Avoiding Self-Based Faith
by Os Hillman, April 30, 2006
We live by faith, not by sight. - 2 Corinthians 5:7
Over the years I have run into many businessmen who make the statement, "Whenever I get things in order in my business, I want to get more involved in ministry." What are these men really saying? They are saying that as soon as they can get the amount of money that creates security, they will trust God. They are saying that what they have been doing to date has not been ministry. This separation of "work and faith" is common among our culture. We fail to understand that life is sacred to God and there is nothing "holy" and nothing "sacred" in itself.
I would love to hear one workplace believer say, "I have spent my life in this business. The Lord has blessed me with great resources. However, now I want to see His faithfulness in this stage of my life. That is why I am giving away my wealth and trusting Him to provide for me through new ways." Wouldn't that be a novel concept? That is exactly what C.T. Studd, the great cricket player in the 1800s, did. He was reared in a wealthy home, but his deep conversion experience led him to take actions that forced him to trust God in ways he never had to before. He became one of the great missionaries of all time.
Whenever we seek to plan ways of ministry that depend on our ability to manipulate and plan outcome, this is not faith. The ministry that comes from this will be minuscule. Faith that bears fruit is faith that is born from experience with a living God. It is faith that says, "I don't know where the next check is coming from. All I know is that God told me to do this and trust Him for the next step." That is faith that moves mountains and moves God's heart. God rarely allows His servant to see beyond the next faith step. However, those who are willing to take the first step and leave the outcome to Him see His works.
Others went out on the sea in ships; they were merchants on the mighty waters. They saw the works of the Lord... (Psalm 107:23-24).
© 2006. TGIF Today God Is First™ is a registered trademark of Os Hillman/Marketplace Leaders. To request re-print permission, click here.
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Mustard Seed Faith in Business
Mustard Seed Faith in Business
by Os Hillman, April 21, 2006
He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." - Matthew 17:20
Does God do miracles in business? Is He concerned about the mountains we face in our work life? Does He want us to bring the everyday problems we face in the workplace to His attention? The answer to every one of these questions is yes. God wants to be involved in every aspect of our lives.
Gunnar Olson, the Swedish founder of the International Christian Chamber of Commerce, tells a story about God performing a miracle in his own business a few years ago. He owns a plastics company in Sweden. They make huge plastic bags that are used to cover bales of hay in the farmlands across Europe. It was the harvest season and they were getting ready to ship thousands of pallets of these bags to their customers. More than 1,000 pallets were ready to ship when an alarming discovery was made. Every bag on the warehouse floor had sealed shut from top to bottom. Scientists declared the entire stock as worthless trash. Nothing could be done. The company would go out of business.
Gunnar, his wife, and children sought the Lord in prayer about this catastrophe. The Holy Spirit spoke through various family members. The wife said, "If God can turn water into wine, what are plastics?" The daughter said, "I don't believe this is from the Lord. We should stand against it." Gunnar sensed they were to trust God for a miracle in this situation. They began to pray. They took authority over this mountain of a problem based on Matthew 17, which gave them the authority to cast a mountain into the sea if faith only the size of a mustard seed could be exercised. The following Monday they went to the warehouse and laid hands on every pallet asking the Lord to restore the bags to their original condition. It took several hours. Later, the employees began to inspect the bags. As they inspected the bags, they discovered that every single bag had been restored to its original condition! An incredible miracle had taken place.
What obstacles have been placed in your life that need a miracle today? Could God be setting the stage in your life for you to trust Him at new levels you've never trusted before? God sets the stage to allow His power to be revealed for those willing to exercise the faith of a mustard seed. All things are possible with God.
© 2006. TGIF Today God Is First™ is a registered trademark of Os Hillman/Marketplace Leaders. To request re-print permission, click here.
by Os Hillman, April 21, 2006
He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." - Matthew 17:20
Does God do miracles in business? Is He concerned about the mountains we face in our work life? Does He want us to bring the everyday problems we face in the workplace to His attention? The answer to every one of these questions is yes. God wants to be involved in every aspect of our lives.
Gunnar Olson, the Swedish founder of the International Christian Chamber of Commerce, tells a story about God performing a miracle in his own business a few years ago. He owns a plastics company in Sweden. They make huge plastic bags that are used to cover bales of hay in the farmlands across Europe. It was the harvest season and they were getting ready to ship thousands of pallets of these bags to their customers. More than 1,000 pallets were ready to ship when an alarming discovery was made. Every bag on the warehouse floor had sealed shut from top to bottom. Scientists declared the entire stock as worthless trash. Nothing could be done. The company would go out of business.
Gunnar, his wife, and children sought the Lord in prayer about this catastrophe. The Holy Spirit spoke through various family members. The wife said, "If God can turn water into wine, what are plastics?" The daughter said, "I don't believe this is from the Lord. We should stand against it." Gunnar sensed they were to trust God for a miracle in this situation. They began to pray. They took authority over this mountain of a problem based on Matthew 17, which gave them the authority to cast a mountain into the sea if faith only the size of a mustard seed could be exercised. The following Monday they went to the warehouse and laid hands on every pallet asking the Lord to restore the bags to their original condition. It took several hours. Later, the employees began to inspect the bags. As they inspected the bags, they discovered that every single bag had been restored to its original condition! An incredible miracle had taken place.
What obstacles have been placed in your life that need a miracle today? Could God be setting the stage in your life for you to trust Him at new levels you've never trusted before? God sets the stage to allow His power to be revealed for those willing to exercise the faith of a mustard seed. All things are possible with God.
© 2006. TGIF Today God Is First™ is a registered trademark of Os Hillman/Marketplace Leaders. To request re-print permission, click here.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Losing Your Life for His Purposes
Losing Your Life for His Purposes
by Os Hillman, April 18, 2006
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will save it. - Luke 9:24
When the time came for God to fulfill Joseph's dreams, Joseph himself had virtually no interest at all in it. Jesus said, "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will save it" (Lk. 9:24). God wants to teach us a different set of values so that the kind of thing we start out wanting becomes secondary. God has something in mind for us that is far greater than the interest we began with.
Joseph's day of exaltation had arrived. Yet, through it all, a very real humiliation had to take place. We know about the humiliation Joseph had experienced for 13 years after being sold by his brothers into slavery, then taken to Egypt. We know how he was falsely accused and cast into prison.
Then came a different situation. Joseph had had a triumph and was given an exaltation, but the kind he really never asked for. He did not appear to be all that interested in what was about to happen. He watched as the Pharaoh took his ring off his finger and put it on Joseph's finger. Joseph never asked for that. All he wanted was to go home. He longed to go back to Canaan, to see his father, and to have his dreams fulfilled.
Therefore, here we find an extraordinary incongruity: a humiliation in the heart of vindication. A triumph that was the opposite of everything he, himself, could have envisaged. Joseph wanted to go home, but a one-way ticket to Canaan wasn't available. Before he knew it, he had Egypt in his hip pocket. He had never prayed for that. But God wanted Egypt. What God wanted is what Joseph got.
Joseph was given something that he could be trusted with because it didn't mean that much to him. [R.T. Kendall, A Treasury of Wisdom Journal (Uhrichsville, Ohio: Barbour and Company, 1996), January 16 day reading, email books].
© 2006. TGIF Today God Is First™ is a registered trademark of Os Hillman/Marketplace Leaders. To request re-print permission, click here.
by Os Hillman, April 18, 2006
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will save it. - Luke 9:24
When the time came for God to fulfill Joseph's dreams, Joseph himself had virtually no interest at all in it. Jesus said, "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will save it" (Lk. 9:24). God wants to teach us a different set of values so that the kind of thing we start out wanting becomes secondary. God has something in mind for us that is far greater than the interest we began with.
Joseph's day of exaltation had arrived. Yet, through it all, a very real humiliation had to take place. We know about the humiliation Joseph had experienced for 13 years after being sold by his brothers into slavery, then taken to Egypt. We know how he was falsely accused and cast into prison.
Then came a different situation. Joseph had had a triumph and was given an exaltation, but the kind he really never asked for. He did not appear to be all that interested in what was about to happen. He watched as the Pharaoh took his ring off his finger and put it on Joseph's finger. Joseph never asked for that. All he wanted was to go home. He longed to go back to Canaan, to see his father, and to have his dreams fulfilled.
Therefore, here we find an extraordinary incongruity: a humiliation in the heart of vindication. A triumph that was the opposite of everything he, himself, could have envisaged. Joseph wanted to go home, but a one-way ticket to Canaan wasn't available. Before he knew it, he had Egypt in his hip pocket. He had never prayed for that. But God wanted Egypt. What God wanted is what Joseph got.
Joseph was given something that he could be trusted with because it didn't mean that much to him. [R.T. Kendall, A Treasury of Wisdom Journal (Uhrichsville, Ohio: Barbour and Company, 1996), January 16 day reading, email books].
© 2006. TGIF Today God Is First™ is a registered trademark of Os Hillman/Marketplace Leaders. To request re-print permission, click here.
Saturday, April 08, 2006
The Jezebel Spirit
Perhaps not many will argue against the spirit of Jezebel in our own society, but how the Ahabs of the world actually allow the spreading of such spirit was a helpful perspective for me.
The Jezebel Spirit
by Os Hillman, April 9, 2006
Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. - Revelation 2:20
One of the major ruling spirits opposing the Kingdom of God today is the spirit of Jezebel. It has dominion over many aspects of society including the workplace and the entertainment industry. It predominantly lives in females, but is not always gender specific.
The spirit of Jezebel seeks to destroy true worship, the family, morality, and the God-ordained leadership. It misleads and corrupts the Church and seeks to neutralize the lives of prophets, pastors, and other leadership.
The spirit of Jezebel is best seen in the story of Naboth's garden in First Kings 21. In this story King Ahab desires to purchase some land next to the king's palace. Naboth refuses to sell. When Jezebel hears of this, she embarrasses Ahab, telling him he should be ashamed because he is the king and has every right to the land. She promptly plots against Naboth to get the land for the king. This leads to Naboth's murder. Ahab does not know of this plot by his wife, but when the king shows up to claim the land, the prophet Elijah shows up too and pronounces judgment on Ahab and his wife. In this passage we see that God held Ahab ultimately responsible for the death of Naboth.
Jezebel's ultimate goal is always control. Jezebels cause fear, flight, and discouragement. They are often natural leaders. Often subtle and deceptive, they are proud, independent, and rebellious. Jezebels cannot live without Ahabs who allow them to be effective and operate unchallenged. Ahabs fail to operate as godly, loving leaders. Rather, they give in to pressure from the Jezebels, often due to their own insecurities and sexual needs.
The answer to defeating the Jezebel spirit for the person who is influenced by it is true repentance, humility, and brokenness before God. The person who is "Jezebeled" must firmly stand against the sexual exploitation of this spirit.
If you find yourself confronting this spirit, ask the Lord to give you discernment and wisdom. You will need fasting and prayer to win this battle. Men should not use this knowledge as a license to lord over or control women, but understand that this spirit opposes God's design of the two equal but distinct roles for men and women.
© 2006. TGIF Today God Is First™ is a registered trademark of Os Hillman/Marketplace Leaders. To request re-print permission, click here.
The Jezebel Spirit
by Os Hillman, April 9, 2006
Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. - Revelation 2:20
One of the major ruling spirits opposing the Kingdom of God today is the spirit of Jezebel. It has dominion over many aspects of society including the workplace and the entertainment industry. It predominantly lives in females, but is not always gender specific.
The spirit of Jezebel seeks to destroy true worship, the family, morality, and the God-ordained leadership. It misleads and corrupts the Church and seeks to neutralize the lives of prophets, pastors, and other leadership.
The spirit of Jezebel is best seen in the story of Naboth's garden in First Kings 21. In this story King Ahab desires to purchase some land next to the king's palace. Naboth refuses to sell. When Jezebel hears of this, she embarrasses Ahab, telling him he should be ashamed because he is the king and has every right to the land. She promptly plots against Naboth to get the land for the king. This leads to Naboth's murder. Ahab does not know of this plot by his wife, but when the king shows up to claim the land, the prophet Elijah shows up too and pronounces judgment on Ahab and his wife. In this passage we see that God held Ahab ultimately responsible for the death of Naboth.
Jezebel's ultimate goal is always control. Jezebels cause fear, flight, and discouragement. They are often natural leaders. Often subtle and deceptive, they are proud, independent, and rebellious. Jezebels cannot live without Ahabs who allow them to be effective and operate unchallenged. Ahabs fail to operate as godly, loving leaders. Rather, they give in to pressure from the Jezebels, often due to their own insecurities and sexual needs.
The answer to defeating the Jezebel spirit for the person who is influenced by it is true repentance, humility, and brokenness before God. The person who is "Jezebeled" must firmly stand against the sexual exploitation of this spirit.
If you find yourself confronting this spirit, ask the Lord to give you discernment and wisdom. You will need fasting and prayer to win this battle. Men should not use this knowledge as a license to lord over or control women, but understand that this spirit opposes God's design of the two equal but distinct roles for men and women.
© 2006. TGIF Today God Is First™ is a registered trademark of Os Hillman/Marketplace Leaders. To request re-print permission, click here.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
A New Breed of Workplace Believers
From the article below:
A New Breed of Workplace Believers
by Os Hillman, April 6, 2006
Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people.... - Haggai 2:2
Zerubbabel was the governor of Judah 60 years after the great temple built by Solomon had been destroyed. The temple lay in ruins, and the Lord spoke to the prophet Haggai, "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?" (Hag. 1:4) God was calling for a remnant of His people to come out of their comfort zones and restore the glory of God's house.
God is doing this same thing today among Christian workplace believers throughout the world. He is rising up a remnant of workplace believers who are being handpicked to use their resources, skills, and experience to affect nations that have not heard the message of Jesus Christ. The only way they can hear is by commerce being brought into their nation through Christian workplace believers, because these are closed regions to normal missionary efforts.
"But now be strong, O Zerubbabel," declares the Lord. "Be strong, O Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land," declares the Lord, "and work. For I am with you," declares the Lord Almighty. "This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And My Spirit remains among you. Do not fear" (Haggai 2:4-5).
The remnant of workplace believers God is calling today understand that they have to come out of Egypt from their past work life. Egypt signifies the way of the world. It represents sweat and toil. It is the flesh. This new way is exemplified by a pioneer spirit. God knows we need to have courage in order to move in this realm. Also, God assures us that His Spirit is with anyone who seeks to live in the realm of supernatural faith.
Are you one of these remnants He has handpicked in these days? Has He called you out of Egypt in order to do extraordinary things in your life for His Kingdom? Ask God to show you how He wants to use you in the workplace this year. Then act and "be strong, all you people of the land."
[Source: TGIF by Marketplace Leaders]
Are you one of these remnants He has handpicked in these days? Has He called you out of Egypt in order to do extraordinary things in your life for His Kingdom? Ask God to show you how He wants to use you in the workplace this year. Then act and "be strong, all you people of the land."
A New Breed of Workplace Believers
by Os Hillman, April 6, 2006
Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people.... - Haggai 2:2
Zerubbabel was the governor of Judah 60 years after the great temple built by Solomon had been destroyed. The temple lay in ruins, and the Lord spoke to the prophet Haggai, "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?" (Hag. 1:4) God was calling for a remnant of His people to come out of their comfort zones and restore the glory of God's house.
God is doing this same thing today among Christian workplace believers throughout the world. He is rising up a remnant of workplace believers who are being handpicked to use their resources, skills, and experience to affect nations that have not heard the message of Jesus Christ. The only way they can hear is by commerce being brought into their nation through Christian workplace believers, because these are closed regions to normal missionary efforts.
"But now be strong, O Zerubbabel," declares the Lord. "Be strong, O Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land," declares the Lord, "and work. For I am with you," declares the Lord Almighty. "This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And My Spirit remains among you. Do not fear" (Haggai 2:4-5).
The remnant of workplace believers God is calling today understand that they have to come out of Egypt from their past work life. Egypt signifies the way of the world. It represents sweat and toil. It is the flesh. This new way is exemplified by a pioneer spirit. God knows we need to have courage in order to move in this realm. Also, God assures us that His Spirit is with anyone who seeks to live in the realm of supernatural faith.
Are you one of these remnants He has handpicked in these days? Has He called you out of Egypt in order to do extraordinary things in your life for His Kingdom? Ask God to show you how He wants to use you in the workplace this year. Then act and "be strong, all you people of the land."
[Source: TGIF by Marketplace Leaders]
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