The Believer’s Manual for Excellence

By Patrick Payne Okoronkwo

Knowing and working with God is not a sprint. It is a marathon with very many dangerous twists and turns—craggy and crooked at that. It is getting progressively unpopular to be identified as a Christian in our present-day world with its attendant challenges and extraordinary indulgences. Real and valid questions are constantly agitating the minds of many, right from the crises of development to the decadence of aging and dying.

This book is essentially a critical look at man as per who he is and his never-ending search for connection with his maker. It sees God as triune and also treats the trinity of man—that is, spirit, soul, and body—and the steps and strategies he needs to deploy to ensure he gets on top of his game in terms of his relationships with God, with brothers, at the workplace, in married life, social events, and many more.

The Believer’s Manual is an attempt to critically look at the believer in terms of his coming to the understanding that he needs his maker in every area of his life. It starts with getting to know his god, his plans and purpose for him, divine leading and direction, etc. It does a synopsis of temperaments and how God can use man no matter his temperament. The indwelling Holy Spirit makes the difference.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 2, 2019
• ISBN: 9781796045123

Patrick Payne Okoronkwo

Patrick Payne Okoronkwo is a decent and diligent seeker of the truth in the Lord. An educator by training, a safety and security professional by vocation, Patrick is the author of the book titled “Common Sense Safety and Security Strategies for Teens and Young Adults” published in July of 2017 by iuniverse. He is married with children, and lives in Houston Texas with his family.

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Copyright © 2019 by Patrick Payne Okoronkwo.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2019909233

ISBN:             Hardcover               978-1-7960-4514-7

                       Softcover                 978-1-7960-4513-0

                       eBook                       978-1-7960-4512-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 07/04/2019

Xlibris

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

A New World, A New Life

•   A Colossal Fall And A Rescue Mission

•   The Rescue Program

•   A New Life: What Really Happened?

•   Redemptive Rights:

•   Legal Rights In Christ:

•   Salvation Rights:

•   Man, Know Yourself

o   The Spirit Of Man

o   The Soul Of Man

o   The Body

•   Making The Best Use Of Your Mind

•   Man, The Son Of God

•   Man In Dominion

CHAPTER TWO

The Believer And The Word

•   The Leadership Of God

•   Do You Really Need Divine Direction

•   Need For Mind Renewal And Reprogramming

•   Proactive Thinking

•   The Thinking Process

o   The Cognitive Domain

o   The Affective Domain

o   The Psychomotor Domain

•   Steps To Mind Renewal

o   Study

o   Praise

o   Worship

o   Fasting

o   Testimonies

o   Meditation

CHAPTER THREE

The Word Of God

•   The Bible: A Historical Overview

o   Attacks

•   Developing Faith In The Word

•   Exercising Your Faith

•   Speaking The Word Of Faith

•   Giving Your Speech A Cleanup

•   What Happens When It Seems As Though God Doesn’t Make Sense?

CHAPTER FOUR

Submission To God

•   Submission To God’s Delegated Authority

•   Submission To Your Government

•   Submission To Your Spouse

•   The Place Of Sensitivity

•   Separation

•   Preparing For God’s Setup

•   Sacrifice

•   Seed, Soil, And Season

•   The Force Of Recognition

•   Switch

CHAPTER FIVE

Prayer In The Believer’s Life

•   Steps To Answered Prayers

•   God Answers All Prayers

•   A Fantastic Fusion Of The Name Of Jesus, The Blood Of Jesus, And The Word: Potent Weapons Of War

o   The Name Of Jesus

o   The Blood Of Jesus

■   The Communion Table

o   Using The Word Of God

•   Understanding God’s Orders Of Answered Prayers

•   Jesus The Christ And His Model

•   Kinds Of Prayer

o   Prayer Of Petition

o   Prayer Of Agreement

o   Prayer Of Unity

o   Prayer Of Consecration And Dedication

o   Prayer Of Worship

o   Prayer Of Intercession

o   Prayer Of Importunity

o   Listening Prayer

•   The Place Of A Prayer Altar

•   The Believer And His Physical Health

•   Divine Healing

•   Speak To Your Body; It Hears

•   Creating An Atmosphere For A Healing Miracle

•   Holiness And Wellness

•   Thoughts

CHAPTER SIX

The Holy Spirit Of God

•   Misconceptions

•   An In-Depth Look

•   The Person Of The Holy Spirit

•   Receiving The Holy Spirit

•   The Spirit-Filled Man

•   Manifesting The Gifts Of The Holy Ghost

•   Why The Gift Of The Holy Spirit For The Church?

•   Holy Ghost Baptism

CHAPTER SEVEN

Assignments In Ministry

•   Receiving Your Assignment

•   Set The Stage

•   Identifying Your Assignment

•   The Place Of Temperament In Your Ministry

o   Types Of Temperament

■   Choleric

›   The Choleric At Work:

›   At Home

›   As A Friend

›   His Cars, Pets, House

›   When All Is Well

›   When Cholerics Speak

›   The Flip Side

›   The Christian Choleric

■   Sanguine

›   As Parents

›   Doing Business With The Sanguine

›   As A Friend

›   Houses, Cars, Pets And Colors

›   At Their Best

›   How To Identify The Sanguine

›   Body Language Of Sanguine

■   Phlegmatic

›   Body Language And Clues

›   Weaknesses And Challenges

■   The Analyst, Great Thinker, Or Melancholy

›   Work

›   As Parents

›   As A Friend

›   During Interaction

›   A Critical Look At The Melancholy

›   The Analytical Thinker And The Holy Spirit

›   Body Language

•   Why All These Analyses?

•   Dealing With Storms

•   Triumph In Trial

•   The Favor Factor

•   Can God Trust You With Favor?

CHAPTER EIGHT

Doing Business God’s Way

•   Success As Scripturally Promised

o   Levels Of God’s Blessings

CHAPTER NINE

Money

•   Money And You

•   Misconceptions About Money

•   Developing A Mind-Set Of Success

o   It Starts From The Mind

o   Setting Goals/Objectives

•   Christian Business Relationships

•   Integrity Building

•   Integrity At The Workplace

CHAPTER TEN

Leadership

•   Developing A Leader’s Mentality

•   Qualities Of A Good Leader

o   Progressively Studying

o   Service Fanaticism

o   Trust Surplus

o   Synergy And Leverage

o   Passion For Excellence

o   Integrity

o   The Place Of Positive Mental Attitude In Leadership

o   On Top Of Their Game

o   Fear Of Not Trying

o   The Place Of Prioritization

•   The Red Flag

•   The Place Of Vision In Leadership

•   Principles In Leadership

•   Transparency

•   The Place Of Excellence In Leadership

•   Professionalism

•   Leadership And Values

•   Leadership At Any Level

•   Training And Leadership

•   Interfacing With People As A Leader

•   Developing An Interest In People

•   Your Face And Your Smile

•   People And Their Names

•   The Listening Ear

•   Body Language

•   Are You Genuinely Interested In People?

•   Leadership And Character

•   The Place Of Truth

•   You And Leadership

•   Managing You

•   Confidants

•   Constituents

•   Comrades

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Getting Married God’s Way

•   Why Marriage?

•   Marriage: A Definition

•   Marriage And Types

•   Getting To Find Her

o   The Church

o   The Workplace

o   Social Functions/ Events

•   In Search Of A Godly Wife

•   Getting The Church Involved

Bibliography And References

Acknowledgements

CHAPTER ONE

A New World, A New Life

Man was created to rule, manage, dominate, set standards, and ensure the continued existence and prosperity of the earth as God’s delegated authority. His creation was basically God’s all-wise agenda to have his kind in a world created and crafted to perfection, for man is an express image and likeness of God. Being an immaterial being who cannot be confined by space, the creation of the world would have been of no use if the Creator didn’t have man at heart. The mastery, control, and dominion of the earth were a matter of right expressly and freely handed over to man by his Maker and Creator. This dominion was succinctly captured in Adam’s absolute control of events to the extent that everything created by God was named by Adam. God created man to be a sort of god here. Every authority, power, and control for effective living, profiting, and communion was made available. This was utopia in its truest form.

Let us make man in our own image, according to our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Man’s creation was a function of divine craftsmanship well thought out by the council of heaven. Utopian masterplan!

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God, He created him, male and female, He created them. Then God blessed them and said to them ‘Be fruitful and multiply: fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over everything that moves on the earth’ (Gen. 1:27–28).

The foregoing was a perfect environment for man to operate and control. He operated in a timeless reality because time wasn’t a factor during creation. Adam was to live forever and without time consciousness. When God created man, he imbued him with a dominion consciousness, and this quality is still with man even though it has been perverted in every imaginable sense since the fall. He was to be in constant communion with his Maker. He lacked nothing and worried about nothing. What an ambience! What a life! A life with God for company! So good to be free, in control, living forever without care or anxiety! All these changed the instant man compromised and fell from grace. The fall, put in a simple way, was the total severance of every imaginable tie or bond between man and God. This high treason activated time (made man time conscious), and the caveat any day you eat of this tree, you shall die automatically came into effect.

A COLOSSAL FALL AND A RESCUE MISSION

Choices in life are free, but the consequences are not. The fall of man was a willful decision. He was configured to be a free-thinking agent capable of making his decisions and taking responsibility. He was not a zombie. Man’s fall from the grace and presence of God was an express handover of his dominion, wisdom, power, and God’s abiding grace upon Adam to Satan on a platter of gold and, therefore, created a reversal in God’s original plan and order of things. On account of this fall, man subjected himself to the law of sin and death, attracted the nature of the devil, lost his authority. He became a servant to the devil and a slave to sin. He continually has fear for company and was incapable of facing his Maker when he came calling for him. He exchanged boldness for fear, became carnal, lost his relationship with God, and took up the very nature of the devil. He became flesh focused and, by implication, lost his peace, joy, and rest. Even the laws of nature rebelled against God’s plan for Adam the moment he sold out to the deceit of Satan. Before the fall, Adam was virtually the god of this world. He, of his own volition, legally transferred the ownership, power, and dominion of his age to Satan. Some experts in theology call this act of disobedience high treason.

So overwhelming were the consequences of sin that man was practically helpless, hopeless, and in dire straits. In this confused state of affairs, a deliverance or salvation package from God was inevitable to revive, save, and restore man to his original place in God and glory.

THE RESCUE PROGRAM

The fall of man was heartbreaking to God. God proved his longsuffering faithfulness and ever-abiding love for humanity when he orchestrated a rescue plan to free man from everlasting condemnation. The accompanying verse is apt.

Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold all things have become new (2 Cor. 5:7).

The above verse is an express validation of the nature and character man puts on at new birth. The salvation package is God’s agenda to rescue man and restore him to his original state before the fall. At salvation, there is a change of identity, a switch in ranks, and a translation from darkness to light, fear to boldness, sickness to health, death to life, sin to righteousness, and his place in destiny solidly established. The Word of God and his character took up residence in man’s heart. This awesome transformation as encapsulated in the rescue agenda practically changed the course of man as his demonic nature gave way for the nature and character of God, and his righteousness was expressly released to man. This gift of righteousness hitherto lost was restored through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The presence of Christ is an opportunity created by God the Father to fix the problem with the world.

A NEW LIFE: WHAT REALLY HAPPENED?

At new birth, every chain of sin, bondage to Satan and his manipulative tendencies give way to a new reality, identity, and boldness before God. Man comes under the total control of the Most High God. The new birth experience gives man unrestricted access to God with the gracious capacity to tap into the order, system, and essence of his Maker. The new creation is set free, does not operate in the world’s system, and is now on top of his game. This pristine simplicity and tranquility reminds me of the old Negro spiritual Free at Last.

Upon redemption, certain rights were ascertained and expressly given to man.

REDEMPTIVE RIGHTS:

• Jesus Christ was made a sin offering for us as believers.

• Jesus Christ was delivered for us.

• Jesus Christ actually died for us, actually giving himself up for us.

• These entitle me to the life Adam had and lived before the fall.

Given the foregoing, man has certain legal right before God to:

• stand before God without fear, guilt, or inferiority complex,

• appropriate righteousness as a free gift from his Maker,

• you are justified,

• there is an abundance of grace,

• there is neither fear nor condemnation,

• your identity in God is a certainty,

• you begin to grow in holiness,

• you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

LEGAL RIGHTS IN CHRIST:

• You make demands.

• Jesus Christ is your advocate.

• Your supplications or appeals should be answered by God.

• You are a prince unto God.

• You live in dominion, managing and ruling.

SALVATION RIGHTS:

• You radiate the glory of God.

• Being justified by faith, you have peace with God.

• When God looks at you, he sees Jesus Christ.

• Your faith makes your peace with God a reality.

• You are God’s ambassador.

MAN, KNOW YOURSELF

Just as God is triune (Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost), man is a harvest of three entities. He is a spirit, has a soul, and lives in a body. Being an express image of God, he has the nature and character of his Maker. Let’s do a synopsis of these three entities resident in man.

The Spirit of Man

This is the real man and a residential facility for God. In other words, it is the natural habitat for God and a communication facility through which man interacts with his Maker. The spirit of man has God’s kind of life. The spirit is key. The soul and body cannot function in isolation of the spirit. The spirit functions through the agencies or instrumentalities of the soul and body. It is the connecting rod between God and man, and without it, every connection with God is lost forever. Therefore, a regenerated spirit should radiate or manifest love, long suffering, temperance, faith, joy, gentleness, meekness, goodness, and peace.

At new birth, the spirit is quickened and regenerated. It is alert and alive to God. Upon death, the spirit is severed from both the soul and body. The spirit is everlasting. It lives forever; however, its place of permanent abode in the afterlife is a function of choices. Choices in life are free, but the consequences are not. In other words, there is eternal life for everyone, but where you choose to live that life is your decision.

The Soul of Man

The soul of man has three basic departments. It houses the mind, emotion, and will. It is the domain of intellectualism and acts as the central processing unit in the entity called man. It processes information, does analysis, takes decisions, etc. The spirit relates with the body through the mind. In the words of David Oyedepo, The mind is a man’s seat of feelings or thoughts. It is the intelligence faculty of man. Every information taken to the mind must be processed, approved, endorsed, or otherwise by the mind. The mind is a very strong gate and can be stretched, expanded, and maximized for the use of man. It is the battlefield of logic, opinions, and options. The mind is important to the human person so much so that any dislocation in its organized form or process of filtering codes, decoding, analysis, and inferences ultimately leads to man being out of sync or decadent.

A man’s mind is either carnal or spiritual. The carnal mind is degenerated, reprobate, decadent, silly, irresponsible, unreasonable, and arrogant. The spiritual mind, on the other hand, is regenerated, being quick and alive to God. This mind hears the spirit of God on a one-on-one basis, creating a sense of confidence and some sort of blessed assurance, causing a glide in your stride.

The emotion is that area of man’s feelings such as fear, anger, love, hate, etc. Man is also an emotional being. The will is that God-given independent capacity to take decisions as a free thinking agent.

The Body

This is the physical edifice housing both the spirit and soul. It is material, visible, physical and provides a residential facility for the Holy Spirit. It is also identifiable and enables man to relate with the world around