THE POWER OF MENTORSHIP

By Seyiari

 

The issue of mentorship is very important in our generation. The word “mentor” has been bastardized in our generation, instead of having mentors in our generation we have “mentholatum” The reference I will be using for this topic is the bible. The bible is the oldest book with the latest news. The bible is the satellite navigation of life. I love the bible, I don’t know about you. My life rest on the bible. I love to call it the Creator’s manual.

 Who is a mentor?

They are the one that gives you what money cannot buy. The word “mentor” came from a man named mentor in the ancient Greek. Mentor is somebody that helps you to get to where they are and beyond. A mentor has the best of your interest in heart.

 

Before going far into the issue let me open your eyes to some important point

• Leadership is not a position is an assignment because of this you don’t jump into leadership you grow into it.

• Mentorship is one of the major instruments for grooming leaders.

 

Indispensability of mentorship

Mentorship is not an option, it is obligatory. The journey of life is too long, you can not afford to do without a mentor, the journey of life is too wide, and it is risky to do without a mentor most especially spiritual mentor. Without a mentor you will remain a prey.Psa 74:20 Look to the covenant; for the dark places of the earth are full of the houses of evil. The standard of life has changed, locating a good mentor is very important.

An apostle who is not first a disciple will end up an apostate. Why?

 • Mentoring is God’s pattern for making a son out of a child, man out of a boy, king out of a servant. Even Jesus himself sat down with the scribes.

• Mentoring is the ladder of life that takes us to the mountain of distinction, because you cannot be a reference without mentioning your references.

• Mentorship is a vehicle that grants you speed in journey of life. Being a prodigy to a mentor makes you a beneficiary to your mentor’s wisdom.{ Jer 6:16 So says Jehovah, Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths where the good way is, and walk in it, and you shall find rest for your souls. But they said, we will not walk in it. } Mentorship provides the road map that makes the journey of life easy.

i will like to stop at this point. in the next mail i will be sending to you , i will be telling you on how to choose a mentor and other important topics on issue of mentorship.

 

The journey of life is too long you need someone that knows how to navigate it. I am so sure that this topic must have generated a lot of questions in the heart of wise readers; I mean those that took time to read my write up and meditated on it. I will be writing on the demand and responsibility of mentorship. I will like you to take note of the following point before going deep into the topic.

 

Mentorship is not all the time by proximity but by heartimity, permit me to use that word. It simply means that is by heart. You don’t need to be close to your mentor or to be in close proximity to your mentor. Let’s take a look at what the bible says about this in the book of {Pro 27:19 As in water face answers to face, so the heart of man answers to man.} For you to be a fulfilled prodigy, life will place a demand on you.

 

How do we now select a mentor?

1. Don’t select a mentor because of what he has, but because of who he is.

2. Do you understand the value system of the person you want to choose as your mentor?

3. What are the priorities of your mentor?

4. Does he or she have what you are aspiring for?

5. You need to know if your mentor is a forward looking mentor

6. You need to know if your mentor to be is a visionary.

 

What are the requirements for being a successful prodigy?

• Submission: anybody you can’t submit to you can’t enjoy the benefit of mentorship

• Observation: if you want the best of your mentor, you must observe him.

• Application: it is not enough to hear your mentor but you must be a doer the words.

• Imitation: it is one of the proofs of a true follower ship. It is imitation that brings about duplication and duplication brings about originality. Imitation is consciously taking the same step to produce the same result.

 

For those of us that will really want to choose a mentor and are having problem with proximity of your mentor, I have good news for you. You don’t have to be the next door neighbor to your mentor, all you need to do is that , get all the books of your mentor and eat them, before you know it, the spirit that is flowing in your mentor will be flowing in you. A wise man told me that the spirit of a man is in his written words and I agree. If you can get his written words and eat them not read, there will be mixing of heart. Remember what that bible verse says {Pro 27:19 as in water face answers to face, so the heart of man answers to man.

 

http://seyiari.hubpages.com/hub/THE-POWER-O-MENTORSHIP

INEXCUSABLE EXCUSES

(Moses’ Excuses, God’s responses)

Exodus 4:10-17

 

by: Sis. Diane Leonardo

 

The previous chapters and verses before our text today mentioned God’s different miracles shown to the life of Moses. E.g. his rod turning into a snake, his hand being placed in the bosom and became leprous yet God turned it back to normal and a lot more. Nevertheless, despite countless miracles, Moses still had a couple of excuses.

 

1.     Moses’s 1^st excuse: Being ineloquent

 

¹⁰ Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

 

Moses looked at his own strength and abilities. He found himself so incapable of doing God’s work because of his own little excuse. In our lives, we tend to rate our own selves by saying “I cannot mentor someone because I’m not a good people person in the first place”. Yet God has a different view every time He looks at our individual weaknesses. To Him, it is an opportunity to make use of our weaknesses for His glory. We can always qualify to do God’s work through His grace not by our own strength and abilities. Again, as the famous saying that goes “God did not call the qualified, rather, He qualifies the called”.

 God’s response: Encouragement

 

¹¹ So the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? ¹² Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”

 God explained and showed to Moses that He was the Maker, Author and Owner of everything. We should not worry. God is always on the positive side. He is always an encourager and a lifter at times that we want to back out from our walk with Him. God encouraged Moses with a promise that He will be with His mouth, teaching him what to say.

 

¹² Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”

 

2.    Moses 2^nd excuse: Unwillingness due to unbelief and inadequacy

 

¹³ But he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.”

 Moses wasn’t convinced on God’s first encouragement. He had a disbelieving heart, to the point of suggesting God to give the work to someone else. We tend to behave like Moses several times in our lives and pass on to someone the tasks that must be done by us. We try to “appreciate” the suggested person to cover our own weaknesses and inadequacies.

 

“Lord, di ko kayang i-mentor si…., si sister/brother na lang Lord…, magaling naman sya eh.”

 

God’s response: Support in spite of anger

 

¹⁴ So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and He said: “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. ¹⁵ Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do. ¹⁶ So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God. ¹⁷ And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.”

 God is a good example of having good character. Despite Moses’ excuses, He supported him all the way through.

 

2 things are being emphasized here:

 

1.       Continue supporting someone even during the time of anger and after getting angry on the person (huwag iwasan ang tao)

 

2.       Provide someone who could encourage and support the appointed person (huwag pabayaan)

 He said in verse 15:

 

¹⁵…And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do.

 In the world of mentorship, support is one of the key ingredients to successfully disciple someone. It is our responsibility to patiently teach until we find the fruit of our labor. This is called “taking responsibility”. God continues on by giving more encouragement.

 

¹⁶ So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God. ¹⁷ And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.”

 In present times, the one or more of the following are our excuses:

 

Ten Most Used Excuses:

1. I forgot.
2. No one told me to go ahead. 
3. I didn't think it was that important.
4. Wait until the boss comes back and ask him. 
5. I didn't know you were in a hurry for it. 
6. That's the way we've always done it. 
7. That's not in my department. 
8. How was I to know this was different? 
9. I'm waiting for an O.K. 
10. That's his job--not mine.

 

Bits & Pieces, November, 1989, p. 18.

 

Conclusion:        Our weakness and His strength

 

Let me conclude my message with this beautiful illustration:

 

The folklore surrounding Poland's famous concert pianist and prime minister, Ignace Paderewski, includes this story:

A mother, wishing to encourage her young son's progress at the piano, bought tickets for a Paderewski performance. When the night arrived, they found their seats near the front of the hall and eyed the majestic Steinway piano waiting on the stage.

 

Soon the mother found a friend to talk to, and the boy slipped away. When 8 pm arrived, the spotlights came on, the audience quieted, and only then did they notice the boy up on stage sitting at the bench, innocently picking out, "Twinkle, twinkle little star."

 

His mother gasped, but before she could retrieve her son, the master appeared on the stage and quickly moved to the keyboard. "Don't quit - keep playing," he whispered to the boy.

 Leaning over, the master reached down with his left hand and began filling in the bass part. Soon his right arm reached around the other side, encircling the child, to add a running obligato. Together, the old master and the young novice held the crowd mesmerized.

 

In our lives, unpolished though they may be, it is the Master who surrounds us and whispers in our ear, time and time again, "Don't quit, keep playing." And as we do, he augments and supplements until a work of amazing beauty is created.                                            http://www.sermonideas.net

PURPOSE OF PAUL’S PRAYER

(How To Pray Like An Apostle)

Ephesians 1:15-23

by: Pastor Edward Vincent J. Barcial

 Dr. D. Stuart Briscoe, an evangelical Christian author, international speaker and the former senior pastor of Elmbrook Church, in Brookfield, Wisconsin  once said, “When our children were small and we were trying to teach them to pray, we had three kinds of prayer: "Please prayers," Thank you prayers," and "Sorry prayers."  (S. Briscoe, Getting into God, p. 55).

 Perhaps most of us grew up with this concept of praying:  Asking, Thanking and Repenting. Most of our prayers revolve around us and our needs. Many Christians come to me for prayers for various needs and requests for jobs, favor, provision, etc.  Somehow prayer for most is a means to acquire material things and to get things done our way. 

Not so with the Apostle Paul.  His prayer for the Ephesian Church has nothing to do with their material needs. Let us examine three things involving his prayer for the saints.

Ephesians 1:15-23 (NKJV)

Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:

 1)                  Revelation of God

17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,

 Firstly, Paul prayed that God is revealed in their lives.  Since God is the source of all things, it is quite important that the saints should know Him first.  Wisdom requires that we should know God through revelation.

 Edward McKendree Bounds (August 15, 1835 – August 24, 1913), a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church South and author of eleven books, nine of which focused on the subject of prayer, wrote, “The central significance of prayer is not in the things that happen as results, but in the deepening intimacy and unhurried communion with God at His central throne of control in order to discover a "sense of God's need in order to call on God's help to meet that need"   ( E.M. Bounds, The Weapon Of Prayer).

Prayer is supposed to expose us to God’s heart so we would know His needs and ask for His power to fulfill His will here on earth. It is not the other way around. Prayer should result in a deeper closeness to our Master so we can feel His heartbeat.  Even if we didn’t get our prayers answered, we will walk out of the prayer closet with the knowledge of His love and will.

 2)                  Reward Of God

18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

 Because we are so blind to the truth of His heavenly kingdom and the rewards that God has reserved for us His children, we tend to crave for the things of this earth in a way that we think that it will make us happy. With our spiritual eyes wide open, upon seeing the glory that awaits us, the things that we first thought that should fulfill us no longer become an obsession, but a deep peace and content will dwell in our hearts, asking for nothing more than His presence. David said, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want” (Psalm 23).

 In his book “The Weight of Glory”, C. S. Lewis notes how believers often underestimate the full riches God has for His children. He said, "...If we consider...the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

3)                  Rule Of God

¹⁹ and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power ²⁰ which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

 Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Your Kingdom come, let Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10).  Prayer should make us feel His power and authority over our lives.  God is not like a genie that lives in a lamp that you rub in a certain way to get your three wishes.  He is Lord over all!  He is the master and we are the servants.  Our prayers should put all things under His feet, including our hopes, dreams, plans, desires and even the devil himself!

Eli Stanley Jones (1884–1973) ,a 20th century Methodist Christian missionary and theologian, said, “Prayer is surrender--surrender to the will of God and cooperation with that will. If I throw out a boathook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God. (E. Stanley Jones, Liberating Ministry From The Success Syndrome, K Hughes, Tyndale, 1988, p. 73.)

Conclusion:

James Hudson Taylor (21 May 1832 – 3 June 1905), was a British Protestant Christian missionary to China, and founder of the China Inland Mission (CIM) (now OMF International).  Taylor spent 51 years in China. The society that he began was responsible for bringing over 800 missionaries to the country who began 125 schools and directly resulted in 18,000 Christian conversions, as well as the establishment of more than 300 stations of work with more than 500 local helpers in all eighteen provinces. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_Taylor)

 In an article in Daily Bread (July 19, 1989) Eighteen-year-old Hudson Taylor wandered into his father's library and read a gospel tract. He couldn't shake off its message. Finally, falling to his knees, he accepted Christ as his Savior. Later, his mother, who had been away, returned home. When Hudson told her the good news, she said, "I already know. Ten days ago, the very date on which you tell me you read that tract, I spent the entire afternoon in prayer for you until the Lord assured me that my wayward son had been brought into the fold."

 His mother’s prayer made Hudson Taylor an apostle to the Chinese nation.  We can see in his life the things that the Apostle Paul prayed for the saints in his letter to the Ephesians. Below are some of the most famous quotes this Man of God left as a legacy for all of us to follow.

1)                  The Revelation of God

“It is the consciousness of the threefold joy of the Lord, His joy in ransoming us, His joy in dwelling within us as our Saviour and Power for fruitbearing and His joy in possessing us as His Bride and His delight; it is the consciousness of this joy which is our real strength. Our joy in Him may be a fluctuating thing: His joy in us knows no change.”

2)            The Reward Of God

 “ God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supplies.”

 “I NEVER made a sacrifice," said Hudson Taylor in later years, looking back over a life in which to an unusual extent this element predominated. But what he said was true. For as in the case in point, the first great sacrifice he was privileged to make for China, the compensations that followed were so real and lasting that he came to see that giving up is inevitably receiving when one is dealing heart to heart with God.

It was so, very manifestly, this winter. In the hour of trial, a step of faith had been taken and a victory won that made it possible for the Holy Spirit to lead him on. Not outwardly only but inwardly he had accepted the will of God, giving up what seemed his best and highest, the love that had become part of his very life, that he might be unhindered in serving and following Christ.  “The sacrifice was great, but the reward far greater.”

(http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/hudsontaylor/hudsontaylorv1/hudsontaylorv110.htm)

 3)            The Rule Of God

 “Christ is either Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all.”