day 1327: Hashtag This!

"Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see."

There's a very funny TV car commercial about the guy who finds himself dreaming about all the things he missed out on in life, while the car salesman is trying to sell him a new car.  He missed out on the girl who grew up to be a model.  He missed out on investing in Twitter.  This is the one that is funny.  He's sitting at his desk, talking on the phone and says, "140 characters?  I just don't get it."  The next scene is him standing on the deck of his friend's yacht, which is named, "Hashtag This".  The first time I saw it, I laughed out loud because I too had the same reaction to Twitter when I first heard of the service.  (BTW, I wasn't pitched on the investment).  When Twitter showed up it was the time of an explosion in blogging; long-form self-expression.  What could at all makes sense in that time for saying in something when limited to 140 characters.  Well, I was wrong as was the character in the commercial.  Sometimes, things that are so far fetched come along that only a few people can see their potential.  Occasionally we might be on the side of being the predictor, but in most cases we will be the naysayer or the unbelieving. The trick is to stay open to the pitches.  Don't turn down the meeting with the young entrepreneur or the wet behind the ears new person in the company. Staying open to the unforeseen and the unbelievable is the only way any of us will be able to be in touch with the future.

Our faith is all about being open to what God has done, will do and wants to do in our lives. Close our minds, heart and spirit to those things that we can't see or are hard to believe and then we don't have faith.  Praying with suspicion that God will answer?  Then likely that prayer won't be answered.  If we approach God like He is less than God, then we aren't really giving Him all of us.  Let's imagine and believe that today, God will show up and do something amazing in our workplace.  It might be that the person who hasn't smiled in weeks because of a loss, smiles from the encouraging and caring word that you offer.  It might be that because you have prayed for things to go smoothly in the big meeting, that they do.  It might be that you find yourself with the idea and approach that unblocks a problem.  It might be that you leave the office this afternoon feeling full and satisfied that you worked and acted in Christ like ways, all day long.  I'll be curious to hear from you on how today goes!  Expect that God can deliver those assurances on the things we can't yet see, and then He will.

Reference: Hebrews 11:1 (New Living Translation)

day 913: Credentials

"Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see." 

It is summer and the time for conferences, expositions and seminars.  The Apple World Wide Developers Conference just ended and the Google IO Conference is coming up.  I've have a number of people reach to me about these meetings and others trying to get credentials and passes to get in.  It seems like there is always someone who wants to get into something that they can't.  Of course, being able to walk past security with the highest level of credentials is a great feeling.  Years ago my friend Jeff and I were given passes to a Lollapalooza concert.  We didn't know what level of access the credentials would get us until we just kept trying to act like we knew what we were doing, flashing our credentials to security until someone would stop us.  Once we were standing in the wings of the stage talking to Dave Navarro from Jane's Addiction, we realized that we had an all-access pass.  Everyone likes to have credentials and in our businesses we can take a lesson from this in how we give access to the inner workings to our employees, our customers and our investors.  When these constituencies feel "credentialed" their support level goes up.

How great it is to know that God has provided us all the credentials we need to enter His Kingdom with acceptance and faith in His Son, Jesus.  It is with our faith that we can have full confidence and live our lives knowing that we have the most amazing credentials available in this life. So, as we move through this day and week, we need to do so with confidence and assurance that our God delivers on all that He has promised. When we don't, we are weakening to others the credential that God has given to us.  Let's not be ones that let that happen.

Reference: Hebrews 11:1 (New Living Translation)

day 860: Boldly Stepping Forward

"It was about faith..."

We love bold businesses. Bold businesses bring to the consumer products and services that amaze us and have us wearing their tee shirts and placing stickers of their logo on our notebooks and hardware. If we each were to think of a company that fits this mold for us, we would quickly come to our own list. And if helped to come to the definition, we could use the word bold and feel that it describes these companies. We often wonder why certain companies get to this level of respect and others don't. To me it is clear; each of these companies have a clear and concise vision and then build their organization with strong talent to make that vision a reality. It is when these two vectors intersect that companies get bold and consumers and customers recognize it too. Finding our way to have a bold business is a good challenge and one that we should think about when we decide where to take our businesses, the direction of our teams, and the way that we think about the future.

The eleventh chapter of Hebrews walks us through many of the great people of faith in the Bible. As we read about each person and their actions, the writings start with, "It was by faith...". Each of us have our challenges and those things that get in the way of our job performance and what we believe would be success for us. I used to think that men like Noah, Abraham, Moses, etc. were somehow super-charged with faith, but as I grew older and learned more about the nature of people I found that each of these men were just like us. They each had their lives, like ours, filled with family, friends, co-workers, peers, etc. who challenged them and in some cases ridiculed and/or persecuted then as well. But, they were able to go forward boldly because of their faith. This is the lesson for us. If we allow our faith to be magnified then we can be bold in how we live and work. As we go into this Holy Week, let us ensure that our faith is strong so that we can boldly step forward for Him.

Reference: Hebrews Chapter 11

day 854: OMGPOP

"What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen."

Last week we read of a little company called, "OMGPop" that had developed and launched an iphone app called, "Draw Something". Within weeks of launch the app had been downloaded over 30 million times and everywhere you turned someone was talking about the game. Within the same weeks the game big company Zynga swooped in and drew up their offer for OMGPop and days/hours later the deal had closed at a purportedly $180 million dollar sum. If that doesn't feel like 1999 all over again, nothing does. Later we learned that at the time, OMGPop was on their last dollars and if that Draw Something had not become a hit that the company was headed for the dead pool. Out of nowhere and into the jet stream in a flash. It doesn't happen often but when it does it gives MBA classes and young entrepreneurs a new story to tell and a new motivation. The problem with the story line is that OMGPop is one of a thousand, but that's okay. What we need to see is the possibility, the dreams and the conquests to be made. These are what keep the entrepreneurial flames burning.

For those of us who are in this world, but strive hard to not be of it, moments like OMGPop's can be hard to reconcile. We may think that because we are living our lives in accordance to God's desire for us that we should be given and have our OMGPop reward in our own work. That is not what God says to us. What we are told and know that is if we walk in the will of the Lord that by our faith, that those things that we hope for we can with "confident assurance" knowing will happen. But what we don't know, nor can we learn somehow, is what is truly in God's will for us. That is where we are to put our faith and our hope; in the lap of God so that His will will come to fruition for us. What we hope for in the future can only be fulfilled with our faith now and ongoing, but let's put those hopes and faith where they can be of most use; for what God can do for us in His Kingdom.

Reference: Hebrews 11:1 (New Living Testament)

day 833: Pump Decisions

"...Be honest in your estimate of yourselves, measuring your value by how much faith God has given you."

Wow, has the political rhetoric heated up over no other than the price of a gallon of gasoline at the pump! It is true if we step back and look at it that a one dollar difference in gas prices, depending on your consumption patterns, but on the average, is much more value, or costly, than a change in our taxes. I have read that a one dollar swing can equate to a $100 billion dollar tax increase/decrease. So, most Americans would like a lower gas price, if for nothing else, it makes the goings-on of their everyday lives cheaper. I also see (and tend to agree more) that if we want to lessen our dependence on fossil fuels (wherever in the world they come from) that there must be a lessening of dependence on that form of energy and we must make some new decisions at the pump. Behavior change is hard, and we all know from the Great Recession that when things get tight economically we can learn how to do with less and we make choices. I don't know the answer on gas prices as it is way above my macro-economic understanding, but I do believe that we continue to chase after something that will someday, in how many generations I don't know, be gone and in the meantime, we should do what we can to look towards other ways, like renewable energy, to fulfill those needs. We grapple with this as consumers and we also have no choice but to grapple with this as businesses.

Teaching in Sunday school yesterday (1st-6th graders) we learned about faith and how to put faith into action. What was great about that lesson, in comparison to the energy source/use questions we face, is that faith is the greatest renewable. When we become believers, we do so by faith. From there, God gives us an unending pump to draw from. Faith doesn't run out, no matter how far you drill to find more. In fact, the more you draw upon it, the more that will be there for us. We are all given the opportunity to capture and bring to life as much faith as we desire. One person is not given more than another. It is only that one person will rely on it more than someone else, thereby giving them more and more to draw from. So, today, let's pull up to the "Faith Pump" and fill it up, and keep coming back for more and more and more, without reservation, and without a worry that it will ever run out.

Reference: Romans 12:3 (New Living Testament)

day 817: Mental Assent

"For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved."

Trying to get people to move from compliance to real commitment is a constant challenge for any business or organization. We do the best we can to describe what is most important to us, paint a vision of the future, and then hire the people we think have the most passion and commitment. But, even when we think we have it all right, we get it wrong somewhere along the way and we end up spending a whole bunch of time re-convincing someone, or worse yet, having to deal with a people problem. What we want to move people from is working solely with their heads and hands to adding working with their hearts. To make this happen, we must reach and touch them where they are, deep in their values and principles. If we can align there then we have the best chance of having someone truly commit to the business and task at hand. These means starting with knowing what we truly believe about the business and then communicating that to others in way that they identify and believe for themselves.

This past week in the Sunday School class I teach, the title of the lesson was "Heart Faith or Mental Assent". As I taught the children about the difference, I realized that all of us could use the lesson to be repeated to us. It's not enough to just say we believe and then let our actions say the opposite. When this happens it brings to question from those around us about what is real and what is not? So often it is easy to just mentally agree with something but never let it take root within us so that it affects our actions. It is in our actions that our belief can be seen and where our faith is grounded. It's a great question for each of us today...where are we mentally assenting and where are we truly believing?

Reference: Romans 10:10 (New Living Testament)

day 553: And It Shows...Part 2

"So what do we have to show for it?", the CEO asks as she pours through the end of the year financial statements. It's not an unusual question or occurrence this time of year. When all the money that has been spent is added up and the results are being assessed we look for what we have to show for all that we have done. If we see results that can be measured or we can see the beginning of the sprouts that come from the seeds planted, then we feel good. If we see nothing, then we feel really bad and we wonder where we went wrong that caused us to waste the money, time and resources of our people. As we all know, business is not linear. If it was, then everyone would be able to do it and we wouldn't have questions about what works and what doesn't. But, it is not linear. It is many times convoluted and circuitous in getting to success. But the question remains in what we have to show for our efforts? The same can be said of us as individuals. At work we take on projects, spend time and spend money and we also have to show that we have provided more gain than loss. Somewhere, someone is figuring out productivity and considering the cost of us versus the output of what we provide. Yes, we have to have something to show for our efforts. Now, let's take it deeper and think about how we show up in our deeds and what we have to show for those? James 2:18 says, "I can't see your faith if you don't have good deeds, but I will show you my faith through my good deeds." There are many who believe that their good deeds alone will suffice and that faith is not necessary. But, we know that the foundation and the catalyst for those good deeds need to come from faith and the belief that we are representing Christ in those good deeds. It is when we "show" that we get the chance to share our faith with others and let them know where the desire to provide those good deeds comes. In this Christmas season we have many opportunities to do good deeds. Let us not miss the opportunity to let our faith also show through those deeds so that we can tell true story of Christmas to others.

Reference: James 2:18 (New Living Testament)

day 552: And It Shows....Part 1

I've always been fond of the old adage, "you can't tell what kind of person a child will be from their parents, but you can tell what kind of parents they are from the person the child turns out to be". It's the rare case, and usually a touching story about someone else who took a child under their wing, that a good kid didn't have good parents. I am always amazed at the parenting that I know must have happened when I see a kid who is beyond their years in respect, discipline and positive attitude. That stuff just doesn't just happen. It gets ingrained. The same can be said of teams in business. Teams don't just become highly aligned and productive on their own. They get that way because there is a boss who is behind the scenes setting the right goal and pace and providing strong support systems. The boss is a coach, mentor and barrier remover. The alignment of the team comes from a stitching together of people and recognizing complementary skills and needs and finding how to have people play off of each others' strengths and weaknesses. When a team or person is well coached, cared for and mentored, it shows. The same can be said about us in how closely we are allowing our work and lives to be led by our faith. James said in James 2:18, "Now someone may argue, 'Some people have faith; others have good deeds.' I say, 'I can't see your faith if you don't have good deeds, but I will show you my faith through my good deeds." James is saying that what we do shows who we are and why we do it shows through what we do. Today, are you showing what you want to show by your deeds and actions? Would others know that those actions come from a place of faith and love of our Lord? We are God's Children and for us to portray His image in the way He wants, we must be sure that our deeds and faith are consistent, every day. We must show up in the way of the Lord!

Reference: James 2:18 (New Living Testament)

day 459: When It Looks Like It Is Over...

If you have ever run a business or been close enough to a part of managing the overall business you know that there comes times when it you know it is just about over and time to call it quits. While it might be the overall business itself, more often than not it is a product line, a project, a customer who will be lost, a financing, an employee who can't be saved or one who can't be hired. It happens to every business and it is hard, really hard, to call it quits after all of the time, effort, energy and money has been spent to get this far, only to see it slip away. The fact is that it never slips away, what really happens is that we just don't want to see it coming or make the decision or worse yet, make the decision from a place of fear, despair or anger. It happens. What is important is that we don't let that become the way that we operate all the time. The other side of the coin are those who run business as though today is the last day and that the threat of going out of business or closing down a product line, division, etc. always looms so that there is a constant feeling of fear and oppression that takes much of the joy out of work. There is a balance in a lesson from the Bible in the book of 1 Kings about the time Elijah met with the widow at Zerephath. He asked the widow for water and a bite of bread. The woman was at the end of her food and she told Elijah that there was no bread, only enough for her and her son to have one more meal before they died. Elijah said back to her in Chapter 17, Verses 13-14; "Don't be afraid! Go and cook that 'last meal', but bake me a little loaf of bread first. Afterward there will still be enough food for you and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There will always be plenty of flour and oil left in your containers until the time the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again!" Elijah was saying to her, have faith and don't worry about when the end arrives. If we trust in the Lord for all that we need then He will provide enough to make it through. There are times when it is the right time to quit something and it becomes foolish to keep at it. But, that decision should never be made without the faith and trust upon God as as the provider of the needs. That means that our decisions can and should be made from a place of strength and confidence, never fear or despair.

Reference: 1 Kings 17:13-14 (New Living Testament)

day 188: Ready For Anything

There is always someone on a team that when someone says, "Are your ready?", they answer, "I was born ready". They are usually the cowboy and the daring type. It's a misnomer that one could be born ready. Readiness comes from preparation, practice, repetition, and from experience. Especially in our work lives we have too many examples of people thinking they are ready for an assignment or task only to find that they fail or are in over their head because they don't have the experience or preparation to be up for the challenge. While the adage "nothing ventured...nothing gained" is true, I still hate to see the failure that people have because they and someone else thought they were ready for something that they just weren't yet. That type of failure can end up haunting someone throughout their career and can stunt their confidence for years to come. Everyday we are getting prepared and readied for something that we will face in the future and we should be taking into account each day's learning and cataloging it for the future. Many times those readying experiences are not pleasant. They are come from the school of hard-knocks and we learn what not to do next time as much as learn what to do. And because of that we should not let the hard-knocks in life and at work get us down, but instead use them to add to our capability and strength for the future. We use these moments in our lives to strengthen our faith and to be sure that we are placing our trials and problems in the right hands, the hands of God. We see this in the book of James where we are told that we must build our endurance in order to be ready for anything. Without the endurance to withstand the challenges and trials that will be put in front of us, then we will never be fully ready. James 1:2-4 says; "Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith it tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything." Today, you are facing something at work that is a trial and a challenge for you. It may be something that has been lingering for a long time and you know that you need to invite God to work with you today to help you get it straightened out for once and for all. You may not have had the level of faith yet to let Him take it and for you to follow His direction, but today can be that day when that amount of faith is in you. Today can be the day of building the endurance necessary for you to be ready to face anything. He wants to give you that level of endurance. All any of us need to do is let Him and let our faith build in his assurances that all the endurance and strength we will ever need is ours for the taking. Count the blessing today of knowing that God truly wants us to be ready for anything.

Reference: James 1:2-4 (New Living Testament)

day 120: Our Shields

The security guards that protect our work buildings and protect us throughout the day while we are at work many times are given a badge to wear or stitch onto their uniforms. The badge is the miniature symbol of a shield. The shield is what warriors and knights carried to protect themselves when in battle. We all go to work each day with our own shields drawn that we have created and we carry them around with us all day long. Those shields are made up of sometimes impenetrable emotions and defensiveness. Sometimes they are made up of a routine set of 50 questions we always ask that keep people from asking us something we don't want to answer. Sometimes our shields will just be our posture and the look on our faces that tell everyone around us that we are not to be approached. Regardless, we all carry our shields. The question is, "are we carrying the shield that God wants us to carry?" In Ephesians 6:16, we are told: "In every battle you will need faith as your shield...". We all need our shields to make it through the battles and the rough patches that we have with the other people at work. But, we need to be sure that our shield sends the right message to the others at work. In the Sunday School class I teach (4th and 5th graders) we are currently making shields each week and we are decorating those shields with symbols that would represent who we are and what we want other people to see about ourselves. These symbols on shields have throughout time been part of the message to fight off others. When the knight would hold up the shield with the representation of the ferocious lion carved into the metal the other party could not help but be struck by the message of courage and fierceness that was about to come their way. We should all realize that we do the same each and every day and that the shield that others see is reflective of who we are. So, today can we each think about the shields that we put up and ensure that that what everyone else sees is the shield of God's faith, carved and decorated with the symbols of the Christlike demeanor and attitude that reinforces, not detracts from our purpose.

Reference: Ephesians 6:16 (New Living Testament)

day 118: Faith Trumps Hope

As we go through the work day we hope for many things. We hope that the sale comes through, we hope that the meeting will go well, we hope for the project to get done on time, we hope for that promotion, we hope that the company will stay strong enough to weather through the economic conditions. We do a lot of hoping. But how often do we take our hopes (and our concerns) about work to God and through prayer invite Him into solutions and problems? If we did, and when we do, then we can turn our hopes into more, we can turn our hopes into faith. And, as we know, faith can make things happen. It is not in the procedures and lexicon of most businesses to pray over the work to be done. If it was, imagine for a moment what things might be different. If the day started with a simple prayer to cover the people and activities at hand, if nothing else the tone and the attitude throughout the day would be so much more uplifting. It would be hard to walk out of prayer and then go battle in the Board room. But unless you are in the ministry or blessed to work in a place where your faith is welcomed and encouraged, these prayers will have to be said by yourself or with a small group of believers within the company. Still, we know that the earnest prayers of a righteous person will be heard and we can then turn our hope into faith. Hebrews 11:1 says: "What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see." So today, when others use the word "hope", allow that to be a reminder and cue that we should stop ourselves and offer what we are working on up to God to help us i what we are doing. And then we can smile inside and know that what others hope for, we can instead expect to happen through our faith. That assurance should make each of us want to take God to work with us each and every day, suiting us up for whatever the challenges of the day or week may bring.

Reference: Hebrews 11:1 (New Living Testament)

day 100: A Numbers Problem

As Purposed worKING crosses the 100 day mark, I am reminded of the story of Gideon and how I heard it referred to the other day in a meeting, as "Gideon's numbers problem". In business it is all about the numbers. We are working to grow revenue, expand margins, increase profits, decrease costs, even counting people as "headcount". Supposedly the numbers never lie (don't we wish) and all day long we stare at numbers and try to figure out how to make them better. In some instances the numbers just won't get better and we find ourselves stabbing into the dark to try another approach, a different solution, anything we can come up with to try and rectify the problem. It's hard and it gets harder and harder as the numbers get worse. The great story of Gideon in the book of Judges is the same story. Gideon had the numbers stacked against him as God told him to go to battle. He kept looking at his headcount of soldiers vs. the numbers of Midianites and he told God that he was outnumbered and that he couldn't go into battle with so few less warriors than the opposition. God agreed that something was wrong with the numbers and he took care of the problem, but not the way Gideon imagined. God kept narrowing down the number of men that Gideon had until he was well beyond deficient staffing. From the outside looking in, it looked like he was going to fight with overwhelming odds against him and was going to battle with little more than a skeleton crew. But what happens? God delivers a victory with far fewer resources than anyone would have ever humanly planned. And, from the story we learn another valuable lesson about numbers problems. When it looks like the numbers are stacked against us and there doesn't seem any way to win, what God is calling on us to do is to listen to Him and what he said to Gideon in Judges 6:14: "The the Lord turned to to him and said, 'Go with with the strength you have...I am sending you". God wants us, when the odds are against us, and the numbers look worse than bleak, to remember that He is there and through our faith He will provide strength and like He did in the case of Gideon make strength in the numbers. Today may be another day when you are seeing nothing but red numbers all around you and you don't have the answer or solution that others are expecting from you. This is the time to turn over the numbers to God and let him give you strength you need to make the numbers work.

Reference: Judges 6-7, 6:14 (New Living Testament)

day 93: Job Worries?

Did you wake this morning worrying about whether or not the security of your job is as good as you want it to be? Are you faced this week with a situation, a report, a presentation, a sales call, or a difficult decision that has you worrying about the outcome as it relates to keeping your job or business? Let me assure you, if you are, you are far from being alone. Each week and each day we can be facing a decisive moment or situation that could affect whether or not we keep our job or lose it. I would say that it is more of an occurrence today than ever. What are we to do with ourselves on these days? Are we to hit the snooze button and roll back over and avoid the day? Are we to allow ourselves to stress, strain and worry ourselves and others into paralysis or worse? Of course not. We are to face the challenges head on without fear or worry, knowing that if we are following in the footsteps of our Lord that these issues will pass and the right things will happen. We are told this in Matthew 6:25: “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life…” The verse goes on to tell us not to worry about many of the things that are the output of our work. Things like, food, drink and clothes. It is so clear, but so hard to practice. It is hard to have the faith to put the worries of everyday life aside and trust God that He will deliver. I have known people who have been able to do so and sometimes it seems almost ridiculous to hear how much of their lives that they turn over, but in the end they are the ones that have the faith, certainly not me who can find myself not having enough faith to even believe that they do. But, it is clear, we are to give up the worries and let God direct us. In this time of turmoil I hear of many who are seeking God for the first time as they exhaust all other possibilities. Let’s be the examples as ones who have put their worries of everyday life, work being a part of that everyday life, on the back burner and allowing others to see a peace of mind and being that truly passeth all understanding.

Reference: Matthew 6:25 (New Living Testament)

day 77: The Elevator Pitch

In business we are all supposed to be able to boil down a proposal, a funding idea, or our objectives to no more than what it takes to travel a few floors on an elevator with someone else. The thought is if you can’t distill your idea/thoughts down to that amount of time you will lose your audience and that your audience could come to you at any moment and at any chance. There is a lot of truth in that concept. I have seen in my work life where some people are really great at this and others really struggle. Those who can do it come across with confidence and build assurance from those who are listening. It is a great skill to cultivate. During our business day we have many opportunities to also express our faith in a succinct and appropriate manner. Just this morning while completing a business breakfast when asked a question about what some of my future plans are I was able to share that I am a Christian and that I continue to pray about what it is that God wants me to do next. That took one sentence. The conversation about my faith didn’t go further than that, but the person who I was meeting now knows where I stand. I wish I could say that I had always had this level of confidence to share my faith. It was not that long ago that the words would not have rolled off of my tongue. In fact, they might not have even made it out of my mind to my mouth. We can each have our own way of expressing our faith to others but having that script in your mind that you are ready when the time is right can really help with confidence and courage. We are given many verses in the Bible that can prepare us and give us the words when we need them. That is why we are to store the word of God in our hearts and minds. The more we store the more we have to release. And then one day we are able to fulfill the challenge given to us in the parable of the lamp in Luke 8:16. Do you have your faith elevator pitch prepared and ready to go so that when the moment is right you can un-hide the words that are stored inside of you? Are there others at work who also share your faith that you can listen and draw upon their words? God gives us the moments and the chances; it is up to us to decide if we are ready. The best way to manage a chance is to be prepared.

Reference: Luke 8:16 (New Living Translation)

day 58: Renewal

Each day we rise to face another day of issues, objectives and challenges at work. We do our best day-in and day-out to be strong and committed while we face the obstacles that so naturally are there within our workplace and with the people whom we work. When we do good and try and provide a ministry to others we are expending what needs to be renewed. Even Jesus felt that there was something that was expended when His robe was touched by the woman seeking healing. In Luke 8:46 He says, "No, someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me". None of us can even begin to think that we are ministering as Jesus did but if even He felt a depletion then we as humans would have even more of a depletion than He when we attempt far less. I don't think it is unusual for any of us to just feel beaten down and wiped out at the end of the week. It is in those times when we are the weakest and what felt like strength and vigor and full faith on Monday can feel like a whimper of faith and lack of strength come Friday. So, it is important that we find ways to renew and refill ourselves throughout the week. If you are having troubles living the life you want to live at work and you find that it becomes harder and harder as the week goes on, then it is time to refresh yourself by adding in Bible reading, prayer time and potentially joining with others in a small group within the week. The point is that we need to renew ourselves and realize that we just can't go it alone and expect to be strong and faithful if we are depending on our own strength. Our God loves the worker and He time and again has done miraculous things with those who toiled and worked the fields. He will give you strength and renewal and make you fresh and new every morning if you only seek Him to do so.

day 37: Met Needs

The Israelites wandered around the desert for 40 years. When Moses exhorts his people to remember and obey the almighty God, he had to point out some of the most basic things to the people to get them to realize that while they were in the desert that God did indeed remember them and watched over them, meeting their most basic needs. Not only did God provide food in the form of manna and water from rocks, he also provided for them in other supernatural ways for their basic needs. In Deuteronomy 8:4, Moses points out to them, "For all these forty years your clothes didn't wear out, and your feet didn't blister or swell". Those are the most basic of needs, beyond food and water, if you are going to be lost in the desert. They had their clothes and they could walk to travel. What I find most fascinating about this is God's attention to detail when it comes to our needs. God doesn't waste his time on the superficial things, He gets right to the heart of matters and establishes a way for the baseline needs to be met. And, in this example, He did it even though the people couldn't recognize the miracle that was occuring. I love it, a miracle that no one notices and had to be pointed out later. What this verse tells me is that we can depend on God to provide for all of our basic needs, no matter our situation. Sometimes at work it feels like we are wandering in our own desert and not sure where to turn or what to do next. Could it be that God is allowing us to live that test and all He wants us to do is recognize that He is there with us providing for our needs and that is the confidence we need to break through and find what it is that He wills to happen? We are given talents that God is wanting to put to work at work. Today, let's not worry about our needs and let's turn those over to Him and allow ourselves to work within His will and glory. I suspect that that feeling of wandering and worrying might just change when you hand the needs back over to Him.

Reference: Deuteronomy 8:4 (New Living Testament)