Holy spirit I need you to guide me. I really need your help today. I know you are my comforter and adviser, so please continue to show me the right way to live my life. My mind is playing tricks on me. I’m being tempted to do something you advised me not to do. I like this girl and she likes me back. God says in his holy word not to lust after females or even have sex before marriage. Yet, can I express my true feelings. I really want to have sex with her but I know as a mentor you wouldn’t be happy with me. I’m doing the best I can on the Christian journey. I just need you to know where I am right now. Can you give me some more advice? Amen

Let’s begin by defining what a mentor is. A mentor is a person who gives good advice and leads by example. A mentor never gives up on an individual who struggles with making the right decisions. A person who is the recipient of mentorship may be referred as a protégé (male) or a mentee. The mentor plays the role of an advice-giver, and gives guidance to the mentee that wants or needs a sense of direction for their life in the short term and/or long term. Mentors are greater in experience, information, and skills to those who they mentor. Proper mentorship is essential to the development of culture and the development and thriving of educational pursuit.

After teaching high school for three years, I saw a great need for mentorship in the school system. Several parents stopped and asked me if I would mentor their child. “My son or daughter doesn’t’ have his or her father in their life. They really need some sense of direction. Can you give them some advice?” Those parents were from different ethnic backgrounds. But the African American community has succumbed to harsh statistics in this area.

I believe there is a great need within the African American community for mentorship; therefore, the need to support and repair the family as a core institution in our society is even greater. I say this because nearly seventy percent of African American children do not have fathers in the house hold. Staggering… Fathers play a major role in the lives of their children. Their presence helps tremendously when it comes to making decision about their future, relationships, education and finances. Working as a Teacher at Hillside New Tech High School (HBTH) in Durham North Carolina helped me to understand how we can help each other support those who can benefit from mentoring. HNTH is a project base teaching environment that focuses on student-centered inquiry and group learning with the teacher acting as a facilitator. As the students would enter the class room, each student’s assignments were on the board. The students knew what to do. All students couldn’t get their work started right away and needed assistance from the teacher. The teacher was there to guide them and help them with their lesson; understanding the importance, and ways of staying focused and finishing the assignment. That in fact is a life lesson.

Mentorship, of course, is also vital to Christian discipleship. If we look at John 14:26 in the English Standard Version. It really helps us to understand how we need to depend on the Holy Spirit. It says, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” Even in Galatians 5:22-23 Paul lists the fruit of the Holy Spirit. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Through the Spirit, God develops within us the character necessary for everyday living. As one learns to allow the Spirit to move in your life, the Spirit helps us understand Jesus’ character so that you become more and more like Him: being loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, good, kind, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. These personality qualities will make you productive in life. As we go about our days, it’s important that we continue to reflect on the fruits of the spirit and inspire someone else to become a better person in life, by being an example of Jesus Christ. Here is my point, if you never find someone who you can physically connect with, the Holy Spirit will always be there to guide you in making the right decision. He is that voice in your head or feeling in your heart that nudges you to do the right thing. As the Bibles says in Proverbs 3:5 and 6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto you own understanding, acknowledge him and he will direct your path.”

Remember “Everyone has a Mentor and his name is the Holy Spirit!”

Marcel W Anderson,
CEO Accelerating Ministries Inc.
(919) 423-7943
acceleratingministries1@gmail.com

“Always Moving Forward”