The Divine Mentor By Wayne Cordeiro

The Divine Mentor by Wayne Cordeiro

The Divine Mentor by Wayne Cordeiro is written as the strongest advocate of a personal daily time with God which I have ever read. Cordeiro states quite simply that a Christian has an entire group of mentors to help someone in their Christian walk. All a person has to do is read the Bible on a daily basis. He states that there are a host of people (Adam, Moses, Ruth, David, Hosea, Jesus, Paul, Peter, John and more) who want to help you grow in your faith.

Cordeiro explains how he uses forty minutes a day to read, reflect, and write during his devotion time. He takes the first twenty minutes to pray and read the Biblical text. Then he uses the next twenty minutes to write down what he has learned. He uses the SOAP method in writing his devotionals. The SOAP method stands for the four parts of his devotional: (1) Scripture, (2) Observation, (3) Application, and (4) Prayer. Cordeiro has developed his own LifeJournal system to help people who want to develop a devotion time.

Cordeiro encourages the reader to develop this devotion time habit. He contends that it makes an impact on the life of a Christian. Those who don’t keep up the daily habit of time alone with God have trouble living an authentic Christian life. Cordeiro shows a system which he has developed for people to follow. He uses his LifeJournal system (which lets a person read the Bible in a year: the Old Testament once and the New Testament twice) as a small group tool. Cordeiro suggest a 20/20/20 system. In a group setting, each person reads the same Scripture for twenty minutes. Then each person spends the next twenty minutes journaling what they learn using the SOAP method. The last twenty minutes is used for group discussion.

This book challenged me in my devotion time. I had spent time just reading different Scripture verses, but I never really took the time to journal. Sometimes I would write, but not every time. After reading this book, I have decided to make the effort to journal every day. Presently, I am reading through the daily lectionary. As a I choose a verse that has been listed, I use the SOAP method. Just as instructed, I read the section of Scripture. I pick one verse and write it out. Then I wrote my observations, how the verse applied to me, and then a short prayer to remind me to follow-up what I learned.

Therefore, I would recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn how to journal during their daily devotions. If a Christian wonders why they should spend time alone with God each and journal, then that person needs to read this book. Cordeiro expands on the need for times of solitude with God in his book Leading on Empty (which I reviewed).