LEARNING TO STAND

 …”Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today….” – Exodus 14:13

The Israelites had just left 400 years of slavery in Egypt. They had fled to the desert, but they had come to a dead end at the Red Sea. Word reached them that Pharaoh had changed his mind. He was sending his troops to recapture the Israelites. They cried out to their leader Moses, complaining that he had brought them that far only to die in the desert.

Learning when to move and when to stand is the greatest challenge for a workplace believer. We are trained for action. We are not trained to sit idly and wait. We are trained to solve problems, not wait for them to resolve themselves. However, God says there are times to wait. We are to wait until He says go. If we go before He says go, we likely will make our situation worse. If the Israelites had attempted to cross the Red Sea before it parted, they would have drowned. If they had fled north to try to avoid the Egyptians, God would not have moved in a miraculous way. God cannot work on our behalf if we continually try to solve our problems when He has instructed us to stand still. Standing still is sometimes the greatest action we can do, although it is the most difficult thing to do in the Christian walk.

Stand still when He says stand and see the deliverance of the Lord.

WHEN PLANTING YIELDS NO FRUIT

 “You have planted much, but have harvested little….” – Haggai 1:6

Have you ever worked and worked only to yield very little from your efforts? Such was the case for the workplace believers during the time of the prophet Haggai. Finally, God spoke through the prophet Haggai to inform the people why their efforts were not yielding any fruit. There was a specific reason this was happening.

“You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of My house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands” (Haggai 1:9-11).

God had finally had enough. His priorities were not His people’s priorities. So, He withheld in order to get their attention. Zerubbabel was governor of Judah at the time. He was a godly man who sought to do God’s will. He listened as the prophet gave these words; then he responded.

Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord (Haggai 1:12).

Sometimes God has to stir up the spirit of one man to initiate needed change. Zerubbabel was that man. Scriptures say, “The Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel” (Hag. 1:14). God is stirring up the spirit of a remnant of workplace believers throughout the world today. They are seeing what breaks God’s heart, and they’re responding. Has God placed the spirit of Zerubbabel in you? Are you one who will make a difference for the Kingdom, or are you concerned about building bigger and better barns? The Lord is calling forth His people in these last days to make a difference. Ask Him what He wants to do through you.

TESTING FOR OBEDIENCE

 “Test me, O LORD, and try me, examine my heart and my mind” (Ps. 26:2).

Throughout the Old Testament, we see many situations in which God tests His people in order to determine if they will follow Him or follow the systems of this world.

The nation of Israel was tested many times during the 40-year sojourn in the wilderness: “Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands” (Deut. 8:2).

You might ask, “Why does God need to test us? Doesn’t He know everything, including what we would do in every situation?” Yes, God knows – but we don’t know ourselves! God doesn’t test us in order to find out something He doesn’t already know. He tests us so that we can learn about ourselves and His love, power and faithfulness.

In Genesis 22, God tested Abraham by commanding him to sacrifice his son Isaac on a mountain in the land of Moriah. Isaac was Abraham’s only son by his wife Sarah – the son God had promised to Abraham. By demanding that Isaac be sacrificed, God
seemed to be nullifying His covenant of making a great nation of Abraham. How could God’s promise be fulfilled if Isaac was dead?

God tested Abraham to reveal whether or not Abraham truly trusted His promise. Yes, God knew what Abraham would do, but He wanted Abraham to know as well. So God put Abraham to the test, and Abraham passed. As Abraham raised the knife to sacrifice his own son, God stopped him and provided a sacrificial ram instead.

Every test involves obedience in one way or another. When God tests us, He reveals the true state of our hearts. Are we obedient to His will, or are we self-willed? We might think we know the answer, but we would never truly know unless we were tested.

YOUR TESTIMONY

 “I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.” – John 3:11

Over the last several years I have seen two distinct types of Christian workplace believers. One type enthusiastically teaches their Bible knowledge to others. These people, though they may be genuine in their motive, lack one essential ingredient to being effectively used by God – a testimony. The second type of people I have encountered has a genuine testimony of what God is doing and continues to do in their lives.

This was the case in the early Church. Men and women were able to give powerful testimony of events and experiences that could only be explained as a work of God.

God desires to build a testimony in each of us. Each of us is one of God’s chosen vessels to reflect His power in and through us. When others see this power reflected, they are impacted because they cannot explain that power. God desires to frame your life with experiences designed to reflect the character and nature of Christ. Sometimes these events can be very devastating, but they are designed to reveal His power in and through us.

Every one of us has a testimony. What would others say your testimony is today? Can others see God’s work in your life? Is your testimony one of Bible knowledge only? Are things happening in your life that can only be explained by God? These can be problematic questions for each of us. Ask God to build a testimony of His life in and through you today.

EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP

 “And when the Israelites saw the great power the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in Him and in Moses His servant.” – Exodus 14:31

What makes an effective Christian leader today? Is it charisma? Is it ability? Is it communication and oratory skills? God’s view of an effective leader has nothing to do with these qualities.

They may be a part of an effective leader. However, the core attribute of a Christian leader is his integrity with God and his obedience to follow Him. When this happens, God manifests His power in and through that leader. Moses was effective because he was willing to obey the commands God gave him. When Moses did this, God manifested His presence in him. The result was that people followed. They followed because they saw God working in and through the man. They saw that this man was worthy of following because God’s anointing was on him.

When people see the Lord’s power manifested in your life, they will have a healthy fear of the Lord. They will look at you and say, “This person has something I don’t have that is worthy of more investigation.” Your challenge is to seek the Lord with a whole heart, resulting in God’s power being manifested in the daily activities of your life. When this happens, you can expect others to be drawn to what they see in you. The problem with many Christians today is that non-Christians see nothing different about the way they live to motivate the unsaved to desire their faith.

What makes you different from your neighbor? Is your experience with God noticeably different from that of the man next door? If you’re not experiencing regular encounters with God, it’s time to ask why not. We don’t live day-to-day for the next spiritual experience, but we should see by-products of a life centered in God that is reflected in fruit from His presence in our lives.

REMEDY FOR DEPRESSION

 “To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Isa 61:2-3 NKJV).

A 1988 article in Psychology Today reported on an experiment involving 1700 women under stress. The women participated in various projects that involved helping other people. Within 30 days, 85 percent of the women reported that they had been relieved
of stress symptoms that included “stress-related disorders such as headaches, voice loss and even pain accompanying lupus and multiple sclerosis.”*

I suspect many people could save thousands of dollars on therapy and antidepressants if they would just take time to serve others. The best way to get beyond our pain is to get outside of it. I discovered this in my own journey through a particular dark time. I decided to serve others even though I was in great emotional pain. This had a remarkable positive effect on my emotional state.

When we refocus our attention on the needs of others when we ourselves are in turmoil, it allows the burden of our circumstance to be removed from us. The more one focuses on their own problem the more likely you are to become depressed.

Isaiah understood a principle that is still valid today. If you find yourself depressed because of a circumstance in your life, take Isaiah’s advice-begin to praise the Lord in spite of the circumstances you see. Then you will see the spirit of heaviness begin to be lifted.