The Divine Mentor by Wayne Cordeiro: Chapter Four: a place of refreshment

Well, this was another great chapter in our summer reading program. You’ve probably noticed by now that Pastor Wayne Cordeiro isn’t deviating much from his initial premise in this book: he wants us to spend time every day with God through His Word. He reiterates this one appeal so often that it makes me think he believes this is the most important thing we could do. It sort of reminds me of Jesus’ words to Martha in Luke 10:42, “Only one thing is needed.” 🙂

Here are a few of the quotes and observations that stood out to me from this chapter:

Page 52: “(Doing devotions) isn’t a cure-all for every problem you’ll face, but one thing’s for sure: neglecting devotions will cause you more problems, more quickly, than just about anything you can name. Spending unrushed time alone with God in His Word releases a fountain of refreshment from the very core of your being.”

Page 53: “The Bible calls Solomon the wisest man who ever lived…and yet…if you know Solomon’s whole story, you know that in the end he wound up a colossal failure. Why? Solomon stopped drawing from the bottomless well (of God) in favor of depending on his own (supply).”

Pastor Wayne reminded us in this chapter that the Word will:

1. Keep us prepared. As we deposit the wisdom of the Word in to our hearts, it will bear fruit for us at exactly the right time.
2. Keep us fruitful. If God’s words remain in us there will be an obvious activity of the Father flowing through our life.
3. Enable us to recognize His voice. Bank tellers can discern counterfeit bills because they spend so much time handling authentic ones. When we live in the Word we will become attuned to the authentic, trustworthy voice of our Heavenly Father.
4. Help us make wise decisions. He said, “Remember: wisdom doesn’t have to come at a high price. Others have already paid an exorbitant tuition to enroll in the school of hard knocks. Now they await our audience so they might transfer that wisdom to us” (page 61).

Final thought. Our local city of Claremont has been nicknamed “the city of trees and PhDs.” I love how Pastor Wayne used those letters. He said they should stand for Poor, Hungry, and Desperate, because it is those types of people who become candidates for an outpouring of wisdom from God’s unchanging Word.

I love you all!

Chris