body of Christ, become the lecturers, the mentors and the coaches of the Church, as well as other leaders, as the Lord wills- The Holy Ghost Himself being the chief coach.
However, there are some salient points that we need to emphasize here, so as to bring out the beauty of mentoring. What are the duties of a mentor, and what is the heart of a mentor supposed to be like?
Let us look into the highest authority in spiritual matters- Jeremiah chapter 3 and verse 15, then, chapter 23 and verse 4.
Jeremiah chapter3 and verse 15 says, “And I will give you pastors according to my heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding”.
Again in Jeremiah chapter 23 and verse 4 we read “And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking saith the Lord”.
These two verses bring out some very important facts about a good pastor, or mentor or teacher. However, there some other qualities that we cannot see now until we examine what the Bible has to say about the flock or the followers.
All the same from what we have read so far from the Bible, we can come to the following conclusions. First of all, a good Pastor must have a good heart like God; secondly a good Pastor must be a good teacher, because if he is going to feed God’s people with knowledge and understanding, he must himself be a reservoir of divine revelation.
Thirdly, a good Pastor must be a carrier and a distributor of the message of faith and hope, because that is the only way fear and despair, can be dispelled. Recently I heard of another successful international footballer who took his life. The first thing that came to my mind was: who knows whether he ever met the Lord Jesus, the second was whether he had a good pastor. People commit suicide when they feel that all hope is lost, and all hope is gone, but if you have a good pastor, he will tell you that you can always begin again and still achieve your goals because the God we serve is one with whom all things are possible.
Fourthly, a good pastor is one that has the knowledge and the anointing to prosper God’s people. We can see this in the last part of Jeremiah 23 and verse 4 which talks about God’s people not lacking any more. This implies that a good pastor should know how to guide God’s people under his care to become successful in their chosen careers. He should be able to help them to produce the wealth that God has already given them by Jesus Christ.
Talking again about the first point which is having a heart like God, the heart of God is full of love (unconditional), mercy, goodness, forgiveness, holiness and purity, justice, grace and so on. It is the good heart of God that makes him a healer, provider, helper, deliverer, and a giver that out gives everyone else and at all times. Therefore a true pastor will have these same qualities to some extent and will be able touch God’s people in diverse ways through them.
There are no drugs that can get you high enough, no liquor that can get you flying or drunk enough and give you a good feeling , like what you can and you will feel when you filled with the anointing of the Holy Spirit, when you enjoy the presence of God in worship.
In spite of all these things, the Church is more than a partying joint, it is actually, a training institution, a lecture house, a university that houses and disseminates the highest level of wisdom and knowledge.
The pastor/pastors and teachers, and the rest of the gifts to the body of Christ, become the lecturers, the mentors and the coaches of the Church, as well as other leaders, as the Lord wills- The Holy Ghost Himself being the chief coach.
However, there are some salient points that we need to emphasize here, so as to bring out the beauty of mentoring. What are the duties of a mentor, and what is the heart of a mentor supposed to be like?
Let us look into the highest authority in spiritual matters- Jeremiah chapter 3 and verse 15, then, chapter 23 and verse 4.
Jeremiah chapter3 and verse 15 says, “And I will give you pastors according to my heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding”.
Again in Jeremiah chapter 23 and verse 4 we read “And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking saith the Lord”.
These two verses bring out some very important facts about a good pastor, or mentor or teacher. However, there some other qualities that we cannot see now until we examine what the Bible has to say about the flock or the followers.
All the same from what we have read so far from the Bible, we can come to the following conclusions. First of all, a good Pastor must have a good heart like God; secondly a good Pastor must be a good teacher, because if he is going to feed God’s people with knowledge and understanding, he must himself be a reservoir of divine revelation.
Thirdly, a good Pastor must be a carrier and a distributor of the message of faith and hope, because that is the only way fear and despair, can be dispelled. Recently I heard of another successful international footballer who took his life. The first thing that came to my mind was: who knows whether he ever met the Lord Jesus, the second was whether he had a good pastor. People commit suicide when they feel that all hope is lost, and all hope is gone, but if you have a good pastor, he will tell you that you can always begin again and still achieve your goals because the God we serve is one with whom all things are possible.
Fourthly, a good pastor is one that has the knowledge and the anointing to prosper God’s people. We can see this in the last part of Jeremiah 23 and verse 4 which talks about God’s people not lacking any more. This implies that a good pastor should know how to guide God’s people under his care to become successful in their chosen careers. He should be able to help them to produce the wealth that God has already given them by Jesus Christ.
Talking again about the first point which is having a heart like God, the heart of God is full of love (unconditional), mercy, goodness, forgiveness, holiness and purity, justice, grace and so on. It is the good heart of God that makes him a healer, provider, helper, deliverer, and a giver that out gives everyone else and at all times. Therefore a true pastor will have these same qualities to some extent and will be able touch God’s people in diverse ways through them.
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