I was asked this question:
If you had only one hour to pour into a new or growing believer, what ministry tool, verse, inspirational thought, exercise, or discipline would you share with them to help them?
Get ‘tools’ for your ‘toolbox’
With just one hour, I could hardly serve justice to a new believer. Even Jesus needed three years to equip His disciples before He turned them loose to build the Early Church. I have asked many times, “As maturing believers, how many (spiritual, character and skills) ‘tools’ are in your ‘toolbox’?” So in one hour, I would emphasize these points below (all found on my blog: Beyond the Map), to empower them on their journey of growth and co-reigning with God. Each of these points represents a powerful insight and tool for living in joy, spiritual vibrancy and strength.
Hang around people who have a ‘fever’
I’d recommend that they find Godly, wise and spiritually vibrant people to hang around… knowing that generally, we will become like the company that we keep.
A plan to succeed
I’d emphasize the supreme importance of regular and heartfelt personal communication with God – and I would give them my very practical plan to succeed.
Don’t let your heart bounce on ‘E’
Every once in a while we must evaluate how we’re doing… not how many verses we can quote, but the actual health status of our heart. Sometimes it feels like our heart’s fuel gauge is bouncing on ‘E’. If that’s the case, it’s time to refuel our heart.
Stayin’ alive
I’d point out how vital it is to keep their heart alive, “for out of it comes all the issues of life”. There are no good alternatives to stayin’ alive in God.
Where/how do I feed my heart?
Along with that, they must learn how to feed their heart? Just like our bodies, our heart needs to be fed.
Heart ‘dipstick’
Evaluating ourselves to see how we’re really doing, can be fairly subjective. So just like you check the internal status of your car engine with the oil dipstick, here’s an objective ‘spiritual dipstick’ to check on the status of our heart. Keep this handy because it will be a very practical tool to use through all of the seasons of life.
Must-have God-encounters
Occasionally we go through cycles in life where we feel dry and callous… but we must not settle for lengthy times of this… we all need God encounters.
A little child can do this stuff
Our relationship and journey with God must be an easy yoke and light burden… in fact, walking with God has to be easy enough that a little child can do it, because Jesus said, “unless you become like a little child you won’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven”. Knowing this, helps me determine what is of God… or of something else, like; fear, pride, driven-ness, culture or religious duty. All those lesser motivations will lead us to dissipation.
You are a treasure: Find YOU!
If we don’t know who we are, we will grasp for straws… or be lured by the highest paying job… or the career door that ‘uncle Joe’ opened for us. This leaves us vulnerable, aimless, exhausted and confused. So we must find the ‘treasure’… and the treasure is, the real ‘you’.
Find your ‘On-ramps’
We each have uniquely personal ‘on-ramps’ that are effective for helping us ‘into’ the presence of God. These access points also help us discover our unique identity.
Must be able to hear His voice
Central to our life and journey in God, is the need to hear His voice, because “man cannot live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” So we must discover a tried and proven way to know that we’ve heard His voice. My Fleece Template is a real-life-tested way. It will work if you’re really serious about hearing.
Tears prophesy
One of the ways that you can discover who you are is by watching what unique circumstances, environments or topics make you have God-tears. Believe it or not, if you learn how to ‘read’ your tears, you’ll find that they’re prophesying to you about your identity.
Expect and live by God-signs
Life with God must evidenced by the supernatural. We must learn to expect and live by God-signs, which are one of the powerful ways that God uses to establish our lives and our way. God signs still happen… and we need them to help us hear God’s voice… and besides that, they become one of the practical ways that God affirms our heart and assures us that He’s covering us with His presence.
You’re already a winner
Jesus ‘defanged’ the devil by taking the keys of hell and death. And then he raised you up to sit with Him in Heavenly places. Then as His “co-heirs”, He gave you nothing less than HIS righteousness. You are a winner! Believe it!
No more pickle juice
It’s time to upgrade our prayer life from the sour ‘pickle juice’ of beggar prayers. We must embrace our status of royal heavenly citizens who are co-heirs with no less than, Jesus Himself. Try a one-week fast from plaintiff prayers… even from the normal ‘asking prayers’… Really!!! Get His mind on the matter, then make authoritative declarations in keeping with Romans 5:17, “reign in this life through the one man, Jesus Christ!” Your exhilarating winner-orientation will result in:
1) Desperate beggarly intercession becoming confident kingly declarations,
2) Praying from earth toward Heaven will be trumped by praying from Heaven toward earth,
3) Instead of praying TO God… we’ll pray WITH God,
4) We won’t pray FOR victory… we’ll pray FROM victory… because, “It is finished!”
Expect good!
Based on the Word of God, establish once and for all, that God is good. From there, we must expect that God will “make all things work together for good”… despite any hardships we experience along the way. If life gives us lemons then God has an awesome way to make lemonade.
Believe and live for increase
Expect that God will increase our authority and influence as we learn to “be about our Father’s business”. But we must know that favor increases as we get better at being “about our Father’s business”. As we’re about His business, He takes care of our business. Another way of saying that is, “God’s will is God’s bill”… and there ain’t anything much better than receiving his supernatural provision for all necessities of life.
Declarations of favor and joy
Finally, I’d pray and prophesy the tangible favor and joy of the Lord over them… and bless them with angelic assistance to help, protect, minister to and escort them through life. And then I’d bid them God’s speed!!!
Hopefully I could communicate this in one hour. The abbreviated points above represent very useful resources that are both Biblical and real-life tested. They are ‘tools’ to add to our ‘toolbox’… which help equip us to live life victoriously.
Mark Hendrickson
Dwelling Place Ministries
Happy son of God, worshiper, husband,
father, grandfather, friend, life coach,
musician, public speaker, Jesus re-presenter
and author of Supernatural Provision book
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Links to articles above, posted on Beyond the Map:
A plan to succeed
Bouncing on ‘E’
Stayin’ Alive
Where do I feed my heart?
How’s your heart?
How can I feel God?
A little child can do it
Finding the treasure – You
On-ramps into God
Fleece template
The language of tears
Signs – do they still happen?
Why do I need 2 or 3 god-signs?
He shall cover you
No more pickle juice
Increasing our authority
Life’s lemons – make lemonade
Defanging the law of Jante
Man… lower or higher than angels?
Insights – angelic interactions
Tags: live life victoriously, only one hour, toolbox, Tools
Mark Hendrickson
Beyond the Map 