How can you build relationships with your co-workers so that you have an opportunity to share God’s love with them, tell them of your faith journey, and be a witness for Jesus on the job?

Here are the last two ways that we can share God’s love on the job.

9. Be ready to apologize when you need to.

My friend, Janet, says that the major difference between her and her co-workers who are not yet believers is that she apologizes more often! Well, being humble enough to apologize when you’re wrong is definitely a God-thing, and it really does go a long way to breaking down barriers and solving problems.

10. Build relationships with your co-workers by using lunchtime as an opportunity to talk.

It is not appropriate to use any significant amount of company time for personal conversations. But there is your lunch hour, and you can use that time for building relationships.

Let me tell you about my friend, Cynthia. Many years ago, she worked in a difficult environment, where she was not fully accepted as a co-equal, because she is African-American. She sensed this attitude, particularly on the part of one co-worker, who actually told her they could never be friends because of their ethic differences. But Cynthia determined by God’s grace to overcome those differences. So, she began what she called Project Love, and each week she invited one of her co-workers to have lunch with her. She even designed special invitations for them, and so one by one, she began Project Love. That began to break down those barriers as her co-workers got to know her and vice-versa. And the woman who declared they could never be friends—well, as it turns out, she has become a close friend and confidant of Cynthia’s, and even though they no longer work together, they stay in touch, and Cynthia gets birthday cards and greetings from her regularly.

Love works, my friends. Love will overcome, and if there are some difficult relationships where you work now, why don’t you ask God for your own Project Love idea, instead of giving up on those relationships.

Have you shared God’s love on the job lately? Sometimes it seems like the workplace is the last place we can talk about God or share our faith. Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians that they were “a letter from Christ. . . written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Corinthians 3:3). You can be the word of the living God, a letter of love from Jesus to the people you work with, when you take time to let God’s love shine through you. I’ve given you six ideas on how to do that already. Here are numbers 7 and 8:

7. Smile

Are you aware that your body language is louder than the words you speak? It’s true, and so we can send messages of love without saying a word. Smiling is surely one of the easiest and most effective ways to do that. All of us can smile; doesn’t cost a thing; doesn’t take any time. You just have to remember to do it.

Proverbs reminds us that, “A cheerful look brings joy to the heart. . .” (Proverbs 15:30). So, why don’t we work harder at smiling more? I’m not advocating phony, insincere smiles, but many of us just have to work at smiling more. We feel smiles on the inside, but don’t show them on our faces. That’s my problem, I know, so I really try to remember to smile more. Some of you were born with smiles on your face, so it comes easy for you. But some of us have to remember to smile, because it brings joy to the heart, and it shares a little of God’s love with others.

8. Do the “dirty work” sometimes, even if it’s not your job.

There are always those things that need to be done in a workplace environment that nobody really wants to do. They aren’t in anyone’s job description. Things like cleaning the kitchen or making the coffee; cleaning up after a meeting or tidying up the general work area. In smaller workplaces, it might be things like taking out the trash or taking the mail to the post office.

If you just do those things occasionally, without being asked and without grumbling, it would be a good way to show a loving, caring attitude toward the people you work with and for.

Too often we think that the only way we can witness for Jesus is through the words we say—quoting Scripture or giving our testimony or explaining the four spiritual laws. And frankly, there are not many opportunities in any given day to do that. But there are countless ways to show the love of God through our actions and our attitudes. But we have to make a decision to be intentional about it.

I’m offering ten suggestions for sharing God’s love where you work. Here are suggestions five and six:

5. Help others with their workload when you can.

Maybe you have an assistant who helps you, and you know she or he is just overloaded with work at the moment. If you said, “Hey, I can stay an extra hour tonight and help get that done,” don’t you think that could really be an effective way to communicate God’s love? Or maybe you know that a co-worker is struggling with a certain assignment, doesn’t know how to get started. If you’ve got some experience or expertise that would help them, just stop what you’re doing and help them out.

Obviously, you have your own work to do, which cannot be neglected, but for sure there are times when stopping to help someone else is just the right, thoughtful thing to do.

6. Look for opportunities to congratulate and compliment people any time you can.

Think about it: aren’t there times in the day when you think something nice about someone but you don’t express it? I try to make myself verbalize the compliments I think. For example, if I like the outfit someone is wearing, and think, “That looks nice on her,” then why not say it to her. If I think, “He did a great job on that,” why not say it. I think we would be more encouraging to others if we simply determined to verbalize the compliments we think.

Also, look for ways to congratulate people on any accomplishment possible. “You lost five pounds? Wow, good job.” “I noticed you stayed late last night and finished that job. Thanks.” “Your daughter made a 3.8 on her grades this semester? Terrific!”

There are so many little things we can do in any given day to show love and concern for others, to demonstrate that we are thinking about someone beside ourselves. We live in a world that is pretty self-centered, but as servants of Jesus Christ, we are called to “look not only to your own interest, but also to the interests of others,” as we read in Philippians 2:4.

These things we can do because we have the motivation of God’s Spirit within us, and the power he imparts to us, and believe me, God’s love will be felt as we intentionally seeks ways to share God’s love on our jobs.

Have you ever had an opportunity to preach the gospel where you work? If you are in a secular workplace, I seriously doubt it! So, then, how can a Christian effectively share God’s love where they work? I’m sharing ten suggestions that all of us can do as a way to become the Bible that people read, the living Word of God on our jobs. Here are suggestions three and four:

3. Go through your schedule for each day and pray for the people you know you will interact with.

I know that many of you are facing added stress and pressure on your jobs these days. Seems like there’s more workload for fewer people, and I hear from many of you that you’re expected to do more than you can get done in a day’s time. This kind of environment can easily cause interpersonal problems with co-workers.

So, pray in advance for the people you will interact with. Remember, no one is in your life by accident, so even that difficult co-worker can be changed by God’s love. Ask God to give you wisdom in how best to deal with the difficult people on your job. Ask him to help you see them the way he sees them, and to give you a loving attitude toward them. Remember, you don’t have to like someone to show them God’s love.

You could easily do this as you commute to work. Make it a daily practice to pray through your day before it starts, and you will discover that God supplies strength and ideas and help to get you through the day with a loving and kind attitude toward the people you encounter.

4. Plan acts of kindness.

In 2 Timothy 2:24 we read, “And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.” If you are a servant of Jesus Christ, your calling is to be kind to everyone—everyone! I think we have to remember to be kind, don’t you? I mean, you can just get so busy, trying to do your job and keep all your balls in the air, that you forget to do the kind things that matter to people. Here are two easy suggestions:

Send cards at appropriate times. You could find out the birth dates of your co-workers, put them on your calendar, and then simply send a birthday card, even an email card would be fine.

Celebrate significant events in the lives of co-workers—like promotions, or graduations, or marriages and anniversaries. It doesn’t take much effort to bring in some goodies and have a small celebration, and it truly is meaningful. But you have to plan those acts of kindness and be intentional about them.

If you go to a secular workplace every day, you may wonder what in the world you can do in that kind of environment to share your faith in Jesus Christ, to really have an impact for the gospel. Well, I’m going to give you ten suggestions for sharing God’s love where you work.

Set aside a certain time each day or week to pray for your workplace.

I have discovered that many Christians don’t really pray for their workplace. I think sometimes we separate our “secular jobs” from our spiritual life, as though the two have nothing in common. But for a Christian, everything should be sacred. We should all see ourselves in “full time Christian work,” and so our workplaces are, in effect, our mission field.

What is the best way to pray for your workplace? Well, first, pray for those in authority, for your relationship with them, for wisdom as they make decisions. Then pray for the success of the business, that God will bless the efforts of those working there. Pray for the morale of the workers, that there will be good working relationships, a good team atmosphere, conducive to good work. And then pray for whatever distressing or troubling situations you are experiencing. For example, if the company is experiencing a difficult economic situation, pray for new business, for creative marketing ideas and so forth.

I would encourage you to set aside a specific time to pray for your workplace, maybe on Mondays, so that you have this programmed into your schedule and you don’t overlook it.

Take prayer walks through your company/organization/building.

Now, this is a clandestine kind of prayer, not one you advertise or talk about. But it’s easy to do. Just take a lunch hour, say once a week, and walk through your company, up and down the various hallways and floors, inconspicuously, and quietly pray for each person and department as you walk by their office or place of work. Or if it’s a small workplace, you might walk around the building. Perhaps you might do this before work one day, when not too many people are around. This is a really effective way to remember to pray for the people in your company or department or division.

So, here are two things any of us can and should do to bring God’s love to our workplace. I truly believe you will be amazed to see how prayer can change things where you work.

This title about dancing in the rain caught my attention when I read this: “Life’s not about waiting for the storm to pass… it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” There’s a lot of truth in that statement.

You know, none of us is exempt from storms; and in fact, God sends and allows storms in our lives to be used for good. In Acts 27 we read about a storm that came upon Paul as he was sailing to Rome. Paul was a prisoner; he had no authority or freedom. But there he was. And don’t miss this: He was in that storm because God was sending him where God wanted him to be—to Rome. This storm did not catch God by surprise. God didn’t look down from heaven and say, “Oh, my goodness, what is happening to Paul? How in the world did he get himself in such a mess?”

No, Paul was in that storm because he was doing God’s will. He was a prisoner because he was preaching the gospel. You remember after Jesus had fed the five thousand, he told the disciples to get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. They did what Jesus told them to do and guess what happened: They found themselves in the midst of a storm. Another time they followed him onto a boat, and he went to sleep, but without warning a furious storm came up on the lake. A storm on the lake and Jesus was in the boat!

In all of these situations, Paul and the disciples were doing exactly what Jesus told them to do, and then they found themselves in the midst of terrible storms. If anyone tries to tell you that a Christian is exempt from storms, they are not telling you the truth! Nothing in Scripture would validate that belief. In fact, just the opposite. Peter writes:

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed (1 Peter 4:12-13).

Your storm has not taken God by surprise. But what does it mean to “dance in the rain”? The bottom line is, it means to have a grateful and thankful heart, no matter what your circumstances. The Bible says to “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). And again, it tells us to “always give thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20). We are to give thanks in our storms and for our storms. That is what it means to dance in the rain.

You may be thinking, “Do you really expect me to thank God for being laid off, or getting a bad report from my doctor, or losing someone close to me, or watching my grown child stray far from God?” Well, I recognize that seems difficult if not impossible, but those are not my instructions or my idea. It is the inspired Word of God to us—to give thanks in and for everything.

I think of a dear friend who lost his eyesight in mid-life. He went through some tough days when he learned he would eventually go blind, but he will tell you now that it is one of the best things that ever happened to him. Not that he likes being blind, but he has become such an amazing man of God because that blindness has driven him to love and trust God more.

Learning to give thanks in and for everything just comes down to simple obedience—doing what God says to do even though you don’t want to, even when your heart is not in it. Maybe that’s what it means to give a “sacrifice of praise,” to thank and praise God when it just doesn’t make sense! I know God will honor that obedience.

James 1:2-4 says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

(Presented by Lisa Bishop)

The Apostle Paul penned in Philippians this about contentment: “I can do all things through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).

To achieve contentment Paul knew he needed the strength of Christ. To achieve contentment, you and I need the strength of Christ. But our natural inclination is often not to make Jesus our go to. In our humanness we forget we have God’s strength and the power of his Holy Spirit to help us. We neglect to delight ourselves in the Lord.

The concept of delighting in God is closely connected with intimacy with God. A desire for more of his presence. A depth of relationship where we want to know Jesus more, experience him more, worship him more, converse with him more, and find growing freedom in him. This requires making time to be with God. Daily being in his Word, in prayer and simply being still and delighting in his presence. This also reminds me of John 15:5,

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

Remain in God. Abide in Jesus. And in every situation believe and remember that your secret to contentment is calling on Jesus who gives you the strength to be content and to be truly satisfied in him.

This side of heaven you will battle with discontentment. It will never go away, and you will never be fully satisfied until you are in heaven with Jesus. But it is possible and a necessity that you pursue contentment in Jesus while on earth. There is great satisfaction to be found in Christ. God wants you to experience joy, gratitude and inner peace in the here and now. Just remember, it will take an earnest attempt on your part, and intention to delight yourself in him.

(Presented by Lisa Bishop)

What do you do when life is not going the way you planned? When you feel disappointed, uncertain, or unsettled?

We are taking a deep dive into contentment and how you can have more of it in your life, no matter your circumstances. If I have learned anything about contentment, cultivating it takes effort and it is something that you learn by intentionally pursuing it, consistently over time. It’s an inward state of satisfaction that comes from trusting God with your life even when circumstances look dim.

If I am not careful, I can quickly find myself in a state of discontentment when my life is not going the way I envisioned. When a prayer I feel like I have prayed for years still goes unanswered. When I am uncertain, fearful and anxious about what the future holds, my emotions can be easily swayed to dissatisfaction and can drive me to seek fulfillment in ways that are not healthy or helpful.

Where are you finding it difficult to be content? Think about it. What area of your life has not gone the way that you dreamed? When you come face to face with life’s disappointments, detours, or delays, where or what do you turn to?

We can be tempted to try and numb ourselves and dull the discontent. You may turn to food, busyness, binging on Netflix. Maybe you turn to sex, pornography, alcohol or marijuana and other drugs. In an effort to dismiss the ache of an unmet longing we turn to idols to give us comfort even though we know that our idols never satisfy. Yet in the long moments of our lack of contentment, our flesh, our compulsion leads us to chase after worthless things.

In Psalm 119:37, David knew his tendency to let his flesh rule in challenging circumstances. And when tempted and pressed in on every side, he cries out to the Lord, “Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.” The Passion Translation says, “Help me turn my eyes away from illusions.”

Idols are illusions. The things you turn to in your impatience or frustration may give a sense of temporary relief but will ultimately wreck you.

When you are tempted to seek idols for comfort, turn. Turn your eyes away from the idol and towards God and ask him to help you. You need to override your desire to self-medicate and turn your eyes to Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith.

Ditch your idols, make a habit of turning to God, and contentment will be produced in you.

(Presented by Lisa Bishop)

Would you say you gravitate towards grumbling or gratitude?

We don’t have to read very far in the Bible to see numerous examples in the Old Testament where grumbling was rampant, and gratitude was severely lacking. The Israelites rarely seemed to be content and when they were it lasted a hot minute before they were back to their complaining ways. They give examples of what it looks like and sounds like to forget God’s faithfulness. To fail to remember all of the ways he has, is and will provide for your daily needs. All too often it’s easy to be tempted to measure your gratitude against the backdrop of what you want rather than trusting God sees the bigger picture and will never deny you of what you actually need.

In Exodus 16 we see the Israelites are in their sixth week of wandering in the wilderness after the Lord has just delivered them from over 400 years of slavery. As they enter the wilderness it also begins a cycle of crisis, grumbling, God’s provision, gratitude. Now let’s be honest, I don’t know if you or I would have acted much differently with our lack of gratitude but what I don’t want us to miss is that the wilderness is a training ground to mature in Christ, to grow in our ability to see God’s provision even in hard circumstances and to learn to trust him.

In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death” (Exodus 16:2-3).

After they complain, God responds by providing for their needs. They are grateful for a short time but quickly have gratitude amnesia and the cycle of grumbling begins again. It’s a recurring pattern not only for the Israelites, but for our spiritual lives as well.

When you are facing challenging circumstances, it can be easy to focus on what you do not have and to forget what there is to be grateful for. Here’s a challenge for you. Write a list of ten things you are grateful for. Nothing is too small. Thank God for them. Learn to be content as you practice turning your grumbling into gratitude.

(Presented by Lisa Bishop)

Denying yourself is a gateway to a contented life.

The Apostle Paul says this, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (Philippians 4:12).

When Paul uses the word “know” he means, “to know how, to be skilled in.” Paul had more than head knowledge of what contentment meant. He felt the pain and the reward of practicing contentment. As a reminder, Paul was writing this letter to the church while he was in prison and you can assume the circumstances were not pretty. Paul could not come and go as he pleased, order Chinese food and have it delivered through Grub Hub or get his favorite movies on demand. When Paul says he has learned contentment, in the middle of a prison cell, in the midst of lack and plenty, I think it had something to do with the discipline of denying himself. Not having what he wanted when he wanted it.

If you are so accustomed to having your way you will be hard pressed to maintain inward satisfaction when your circumstances are less than desirable. I feel entitled to a comfortable life sometimes. A life free of hardship, difficult coworkers, drained finances, and messy relationships. How about you? This is where Paul’s example of knowing contentment whether in need or in plenty is so important for you to embrace in your own life and this is where denying yourself comes in. Knowing what it feels like to be in want and be okay!

One way of denying yourself is through practicing the spiritual discipline of fasting. Typically, it is fasting from food for a day, or two, or three. Or, fasting from a meal on any given day. Denying ourselves of food, the source of comfort and pleasure can be the fastest way to experience self-denial. When that “hangry” state or those hunger pains kick in, we direct our attention to Jesus, the only one who satisfies and we begin to experience Paul’s teaching for ourselves.

“I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (Philippians 4:12b).

Our appetites for more are what lead to disgruntlement and dissatisfaction. Learn to discipline yourself with self-denial. Embrace your circumstances and trust God to provide in them.