Category: Uncategorized

What do I do when one assignment comes to an end?

A couple of months ago I wrote about embracing your call and understanding that an assignment from God, be it staying at home to raise your children or working on a job that is not quite your definition of a ‘dream job’, is the call that he has for you. Wherever God has placed you is where he wants you to be and that is your calling.

But where do we go and what do we do when an assignment ends?

It can be really disconcerting when your routine is interrupted by a change in affairs. It could be that you have been made redundant at work or you have recently graduated and are looking to get into work. Or perhaps your children are grown and have moved out. No matter what your stage in life is, change can be uncomfortable and requires you to adjust your position. If you have been focused on a particular assignment for a long time it can be a lot more shocking and strange to suddenly be doing something else.

God moves us from one assignment to the next in order to keep us from becoming stale. Sometimes it is because we have outgrown our previous position. Embedded in every assignment are learning curves and challenges that are designed to stretch us. We don’t always feel the stretching. We don’t always feel growth pains, but it doesn’t always mean that we are not growing.
There are a host of reasons why God would want to move us to the next assignment. Whatever the reason, just know that it is to bless and increase you and not to subtract from you.

The commandment of God to humanity at the very beginning was for us to “be fruitful and multiply”, to “subdue the earth” and to “have dominion”. That commandment is still true today. It is not the purpose of God for our lives to be stuck in one spot. He desires that we spread and become masters over things. With this in mind we can start to understand what we should be doing when one assignment ends.

1. Give Thanks
Your attitude should be one of thanks giving. 1 Thessalonians 5:16, tells us to “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Just over a week ago I was laid off a job that I had received a few months prior by what I could have only explain to be the intervention and grace of God. I which things had been different, but In my hearts of hearts I am thankful to God for the opportunity to learn, grow and be a blessing. I rejoice because I know where my source really is.
I don’t see it as a cut in my financial supply I see it as a step to doing something new, because God is my provider. Don’t be down cast.

2. Get Closer
The second part of that scripture says, ” pray without ceasing”. We should be praying to God all day, all the time. We can do this by praying in our hearts and rehearsing scriptures as we go through our day. (I will talk more on this in a separate post.) For now though I think that we can all agree that our lives get so busy with work and routine that we don’t put so much emphasis on praying as we should be. When our routines are interrupted we look for new things we can do to keep us busy again. This is the perfect time to get back in touch with God. You have all this free time now to pray more and study the word more. Go on hour long prayer walks or worship walks. Spend time with God. In the process, you will get clearer understanding of his purpose for your life and insight into your next assignment.

It’s so powerful how God created a part of the earth each day in Genesis 1 and then paused after each day to look at what he had done and then said that it was good. God modelled the nature of putting our work and aims under review before moving on to the next thing. It’s the principle of watching and praying. If you don’t keep your eyes and mind open you will miss the instructions God has for you. I have find that God has spoken to me more about what he wants me to do and the direction to take when I was preparing myself by putting myself through training, reflecting and listening.

I hope you find your feet landing on the path God has set before you. And may you find grace and peace in every season you find yourself in.

3. Prepare
‘Prayer is the master Key! One key for every door.’ This is the truth that we have been feed since first coming to the faith. What we fail to do alongside praying is prepare for what we have prayed for. Have you taken time out to recubirate, rest and skill up for the next assignment. Between each assignment there is a moment, an opportunity for you to clean and sharpen your tools. This moment can be used to reflect on the past. What would you change or do better? Sometimes God puts us on intentional pauses because we haven’t taken out time to give ourselves a break.

You don’t need another Sacrifice!

In the old days people made blood sacrifices to atone for their sins and to gain the approval of God. New testament Christians do not have to do this anymore as Jesus came as the final and ultimate sacrifice, forever taken away any accusations that stand against us, paying the price for our penalty with His precious blood, once and for all.

However, we even with this awareness still seek out sacrifices that we can make to gain the approval of God, often because of the guilt of hidden sins or unintentional sins that exist in our lives. John the Baptist addresses this whilst preaching against the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They had come to be baptised along with the multitude of others who also came to be baptised. John stops them and says to them,

Bring forth fruit that is consistent with repentance [let your lives prove your change of heart]. (Matthew 3:8 AMP)

His words come across as being quite harsh and uncalled for, seeing that they came for the exact same purpose everyone else came. They were not doing anything wrong so why scold them so heavily? The scolding came out of the fact that the religious leaders were simply coming to the baptism as another religious activity and by implication to win the favor of God by appearing righteous. Yet, they were not displaying a character that was consistent with repentance.

How many of us seek deliverance services, prophetic words and prayer meetings to deal with the issues in our lives and to cover the shame and guilt that eats at us inside? We often think that the solution is in coming to church regularly, participating in all the activities and shouting ‘Amen’ to every word will bring the transformation we want to see in our lives. We queue up for prayers and sign up for outreach events and volunteering, when what we really need to do is truly repent in our hearts and bear the fruits that are consistent with repentance.

All of these other things like attending prayer meetings and even seeking out deliverance and prophetic counsel are good and important. They certainly have their place. But more importantly, what God wants from us is that we bear the fruits of repentance. That means that when we repent we become aware of our position in God and walk in a way that reflects our spiritual statues. God gives us the position of sons and daughters, but it is our responsibility to represent and grow into this position as well as possible. He wants us to bear the fruits of the spirit, which is not measured by our ability to speak in tongues, but in our relationship and dealing with people.

For anything to bear fruit, it needs to be planted, watered, nurtured, the ground needs to be tilled and the plant needs to be watched and cared for as required. In other words, it takes active work and effort on our path to make sure we bear the fruits we are required to.

There is no amount of prophecy, word of knowledge, wisdom or deliverance that can make us bear the fruits of repentance that God requires to see in us to release the blessings that He has for us. A tree that is mature will bear the fruits of its type. An Apple tree that is mature will bear fruits every year according to its season. There are certain blessings God cannot give us not because, we aren’t delivered, or because we don’t participate in religious disciplines, but simply because we are not yet bearing fruits that are consistent with what we say. What we are declaring and confessing we are is not consistent with what we do and how we act towards others. God wants consistency from us.

Let us daily take sincere outward steps as signs of our inward repentance so that the fruits we bear can attract others to the knowledge of Christ. And faithful is He to keep us from falling or slipping in our demonstration of Him.

Ephesians 6:15 ” and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”

I don’t have any tornado experience and don’t think I ever will, based on where I live, but this picture makes so much sense. Let the message of the Gospel always be the peace in the midst of the storm.

kezha1's avatarSafetypinlove

For most of my life I lived in an area of the USA that doesn’t have tornadoes.  So when I moved back to the Mid-West and “tornado alley” I asked my sister for storm advice.  One of the most important things she stressed to me about being prepared for a tornado was to put my shoes on.  I was rather confused until she explained that when the tornado sirens went off I had only minutes to get to the basement and I needed to grab my shoes on the way down.  Because if my house did get hit, there’d be broken glass, exposed nails, and other dangerous things to crawl out from. I needed my shoes on in readiness just in case.  As we walk with God,  we need the same kind of preparedness  to share the Good News of Jesus.  For you never know when God will bring someone…

View original post 10 more words

Christian’s and their Resolutions

With the year coming  to an end it’s quite natural to reflect on the year, all the achievements and make new plans for the coming year. You are probably already planning your vacations for next year, thinking about destinations or thinking about going back to school, writing exams starting a business or whatever else you have planned. This time of the year can also be a little nerve wrecking, particularly when you have had some prayer request that don’t seem to have been answered, and with only less and less time left in the year it doesn’t seem likely that the current year will birth a miracle for you.  With the world shouting out about goal setting and writing resolutions that will result in success, we might feel that we should have taken matters into our own hands instead of relying on God to make changes. With all this in mind how can we prepare in a godly way, so as to be inspired with fresh faith for the year ahead?

If you’ve had a few years now that have not ended in the way that you expected, in spite of making smart goals and well thought out plans, the question that might be playing on your heart might be whether goal setting is a godly practice. Maybe we should  trust God in prayers and see what he will do?

Proverbs 3: 5 and 6 admonishes us to,

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. (New Living Translation)

The obvious meaning we take away from this scripture is that we need to totally depend on and trust in God for direction and instruction. This is very true, but it also means that we need to have plans, an idea of what it is we want to do. You can’t trust God for the goals you want to achieve if you don’t have any! Smart Goals are God given goals and should therefore always be in line with our God given potential and purpose. For instance, becoming a Pastor of a new church plant aimed at reaching the unchurched is a godly vision. However, if your potential is to start a local business or perhaps it is to become an influential politician, you will quickly find that you are executing the wrong goals with the wrong tools.

King David desired to build God a temple, a place where God could dwell. The ark of the covenant had been the only physical place that represented the presence of God since the days of Joshua. This ark had been moved from place to place and never had a designated resting place apart from the large tent project commissioned by Moses. David’s passion for God inspired him to build a place for God. A glorious temple in honor of God. His idea was great and God approved of the idea, however as he sought God and acknowledged Him, in regards to this idea, He found out that God did not quite approve of his execution. It would not be David that would build the temple instead David’s son the one who would be made King after him would be the one to build the temple.

Sometimes acknowledging God means making adjustments to our plans, changing and postponing our goals, and sometimes scrapping them all together. In the case of David it meant that he only had the opportunity of financially contributing towards the goal, but He missed out on being part of the building project, he did not have the opportunity to see the building or attend the opening service. Whilst this seems like a loss, he would have certainly been more disappointment if he had gone to build the temple against God’s will. He would have attracted the disapproval and anger of God instead of the blessing and favour he received.

When your plans and goals are completely in line with God’s will for your life, you will  always attract God’s favour and grace.

But why didn’t God allow David to build the temple as he desired? It was his idea, so why was the burden of execution put upon the shoulders of his son Solomon?

The answer is found in verses 11-13 of 2 Samuel 7, which says,

11… . Also the Lord tells you that He will make you a house. 12 When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. (New King James Version)

God’s purpose for David was to be a man of war. David was a fighter with the heart of a worshiper –  a warring worshiper. David was a destroyer and killer and a protector of Israel. Although he had a good heart with godly intentions, he still had to do things God’s way.  He was just part of the beginning of what God was planing not just in Israel but in the entire world. Even though, what we do is very important to God, he is even more particular in how we do it. Saul, David’s predecessor and mentor, did not take this into account and suffered worst possible punishment for his sin. “Obedience is better than Sacrifice”, were the words of Samuel to Saul after he made a sacrifice to God, which he as a King, had no business making (1 Samuel 15: 22). Seeking God’s face for our own goals has a huge impact on not just our own lives but on the lives of our descendants. Saul’s disobedience attracted a pattern of generational mishap and curses for his family, not only did the presence of God depart from him, but His sons to the third generation experienced misfortune and made wrong choices themselves.

You are more likely to continue down the path of wrong, if you are disconnected from the one who has the right direction. 

David’s one good choice to follow after God’s heart rather than his own carnal desires, led to him having a throne that is established forever. God is interested in legacy and not just that one goal you are looking to achieve. It is important to ask God for clear directions about what he wants you to do and how he wants you to do it. Let God fit your goals into the godly legacy he is trying to build through you.

set goals