MENTORING, WITNESSING, AND SELF
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
When I think about these three areas of life I cannot help but lump them together somewhat because they all have an effect on one another to a much larger degree than we may realize. I believe that God has intended these things all to work together in our Christian lives to help us all to grow into mature children of God.
The way things are right now I see mostly babies and very immature children running around who have some understanding of scripture, but mostly with only enough understanding to be dangerous to those around them. I know that you have heard people say for many years that we need more training, but the truth is we need more maturity in that training. It does not only consist in learning the word of God but in how to relate that word to us and then to those around us. Let me try to explain that process a little better: Our real point of being as a church is to create a safe place for new believers to grow up in, and the key idea here is that we all grow up! In life, there will always be the weak and the strong in every situation, but God has us to grow within our own strengths because in that diversity if we are all in the same mind and heart in Christ there isn't any principality or power in this world that can stand against us. Each one of us has a different influence on those around us and it becomes a simple matter of using the natural gifts that God has given us to influence others with that causes us to be successful or not.
Some say that I can't do this or that because I never had that in my own life, but you can always become for others what you did not have for yourself. The generation that follows you will have your faith stories and your blessings to pass on much in the same ways that we use the stories of those who have gone before us. Getting ourselves ready to witness isn't a huge project, but the most important part of witnessing is to grow mature enough in Christ to understand what you are saying first. That means that the very best witnessing we can deliver to another person is what we have experienced first hand in Christ. All of us do already have a group of people who are influenced by our lives, and it is important that we know that. It is because of that personality and relationship we have with others and the experiences they have had with us that they are influenced by us. Self and witnessing go very much hand in hand, but as much as anything else Mentoring someone is an act of obedience to God through allowing His Spirit to work through you.
I can tell you through first-hand experience that we cannot mentor someone when we are under the influence of the flesh in our lives. In order to mentor someone the heart must get involved, and the heart must first be won over in order for us to lead. More so than anything else our hearts must be given over completely to Christ for His Spirit to do anything through us. It is also very important to know what you teach someone and to teach only that which you really know otherwise you can lead someone down the wrong pathway. It is much the same difference as a man who has earned his own wealth, and the man who has inherited his wealth from someone else. I think automatically of King David and then his son Solomon who spent a lifetime looking for wisdom with unlimited wealth at his disposal. One man knew the value while another man played with that value. We cannot afford to do that with the precious gift of the Gospel of Christ. What then will the power be in our sharing the Gospel with others? I want to share some more this week about Mentoring so it's my prayer you will continue to stay with me. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
When I think about these three areas of life I cannot help but lump them together somewhat because they all have an effect on one another to a much larger degree than we may realize. I believe that God has intended these things all to work together in our Christian lives to help us all to grow into mature children of God.
The way things are right now I see mostly babies and very immature children running around who have some understanding of scripture, but mostly with only enough understanding to be dangerous to those around them. I know that you have heard people say for many years that we need more training, but the truth is we need more maturity in that training. It does not only consist in learning the word of God but in how to relate that word to us and then to those around us. Let me try to explain that process a little better: Our real point of being as a church is to create a safe place for new believers to grow up in, and the key idea here is that we all grow up! In life, there will always be the weak and the strong in every situation, but God has us to grow within our own strengths because in that diversity if we are all in the same mind and heart in Christ there isn't any principality or power in this world that can stand against us. Each one of us has a different influence on those around us and it becomes a simple matter of using the natural gifts that God has given us to influence others with that causes us to be successful or not.
Some say that I can't do this or that because I never had that in my own life, but you can always become for others what you did not have for yourself. The generation that follows you will have your faith stories and your blessings to pass on much in the same ways that we use the stories of those who have gone before us. Getting ourselves ready to witness isn't a huge project, but the most important part of witnessing is to grow mature enough in Christ to understand what you are saying first. That means that the very best witnessing we can deliver to another person is what we have experienced first hand in Christ. All of us do already have a group of people who are influenced by our lives, and it is important that we know that. It is because of that personality and relationship we have with others and the experiences they have had with us that they are influenced by us. Self and witnessing go very much hand in hand, but as much as anything else Mentoring someone is an act of obedience to God through allowing His Spirit to work through you.
I can tell you through first-hand experience that we cannot mentor someone when we are under the influence of the flesh in our lives. In order to mentor someone the heart must get involved, and the heart must first be won over in order for us to lead. More so than anything else our hearts must be given over completely to Christ for His Spirit to do anything through us. It is also very important to know what you teach someone and to teach only that which you really know otherwise you can lead someone down the wrong pathway. It is much the same difference as a man who has earned his own wealth, and the man who has inherited his wealth from someone else. I think automatically of King David and then his son Solomon who spent a lifetime looking for wisdom with unlimited wealth at his disposal. One man knew the value while another man played with that value. We cannot afford to do that with the precious gift of the Gospel of Christ. What then will the power be in our sharing the Gospel with others? I want to share some more this week about Mentoring so it's my prayer you will continue to stay with me. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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