As Unto God - A Workman Approved Pt III: God Has Your Back

Well,

I'm sat here writing this after a monumentally successful week at work where I was given a weekly target of 5 leads to pass on to the closers... I did something like 12!!!

But that's enough on that because this is devotional time...

Alright, so last time out we looked at how the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, promising him that God hadn't finished with him yet.

Jonah had messed up.

He'd made a biiig mistake in wilfully disobeying the Lord.

Out of the Ashes, Into the Fire

But God being God, He was gracious enough to give him a second chance to do what was originally asked of him.

Joel Osteen said in a recent message I watched that there will be some times when we make mistakes and because of the mercy of God, He will clean up after us and still bring us out better than we were when we went into the situation!

What I want us all to fix in our minds here is the fact that our mistakes need not define who we are because God can take them, use them and make us into something stronger because of them. It is not to say that we are to ignore our mistakes, but we are to keep in proper perspective that just because we screwed up, we are not as a result of the mistakes we have made or are making to this very day.

We are not to go around feeling defeated, week and a victim just because there are issues we struggle with, I'll leave it to a message I heard from Steven Furtick this evening to enlighten you: -

"Sometimes it takes a blessing wrapped up as a test from Satan to see just how strong we really are." Steven Furtick - "Making Friends with Frustration"

How many times, when we've felt under the cosh, act like the world is taking the mick out of us? We lash out at those around us, not blaming them, but out of uncontrolled and unleashed frustration.

Instead of seeing every setback as just that, a set back to your progress toward your dreams, simply see them as a set up for your future successes!

Yes, I know, that one too is borrowed, after a fashion, from Joel Osteen too!

Forward Focus

I love my church, !Audacious Church, to bits!

This is an occasion where I will use the word "love" to describe how I feel, because of their vision and their commitment to seeing it come to pass. It challenges me to always be looking forward: -

To be a church that stops the traffic. Numerically so large that we transform:

Business

Education

Entertainment and sports

Family and healthcare

Media

Politics

Spirituality……One person at a time

That's the key part... "one person at a time" because it is showing that whilst our vision is big, we are thinking small as well by telling people that whichever of the seven gateways you work/live in, you can have the potential to impact it, just by being yourself!

Keep looking forward, no matter where you go, bro's!

Once we have let it sunk in that, like Jonah, we too are workmen and women approved as unto God, then the sky really is the limit... or not!

I want everyone to be encouraged by my broadcasts I am working on, and by these accompanying devotionals.

It doesn't matter if you have a different faith, or no specific faith to speak of, I just want to inspire you; to remind you that it's always worthy to have a higher calling to live for than just getting up, going to work, coming home, going to bed.

My only purpose is to inspire, bro's!

I hope that is happening as we press on into week 11, next week!

Peace out!