Tuesday, May 31, 2011

THE ISOLATION CHAMBER

"Be still and know that I am God...." - Psalm 46:10

There is a time and place in our walk with God in which He sets us in a place of waiting. It is a place in which all past experiences are of no value. It is a time of such stillness that it can disturb the most faithful if we do not understand that He is the one who has brought us to this place for only a season. It is as if God has placed a wall around us. No new opportunities--simply inactivity.
During these times, God is calling us aside to fashion something new in us. It is an isolation chamber designed to call us to deeper roots of prayer and faith. It is not a comfortable place, especially for a task-driven workplace believer. Our nature cries out, "You must do something," while God is saying, "Be still and know that I am God." You know the signs that you have been brought into this chamber when He has removed many things from your life and you can't seem to change anything. Perhaps you are unemployed. Perhaps you are laid up with an illness.
Most religious people live a very planned and orchestrated life where they know almost everything that will happen. But for people in whom God is performing a deeper work, He brings them into a time of quietness that seems almost eerie. They cannot say what God is doing. They just know that He is doing a work that cannot be explained to themselves or to others.
Has God brought you to a place of being still? Be still and know that He really is God. When this happens, the chamber will open soon after.

Friday, May 27, 2011

A REMNANT THAT PRAYS

"One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples." - Luke 11:1

God is calling out a remnant of workplace believers throughout the world who understand the role of prayer in their work. These people have learned that prayer is not a five-minute exercise in the morning devotion time, but it is a vital strategic tool to discern and know God's will and purposes in their work lives. You see they have learned that their business lives are their ministries to God and others.
These men and women have entered into covenant relationships with intercessory prayer partners who help discern the activities they should be involved in. Some even have paid staff, who intercede for the decisions and activities in which they will be involved. They are a small remnant of workplace believers who know that skill and technique are not enough to fulfill God's purposes.
A servant of the Lord has well said: Prayer is the rail for God's work. Indeed, prayer is to God's will as rails are to a train. The locomotive is full of power: it is capable of running a thousand miles a day. But if there are no rails, it cannot move forward a single inch. If it dares to move without them, it will soon sink into the earth. It may be able to travel over great distances, yet it cannot go to any place where no rails have been laid. And such is the relation between prayer and God's work. Without any doubt God is almighty and He works mightily, but He will not and cannot work if you and I do not labor together with Him in prayer, prepare the way for His will, and pray "with all prayer and supplication" (Eph. 6:18) to grant Him the maneuverability to so work. Many are the things, which God wills to do, and would like to do, but His hands are bound because His children do not sympathize with Him and have not prayed so as to prepare ways for Him. Let me say to all who have wholly given themselves to God: Do examine yourselves and see if in this respect you have limited Him day after day. [Watchman Nee, Let Us Pray (New York, New York: Christian Fellowship Publishers, 1977), 11.]
Is prayer a vital part of your strategic business practices? Put prayer on the front lines, instead of making it an afterthought. You will begin to see renewed power in your work life.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

TESTED FOR ABUNDANCE

"We went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance." - Psalm 66:12b

It is nice to hear that God desires to bring us into abundance. In fact, many a preacher has promoted the goodness of the Lord and His ability to prosper His children. Alas, my experience is that this gospel of material abundance has little to do with the gospel of the Kingdom as our Lord works in the realm of the sanctified soul. The passage above tells us that God does in fact bring us into places of abundance. However, upon further study of the entire passage, we learn the route to this abundance.
For you, O God, tested us; You refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but You brought us to a place of abundance (Psalm 66:10-12).
God's economy of abundance often has little to do with material blessing. In God's economy, abundance is often measured in wisdom and knowledge of Himself. It is then that we are truly blessed. Wisdom cannot be gained through intellectual pursuits. Wisdom comes only through experience. Real wisdom comes from the kinds of experiences that come only through the deepest tests. Lessons of refinement, including prison accompanied by burdens, lead us through the fire and water. This is the territory that must be traveled to reach that place of abundance. It would seem strange that a loving God would use such means with His children. What we often fail to realize is that God's measuring stick is the character and likeness of Jesus Christ Himself in each of us. This cannot be gained through a life of ease and pleasure. Ease and pleasure fail to refine.
Is God using your workplace to refine you today? Has He placed you in a prison or laid burdens on your back? Take heart if this is the place you find yourself, and realize that if you are faithful through the tests, you will enter a place of abundance that few will ever attain. The darkest hour is just before daybreak.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

THE ROOT OF BITTERNESS

"See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many." - Hebrews 12:15

The enemy of our souls has a very specific strategy to destroy relationships. Whether these relationships are in business, marriage, or friendships, the strategy is the same. A conflict arises, judgments are made, and feelings are hurt. What happens next is the defining point of whether the enemy gains a foothold, or the grace of God covers the wrong.
When a root of bitterness is allowed to be planted and grown, it not only affects that person, but it also affects all others who are involved. It is like a cancer.
Breaking satan's foothold requires at least one person to press into God's grace. It cannot happen when either party "feels" like it, for none of us will ever feel like forgiving. None of us feel like talking when we have been hurt. Our natural response is to withdraw or lash out at the offending party. It is only obedience that allows God's grace to cover the wrongs incurred. This grace prevents the parties from becoming victims who will seek compensation for their pain.
The next time you are hurt by someone, realize the gravity of the crossroads where you find yourself. Choose grace instead of bitterness. Then you will be free to move past the hurt, and a root of bitterness will not be given opportunity to grow.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

THE PITFALL OF BEING ENTREPRENEURIAL

"When they came to the threshing floor of Kidon, Uzzah reached out his
hand to steady the ark, because the oxen stumbled. The Lord's anger
burned against Uzzah, and He struck him down because he had put his
hand
on the ark...." - 1 Chronicles 13:9-10.

There are good things we can do, but only God-things we should do.
Those activities not born out of the Spirit will result in wood, hay, and
stubble. What seems good in our eyes may be an abomination in God's
eyes. For instance, if you decide to build an orphanage but God has
never directed you to do so, then God will not see that work as good;
it was born out of your own strength, even though it was a "good work."
The most difficult challenge a Christian workplace believer will ever
have is to know what things to be involved in and what things not to be
involved in. Many workplace believers have a great ability to see
opportunity. What appears to be a "slam dunk" may come back to haunt us
if God never ordains us to enter that arena.
There are many good things we can be involved with. However, there are
God-things we are supposed to be involved with. Uzzah was a good man in
David's sight. It was a time of celebration, and David and the people
were transporting the ark of God. However, the ark hit a bump, and
Uzzah reached for the ark to hold it steady. He touched the ark, and he
immediately died. David became very upset with God about this
situation; he questioned whether he could serve God.
God's ways are not our ways. The most important quality God desires to
develop in us is our dependence on Him and Him alone. When we begin to
make decisions based on reason and analysis instead of the leading and
prompting of the Holy Spirit, we get into trouble with God. David later
learned the importance of this principle in his own life. This
encounter was one of the stepping-stones in his pilgrimage. David was an
extraordinary entrepreneur. He ran the nation very successfully, but
he,like each of us, had to learn the difference between "good things" and
"God-things."
Are you involved in anything in which God has not directed you to be
involved? Do you seek God about every decision, every action before you
take it? This is where God wants you and me to be. Ask Him to show you
how to walk with Him in this way.

Monday, May 2, 2011

THE ROOT OF BITTERNESS

"See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many." - Hebrews 12:15

The enemy of our souls has a very specific strategy to destroy relationships. Whether these relationships are in business, marriage, or friendships, the strategy is the same. A conflict arises, judgments are made, and feelings are hurt. What happens next is the defining point of whether the enemy gains a foothold, or the grace of God covers the wrong.
When a root of bitterness is allowed to be planted and grown, it not only affects that person, but it also affects all others who are involved. It is like a cancer.
Breaking satan's foothold requires at least one person to press into God's grace. It cannot happen when either party "feels" like it, for none of us will ever feel like forgiving. None of us feel like talking when we have been hurt. Our natural response is to withdraw or lash out at the offending party. It is only obedience that allows God's grace to cover the wrongs incurred. This grace prevents the parties from becoming victims who will seek compensation for their pain.
The next time you are hurt by someone, realize the gravity of the crossroads where you find yourself. Choose grace instead of bitterness. Then you will be free to move past the hurt, and a root of bitterness will not be given opportunity to grow.