Work for God's Kingdom

“God has given each of you some special abilities; be sure to use them to help each other, passing on to others God’s many kinds of blessings.” (1 Peter 4:10 TLB)

That means the best work for you is the work that best expresses your talent.

God has wired every one of us to do something different. The reason we all like to do different things is so everything gets done.

The Work That Makes You Happiest Is for God’s Kingdom

We were made to make our lives count

You are happiest when you’re using the talents God gave you for something greater than yourself that gives your life meaning.

The greatest cause in the world is the Kingdom of God. It is the Church.

The whole reason the world exists is so God could build a family that one day will live with him forever.

There is nothing more meaningful and purposeful than giving your life to the Kingdom of God.

Your Work

I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do (John 17:4).

The Lord has revealed to us that the number one thing we are to do is love the Lord our God with all our heart and to love our neighbor as ourselves. His desire is for us to know Him and the power of His resurrection. These mandates deal with our relationship with Him. The fruit of this relationship must then result in our glorifying Him by completing the work He has given each of us to do. It will become a by-product of this relationship, not an end in itself.

What is that work God has called you to do? Jesus never did anything the Father had not instructed him to do. He lived in such communion with the Father that He knew when to turn left and when to turn to the right. Is it possible to have such a relationship with our Heavenly Father? I think that if it weren't, He would not have given us such an example.

When Jesus was 12 years old, he already knew what business he was in.

Then, at the end of his life, he told the Father, “I have finished the work that you gave me to do.”  Those are the bookends of a life well lived.

What is your business? What is the work God has given you to do? And, how’s business?

Those are the fundamental questions you need to be asking about your life.

Don’t waste your life.

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unreachable things you do not know" (Jeremiah 33:3). 

What has he called you to do? Perhaps you are called to be the best CPA in your city or the best advertising executive or the best office worker or assembly line person in your company. Whatever work he has called you to do, he will use you as His instrument to accomplish something through you that He has uniquely prepared you to do.

When our life is complete, what a glorious day it will be if we can each say "I have completed the work you gave me to do." This will have brought great glory to Him.

Ask God to show you the work he wants you to do, and then use your gifts to make the rest of your life the best of your life.

Biblical Principles in Network Marketing

As a Pastor, Bill Nissen was against Network Marketing for years.  In 2003, a friend helped 
him see a new perspective.  He still dislikes the ethics of many who do it, but he sees a 
biblical perspective that allows him to not only support network marketing, but embrace it as
a way to serve people.  Watch This Video. It is longer than most (20 minutes) but carries essential information.

The Spirit Led Entrepreneur

Kingdom Entrepreneurs - are those men and women who, while fully committed to fulfilling the great commission commanded by Christ, also want to use their business skills in marketplace missions.  They want to incorporate all they have learned in their area of expertise (engineering, science, technology, wealth management, etc.) to transfer knowledge and provide infrastructure to the under-served Christian leaders throughout the developing world – not to just write them a check but to become personally involved with them.  They want to meet their staff and families, and come alongside their visions.  They are enablers in the best sense of the word!

A Universal Gift

Kingdom Entrepreneurs come in all shades and sizes because this spiritual gift is trans-cultural.  No race, culture or ethnicity has a corner on this giftedness.  However, some cultures, religions and political systems are more conducive to the nurture and expression of this spirit than others.

History shows that when the entrepreneurial spirit is honored there is advancement.  Where it is repressed, there is stagnation and regression.  Thus, we have developed countries and under-developed countries. We have first world nations and third world or two-thirds world nations advanced societies and primitive societies.

All over the world, KEs seek to partner with God and His people to build His kingdom rather than their little kingdoms.  They abdicate the throne of their lives and businesses, and surrender to the Lordship of Christ.  They are differentiated from secular entrepreneurs because they live in humility, not pride.  Their entrepreneurial root is nourished by the love of the Lord Jesus and therefore their financial fruit blesses others.

Whose Business is it?

One main difference between the world’s strategy for success and the Kingdom’s strategy for success is this: The World drives you from without, the Lord inspires you from within.

Are you ready for kingdom business?  Are your really ready for a paradigm change?

If we are truly going to be Spirit led Entrepreneurs in the marketplace, we must be ready for a paradigm change.

One major difference between Kingdom Entrepreneurs and the Entrepreneurs of the world is that the Kingdom Entrepreneur is Holy Spirit led.

Are you self-led, other-led, market-led, money-led, or Holy Spirit led?

Do Business Till I Come

If God is our boss, then we should be in the marketplace carrying out his dictates, and doing business on his behalf.   Remember what the Master told his servants after distributing the talents to them in the Parable of the 10 Talents?

He said:  “Do Business until I come.” (Luke 19:13)

This tells us they were not Lord’s unto themselves and that they were doing business on behalf of another, their Lord and master.

Since “our business” is not “our business” but the Lord’s business, we are only stewards taking care of his business.

Lordship has to deal with the issue of ownership, which puts us in the place of servants and stewards, ready to carry out our Lord’s commands.

Is Jesus our Lord or are we lords unto ourselves?

The issue of lordship is quite critical in our walk and in life as Kingdom Entrepreneurs. When we get this right a lot of other things just naturally fall into place.

We must come to a point in our lives and business where we acknowledge that God is God and we’re not him.  We must acknowledge that we’re not God, and neither is money.

We must ask ourselves these questions:

Whose system are we working to promote?

Are we working to promote God’s kingdom, or the kingdom of the world?

Whose principles are we using, are we doing business God’s way, or the world’s?

If money is our boss, then will make decisions differently, we might make decisions based on what the best deal is, what is the most proper profitable venture, and we may even cut corners.

Clarify Your Priorities!

Jesus made a profound statement in Matthew 6:24; he said,

“No one can serve two masters.  Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”  (Matthew 6:24)

In this statement, contrary to popular thinking, Jesus is not talking about choosing one or the other, he was not saying, if you choose God, you cannot have money.  He was talking about our priority system.

He was saying that either God is going to be our boss or it is going to be money.  We need to choose who our boss is going to be.

If we are truly going to be Spirit led Entrepreneurs in the marketplace, we must be ready to surrender our lives and we must surrender our will to the master. We must be able to say: “Not my will but yours be done!”  We must choose to become Spirit Led Entrepreneurs.  As the Scripture says those who are led by the Spirit are the offsprings of God. (Romans 8:14)

Who is Boss?

Sort Out Your Priorities and Get Rid of Your Wealth Creation and Businesses Complexities

A lot of the simple and complex problems that Kingdom Entrepreneurs and other Marketplace Leaders have in life and in business stem from having the wrong priorities.

When we sort out our priorities, a lot of these longstanding problems simply disappear.

The wrong priorities bring disorder, confusion and poverty.  Having the right priorities bring order, peace and prosperity.

One of the areas that you need to sort out before you can be economically empowered is with regards to your priorities as it relates to God, people and money.

Have you given each of these their rightful place?

Is Money the Root of All Evil?

“Money is the root of all evil,” I bet you’ve heard that statement before.  Well this scripture, is supposedly one of the most misquoted Scriptures from the Bible.  It’s also one of the most misunderstood Scriptures.

The scripture in question actually says that “The LOVE of money is the root of all evil, ” and not that, “Money is the root of all evil.”

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (1 Timothy 6:10)

Now, is God actually saying that having money is wrong? Certainly not!

What it’s really saying is that when money is put in its wrong place in our lives it has the propensity not only to hurt us, but to destroy us.

This scripture is actually talking about having the right priorities. Is talking about getting our priorities straight.

Now, under the New Covenant, our priorities are thus:  Love God, and love people even as we love ourselves.

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’c This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40)

These are the first and second commandments.  It will be totally out of order to place money before any of these two commandments.

Money is a Servant at Best!

Money is to be used to serve God and to serve people.  When we acknowledge God as boss, then esteem people and ourselves even as the Scripture says, then money will find its proper place and it will serve its rightful purpose in our lives.

When we acknowledge God as God, he will direct our paths as it relates to our investment and use of money.

Many marketplace business owners are often stuck in the valley of indecision, they are often stuck between two minds: to exercise their entrepreneurial prowess to the full, or not to.

Theory of Change

Governed by the Spirit

“The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all

things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." ( John 14:26)

The Holy Spirit is the vessel – the Person, the instrument, the agency, the method and the means – through Whom God accomplishes His purpose of increasing Christ in all things. Jesus said this Helper, this Counselor, this Comforter, this Teacher will abide with us for– ever and will help us as we walk the Difficult Path towards the full knowledge of Christ.

To the extent that we allow ourselves to come under the government of the Holy Spirit, to that extent will Christ be increased. Since the Holy Spirit is responsible for the increase of Christ, spiritual growth is impossible apart from the Spirit. There will be no measurable advancement, no real apprehension of spiritual things, and no recovery of the Heavenly Order apart from the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Biblical Principles in Network Marketing

As a Pastor, Bill Nissen was against Network Marketing for years.  In 2003, a friend helped 
him see a new perspective.  He still dislikes the ethics of many who do it, but he sees a 
biblical perspective that allows him to not only support network marketing, but embrace it as
a way to serve people.  Watch This Video. It is longer than most (20 minutes) but carries essential information.

Invest Your Life

In The Parable of Talents (Matthew 25: 14-26)

Jesus told his followers the story of a man with three servants. He entrusted each of them with a portion of his fortune while he went on a journey. When the man returned, he found that two of his servants had invested the portion they’d been given and were able to show him that they’d made a great return – each of them had doubled the treasure he’d given them.

‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

But the third servant was scared and didn’t invest what he’d been given. Instead, he had hidden it and had only the one portion to return to the man when he returned.

‘You wicked, lazy servant!’

When you read this story, you might feel a stab of conviction. You’ve probably figured out that Jesus isn’t trying to teach us about money here, rather, He’s offering a lesson on investing our lives.

You have been entrusted with a precious treasure: salvation and a close personal friendship with God, of course. But You have also been given a treasure unique to you: a special combination of spiritual gifts, your heart – the things that you care deeply about and love to do, your talents. Your story. This is the treasure of your life.

What have you been doing with your treasure? The reason He’s given you all of that is because He believes in you and trusts you to invest what you’ve been given and multiply it. The potential value of your life is off the charts. So, how do you multiply the treasure you’ve been given? Invest in people. Take everything you’ve been given and use it to make disciples.

A Sound Investment

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)

 

Insure your interior treasures. Spend at least an hour this week uninterrupted developing a talent God has given you or exercising a spiritual gift.

What are you doing to make sure that you keep your heart and soul healthy?

Keep your spiritual gifts from gathering dust by living in the Holy Spirit daily. Make your talents, your gifts, your relationship with Christ the true treasure of your life and you’ll find that life really is more abundant.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17)

This verse reminds us that everything we have comes from our Father, who loves to give His children good gifts. As I consider His gifts, I’m reminded that many of them are temporal, only to be used for a season.

Ultimately, everything belongs to God. This is where we get the biblical concept of stewardship; a steward is not an owner. Stewards are required to take care of something until the master returns to take possession. We can love the gifts we’ve been given, but the Bible warns us to never love them more than the Master.

Recall the parable of the wicked tenants (Luke 20: 9-18) who were placed in charge of a vineyard. When the master wanted to harvest the produce, the tenants refused and went so far as to kill his son. There was nothing wrong with enjoying the vineyard, but they sinned when they loved it so much that they tried to steal it for themselves.

Time is a great example of this. It is a gift – one we’ve been entrusted to use wisely – but not one that we own. This humbles me as I also reflect on other gifts in my life. I often forget that all these wonderful earthly treasures we enjoy belongs to God.

Let’s be faithful with what we’ve been entrusted, whether it’s time with friends, ministry positions, communities, career, or family. Love these gifts, just not more than the Giver.

Eternal Investments

Plan and purpose are concepts that flow beautifully through the entire Bible. There is nothing random or spontaneous about our God and his works. He is purposeful in all things.

God’s kingdom is increased by men and women who tap into the purpose that God has for them. They understand that their story is part of a much bigger story, His story, and this great insight becomes their guiding light.

Perhaps one of the greatest verse in the Bible on the subject of God’s will is this one: 

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).

Consider what that one verse means for your life:

God has a plan perfectly formulated with your name on it.

It’s a good plan. He didn’t create you to be miserable, but to be fruitful.

God has reserved for you a future filled with hope.

Further, we can venture certain conclusions from this plan:

God’s plan was written long before you were born. (Jeremiah 1:5)

God’s plan for you is bound up with his plans for others. (Romans 8:28)

God’s plan is built upon your gifts and talents. (Ephesians 2:10)

God’s eternal purpose brings together your plan with those of others. (Proverbs 16:9)

God will guide you as you attempt to follow his will. (Proverbs 16:3)

Today’s Prayer:

Biblical Principles in Network Marketing

As a Pastor, Bill Nissen was against Network Marketing for years.  In 2003, a friend helped 
him see a new perspective.  He still dislikes the ethics of many who do it, but he sees a 
biblical perspective that allows him to not only support network marketing, but embrace it as
a way to serve people.  Watch This Video. It is longer than most (20 minutes) but carries essential information.

Wilderness Experience

Biblical “wilderness” refers to the times in life when we are confronted with trials and difficulties and challenges; when life gets complicated, and we don’t know where to turn. When everything around us seems to be against us; when life feels hopeless, harried, and disheartening — we are in a Biblical “wilderness”. Wilderness is: being unemployed; not able to find a decent job. Wilderness is: an illness, that doesn’t seem to get better. Wilderness is: a relationship where the love seems to be gone, and you can’t seem to get the joy, the respect, the tenderness back into the relationship. Biblical wilderness is: a job that brings no joy or fulfillment, and no prospect of it ever getting better. Wilderness is: stuck in a situation where with no choices. Wilderness is: feeling sad or hopeless, and not knowing why, or what to do about it. A Biblical wilderness is: feeling as if the weight of the world is on your shoulders, and you have no way of getting out from under it.

After a person truly turns to Christ and receives the assurance of God’s forgiveness for their past sins, there is usually a short period of joy and blessing where everything seems so wonderful and new! During this period answers to prayer come easily, and God seems to give lots of favor. This may be compared to the joy that the Israelites had in leaving Egypt to head for the Promised Land. The Egyptians gave them all the gold and silver they asked for, they had been spared the judgments that came on those Egyptians such as the death of the firstborn, and they were finally free from their slavery! Hallelujah!

Yet experience and the Scriptures teach us that after this short period of joy and blessing we will eventually enter a dry wilderness. This is not to say that we will be dry spiritually. It is God’s will for us to be continually filled with the Holy Spirit from day one (Ephesians 5:18), and God does not withhold the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him. The Holy Spirit is the one who encourages us in good times as well as tough times. We need Him. Yet it is possible even to be full of the Holy Spirit, and go through a wilderness experience in which there is almost nothing in your circumstances to encourage you. You may be just surviving from day to day financially or materially. You may be waiting for your healing to manifest. It is all totally unpleasant for your flesh. Instead of prosperity there will be trials and pressure. Your peace will be assaulted by all kinds of negative emotions and thoughts, which you will need to resist. It’s a test, but God has promised that you will never be tempted beyond your ability to endure, with each temptation He will also make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

During your wilderness experience, the familiar comforts of the world will not be there for you. You have to learn to depend on God for all your need materially, emotionally, physically as well as spiritually. The temptation will be to backslide in your heart and return to find your life in the world system, thereby rejecting Christ. Many do this in their hearts well before they forsake church fellowship and get involved again in open, wilful sin. God warns us against having an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. If indeed we do believe God, we know He will come through for us if we keep thanking Him. We trust that the wilderness time is only temporary, however tough it may seem.

Our Lord Jesus Christ also went through a wilderness experience, and He showed us how to pass through it successfully. After his baptism, and His anointing with the Holy Spirit, the Scriptures say He was “led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry” (Luke 4:1,2).

There was nothing in that wilderness naturally speaking to comfort the Lord. Jesus Himself had to pass through the wilderness experience before He could be used by God to bring salvation, healing and deliverance to anyone. In verse 14, just after this time in the wilderness, it says, “Jesus returned in the power of the Holy Spirit to Galilee.” Jesus is our model in these things. If we want the power of the Holy Spirit, not just the fullness, we have to pass the tests in the wilderness. Jesus did it by speaking the Word of God and ignoring the cravings of his body for food for a period of time. The same methods will work for any one of us. Christ now lives in us to make this approach a possibility for us. 

The Lord is the strength of our life! (Isaiah 12:2; Psalm 27:1)

Anyone who has gotten anywhere in God has gone through at least one wilderness experience. The Israelites leaving Egypt were no exception. It is normal to go through more than one such experience in your life. Wildernesses can be seasons aside with God to learn from God where there is no option to be very productive outwardly. There is almost always a period of waiting between the time you receive a promise of God in your heart, and the time of its fulfillment. Do not be surprised when this happens! There are many examples in the Bible to show us that this is the way God deals with His people. 

So take heart – if this is happening to you right now, it shows you are on track with God. He hasn’t given up on you. He is forming you to be the kind of person who can overcome giants through faith in God, and enjoy blessings far greater than you could otherwise ever know in the world. But before you get there, you will be tested, often severely. See each trial as an opportunity to be promoted to better things in God. Its more painful to fail God’s tests than it is to pass them. If you fail, He will lovingly bring you round again to face exactly the same test again and again until you learn to pass.

Those who meditate on the Word are preparing themselves for God’s blessings. Those who tolerate sin are preparing themselves for painful dealings and possible disaster. Everything will go through God’s fire, but the results of the fire depend on the type of heart we have.

When you think about it, God owes us nothing. If we have anything good, we should give thanks to God. Even if all our bodily desires are not satisfied, we should thank God for what we have. The goal of life is not to pander to bodily desires. The goal of life is to be like God, like Jesus, and do things that please Him out of love because He first loved us. God talks about us being predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. Many years I decided to accept this plan rather than continually fighting it. The world needs more people like Jesus. It certainly does not need more people full of selfish ambition as I was before I turned to the Lord.

So make it your aim to please the Lord, even when you are sorely tempted to grumble and complain about things, and God will see your faith and patience and move you onto better things. The wilderness is only meant to be for a season, to make you a better person. But if you do grumble and complain, be prepared to take another lap around Mount Sinai. Be prepared to spend years in the wilderness. It’s sad, but there are so many Christians who never come into a mature attitude of faith, trust and thanksgiving so that God can manifest in their lives so many of the outstanding promises found in His Word for those who believe.

One of the first things God did with the Israelites after their baptism in the Red Sea and the cloud (which symbolize baptism in water and the Holy Spirit), was to teach them the law and have a tabernacle set up for divine worship. If you don’t learn to thank, praise, worship and honor God in the wilderness, God knows you are not ready for prosperity, abundance and blessing. We should learn right attitudes so that God will be pleased to lift us up and empower us at the right time (when we can be trusted).

No Manna Stores

Then the Lord said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions." (Exodus 16:4)

When God took the nation of Israel through the desert, there was one thing the people simply could not do outside of God alone: They could not provide for themselves. They could not plant. They could not harvest. They could not manufacture. It was a place and time where nothing but complete dependence was the rule. God gave manna one day at a time. The manna spoiled the day after, so they could never store it. They could not go to the manna store to get more. They couldn't start a manna business to capitalize on all the free manna. I can tell you from personal experience that when God takes you to the desert, there is nothing you can do to change it until He wants to change it, so do not strive against God in the desert place.

What was the purpose of this restrictive time in their lives? Why did God have to keep them from using any of these abilities to earn on their own? It was a season to build trust and reliance on God. They had relied on the "manna" of Egypt for so long that He needed to change their whole nature of looking to Egypt as their provider to looking to God as their provider. This boot camp was to be only for a season. However, what should have been less than a 30-day journey took 40 years because of the hardness of their hearts. They never passed the test God gave them.

The Purpose of the Desert

"Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her" (Hosea 2:14).

If you have an important message to convey to someone, what is the best means of getting the message through? Have you ever tried to talk with someone who was so busy you could not get them to hear you? Distractions prevent us from giving our undivided attention to the messenger. So too, God has His way of taking us aside to get our undivided attention. For Paul, it was Arabia for three years, for Moses, it was forty years in the desert, for Joseph, it was thirteen years in Egypt, for David, it was many years of fleeing from King Saul.

God knows the stubborn human heart. He knows that if He is to accomplish His deepest work, He must take us into the desert in order to give us the privilege to be used in His kingdom. It is the desert where we are changed. He removes those things that hinder. He forces us to draw deep upon His grace. The desert is only a season in our life. When He has accomplished what He wants in our lives in the desert, He will bring us out. He has given you and I a mission to fulfill that can only be fulfilled after we have spent adequate time in preparation in the desert. 

Fear not the desert. For it is there you will hear the voice of God like never before. It is here you become His bridegroom. It is here you will have the idols of your life removed. It is here you begin to experience the reality of a living God like never before. Someone once said, "God uses enlarged trials to produce enlarged saints so He can put them in enlarged places!"

Desert Preparation

The apostle Paul tells us in the first chapter of Galatians some of the facts surrounding his own conversion. He tells us that he clearly understood the call Jesus placed on his life. He did not have to consult other men about this calling. But before he was released to begin his own mission, He went to Arabia for three years. Why did Paul have to go to Arabia for three years before he ever met another disciple of Jesus Christ?

The Scripture does not tell us plainly why Paul spent three years in Arabia. However, based upon many examples of God placing special calls on people's lives, we know it often requires a time of separation between the old life and the new life. No doubt, Paul had plenty of time to consider what had taken place in his life and time to develop an intimate knowledge and relationship with the newfound Savior. His life was about to change dramatically.

So often, when God places a call on one of His children, it requires a separation between the old life and the new life. There is a time of being away from the old in order to prepare the heart for what is coming. It can be a painful and difficult separation. Joseph was separated from his family. Jacob was sent to live with his uncle Laban. Moses was sent to the desert.

Has God taken you into the desert? Is He forcing you to depend wholly on His provision? Pray that you will learn the lessons God desires you to learn in the desert place. He will bring you out when He has accomplished all He wants to build in your life. Remember that it is a season; you will not be there forever. He understands that no one can stay in a desolate place forever.

It’s a law of life that anything worthwhile requires some patience and endurance.

Perhaps God has placed you in your own desert period. Perhaps you cannot make sense of the situation in which you find yourself. If you press into God during this time, He will reveal the purposes He has for you. The key is pressing into Him. Seek Him with a whole heart and He will be found. God may have a special calling and message He is building in your life right now. Trust in His love for you, that He will fully complete the work He has started in you.

Wilderness experiences are God's way of disciplining and pruning those He loves, building faith, breaking down our reliance on our feelings and our emotions, and crucifying the self or flesh. They are worthwhile experiences. And if we intend to be radical disciples, we must go through the wilderness that God has allowed to come our way. Our wilderness experience had our name on it long before we were even born. Ultimately, we need to grow up and react to wilderness experiences as mature Christians. When we find ourselves in those situations, we must turn to the Lord and determine to worship even more than usual. 

Determine in your heart, that you will not wilt under the hot son of spiritual aridity, but rather you will trust in the Lord even more than the usual because you know the dryness is temporary and that God has a reason for it. Allow Him to do the work in you. You will come out of it a better servant, with greater understanding and with fewer distractions.

What is this all about?  Well, It's about...

God conforming us to the likeness of Jesus (Romans 8:29)

Wilderness experiences are all about persevering. You must go all the way through the experience. Don’t give up! Trust God. He is faithful. Ultimately God wants us to go through those experiences in Victory. It can happen if we allow God to be God and if we recognize what is happening and why? We must know that God is in complete control of our situation. He has His reasons.

Jesus knows what you’re going through, too. And He wants your faith to not fail, also. Soon, your wilderness experience will be over. Why? It is because you passed the test. You learned what God wanted you to learn. You now have a greater understanding of who God is, how He works, what His word says and how you must rely on it, not your feelings and emotions. That’s a lot of learning packed into one experience.

God is good. He doesn’t need our help, but He does want our worship. He doesn't want our whining, but He does want our obedience. He turns His back on our pity parties but He reaches out for our faith. He is disappointed in our giving up, but He rejoices in our perseverance. Everything that God does is good. And God does,---" Wilderness Experiences."

When God began a deeper work in my own life, it required a separation from all I had known before. He removed all that I had placed confidence in, up to that point. It was very painful and very scary. In my mind, it was not the time to start life over. God had a different idea. He removed all my comforts and security in order to accomplish a much greater work than what I could see at the time. The picture is clear now. I understand why it was necessary, but I didn't at the time.

So don’t give up in the midst of trials. It is necessary that you pass through seasons of trials, but God is there for you to strengthen you and hold you up.

Today's Prayer

Biblical Principles in Network Marketing

As a Pastor, Bill Nissen was against Network Marketing for years.  In 2003, a friend helped 
him see a new perspective.  He still dislikes the ethics of many who do it, but he sees a 
biblical perspective that allows him to not only support network marketing, but embrace it as
a way to serve people.  Watch This Video. It is longer than most (20 minutes) but carries essential information.