Taking It to Work:
There is a common path that God has put most of us on, that often we don’t see clearly. It involves three very top-level steps that are so large and long in duration, that they don’t even feel connected. Let’s call them school, work life, and True Life.
School we all get. It is to prepare us for life, primarily for our work-life. In school we are challenged and pushed to learn what the generations before us have already learned. We are taught to communicate, think rightly and logically, and to solve problems so that we will have what it takes for the work-life that is to come.
We are taught, trained and tested from preschool to grad school to be able to earn a good living, to live the “good life” we’ve all heard about, and for most of the world, that is as far as it goes.
For Christians, there is another step, and in the end analysis, arguably, the most important step. It’s not the “good life”, but it is the True Life of a true child of God (see 1Tim 6:19), a life where faith and relationship with God is the true end. It’s where our work life and home life are seen as advanced spiritual schools where we learn by experience how to walk in faith and relationship with Him, our Creator and ultimate teacher.
Through His Holy Spirit deposited in each of His children, He takes us through the more advanced grade levels of spiritual growth. In the grade levels of our 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, etc. and all life’s associated issues and trials that come with those years, orchestrated and interwoven in His overall plan, He teaches us to operate not independently, but dependently on Him. Also we learn to pray, walk, and have a relationship with Him, a relationship that can be gained no other way.
We are comfortable when there is smooth sailing, and we hate when things go wrong. When things go very wrong, we may fear that our strength, our knowledge, or our resources will not be enough – and maybe they won’t be, and maybe that’s what He is counting on. Our Lord allows such circumstances to grow us in spiritual maturity, and if we respond rightly, it draws us closer and closer to Him.
When He allows life to shake us, and many times that happens at work, and when we recognize it for the schooling it really is, and we call on the His strength to get through the assignment or trial, in the end, we will find ourselves closer to Him. We will have more trust, faith, peace and courage when the next lesson shows up on the horizon. He is training us. Draw close in the challenge, and let His Word work True Life in you, today.
1Tim 6:19 (ESV) – …thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.
John 16:33 (ESV) – “I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
1 Peter 5:10 (ESV) – And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
Isaiah 41:10 (ESV) – fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Listening to the Holy Spirit (Rhema):
In great challenge there is great victory. In your home and in work, I give you this great fuel of growth. No man grows quicker than one in the midst of challenge. He who reaches for Me in the midst, grows even more quickly. I create in the physical that which can be used for the spirit. Flesh can battle flesh, but it is My Spirit that will prevail. Some are satisfied by their own strength. They look to the mirror for courage, but these are the least courageous, looking to a reflection that has no power. He who is truly courageous looks to a power not seen and not of his own. My hand gives strength of spirit that nourishes the soul of the eternal man – here is true growth. A man may prosper with a strong body, and train as such, but his strength will fail as with all men, but he who stands by My strength renews again his own, and it will not deplete for time and age. Rejoice in the challenge. Drink deeply from the living water, and your strength will well up within you, and you will soon fear no challenge. Find your strength in Me. Lift again your head, stare deeply into the dark, and fear not its darkness.
