MIXING FAITH WITH COMMERCE

"'Your servant has nothing there at all,' she said, 'except a little oil.'" 2 Kings 4:2b

Her husband had died. There was no way to fulfill her debts. Her creditors decided to take her two sons as slaves for payment of the obligations that still remained. She pleaded for assistance with the only man of God she knew.

"Is there anything in your house?" Elisha asked.

"Nothing at all," she said, "except a little oil."

Elisha then instructed her to go and collect all the empty jars that her neighbors might possess. "Ask for as many as you can," he instructed.

When the jars were collected, he instructed her to pour what little oil she had into the jars. The oil was more than enough to fill the jars. In fact, there was more oil than jars to fill. "Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left" (2 Kings 4:7b).

God often mixes faith with the tangible. The widow believed she had no resources to meet her need. God said she had more than enough resources. She did not see the one jar of oil as a resource. It did not become a resource until it was mixed with faith. Her need was met when her faith was mixed with the practical step of going into the workplace to sell what she had in order to receive her needed income. In fact, there was so much income she was able to pay her debts and live on the money derived from the sale.

Quite often we forget that God works through commerce to provide for our needs. It is wrong to place total trust in commerce without faith in God. God often requires simple obedience to an act that seems ridiculous to the logical mind. It is this faith mixed with the practical that God honors.

Do you have a problem that is perplexing to you? Do you see no way of meeting your need? God may have already given you the skills and talents to meet your need. However, He may be waiting for you to mix them with faith. Ask God to show you the steps necessary to solve your problem. Be willing to take the next step.

THINGS I CANNOT UNDERSTAND

"Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know." Job 42:3b

If there was any one man on earth who had reason to question God's love, it was Job. He lost his family, his health, and his wealth - all at the same time. His friends came to his side only to question his spirituality. God had already answered the question of his integrity. Job was described in the opening verses of the book as "blameless and upright" (see Job 1:1). His calamities were not born from sin. Job acknowledged God's right to do anything in his life until one day he could take it no longer. He questioned God's motives.
God answered Job, but not in the way he wanted to hear. God answered him with a series of questions that represents the most incredible discourse of correction by God to any human being. Three chapters later, Job realized that he had questioned the motives of the Author of the universe, the Author of love. He fell flat before his Creator and realized his total depravity. "Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know."
Have you ever questioned God's activity in your life? Have you questioned His love for you based on circumstances that came your way? The cross at Calvary answers the love question. He sent His own Son in replacement for your sin. If you were the only person on earth, He would have done the same. His ways cannot always be understood or reconciled in our finite minds. That must be left for a future time when all will be understood. For now, entrust your life to Him completely. Embrace Him in the hard times and the good.

GOD SPEAKS THROUGH CIRCUMSTANCES

"As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things" (Eccl 11:5).

God will often use circumstances in our lives to direct us in making and confirming decisions. I have often discovered this to be the case - but only after a situation has occurred. I later look back and see how God worked in the situation.
Read this testimony, "Years ago, I launched a magazine designed for Christians in the workplace and I was having lunch with a Christian leader named Larry who headed a ministry that helps men and women apply biblical principles to managing money.
During our lunch, I explained to Larry that I had noticed that there were many grassroots workplace ministries cropping up all over the country. I asked Larry if he was familiar with some of the groups since he had taught a course and wrote a book on operating a business on biblical principles. But he said he was not. He then asked, "It would be nice to know what all these groups are doing so we don't duplicate efforts. Do you think you could invite some of these groups for a roundtable discussion?" I told him I would and I proceeded to invite four main workplace ministries that I had worked with in the past.
Then something unexpected began to happen. I began to get requests from ministries all around the country that had heard about the gathering and they were asking if they could attend the roundtable. By the time the event actually took place, 54 people showed up representing 45 organizations from around the country! Unfortunately, Larry had a last minute conflict and was not able to attend, and he informed me that I would have to host the meeting myself. That was the birth of Marketplace Leaders, the ministry I now lead full time. I often joke that God tricked me into starting this ministry because He knows I never would have done that on my own at that time.
God often confirms His direction through circumstances. Be on alert that when God sets up situations that are out of your control - He may be giving you direction through these circumstances.

EMBRACING THE MESS

"Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest." Proverbs 14:4

I used to drive through a new home subdivision. Often I would see the street filled with red clay from the land as bulldozers clear it to lay a foundation. The job site is littered with lumber, all sorts of trash from workers, and is generally a mess. The house looks ugly; it has all its insides exposed as it is being pieced together, yet this process is necessary to get to the finished product. When completed, the home is beautiful. The landscaping looks like it came out of a home-design magazine. Everything is clean and perfect in order for the new homeowner to move in.

Our walk with God is much the same process. Often we must go through a messy period of our lives in which all aspects of it are in disarray. It is in these times that God builds a new structure. He might remove some structural timbers in our lives and replace them with new ones. He might even add on another room. And unless this process takes place, we will never see the end product. The goal is more Christlikeness. In order to achieve this in us, He requires a period of removing all that is not of Him. It can be a painful process.

It would be impossible to keep oxen in a barn without having to clean up the mess from time to time. It just comes with the territory, but the result of the oxen is an abundant harvest. God may be allowing a mess in order to ensure a fruitful harvest in your life. Learn from Him so that you might experience the fulfillment of His purposes for you in these times.

Embracing the Mess

Wednesday, August 09, 2000 • Os Hillman

"Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest." Proverbs 14:4

I used to walk through a new home subdivision. Often I would see the street filled with red clay from the land as bulldozers clear it to lay a foundation. The job site is littered with lumber, all sorts of trash from workers, and is generally a mess. The house looks ugly; it has all its insides exposed as it is being pieced together, yet this process is necessary to get to the finished product. When completed, the home is beautiful. The landscaping looks like it came out of a home-design magazine. Everything is clean and perfect in order for the new homeowner to move in.

Our walk with God is much the same process. Often we must go through a messy period of our lives in which all aspects of it are in disarray. It is in these times that God builds a new structure. He might remove some structural timbers in our lives and replace them with new ones. He might even add on another room. And unless this process takes place, we will never see the end product. The goal is more Christlikeness. In order to achieve this in us, He requires a period of removing all that is not of Him. It can be a painful process.

It would be impossible to keep oxen in a barn without having to clean up the mess from time to time. It just comes with the territory, but the result of the oxen is an abundant harvest. God may be allowing a mess in order to ensure a fruitful harvest in your life. Learn from Him so that you might experience the fulfillment of His purposes for you in these times.

- See more at: http://www.intheworkplace.com/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=6525&view=post&articleid=72568&fldKeywords=embracing%20the%20mess&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0#sthash.o7hVT2S8.dpuf

INTIMACY WITH THE UPRIGHT

"For the devious are an abomination to the LORD; But He is intimate with the upright" (Prov 3:32 NASU).

It is human nature to want to be included into the inner circle. It means that you are qualified to hear things, experience things and be privy to information the masses are not allowed to see.
Jesus had an inner circle of friends made up of Peter, James and John. John had a very special relationship with Jesus. He was considered to be Jesus' best friend. It was John who recognized Jesus after the crucifixion when He came to them on the seashore. "Then the disciple whom Jesus loved, said to Peter, 'It is the Lord!'"(John 21:7).
The Bible tells us that John's friendship was such that he could even lay his head upon his shoulder at the last supper when he inquired about the betrayer: "So lying thus, close to the breast of Jesus, he said to him, 'Lord, who is it?'" (John 13:25-26 RSV). Almost forty years after the last supper John wrote the final Gospel in A.D. 90,. He was chosen by God to receive "the vision" and record it in the Book of Revelation.
When it came time for Jesus to leave the earth for good, it was Peter, James and John who had the privilege to see the transfiguration. "After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus" (Mark 9:2).
Do you long to have an intimate relationship with your creator? The Lord desires to have the same with you. He does not want you to have a mere form of religion, but a relationship whereby you experience His presence and power. Where you can see God perform His acts of power and love among others.
One of the keys to intimacy is uprightness. Uprightness means we are living a life of obedience and submission to His will in our lives. When we live at this place we enter His inner circle.
Pray for God to make your life upright and intimate with Jesus.

ANGELS IN THE WORKPLACE

"For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone." Psalm 91:11-12

For years Sergis ran his small retail business from his store in a local shopping center. Every week a visitor would drop by to collect a percentage of his sales. The visitor wasn't his landlord; the mafia had taken control of business in his small country.

Through the ministry of a workplace Christian, Sergis came to faith in Christ, and God began a deep work in his life. One day Sergis decided he could no longer give God's money to the mafia.

A few days later his "friends" paid him a visit. They kidnapped him, blindfolded him, and placed him in a jail cell located in the middle of a mafia-controlled house. During the night Sergis sat in the jail cell discouraged. Two locked doors with guards separated Sergis from his freedom. Suddenly, in the middle of the night Sergis awoke to a voice: "Sergis, get up. Follow me." Sergis awakened to a real, in the flesh, angel of God sent to deliver him. The angel opened the doors while the guards remained asleep. Sergis and the angel walked quietly past the guards to freedom. Sergis immediately went to his Christian brothers to share the miracle that had just taken place.

This true story is living proof that we serve a God who still does miracles on behalf of His servants. Ask God for the miracle you need today.

WAITING FOR THE LORD

"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." Psalm 27:14

Hearing and doing God's will are two important steps that often get confused as one step. However, these are two distinct processes. When we hear God's voice, this is only 50 percent of the process. The next important step is to know when to move. It is one thing to hear; it is another to know when to act.
Os Hillman shared "There was a time when the Lord showed me I was to write. This was a major change in my life from what I was doing. As I began to write, I attempted to find a publisher for my work. This became a real frustration. I encountered many false starts, and many well-intentioned people wanted to assist but their efforts resulted in further delays.
Finally, my wife asked me, "Os, have you completed the book you are working on?" "No," I replied.
"When you complete the book, God will provide a publisher if He has called you to write. You need to complete the book."
A few months later I was in discussions with a publisher about my work. They were going to be in my city and wanted to meet with me. The day we met they offered me a contract on my book. It also was the exact day that I had completed the book. I thought back to the words my wife had said.
Corrie ten Boom was a prisoner in the German Holocaust who lost her sister in the concentration camps. She tells a story about her father taking her on trains. She always wanted to get the ticket from her father ahead of time. He never gave her the ticket until she was about to get onto the train.
God is always on time. He is never late, and He is seldom early. Ask God for the wisdom to discern His will and His timing for the events in your life.