Whenever I’m teaching a class and ask who is looking for a mentor, all the hands will shoot up. People are constantly looking for mentoring. They want someone who will pour into them life lessons that will help them walk successfully in life. They want someone who can help them navigate the difficulties of life. They want someone who can answer the most profound questions that stir the heart. They’re looking for a person with the wisdom of Yoda, the patience of Mr. Miyagi, and the heart of Mother Theresa. Raise your hand if you’re looking for a mentor like that as well.
Some will get a semblance of mentoring through today’s media. You can follow Rick Warren, John Maxwell, and Bill Hybels on Twitter. You can watch messages of Francis Chan on YouTube. You can watch online services of Craig Groeschel. You can watch Ted Talks by some of the most innovative leaders. But that doesn’t replace the live interaction between a mentor and mentoree.
Wouldn’t it be great to have a mentor who could teach you wisdom beyond your years? What about someone who would listen to you when you feel suffocated by the pressures of the world? Don’t you wish for a sage who could point you in the right direction when the road map of your life looks confusing?
Did you know there is one? A mentor who will be there every moment of your life. Someone who will teach you, comfort you, and guide you. He is the Holy Spirit. He is the Divine Mentor. What’s surprising is how few people are willing to engage with the Holy Spirit on a moment-by-moment basis. Francis Chan says in his book Forgotten God, “If I were Satan and my ultimate goal was to thwart God’s kingdom and purposes, one of my main strategies would be to get churchgoers to ignore the Holy Spirit.”
The typical modus operandi when one needs an answer is to pray and then wait. And wait. And wait. When an answer doesn’t come soon enough from God, the believer is prone to seek out someone who can give an immediate answer. I’m not saying going to someone for help is wrong. What I’m saying is that we have lost the ability to be patient with the Lord.
Our society has cultivated this desire for a quick answer. Are you hungry? Go to a fast-food restaurant. Do you need gas? Go to a self-serve station. Don’t want to wait in line? Go to the self-checkout line and do it yourself. Something has been lost in our society’s ability to wait. There is so much to learn from the Holy Spirit if we can learn how to wait on Him.
This is why a daily time to engage in God’s Word and to pray are vitally important in a disciple’s life. The Bible says God’s Word was written by the Holy Spirit (2Pet. 1:21). It also says when we become a Christian, we have the Holy Spirit within us (1Cor. 6:19). If the Holy Spirit is in you, He knows you intimately. If He knows you intimately, then He knows what you need to become more and more like Christ. Therefore He will use the Word to mentor us. Why? Because the same Holy Spirit in you is the same Holy Spirit who wrote the Word. As you’re reading the Scripture, He will highlight a verse or a passage and say, “Pay attention to this! This is something you need to learn. Trust Me! I know!”
For many years I’ve been Bible journaling using the SOAP (Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer) method developed by Pastor Wayne Cordeiro. But here is what I call The Gem of Journaling. After writing a journal entry, I will title it. I will take that title and put it in a Table of Contents at the front of my journal. When I look at my Table of Contents I can begin to see a pattern in my titles, such as certain words or themes being repeated over and over. When I see those patterns I know what the Holy Spirit is impressing upon me for that week or month or season. When I see those patterns I know the Holy Spirit is mentoring me. But it takes time.
My prayer time is just as important as my time in the Word. For many years I’ve used a prayer acronym I learned in college: ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication). But I also incorporate times of silence so I can hear the impressions of the Holy Spirit. A word of caution here: the impressions of the Holy Spirit will never contradict His Word; therefore it’s important to know His Word. It is during these times of prayer I begin to recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit.
A student once asked me what the voice of the Holy Spirit sounds like. I said it’s similar to when we used to have telephones before caller ID. The phone rang, you picked up the receiver, the person at the other end would say, “Hey!” and you knew exactly who it was without that person saying his or her name. Why? Because you recognized that person’s voice. How? Because you spent time with that person. The same goes with the Holy Spirit. The more time you spend with Him, the more you recognize His voice.
But His mentoring doesn’t only happen during my prayer and Bible times. They happen throughout the day. When I have breakfast with my family, drive to work, when I’m at work, when I drive home, have dinner my family, and all the times in between…I’m continually trying to sense what the Spirit is saying to me. It can be a thought, impression, or on some occasions a compulsion to do something I wouldn’t normally do or think. And when you continue to obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit, you become more and more like Christ. That’s the Divine Mentor at work in your life.
I believe one of the reasons we don’t have good leaders who last is because we have not taught disciples how to be aware of and listen to the Holy Spirit.
Questions to Think About:
Do you have a consistent, daily time with the Lord where you can learn to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit?
Do you consciously try to discern the Holy Spirit’s voice throughout the day?
© Gary Lau 2013
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