For the Lord

1 Corinthians 15:58 – Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast,unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

So what is the work of the Lord?

Being a pastor, evangelist, prophet, cell leader, prayer group leader? What about being a house cleaner, or a mom or a dad or a sister or a grandma or a CEO or a cyclist or a doctor? What job/profession would qualify as being the work of the Lord? And how do I know I am busy with it?

God created people with various talents and it shines through in the Bible. When God told Moses how to build the temple, He described it to Moses, but the finer details He said that the guys who are actually going to make it, will know. God will reveal that to them. Moses didn’t need to know that. In Gen 4:20-22 it is described that certain people had certain talents. God gives us all unique and useful talents.

Our “job” is to do what He wanted us to do, what He planned for us to do, what He created us to do. Whether that is to be the world greatest evangelist or to make pretty tea doilies for your family. He is not concerned about status or “success”, all He asks of us, is obedience.

Our current school and work system does not allow kids to find their passion. They are forced into this sausage maker of tow-the-line, 9-5 worker bees, who thinks it’s ok to earn minimum salary doing something you don’t even like, just to survive.

It’s not.

We need to take the time to find what we love to do. What is your interests? What are you good at? That’s what you should be doing. O, sorry, yes – where will the money come from? There’s no money in this or that… I have a family to feed… I have bills to pay… What if I’m not successful? What if people laugh at me? My family won’t support me… Any of these sound familiar?

Obviously – I am not advocating for you to resign and take up singing straightaway. God did also give you a brain, you know. But if you want to sing, what are you doing about it? How do you go about doing it?

Well, today you can start singing for Tik-Tok or YouTube. You don’t even need to send tapes to producers, if you don’t want to. And you don’t have to quit your job either. Whatever your passion is, chances are, you can start small and do it after hours or on weekends. Sometimes it may be expensive to start – so save up. Make a plan. Don’t throw your hands in the air and give up. If you do, you don’t really want it.

And that’s the bottom line: what do you want? God will give you what you want (who seeks shall find – Matt 7:7) but the trick here, is that you have to know what you are looking for, what do you want. If you don’t know, God can’t give it. He knows – but you have to know before He can give it.

My advice for today:

• if you are happy in what you do – thank God, praise Him and continue in your work for His glory
• if you are not happy in what you do – give it to God, tell Him that you want change, that you are willing to do what He has created you for, and then wait. You can tell Him everyday – remind Him, ask Him, continuously.
• If you don’t know what you want to do – ask God to show you. Sit, take the time to think about what excites you. Try stuff – do gardening, stitch something, paint something, google various hobbies and see what you can do. Search – seek and you shall find.
• If you really want change, if you really want to do what God wants you to do, if your heart is pure in your desire to serve God, things will start to happen. Maybe it will take a while – God changes you first before He changes the circumstances. Be patient, be stedfast.

I am doing a lot a the moment. I have no clue what any 1 thing is that I should be doing – I am waiting for my answer to that. In the meantime, I do. I keep myself busy, And I pray. My biggest job right now, is being a mom and a wife. That is my primary job. Second to that, the job that God brought to me. And then everything else. I am learning along the way, I believe that God is helping me and preparing me. My life is His – I don’t know what I want (apart from a new laptop and car, both are old and well, working on a lot of grace!) and I have asked God to show me what He wants for me.

For Him to give me the desires of my heart – to give me His desires for me. (Ps 37:4).

The work of the Lord is whatever you are doing in obedience to Him. Wherever you are, you can do what you do for His glory. Be willing, be available, be obedient – you are exactly where you need to be right now.

1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Purpose

Finding your purpose. What a mission! My word, I know I haven’t found mine yet. Well, in all fairness, I think I’m living it, or a part of it, even though I don’t know what it is. Because I have 5 kids and they are my first, and most important, purpose. Raising them right, raising them to know God, raising them to be healthy, self-sufficient, positive, independent contributors to society, who embraces love and understanding and patience, for themselves and for others. I am quite tired at the end of most days – and then all I did was teach and guide and preach and discipline and course-correct.

But is that my only purpose?

I honestly don’t know. I don’t think so, I think that something is waiting for me and I am biding my time, waiting for my time, and hopefully spending it in preparation for my time.

Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

Do what you find to do. And do it with thy might – give it your all! Because 1 Corinthians 10:31 says: “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God”.

I believe that we should give our lives to God for Him to lead us into whatsoever it is that He wants us to do and then we wait. In the meantime, while you’re waiting, do something. God will provide, don’t you mind that. If God takes you to a place where you are not doing anything that can generate an income, He will still provide for you. He took Elijah away to a remote spot in the desert, and took care of him there (1 Kings 17). I am qualified and specialized in my career, and I have been unable to find work for almost 7 years. God has provided all that time – and you won’t believe just how! I got a job last year, purely by chance, I wasn’t even looking for it. And not even in my field…

I haven’t been just sitting during those 7 years, or even now, I’ve been trying this and that, of all my tryings only 1 thing worked fairly well and that was stopped, too. I don’t know if this job is THE job, or if there is something else. I know it is the job I need to do now. Whatever comes next, will come.

Also, I don’t believe we only have 1 purpose. I think we may have many. I think that God uses you in the various stages of your life in ways you wouldn’t even know about. I also think that the more you make yourself available to Him, the more He will use you. And you won’t even be aware of Him using you. But you have to give Him permission. You have to do it mindfully – it’s a very specific choice that you need to make and you have to be committed to it. And you have to do it verbally, even if you whisper it, but you have to say it. The spoken word carries so much power – Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. – and that’s why you need to say it.

And in times of doubt – reaffirm it, verbally, recommitting yourself to God and to His purpose for your life.

And then you wait.

Do whatever you find to do while you’re waiting – God will use the most interesting means of training you and preparing you for what He has in store for you. Be aware and heed the nudges.

(PS: I am NOT advising you to quit your job! If you have a job, do it, but give it to God and if He wants to give you something else, He will. I am saying, don’t be scared. If God takes your job away, He will also provide. But you can’t resign to sit and watch TV and say it’s God’s will and expect Him to just give… He also gave you a brain – use it.)

May your year be filled with all the goodness and life and love and blessings and purpose that God has planned for you!

Psalm 27:14 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.