BE AS LITTLE CHILDREN

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" 1 John 3:1a
 "I have an important business meeting in the morning. Would you please set the alarm for 5:30 a.m.?" I said to my wife. "Oh, that won't be necessary. Just tell the Lord what time you want to wake up. He does it for me all the time," my wife said. I rolled my eyes in disbelief. "Well, I'd feel more comfortable if we set the alarm." "Okay, ye of little faith. But just to prove my point I am going to ask the Lord to wake us up just before 5:30." The next morning I awoke before the alarm went off. I looked at the clock. It read 5:15. I looked at my wife, who had just awakened at the same time with an I-told-you-so smile. Sometimes we wrongfully view God as someone we go to for only the "big things." The idea of "bothering God" for such a trivial matter seems foolish and presumptuous. However, when you were a child and had to get up in the morning for school, didn't your mom or dad come wake you up? They were your parents, and you could come to them with the most trivial concerns or requests. Why would our heavenly Father be any less approachable? Perhaps our problem is that we simply have not developed a level of intimacy with God so that we feel the freedom to approach Him at these daily, routine levels. We often operate with an unwritten code that says our needs must have a certain degree of importance or crisis before we come to God with them. This is not God's character towards us. Does the Lord desire this level of intimacy with you and me? The apostle Paul exhorted us to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17 KJV). There is never a caution to pray only about matters of greater importance. Today, go to God with matters that you might view as trivial and would normally avoid bringing to God. Ask God to increase your level of intimacy with Him. You may even be able to get rid of your alarm clock.

FORGIVENESS ENSURES FREEDOM

"But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins" (Matthew 6:15).
  Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983) was born in Amsterdam and raised in the Dutch Reformed Church. When the Nazis came to power in the late 1930s, Corrie and her family hid Jews behind a false wall in Corrie's bedroom. In 1944, Corrie's family was arrested and sent to Ravensbrück, one of the worst concentration camps in Nazi Germany. There, Corrie's entire family died. Corrie herself was scheduled for execution - but she was released shortly before the end of World War II because of a clerical error. Corrie concluded that God had saved her for a purpose. She committed her life to preaching the good news of Jesus Christ, speaking in churches, tent meetings, and open-air rallies. At one meeting in Germany in 1947, she taught on God's forgiveness. Afterwards, a man came up to her and introduced himself as a former Ravensbrück guard - but Corrie needed no introduction. She remembered him well. He was notorious for his cruelty. "I've become a Christian since the war," he said. "I know God has forgiven me for the horrible things I did, but I would like to hear it from you. Could you tell me that you've forgiven me, too?" He put out his hand. Corrie stood there for what seemed an eternity, unable to think of anything but the horrors this man had committed. Then she remembered the words of Jesus that required her to forgive ANY sin. She silently prayed, "Jesus, help me!" ...then she took the man's hand and cried out, "I forgive you, brother!" She later recalled, "I had never known God's love so intensely as I did then." That was the defining moment in Corrie's ministry. Over the years that followed, she took the Christian gospel to more than sixty countries around the world and changed hundreds of thousands of lives through her speaking, writing, and the motion picture The Hiding Place, based on her autobiography. If we want to be used in a great way by God, we must be willing to forgive those who may be a great source a pain in our lives. Is there someone who needs your forgiveness today?

GOD'S MESSENGERS

"Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets." Amos 3:7
  "You are called to free workplace believers from the Esau life." Those were the words spoken to me years ago by someone God sent into my life. I had been in the midst of trying to understand some catastrophic events that shook my world. Years later, I was able to see that God gave this person supernatural insight that revealed God's calling on my life. God still uses His prophets today to reveal His plans in the lives of His people. I have seen this Scripture proved over and over in the lives of people. It is as though God sends out His "scouts" to inform His servants what is ahead for them. Sometimes He does this because He knows the event will require such changes in that person's life and so He wants to assure them of His love. I have experienced the Lord using me in this way in the life of other individuals. God did this in the life of Moses. He came to Moses at the burning bush to reveal His purposes for the people of Israel and His call on Moses to free them. Has God placed individuals in your life to speak His plans for you? Are your eyes and ears spiritually sensitive so that you will know who are messengers of God? Elisha had a servant who could not see or hear with spiritual eyes and ears until Elisha prayed they would be opened. Then the servant could see the great army of God protecting them (see 2 Kings 6:17). Pray that you might see and hear with the Spirit. He may desire to reveal His purposes and plans through another individual.

WHEN A PROBLEM TURNS INTO A CALLING

"As for the donkeys you lost three days ago, do not worry about them; they have been found. And to whom is all the desire of Israel turned, if not to you and all your father's family?"  - 1 Samuel 9:20.
 Saul and his servant were out seeking his father's lost donkeys. This was symbolic of the waywardness of the nation of Israel. The people of Israel had just asked the prophet Samuel to have a king rule over them. This saddened God greatly, yet God granted their request. Saul and his servant heard of a man of God named Samuel. "Perhaps this man of God can tell us where to find our donkeys," said the servant. Isn't that just like us? We seek God to solve the issues related to material life. Saul was about to receive the greatest opportunity of his lifetime. He was about to be crowned as king of Israel. His life would never be the same. What was he concerned about? His donkeys. We don't have to be worried about the material things of life if we are about the things He's called us to do. God called Saul to be the next king in order to free the people from the Philistines. God sent a messenger, the prophet Samuel, to inform him of his new career. The messenger also had to ease his mind about his donkeys. Donkeys often represent commerce in the Bible. They were the primary means of transporting goods; therefore, in essence, what was Samuel saying to Saul? He was saying, "You don't need to worry about your business if you respond to the call of God on your life. All the material things will take care of themselves." Jesus said the same thing to the disciples years later. "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Mt. 6:33). When God calls us, it often involves making major adjustments in our lives. Saul went from one kind of business to another. He went from working for his father to being a king. What changes is God calling you to make today in order to join Him in His work?

USING OTHERS

"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets" (Matt 7:12).


Have you ever heard the term, "Money talks?" This old cliché has some truth to it. How we handle money speaks very loudly about our values, especially among those in the marketplace. One of the common business practices today is to extend payment on invoices to use that time to extend a company's cash flow. The bigger companies can often insist upon even longer times for payment. And because this practice is so prevalent it allows a business that honors their vendors with on-time payments to stand out from the crowd. This delayed payment policy violates a basic biblical principle. "Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor" (Rom 13:6-7). One of your greatest opportunities to show you are different is in the practical matters of being faithful to your obligations. True servant-hood is revealed when we have the best interest of others in mind. This means not always seeking to negotiate the lowest price for services, but the price that is fair and still honors the vendor for his service or product. "For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you" (Matt 7:2). Use money to demonstrate your respect of others by paying others in a timely manner.

ERROR OF POSITIVE THINKING

..."Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit," says the Lord Almighty. Zechariah 4:6
  God's people should be the most positive, joyful people on earth. This joy should be a by-product of a healthy, intimate relationship with Jesus. In today's business climate, we are barraged with every possible means of becoming more productive workplace believers. Positive thinking and self-help philosophy are promoted as tools for workplace believers to fulfill their potential and overcome the mountains in their lives. God calls each of us to be visionary leaders, but we must be careful that vision is born out of His Spirit, not the latest self-help program. These ideas lead us away from dependence on God to a self-based psychology designed to give us more power, prosperity, and significance. The result is heresy. Our faith in God becomes faith in faith. It is born out of hard work and diligence rather than obedience to God's Spirit. The problem lies in that these philosophies sound good, and can even be supported by Bible verses. Beware of anything that puts the burden of performance on you rather than God. There are times in our lives when God doesn't want us to climb every mountain. Sometimes He wants us to go around. Knowing the difference is the key to being a man or woman led by the Spirit. God has called us to affect the workplace through His Spirit, not by our might. Have you tapped into the real power source of the soul? Ask the Lord to reveal and empower you through His Spirit today. Then you will know what real positive thinking is.

CALLING BY NAME

"These were the chiefs among Esau's descendants: The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: Chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz." Genesis 36:15
 God is big on giving meaning to names. Names often are specific indicators of God's plans and purposes for that individual. A young boy grew up as Moses' servant. His Hebrew name, Hoshea, means "salvation." As the lad grew, Moses could see that he had a "different spirit" from the rest of the Hebrew men. He was selected to be one of the 12 men whom Moses chose to spy out the land of Canaan. Before the expedition, Hoshea was given a new name by Moses-Joshua, which means "the Lord saves." Joshua became the new leader of Israel who would lead them into the Promised Land. He would, in fact, save an entire nation. Os Hillman said,"in my own journey I had learned that God gave me a name that had something to do with my future call from Him. I was 44 years old and had just gone through two of the most difficult years of my life. During that time, God brought a man into my life who discipled me in areas where I had never been trained. I was discovering many new spiritual truths about myself and Christians in the workplace. I came to identify with the struggles of Esau and Joseph in their desire to understand their own birthrights. I began to write about these discoveries to help other workplace believers understand their own callings through business. One morning on a weekend getaway in the mountains, my friend looked at me and said, "Do you know the meaning of 'Omar'?" Omar is my first name. My real name is Omar Smallwood Hillman III. Dr. Smallwood had delivered my grandfather. No one, not even my mother, knew the origin of "Omar." They put the "O" and the "S" together to call me "Os." "You need to know the meaning of 'Omar.' It has something to do with your future," said my friend. Startled by his assertion, that night I looked up the name of "Omar" on a computer program. Here is what I found: Arabic for "first son" and "disciple," Hebrew for "gifted speaker," and German for "famous." Rooted in the Middle East, this name is rarely used in the West. Omar was the grandson of Esau. [http://www.babyhold.com/]
I was shocked. I had just completed 300 pages of material on the relationship of Christian businessmen to the life of Esau. My friend quickly concluded that God had called me to free Christian businessmen and women from the "Esau life." And He had allowed me to receive a name that related to the person of Esau. It was the closest thing to a burning bush experience I'd ever had. Could the Lord be this personal with us? Yes, Matthew 10:30 tells us He knows the very hairs of our head.