Workplace Woes

Genesis 39: 5

From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph.


The place where you work should be blessed just because you work there. Every organization that you are a part of should be under the blessing just because you are there. Don’t ever minimize that important role you play. You may be wondering why you are where you are or why God does not take you out. Maybe you think you should be in a better job or that another company might appreciate you more. Maybe you are even in an almost unbearable situation. Don’t worry. Wherever you are, God has your back. It may be that you are the only light in that place or maybe you are not the only light but that if you left the few remaining people like yourself will not have the support they need. Whatever the circumstance, take your eyes off of yourself for a minute and ask God if you are in the right place. If you are, then just serve gladly and faithfully. Remember, Joseph went through some undesirable places but he ended up at the right hand of Pharaoh. You are going to end up at the right hand of God so do what you can to bless others even while in unlovely situations.

Couch Potato

Exodus 14: 15

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. And as for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land.”

I have been having an interesting conversation with a friend of mine this week. The gist of it is that as Christians, we sometimes wait around for God to do things for us when He has already provided everything we need. We live a very passive Christianity when God has in mind a partnership. Perhaps we do not cognitively think that we can be idle and God will do everything for us but our behaviors indicate that we may believe this is the case.

Moses and the Israelites certainly had that mentality. They were backed up to the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s army was closing in. Can you imagine the wailing and caterwauling that must have been going on? God said, “Why are you crying out to me?” In other words, “You have and the sons of Israel have all you need for this situation. Stretch out your hand and part the sea.” Wow! Isn’t that something? “You lift up your hand”, God says.

But now, wait a minute. Haven’t we been taught that we are not supposed to be working in the power of our might? Absolutely! But do you really think Moses parted the Red Sea in the power of his might? Of course not. This is called moving in the power of God’s might, using your authority in Christ. This is the secret. We don’t sit on our hands and wait for God to drop things in our lap because He has given us His name and His authority. Likewise, we don’t move in our power or wisdom but rather in His. We are partners with God through Christ Jesus.

I see so many ineffective, powerless Christians and this just ought not be. Our Father is the big guy, the creator, Yahweh but we go around like orphans. Look, if you were the child of Queen Elizabeth would you go around like you had no authority? Of course not but one key is that you would need to understand your authority.

This is a really big deal. We need to learn to walk in the power of God. We must learn to work with the Holy Spirit and live in the blessing of our Lord Jesus. This is a life of balance, neither relying on our strength nor resigning ourselves to the couch awaiting miracles to fall upon us. I encourage you to ponder this subject and send us your thoughts. Perhaps we can have a good dialogue about how this actually works out in real life.