The Mandate: An Inspirational Guide

By Myra A. Cooper

The Mandate is written for you! It is to give you encouragement and understanding that life can be successful as a believer as well as in your professional training or whatever you have been called to do in the world. Be encouraged to know that even as God’s love for you is real, His Will is that you share that love with others. This means that if God says it, we are capable of doing it, and we have an obligation to do so. This is the main reason he sent you and me to the earth! This may not happen if we carry a secret embarrassment toward letting others know that we are Believers. This can happen at work, the neighborhood, or within one’s personal relationships. Hence many just fall in line with the status quo.

The Book reveals that you have been called to a higher commitment and witness for God without having to be overbearing. Just being true to your testimony, which comes naturally with trust in God. His Will is that we do not just live our lives, then pass on and make it to Heaven having never told another of His Love. The Mandate outlines areas that are important in helping believers (you and me) be effective witnesses by, drawing closer to God through Prayer; showing how the enemy tries to use Believers for his own purpose, the presence of the Holy Spirit within you is, understanding when God is speaking to you, living successfully through true life situations, including the power to forgive, overcoming fear and guarding your tongue. God’s Promises are great to hold on to because He will surely give you much Peace, Hope and Prosperity with the courage to remain resolved and live successfully.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Apr 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664208063

Myra A. Cooper

At age sixteen Myra became a ‘Born Again Christian’ and immediately began telling others about God’s Love. Thus, participating in door-to-door Ministry, Street Services, visiting the sick, disenfranchised and delinquents in Nassau, Bahamas. She also ministered on most of the major Family Islands in the Bahamas for the purpose of inviting others to come to know the Lord. Many times, she would minister alone and even after 55 years, her determination is just as strong in inviting others to come to know Him. Myra studied at the University of The Bahamas formerly College of the Bahamas and the Assemblies of God Bible College. Since 2014, she has written an article in The Nassau Guardian every month inviting others to know Him, called “Words of Encouragement, Just for You.”

Book preview

THE

MANDATE

AN INSPIRATIONAL GUIDE

MYRA A. COOPER

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Copyright © 2021 Myra A. Cooper.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by

any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system

without the written permission of the author except in the case

of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author

and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of

the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of

people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or

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of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher,

and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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.

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-0805-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-0806-3 (e)

WestBow Press rev. date: 03/09/2021

D E D I C A T I O N

This book is dedicated to my wonderful children, Nevin my

son and Nakera, my daughter. They have been most supportive

in my endeavors to write and the completion of this book.

Their support has encouraged me in my plight to make this

Inspirational Guide to follow The Mandate, which God sent each

of us to earth to complete in bringing others to know Him.

PREFACE

The Mandate is written to help you live a successful Christian life. It is designed to show you how to invest in yourself, to know you are worthy before God, therefore enhancing your walk before both God and man. These are not two different things, as many people separate their walk with God as Spiritual and attend Church regularly doing church activities with church people (walking with God). Then they view their careers apart from their Christianity and at work they display a different self, by getting into the competition of moving forward in their career (walking with man). Hence many do not even say that they have a connection to God (while not at church). This book will show you how to grow in Spirit; how to release your soul to God; how to govern the behaviors of your body wherever you are. You will then become successful within yourself first, then among those around you and in that which you do.

In short, it is written to show you how to live victoriously on the earth, and to bring those whom you love, meet and or work with, to knowing the One True God. This is the Mandate given to each one who would accept the Lord Jesus Christ into their heart as Personal Savior. You are not expected to speak from a Podium or be a Pastor if you have not been called to that Ministry by God. The message in The Mandate shows you how to stay on the right course throughout the remainder of your life. Many churches do a new converts course for new Christians, but seemingly this is not enough, as many new converts turn back and go into the world’s way of life again. Also, on the other hand, many people after giving their heart to the Lord just end up sitting on the (bench) pew. This gives the feeling of when a player, in a ball game is confined to sitting on the bench. This is not God’s Will, every Christian has been given a Mandate to bring others to Christ, that is, make disciples, but unfortunately, some are not being encouraged to do so. Thus, living their entire lives as babes in Christ, dying and going on to Heaven, never having experienced the maturity and blessing of leading another person to Him.

Jesus came to earth, to redeem man back to God. This is the reason He died for us on the Cross. We will stand before God one day and would there be someone else whom we’ve led to Christ with us? And Jesus came and spoke unto them saying, all power is given unto me in Heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen (Matthew 28:18-20(KJV). Jesus is our Teacher, we are his disciples. Therefore, a disciple emulates his teacher, Jesus. It is every Christian’s duty to follow and complete The Mandate He has set for us.

CONTENTS

Preface

Knowing God

Understanding God’s Word

Trusting God Through His Word

The Purpose of Prayer

Getting Results through Prayer

Knowing God Is With You

Seeking God’s Best For Life

Drawing Closer To God Through Prayer

The Enemy’s Efforts To Use Each One For His Purpose

Who Is The Holy Spirit?

Gifts of The Holy Spirit

The Fruit of The Spirit

Knowing When God Is Speaking

Testimonies on Hearing God Personally

Set Apart (Poem By Myra Cooper)

Keys To Understanding How To Live A Successful Life

Keys to Letting Your Light Shine

Rescue The Perishing (Hymn by Fanny Crosby)

God’s Promises To Us

Determined to Stay On Course

Remain Resolved

KNOWING GOD

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H ave you ever met God? In most countries the local or common citizens are not allowed access to walk up to the Palace or the Great House, either the House of Parliament, the Government House or the White House, built for the residence of the leader, and just walk in for a visit. As a citizen of your country, if you were to request a meeting with the elected official, or Head of State, which would be either the Prime Minister, The Premier, or the President, would you be granted a favorable response? The Office Aides to the Head of State, may be very polite in seeking from you the reason for your request and they may even carry out some investigation on you, for security purposes, but it is highly unlikely that you would be allowed a direct visit. On the other hand, depending on your status in society, you may not be viewed as someone of very high importance to be making such a request in any event and therefore, you may not be granted clearance to visit. This is the method of world leaders and you may believe that if it is so difficult to meet a world Commander in Chief, how much more difficult it is to meet and talk to God. There is also a belief that all religious roads lead to Jehovah God’s Heaven, but this is far from the truth and here’s why:

First, He’s God of the entire Universe, and He both speaks and listens. He is waiting to listen and speak answers to your questions back to you. He longs for relationship with you because He loves you, and you do not have to be of a certain caliber or race to be welcome in His presence.

Secondly, you will find that when you understand that He indeed loves you, it would be easier to ask Him anything. Even if you do need to meet with a Head of State, with Him nothing is impossible and if you believe, it can happen at the right time. Your love for him will grow even as your knowledge will increase more and more. When you love someone, it is easier to accept them as a friend. You can very easily do the same with God, He wants to be your friend.

Third, God created us with the ability to speak and hear, even as He speaks and hears. We were created in His image. Therefore, He is waiting to have a dialogue with us. But the Bible does say that we were born in sin and created in iniquity (wicked, sinful, evil, criminal). So, because God is Holy, and we are sinners, it is important that we should be on the same page with God so that we can be in right standing to speak to Him and hear His responses.

The first record of God and man having dialogue was in the Garden of Eden, with Adam and Eve, after He created them and placed them in the Garden to Live. He visited with them and had conversation with them, this would be in the cool of the day when He would call out to them talking with them regularly. But eventually they did not follow God’s instructions completely and sinned, when they ate the fruit from the tree which God had forbidden them not to touch (Genesis 3:8(KJV). Then they became afraid of God’s presence in the garden because of their sin. So, God had to expel them from the Garden of Eden.

Now because God had been trying to reach man since then, He sent His son, Jesus into the world to die for the sins of mankind (which would be you and me), which Jesus did when He was crucified. This means that Jesus then becomes the link between God and man. But before I proceed further, it is necessary that you know that you have a friend (God), who understands you, and wants you to hear and walk close to Him. This cannot happen unless you know God personally. He is indeed waiting to receive you and be your Father God. Now because of what happened with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, this means that after that time, everyone born into the world was born into sin. For as by one man’s disobedience, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. (Romans 5:19KJV)

The Fourth reason for you to be in a good position to talk to God, you must accept Him through Jesus Christ in your heart, by confessing your sins to Him. Romans 10:9(KJV) states, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God had raised Him from the dead, thou shall be saved. But that confession is for verbal speakers. Many are also non-verbal who read and write. They can believe God for Salvation within their heart. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Those who are verbal may also pray this prayer. Romans 10:9 is for those who wish to hear themselves speak the prayer. If you pray this prayer to God through Jesus Christ and believe it from your heart you will be saved. This is a prayer of repentance which leads you to become a Christian and make ready for Heaven. Let’s pray:

Dear Jesus, I know I am a sinner, so I wish to repent.

Please forgive me of my sins and come live in my heart.

Make me a new person and show me how to

Be an example to others.

Thank you for dying to save me from sin. Amen!

If you believe this prayer, you have been born again. To become born again means that you are now saved from sin, your sins have been forgiven and you have received the Holy Spirit, He lives within you now, meaning He knows you. You have now met God through Jesus! Your name has been recorded in Heaven, and all the Angels are rejoicing that you are now a Child of God. It means you have been justified (meaning you’re vindicated) by God now that you have repented from sin. It is like you have never sinned, and if you should die today, you will go to Heaven. Accepting Jesus into your Heart as Savior changes your destiny forever. He’s the best friend ever!

WELCOME TO GOD’S FAMILY!

At sixteen years of age, I repented of my sins and gave my heart to God through Jesus Christ. It’s been over fifty years now. I was the first one to do so in my family of eleven and it was very hard and not at all easy for me. My family attended the Episcopal Church, but I received Christ and became a born-again Christian in the Baptist Church. That alone was difficult for me, as I pressed to attend church where I first believed and was now being trained by the Word of God. My eyes were opening to the fact that God loved me unconditionally and expected that I live for Him. My mother, whom I love dearly, objected forcefully when it was time for me to go to church and the rest is history.

I prayed for my mother for twenty-eight years before she accepted and received Jesus into her heart. The interesting and important thing for me is that God used me to pray with her, thus introducing her to know Him. This was at a time when she had become very ill and I was visiting with her at the Hospital. She was ready to receive Jesus into her heart and the time was right, Praise the Lord, my mom is living in Heaven today. I came through because The Holy Spirit was with me and I know it could only have been God that brought me through many, many times, just as He lives in you. Since having accepted Jesus into my heart, I have led numerous persons to Christ under His direction. Be encouraged, as you follow the instructions written in this guide, it will give you a clear grasp of Prayer and The Word, you will make it. Hold on to God He will never let go of you as you follow the Mandate, He’s set for you as a Christian.

Now that you have met God through Jesus Christ, it’s time to grow in strength in your relationship with Him, He is our Father and Friend, and Jesus our elder Brother. Now you have been saved for a purpose, which is to help to lead others to Him. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the son to be the Savior of the world (1 John 4:14(KJV). Father, God sent Jesus into the world to die for us and redeem us back to Him. God called Abraham His friend because Abraham fully trusted God without question, even though he did not know where he was going, he remained obedient to God. And the scripture was fulfilled which says, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. (James 2:23) When we are obedient and trust God, believing that He is holding us, this Pleases God.

Know that your purpose is unique, and God’s Will is that you grow stronger in Him and fulfill it. There are many Christians who may have come to salvation for many years, but they seemingly show very little signs of growing stronger in their walk with God, because they are simply unaware that they should spend time with God and hear Him speak to them. Spending time with God, is done by taking time to meet with Him in your secret place or prayer closet. Most Christians pray each night before going to sleep, thanking God for the day’s events and seeking His further protection. This is good, but we should worship Him every chance we get, not just when we turn in for the night, or go to church to fellowship with the other worshippers.

It is important therefore to find a place in your home where you can meet alone with God each day. If you are young and do not share a bedroom with other siblings, you can pray in your bedroom. Here is where you pray, sing from your heart, as well as sing along with worship songs, read The Word and Meditate on it. This is a time when you can Worship Him from your heart. Make sure you have your Worship sessions in enough time so that you do not interrupt your time to prepare for your daily activities. You will find that at first you may not know what to say to God. Your prayers at first may only last two to three minutes, you have just begun so do not be discouraged, God rejoices over you, and in your humbleness and honesty, He will prompt you in your spirit what you ought to pray about, it may even be that you need to pray for your neighborhood and people you know who have not accepted Jesus as yet. But remember, at this time in your life no one can do it for you, except your being open to The Lord, Just Trust Him.

It is good to learn to talk to The Lord about everything. In this way, you will get to know Him even more and you will get a clearer understanding of why you are here on the earth and that is to destroy the works of the