Monday, March 31, 2008

Your Epitaph

Psalms 115:13

He will bless those who fear the Lord- small and great alike.

What will be written on your epitaph? How do you want people to remember you? What type of legacy will your life leave behind?

I interviewed a very successful and powerful man one time for a magazine when this question came up. The man ran an international business that is a household name to all. He was a professed Christian, but he had difficulty answering my question. "I always knew someone would ask that question some day. I am not sure I am any more prepared to answer it now either," was the man's answer. He grappled for a few nice words, but it was clear he had not seriously considered his life much beyond his business success.

It is said of George Washington Carver that he got up early in the morning each day to walk alone and pray. He asked God how he was to spend his day and what He wanted to teach him that day. Carver grew up at the close of the Civil War in a one-room shanty on the home of Moses Carver-the man who owned his mother. The Ku Klux Klan had abducted him and his mother, selling her to new owners. He was later found and returned to his owner, but his mother was never seen again.

Carver grew up at the height of racial discrimination, yet he had overcome all these obstacles to become one of the most influential men in the history of the United States. He made many discoveries with the use of peanuts and sweet potatoes. However, after he recommended farmers to plant peanuts and sweet potatoes instead of cotton, he was led into his greatest trial. The farmers lost even more money due to the lack of market for peanuts and sweet potatoes. Carver cried out to the Lord, "Mr. Creator, why did You make the peanut?" Many years later, he shared that God led him back to his lab and worked with him to discover some 300 marketable products from the peanut. Likewise, he made over 100 discoveries from the sweet potato. These new products created a demand for peanuts and sweet potatoes, and they were major contributors to rejuvenating the Southern economy.

As he made new discoveries, he never became successful monetarily, but he overcame great rejection during his lifetime for being black. He was offered six-figure income opportunities from Henry Ford, and he became friends with presidents of his day, yet he knew what God had called him to do. His epitaph read:

He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world. [John Woodbridge, More Than Conquerors (Chicago, Illinois: Moody Press, 1992), 312.]

Living for a Greater Cause

Philippians 4:13

I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.

What does it mean for businesspeople to live for a cause greater than themselves in our day and time? Jeremiah Lanphier was a businessman in New York City who asked God to do this in his life in 1857.

In a small darkened room, in the back of one of New York City's lesser churches, a man prayed alone. His request of God was simple, but earth-shattering: "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" [John Woodbridge, ed., More Than Conquerors (Chicago, Illinois: Moody Press, 1992), 337]

He was a man approaching midlife without a wife or family, but he had financial means. He made a decision to reject the "success syndrome" that drove the city's businessmen and bankers. God used this businessman to turn New York City's commercial empire on its head. He began a businessmen's prayer meeting on September 23, 1857. The meetings began slowly, but within a few months 20 noonday meetings were convening daily throughout the city. The New York Tribune and the New York Herald issued articles of revival. It had become the city's biggest news. Now a full-fledged revival, it moved outside New York. By spring of 1858, 2,000 met daily in Chicago's Metropolitan Theatre, and in Philadelphia the meetings mushroomed into a four-month long tent meeting. Meetings were held in Baltimore, Washington, Cincinnati, Chicago, New Orleans, and Mobile. Thousands met to pray because one man stepped out. Annus Mirabilis, the year of national revival, had begun.

This was an extraordinary move of God through one man. It was unique because the movement was lead by businessmen, a group long considered the least prone to any form of evangelical fervor, and it had started on Wall Street, the most unlikely of all places to begin.

Could God do something extraordinary through you? Take a step. Ask God to do mighty things through you.

Proving the Word of God

Psalms 105:18-19

They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons, till what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the Lord proved him true.

God spoke to Joseph as a young boy through a dream and vision regarding his future. He could not understand its complete meaning at the time, but he knew it had great significance. Joseph knew God had a destiny for his life. However, the proving out of that word from God was filled with 13 years of waiting, rejection, pain, sorrow, and no doubt, questioning God's faithfulness.

His life was all but a life of influence and impact as a prisoner and slave. No doubt he wondered whether that dream was simply some vain imagination. David must have felt the same when he was anointed king over Israel as a young man only to spend years of fleeing from King Saul. God's preparation for greatness in His Kingdom is often filled with difficulty. God is more concerned about developing the inner life of his servant. That inner life can only be prepared by removing all self-confidence and replacing it with God-confidence. God-confidence is only developed in the furnace of life.

Is the Lord proving His word in your life? Perhaps He is using circumstances and events to move you into a place of patient waiting as He puts you in the place He desires for you. This is the place where the foundations of your soul mature. Let Him prove your faith.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Seekers of God

Psalms 53:2

God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.

Are you a man or woman who is a seeker of God? The Lord delights in seeing those children of His who truly understand the meaning of life and why there is only one thing worth seeking-God Himself.

I can always tell when I have not been seeking God. The cares of this life, the urgent over the important, and the petty irritations-these are the symptoms of a life that has not been in the presence of God. Do we understand, really understand? That is the question God raises to each of us today. If we understand, then why do we spend day after day toiling and fretting over what doesn't matter? Can we set proper boundaries in our lives that don't allow our time with Him to be continually stolen away? It is a challenge in a world that screams "activity, activity!"

Do you have a consistent time of seeking Him in your life? Are you committed to developing that intimacy with your Lord that He so desires? If not, ask Him today to help you. This is the longing of His heart. Ask Him to make it the longing of your heart. Then you will demonstrate to Him that you understand, and you will be a seeker of God.

Taken from Daily Workplace Inspirations by Os Hillman

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Dating Jesus: The Single Cure for Loneliness

“You’ll never be satisfied in a relationship until you’re satisfied with Jesus.”

If you’re single, you’ve probably heard the well meaning, albeit superficial-sounding, vague admonition thrown at you usually by seemingly content married people. Great. How in the heck do you find contentment with Jesus when you feel the daily nagging ache for true earthly love—the love that even God said is the better way (Genesis 2:18)?

"The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

Really, I’ve found there’s only one way. Date Jesus. And the reason why married people “insensitively” tell you in so many words to do this, is because they know that marriage doesn’t solve all your longings for intimacy and belonging. They’re trying to give you the hint that, while marriage has it’s advantages and is overall a good thing, it isn’t the end all to loneliness and love hunger. Many have discovered this only after they got married and were still lonely. Now they’re letting you in on the secret: only by dating Jesus will you find what you’re truly searching for.


Read the rest of this article here

Settling Disputes

Proverbs 18:18

Casting the lot settles disputes and keeps strong opponents apart.

We prayed about it. We discussed it. My friend had one desire; I had a different one. "Okay, let's settle the issue the way the early Church settled matters when an agreement could not be achieved. Let's flip a coin."

"You must be joking!" my friend lamented.

"No, the early Church cast lots often to determine a course of direction or even select the disciple who would take Judas' place."

"Okay," my friend agreed. We flipped the coin and the matter was quickly settled.

In the Old Testament there are many examples of casting lots for determining a decision. We hear little of this method today. Most of us do not want to release the decision process to this seemingly "flippant" process; yet the Lord says, "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord" (Prov. 16:33). Flipping a coin is the equivalent to casting a lot. It removes our own opinions and leaves the final outcome to the Lord. Pray before you take such an action. It will surprise you who is willing to submit a decision to the Lord and who isn't. It removes the element of control from both parties.

I believe the Lord would first have us make decisions through agreement and continued prayer for the decision. However, there are times when this approach can be the quickest and simplest. It removes each person's temptation to lord it over the other. Cast the lot and settle the dispute.

Taken from Daily Workplace Inspiration by Os Hillman

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Should I Wait or Date?

Snippet from the article...

On the one hand, you don’t want to get ahead of God.

You’ve done that plenty of times before … going out on dates
with people you barely know, then spending every waking moment talking, texting, and planning a future together before you even know each other’s middle names. And always with the same results—disappointment, regret, and dashed
hopes.

Should you just keep to yourself, hoping God will mysteriously drop Mr./Ms. Right next to you by the banana bin at the grocery store, your eyes catching as you reach for the same bunch? It seems to work for those folks over in Hollywood. But this time, you’ve decided you want to do it God’s way because you’ve made too many mistakes rushing ahead of Him before.

Please click here to read the rest of this great article

Pleasing to the Lord

Leviticus 6:21

"Prepare it with oil on a griddle; bring it well-mixed and present the grain offering broken in pieces as an aroma pleasing to the Lord."

There is a requirement to be blessed at a deeper spiritual level by God. Christ requires it of each of His servants. He required it of Paul when He struck him down on the Damascus Road. He required it of Joseph when he was left in the pit and then sold into slavery. He required it of Jacob when he left his homeland penniless and needy. He required it of most every major leader that He used significantly-brokenness.

Brokenness cannot be achieved on your own. It is something God does Himself. We cannot determine that we are going to be broken, but we can refuse to become broken. When God begins this deeper work in our lives, we can kick and scream and refuse the process. We can manipulate and strive to stay on top, but this only delays His work.

Pride and mammon are ruling strongholds of the marketplace. Brokenness is considered a weak position in the marketplace. However, God says until we are broken we cannot be an aroma pleasing to the Lord. God wants you to be an aroma in the marketplace. In order for this to happen, you and I must be a broken vessel in His hand. Pray that God would allow you to become a pleasing aroma to Him no matter the cost.

Taken from Daily Workplace Inspiration by Os Hillman