3 Types of People You Need in Your Life – Part I

Level 1 People

These are the ones Elohim (God) brings into your life for you to mentor and train. You may not have a lot in common. As a matter of fact, some of the “perceived immaturity” is the very thing Elohim (God) wants you to train and develop them to walk out of into a fuller stature of Yahushua (Jesus) Himself. Level one people are not your friends or hang out buddies. They are in your life solely for the purpose of mentoring, equipping, training, and developing. I guarantee if you try to make this relationship into anything else but what Elohim (God) intends, the result will be devastating and the “influence mantle” Elohim (God) placed on you for this assignment is threatened.

Once this mantle is threatened, it becomes very difficult to restore it and pick it back up to positively influence the perfecting result Elohim (God) intended. One more thing: You can’t be pouring into others all the time. God didn’t design us this way. That’s why you need level two and level three people. You must have something (other than God directly) pouring in to you.

Level 2 People

Level two people are just slightly ahead of you in their walk and journey with Christ. They are just a little further down the road so to speak than you. I love level two relationships. Elohim (God) places these types of people in our life for us to perfect them in the areas of Christ-like development and for them to perfect us in the areas of Christ-like development. In these relationships, the reciprocity is glorious. When the two of you come together, you affirm each other’s identity in Christ, and as you do you help one another advance and move from glory to glory and thus ultimately advance the Kingdom of God. Additionally, everyone in your life and ministry become blessed by these relationships. This is a true demonstration of: Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend (Proverbs 27:17).

Did you notice I purposely bolded the “b” portion of this scripture. Most often when we hear this quoted, it’s partially quoted with the “a” portion only. For example, “Iron sharpens iron.” How about finishing up the scripture? There is a purpose for iron sharpening iron, and the purpose is to sharpen the countenance of your level two friend. So what’s really happening in level two relationships? You are making one another swift, keen, alert, and sharp in the realm of the Spirit.

I arrived at this conclusion by looking at the Hebrew word for countenance. When this word chadad (pronounced khä•dad') is used, it means to sharpen the sword of another so much so that it is reflected in the face of another. This is how you’ll be able to identify level two people in your life. You look forward to speaking and fellowshipping with level two people. You never see them as an interruption because you know they come to impart, give, share, and not take, drain, and leave empty. You could be already basking in the sweet communion of the LORD (Yahweh), but then you receive an e-mail, phone call, or visit from your level two friend, and it catapults you into another place. You find a huge grin is on your face afterward, your Spirit man feels like it is soaring, and you are inspired to be and do all Elohim (God) said you could be and do.

I want to emphasize something here. We need to stop saying iron sharpens iron for every individual in our life. The scripture is clear; this is reserved for your level two friends! One more thing, everybody is not your friend. I admonish you to do what I recently had our 14-year old daughter do. Comb through the scriptures and come up with a checklist of what a Godly friend looks like. This way you’ll not only be able to identify the characteristics of a Godly friend, but you’ll recognize them when they come into your life. If you don’t know what to expect from Godly friendships, you’ll accept anything and never walk in the fullness of the types of relationships God intends for us.

You may find that sometimes you or your level two friends will remain silent as you share something Elohim (God) placed on your heart. If you are the one sharing, don’t assume your level two friend isn’t aware of the revelation. Many times they are aware, and the purpose of the sharing is for them to pray for you and for Elohim (God) to then build upon the revelation He gave you either immediately or over time. It’s like your level two friend embodies another aspect of the revelation of Elohim (God ) Himself that He wants to further impregnate you with.

Now this may be just for me (although I highly doubt it if you are a prophet). My level two relationships are found in other apostles and prophets.

Get rid of the loiterers and litters in your life. We have to stop allowing people to just occupy lease space in our lives. Yahushua (Jesus) told us to occupy till He comes. How can we effectively do that with leasers and squatters hanging onto us? There is work to be done in the Kingdom and all occupants who aren’t about the Father’s Kingdom business are fruitless and have no eternal impact.

Stay tuned for Part II’s arrival in your inbox on Tuesday, February 9, 2010.