iWork4Him PowerThought

You are a missionary. Mission work takes time. For many of you, you have trained for this mission, Sunday after Sunday for decades. You have studied daily for thousands of combined hours. You have worn your carpet thin with hours of interactive training with our Father. You have a calling and a gifting, and they have been combined to provide a career as a fully funded missionary. You have worked years developing a reputation of integrity and excellence. You have displayed love and understanding in a workplace where forgiveness is rare and kind words, well…not so much. You can speak the language now. You know those who are hurting most. You want those you work with to experience His love. The time you have invested in preparing the fields ripe for harvest is well spent. Begin the harvest now.

You are a missionary. You are ready for this assignment. You are equipped with the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit inside of you, giving you access to all the power of God. You have been dispatched to your workplace on purpose because lost and hopeless people there need to meet Jesus. Because you work there, you understand the culture and the tasks at hand. You know the daily stresses and the victory of a well-served client. The person next to you in the pew and the person at the pulpit don't have the same advantage that you do in reaching the lost in your work. You are a light in a world dominated by people cloaked in darkness. You have trained for this. You are ready. Matt 5:16 says, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

You are a missionary. You know how I know? You are on a mission field in your workplace with lost and hopeless people who speak a different language than most people around you. Most of those around you speak in terms of hurt and disappointment. You speak a message fueled by love, forgiveness, and hope. Every day you talk with people, work with people and interact with people who have never heard the truth of the Gospel - the Good News about Jesus. They have a jaded idea about Jesus and the Bible and about church people, but most have NEVER read a single word Jesus spoke. They have never experienced the power of those transformational words. You are the bridge of hope to those you work with. Speak that truth today.

You are a missionary. You are on a mission. Your Workplace is your mission field. Jesus said in Matthew 28:19 & 20 - Now wherever you go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And teach them to faithfully follow all that I have commanded you. And never forget that I am with you every day, even to the completion of this age." There is no question about calling – we are all called to go – wherever that is. You are a missionary to the largest unreached people group in America – Workplace Pre-Believers. Let that settle in. Lost and hopeless people surround you with an unending emptiness. Be Jesus to them today. Let your transformed life impact everything you do, and share Jesus with those you work with as you go.

• Jim: During your commute today, whether its walking down the hallway or driving down the highway, what will you think about?

• Martha: Will you be caught up in the stress of the day or will you be preparing your heart for what God is going to do today, alongside you in your work?

• Jim: God set the workplace standard before evil entered our world. He gave Adam a job to name all the animals. An almost impossible task, except that God brought all the animals to him.

• Martha: You see, God doesn't expect us to get the job done without helping us.

• Jim: What if today, on your "way" to work, you spend that time asking God to reveal His purpose in your work and your placement in your workplace. Neither are by accident.

• Martha: How we spend our first moments of the day makes a huge impact on the rest of the day, especially our work. Spend your "commute" wisely today.

• Jim: For more about iWork4Him and the iWork4Him podcast, go to iWork4Him dot com. That's iWork the number 4 Him dot com.

In praying for those I worked with, serving them above what my job required me to do and in developing real relationships with them outside of "Work", I began to notice when their demeanor changed and they were having a bad day. I learned to ask, "How are you doing today?" I really wanted to know the answer. They would respond with "I'm Fine", then I would respond, really? Freaked out, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional? Really, how are you doing? Then I would be quiet and let them share what was really going on because they knew I genuinely cared. When they were done sharing, I learned to say, "Thanks for sharing that with me, can I pray about that with you right now?" I never got turned down. Mind you this took a couple of years to develop but you can do it too. You can start by simply asking "How are you doing today?"

God taught me how to shift the paradigm of work into a place of work interlaced with ministry, a workplace mission field. I prayed for those I worked with, I served them over and above, I befriended them, and I prayed with them. But I realized, none of these actions mattered if my work wasn't excellent. If I wasn't a great employee, with great work production, and great work relationships, no one would care about my faith. Others needed to see that my faith was real and that it applied to all of my life. Excellence needs to define who we are at work. Looking back, I made mistakes but I prayed with tons of people, made lifelong friends and even participated in leading one of my bosses to Jesus and another to rededication. iWork4Him was born out of this story, can you say iwork4Him?

• Martha: When Jim & I were 13 we committed our lives to full-time Christian Ministry. So naturally I thought I would be a pastor's wife or a missionary.

• Jim: I thought I was going to be a youth pastor.

• Martha: When we got married, I naturally thought that ministry was in our future.

• Jim: Martha was right about that. But we were both wrong about the location of our ministry. We kept thinking we were headed for church ministry.

• Martha: But Jim and I are both good at business and we ran an insurance agency. We didn't know our ministry was right there in front of us. We treated people well.

• Jim: But we never saw it as a ministry. In fact, no one ever spoke into our lives that we could have a ministry in our workplace.

• Martha: But we were in ministry and our workplace ministry calling perfectly matched our God given gifts, talents, and abilities.

• Jim: So, are you committed to full-time Christian Ministry? You'll find it at your workplace today!

• Martha: For more about iWork4Him and the iWork4Him podcast, go to iWork4Him dot com. That's iWork the number 4 Him dot com.

In 2006 I started a new job commuting 90 miles each way to work. I made a commitment to not turn on the radio on my way into work. I wanted to dedicate that time to pray for my family, my bosses and their families, my co-workers, and my employees. I learned to be quiet and I learned to make notes when I heard things from the Lord in my prayer time. I like to say that it Changed my life. Over the 4 years of this commute, I watched one of my Bosses come to be a Jesus follower and one rededicate his life to Christ. I was able to pray many times with my employees and I was able to demonstrate through service and friendship that my life was changed by Jesus. iWork4Him was launched through this prayer time and the iWork4Him Nation Covenant was birthed out of the process God took me through.

During my morning commute to my new job, I began praying for the people I worked with and then serving them above what I was required to do but I knew that more was needed to shift my faith paradigm at work. I needed to really know these people I worked with. My wife and I started creating ways to get to know people outside of work to develop real relationships. We had people over for dinner, we went out after work, and ate lunch together. My intention was to know more about them as individuals, not just co-workers. I learned their spouses' names, their kids' names. I learned what bothered them and what encouraged them. At the same time, I let them know who I was. I shared about my family, my dreams, my struggles. We just shared life. I started to see the real people I worked with. Do you know your co-workers personally?