Friday, January 27 2012

Others went out on the sea in ships; they were merchants on the mighty waters. They saw the works of the Lord…. – Psalm 107:23-24a

When you were a child, perhaps you may have gone to the ocean for a vacation. I recall wading out until the waves began crashing on my knees. As long as I could stand firm, the waves were of no concern to me. However, as I moved farther and farther into the ocean, I had less control over my ability to stand. Sometimes the current was so strong it moved me down the beach, and I even lost my bearings at times. But I have never gone so far into the ocean that I was not able to control the situation.

Sometimes God takes us into such deep waters that we lose control of the situation, and we have no choice but to fully trust in His care for us. This is doing business in great waters. It is in these great waters that we see the works of God.

The Scriptures tell us that the disciples testified of what they saw and heard. It was the power behind the gospel, not the words themselves, which changed the world. The power wasn’t seen until circumstances got to the point that there were no alternatives but God. Sometimes God has to take us into the deep water in order to give us the privilege to see His works.

Sometimes God takes us into the deep waters of life for an extended time. Joseph was taken into deep waters of adversity for 17 years. Rejection by his brothers, enslavement to Pharaoh, and imprisonment were the deep waters for Joseph. During those deep waters, he experienced dreams, a special anointing of his gifts to administrate, and great wisdom beyond his years. The deep water was preparation for a task that was so great he never could have imagined it. He was to see God’s works more clearly than anyone in his generation. God had too much at stake for a 30-year-old to mess it up. So, God took Joseph through the deep waters of preparation to ensure that he would survive what he was about to face. Pride normally engulfs such young servants who have such access to power at such a young age.

If God chooses to take us into deep waters, it is for a reason. The greater the calling, the deeper the water. Trust in His knowledge that your deep waters are preparation to see the works of God in your life.

Thursday, January 26 2012

The Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors – to David. – 1 Samuel 28:17b

When God anoints a person, a pattern of testing appears to take place at specific times in the leader’s life. God often takes each leader through four major tests to determine if that person will achieve God’s ultimate call on his or her life. The person’s response to these tests is the deciding factor in whether they can advance to the next level of responsibility in God’s Kingdom.

Control – Control is one of the first tests. Saul spent most of his time as king trying to prevent others from getting what he had. Saul never got to the place with God in which he was a grateful recipient of God’s goodness to him. Saul was a religious controller. This control led to disobedience and ultimately being rejected by God because Saul no longer was a vessel God could use.

Bitterness – Every major character in the Bible was hurt by another person at one time or another. Jesus was hurt deeply when Judas, a trusted follower, betrayed Him. Despite knowing this was going to happen, Jesus responded by washing Judas’ feet. Every anointed leader will have a Judas experience at one time or another. God watches us to see how we will respond to this test. Will we take up an offense? Will we retaliate? It is one of the most difficult tests to pass.

Power – Power is the opposite of servanthood. Jesus had all authority in Heaven and earth, so satan tempted Jesus at the top of the mountain to use His power to remove Himself from a difficult circumstance. How will we use the power and influence God has entrusted to us? Do we seek to gain more power? There is a common phrase in the investment community, “He who has the gold rules.” Jesus modeled the opposite. He was the ultimate servant leader.

Greed – This is a difficult one. Money has the ability to have great influence for either good or bad. When it is a focus in our life, it becomes a tool of destruction. When it is a by-product, it can become a great blessing. Many leaders started out well – only to be derailed once prosperity became a part of their life. There are thousands who can blossom spiritually in adversity; only a few can thrive spiritually under prosperity.

As leaders, we must be aware when we are being tested. You can be confident that each one of these tests will be thrown your way if God calls you for His purposes. Will you pass these tests? Ask for God’s grace today to walk through these tests victoriously.

Wednesday, January 25 2012

Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. – Exodus 2:12

Moses saw the pain of his people. He saw the bondage and the injustice. His heart was enraged, and he decided he would do something. He would take matters into his own hands. The result was murder. The motive was right, but the action was wrong. He went horizontal instead of vertical with God. Moses fled to the desert, where God prepared the man who would ultimately be the deliverer of a nation. But it took 40 years of preparation before God determined Moses was ready. He was a professional businessman – a sheepherder. It was during the mundane activity of work that God called on him to be a deliverer.

Moses was like a lot of enthusiastic Christian workplace believers who seek to solve a spiritual problem with a fleshly answer. The greatest danger to the Christian workplace believer is his greatest strength – his business acumen and expertise to get things done. This self-reliance can become our greatest weakness when it comes to moving in the spiritual realm. We’re taught to be problem solvers. But, like Moses, if our enthusiasm and passion are not harnessed by the power of the Holy Spirit, we will fail miserably. Peter had to learn this lesson too. His enthusiasm got him into a lot of trouble. But God was patient, just as He is patient with each of us. Sometimes He must put us in the desert for a time in order to season us so that Christ is allowed to reign supreme in the process.

Before you act, pray and seek the mind of Christ until you know it is God behind the action. Check it out with others. You may save yourself a trip to the desert.

But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” - Acts 16:28

Paul and Silas had just been thrown into prison. An earthquake erupted and the jail cell was opened. It’s Paul and Silas’ opportunity. “Deliverance! Praise God!” might be the appropriate response. But this is not what Paul and Silas did. In fact, rather than leave, they sat quietly in their cell area. The guard, in fear of his life, knew that it would be automatic death if prisoners escaped. Paul and Silas did not leave because they saw a higher purpose for which they were in prison. They were not looking at their circumstance; they were much more concerned about the unsaved guard. The story goes on to explain how Paul and Silas went home with the guard and his family. Not only did the guard get saved, but his entire household as well.

What a lesson this is for us. How often we are so busy looking for deliverance from our circumstance that we miss God completely. God is looking to do miracles in our circumstances if we will only look for them. Sometimes as workplace believers we become so obsessed with our goals we miss the process that God involves us in, which may be where the miracle lies. What if that bill collector who has been hounding you is unsaved and he is there for you to speak to? What if a problem account has arisen due to something God is doing beyond what you might see at this time? Our adverse situations can often be the door of spiritual opportunity for those who need it.

I saw this personally when God allowed me to go through a number of adversities. It took some time, but I saw some great miracles as a result of those adversities. When God said that “all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purposes” (see Rom. 8:28), He meant all things. It is up to us to find the “work together for good” part by being faithful to the process. In the next adversity you face, tune your spiritual antennae and ask God for discernment to see the real purpose for the adversity.

“But the Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’” (Acts 9:15-16).

Sometimes we can place the idea of calling too much on the thing we do versus the One we are called to serve. Paul said that he was “called to be an apostle.” This has made some feel that if we each do not have a “special call” then we are second class citizens.

Paul saw his calling like any other believer’s call to salvation and obedience. We cannot negate the fact that God did call Paul in a dramatic encounter with the Lord that had broad significance to the rest of the Body of Christ. And, there are assignments that are going to impact the Body of Christ more than others. However, this is not the case for every believer and we should not feel slighted should we not have the same level of call.

Every believer shares the same basic calling with Paul, “as a bondservant of Jesus Christ, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ,” as he says in (Romans 1:6). Paul was saying to the Roman Christians their call was the same as his. They were not all apostles, but they were all “called of Jesus Christ.”

For most of us, God will work out His calling upon our lives in many different and varied ways. Like Paul and the rest of the New Testament Christians, we are all called with the same glorious calling and thus stand as equals before God.

Friday, January 20 2012

“So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law” (Mal 2:9).

My work, My way – When you and I live in this world without Christ we live a life just as Esau lived his life. Esau despised his birthright and failed to enter into a relationship with God that allowed him to fulfill his destiny. In essence, Esau fulfilled his work, his way. His life represented the carnal life of the flesh.

His work, my way – When you and I become born-again by the Spirit of God, we begin to focus our attention on living for Christ. We realize it is His work we are doing but it takes time before we learn what it means to do His work, His way.

My work, His way – As the Holy Spirit does His work in us, we learn to walk with God. We learn what it means to see our work as His work and we desire to do it His way. The Israelites were guilty of not knowing His ways and were unable to move into the Promised Land because of not understanding how to do Their work, His ways.

His work, His way – When we begin to walk with God we begin to realize that all that we do is His work and He calls us to do it His way. When we begin to walk with God in this manner we begin to see the Kingdom of God manifested in our working lives. We begin to experience His power and learn what it means to do His work, His way.

In order to experience God in this way, each of us must give our working lives to the Lord and ask him to teach us His way. Moses asked God: “If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you” (Ex 33:12). Moses realized He needed God to teach him His ways in order for him to prosper in His relationship with God.

What best describes your life today? Your work, your way; Your work, His way; His work, your way; or His work, His way? Pray that you learn to do His work, His way.

“Now the donkeys belonging to Saul’s father Kish were lost” (1 Sam 9:3).

God used adversity to call the first king of Israel. In 1 Samuel 9 and 10, we find Saul working in the family business, employed by his father, Kish. In Bible times, donkeys represented trade and commerce, for they were the primary means of transporting goods.

Some of Kish’s donkeys were missing, so Kish told his son Saul to take a servant with him and go find the missing donkeys. Saul and the servant traveled the countryside three days in search of the missing donkeys – but without results. Saul thought his father might worry about him, so he told the servant, “Let’s go back.”

The servant replied, “Look, in this town there’s a man of God, a prophet. Let’s go see him and maybe he will tell us which way to take.” In today’s terminology, it was time to call in a consultant.

So Saul and the servant went through the town and the prophet – a man named Samuel – was walking toward them along the street. As Samuel walked toward Saul, God told the prophet, “The man who is approaching is the one I told you about. He will be the leader of My people.”

Saul stopped Samuel in the street and said, “Sir, would you please tell me how to find the house of the prophet?”

“I’m the prophet you’re looking for,” Samuel replied. “Today you’ll have dinner with me and tomorrow I’ll tell you everything that is in your heart.”

Saul’s pathway to leadership led through the experience of a business setback: a missing herd of donkeys. God arranged every step of Saul’s journey.

It was God who sent the donkeys away, which made it necessary for Saul to go searching for them. When Saul was ready to give up the search, God arranged for the servant to suggest that they look for a prophet in a nearby city. The Lord spoke to the prophet and told him to expect Saul’s arrival. There was not a single detail left to chance. God’s plan worked flawlessly.

So it is in your life and mine. God is in control of every detail in your life.

“LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance” (Ps 16:5-6).

There is absolutely no place for competitiveness in ministry or marketplace activity if you understand God’s view of receiving. The Scripture tells us that we are not only to bless our competition, but we are also called to bless our enemies.

The reason we can do this is because our security and provision is not based on posturing ourselves against another, but fulfilling what God has called us to do. When we take a proactive step to bless another, we actually apply a Kingdom principle that results in greater blessing to others, the Kingdom of God and even to ourselves.

Our ministry tries to help other ministries like ours. Some would say that we are in danger of losing “market share” or even our donors. This is the worldly model of competition. Those who cannot bless others are insecure in their own calling and insecure in God’s ability to provide for their own enterprise.

God has already allocated His portion for you before the foundation of the world. You cannot out-give God. As you do your work unto Him God allows you to receive the fruit of your work.

“If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God: You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. . . The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you” (Deut 28:1-8).

Life is to be a lived vertically before the Lord, not horizontally. When we worry about the activities of others, we acknowledge our lack of faith in the One who called us.

But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth. – Deuteronomy 8:18a

Pride is the greatest temptation to a successful workplace minister. When we begin accumulating wealth, managing people, and becoming known for our workplace expertise, we are most susceptible to falling to the most devious sin in God’s eyes — pride. The Bible tells us that God is the reason we are able to produce wealth. It is not of our own making. As soon as we move into the place where we begin to think more highly of ourselves than we ought, God says he will take action.

You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.”….If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God (Deuteronomy 8:17,19-20).

These are strong words from God. It demonstrates His utter impatience for any people who think that what they have accomplished has anything to do with their own power. It is God who gives us the skill, the mind, the resources, the energy, the drive, and the opportunities in life to accomplish anything. When we become prideful in heart, He will begin a process of reproof in our life.

Today is a good day to examine whether we have fallen prey to pride. Are you sharing what God has entrusted to you with God’s people, or the needy? Are you being the instrument of blessing that God desires for His people to be? What areas of pride have crept into your life? Ask the Lord to show you this today. And avoid being put on the shelf. Nothing is worse than being cast aside because of our own pride.