The Master You Are Serving is Christ

The Master You Are Serving is Christ

by rebekahbeene

This week was set aside in the U.S. to honor secretaries and administrative professionals in their jobs. For having been one of those professionals for over 20 years I can tell you it’s an interesting place of service. More than any other secular job, I truly believe that secretaries must have a servant’s heart. The value of one who does the behind the scenes work is often underrated and overlooked.  All who work should be considered professionals for it is their profession after all. Whether you are paid or volunteer the job can be done in a professional manner. If you have others who work for you I hope that you thanked them for things you see and things you probably don’t see. If you are one of these clerical assistants I hope that you know how valuable you truly are.

Although I enjoy flowers, gifts and accolades like everyone else, I find that in many areas of my life God is showing me that when I am totally hidden in Him it doesn’t matter who thanks me or what honors I get.  What I have to do then is make a decision, every single day, to hide myself – in His love, in His Word and in His presence. This is where I find the greatest peace, even when things are going wild around me. I also find that it is only when I acknowledge God as my final judge of workmanship that I feel complete.

God wants you to know that you are valued. Whether you work outside the home or whether you are a volunteer, your work is important to the Kingdom of God because you are His child. You are valued because of His great love for you. In the natural God would give you flowers every single day. He would say thank you often and He would lavish gifts at every turn. In the Spiritual however, it is oh so much more wonderful!  He lavishes His Agape love on you like heavenly ointment. He showers His grace and mercy on you beyond your wildest dreams. He gifts you daily with peace, joy, contentment, wisdom, power and more.

God also wants you to know that when your life is hidden in Him you will find real success in your work, your family, your church and your ministry. God wants to be first and foremost in your life so that everything else will fall into place neatly and without turmoil. Don’t file Him away as an afterthought. He will lead you into the most wonderful career you’ve ever known – that of a blood bought priceless believer!

Oh beloved, you may be in a hard place right now, whether at home or at work. It may not be very rewarding these days. Not all situations are good. You may feel cast off, insignificant, distanced and unappreciated. You may feel as though no one cares about you or recognizes your real value, whether you are at work or at home.  God does. He loves you and He’s for you. Really, that’s all that matters as you work heartily for the Lord and live in the light of His glory and grace.

“Lord, we know you love us with an everlasting love. But sometimes we just want to hear the words that we are appreciated in our sphere of the world. Remind us often that when we come to the end of our days the greatest compliment we’ll ever have is ‘Well done good and faithful servant.’  Forgive us for complaining when we feel left out or unappreciated. We love you Lord and we give our whole life fresh and new to You, including our daily lives, our jobs and areas of service You have ordained for us. In Jesus’ Precious Name…Amen”

Colossians 3:23-24 Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.  Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.

Proverbs 16:3 Commit your works to the Lord and your plans will be established. (NAS)

Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Psalm 90:17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; and confirm for us the work of our hands; Yes, confirm the work of our hands. ( NAS)

God Will Keep You Always

We love all the Toy Story movies. We see that Woody goes through a lot in each of the movies. Each movie showcases troubles that the toy Woody gets into. His owner Andy went away to college and he was boxed up and accidentally given away. Woody feels pretty bad about it all and is convinced that he meant much more to Andy than how it appears to be. Still Andy is gone and Woody is given away. Woody feels rejected and even though he wanted to stand with Andy forever, it’s over. Or so it seems. Watching to the end of the movies, each and every time we see how things turn out right for Woody, even when he’s in the hands of treachery and thievery. We applaud the good ending and rejoice with the toys.

I know there are times when we all feel like castaways. We may know that we were right where we belonged. We were doing a good job, just like Woody did a good job of being a toy for Andy. Yet things happen. While we are willing to go for the long haul, there are times when the worst happens. We get boxed up and sat to the curb. It’s then that we wonder what we are going to do. We feel alone, left out, and useless. We didn’t want it to happen but it did just the same.

Toy Story is just a movie, but the fact is we belong to Someone. We have given our heart and soul to the Lord and we pour our lives into where God has put us. Wherever we are, we are meant to sow as unto the Lord and we know that it’s from God we receive that reward. We can trust that the One who wrote our life story has not written finished, done or “the end”, for we are alive and looking for God to call us on to higher things. We can rejoice that whenever one door is closed, God most certainly has better plans for you. No one who is alive and breathing and belongs to God is useless. There may be a time of waiting for God to open that next door, but we must never give in to dismay or discouragement. This is the time to spruce ourselves up in Christ for the next big event.

Oh beloved, God knows your heart. He hears your cries of pain as someone invariably has put you out on the curb. They do not know God’s heart for you. All they can know is their perspective. But you can trust God, no matter what. You will never be called a castaway by God. And just like the ending to the children’s movie, the ending to God’s story of you is good. God promises to promote you beyond your own present situation, when you stay close to Him and rejoice in His truths. Don’t let yourself be sold out because of the current circumstances you may be in. You are priceless to God, and He will keep you safe all the way to heaven. Now is the time to get into the Word, get on your knees and get even closer to God. Your faith is your greatest ally and the Lord is your comforter. Keep watching, keep praying, keep forgiving and keep looking to the Lord for His response.

You’ll never lose out as long as you walk with Him. God is writing your story and you are In Christ. So the story of your walk with Him is written with great purpose and continuing plans of good and not evil. Nothing else matters as long as you realize that God loves you and He’s for you and His plan for you will be fulfilled.

Psalm 27:10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me, But the Lord will take me up.

Isaiah 54:6 “For the Lord has called you, like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even like a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,” Says your God.

Philippians 1:6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

Psalm 57:2 I cry out to God Most High, to God who will fulfill His purpose for me.

Psalm 40:5 O Lord my God, you have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all Your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them.

Is that Your Father Calling You?

Observing three small grandchildren across the street I see that they often have a hearing problem. They don’t hear their mother when she calls them to supper, calls them to come in or calls them to get back in their own yard. It seems that the ability to hear is closely tied to the enjoyment they are having at the time they are called.  Playing in the creek or over at the neighbor’s house finds them totally deaf!

Then there’s the bone structure problems they have. No kidding! Call them home and they go limp and can barely walk. Tell them they can’t have ice cream till after supper and they almost crawl away from the refrigerator, arms hanging limply in front of them and their heads bent nearly to their chests.

Of course as people grow up they begin to respond much quicker to instruction and don’t display the skeletal problems children so often do.  I mean we’re grownups, so we are quick to obey and walk away from things without giving it a second thought. Right?

God speaks to my heart. It’s pretty easy to ignore God’s voice. We find ourselves in complete abandon to something we enjoy and He speaks softly into our hearts, “Come back to Me”, we flick a hand at our ear and go right back to our fun.  We lose our temper and stay mad and we hear “something” like “really is that the way you should behave?” and we want the anger more than the obedience.  We may feel our hearts being tugged to missionary work, changing jobs, checking on a neighbor, giving an extra dollar. The list goes on. We weigh the situation and often find that we’d just rather not listen to the still small voice trying to woo us to obedience.

We forget that obedience garners reward. Oh not always immediately, but reward does come for those who obey God’s still small voice. There’s punishment for the disobedient as well. Now children usually get grounded or get a spanking for their disobedience. But we believers are punished much worse I do believe. Because eventually we’re going to feel the Holy Spirit’s sting of conviction. We’re going to come to ourselves and realize we’ve messed up. And then we run home to the Father asking His forgiveness and praying that we haven’t lost complete touch with Him.

Just like a child must be trained to walk in obedience to their parents, we believers must train ourselves to walk in obedience to our Heavenly Father. We’re born again, we belong to the Family of God, but we have to learn to “act like it”. We have to train ourselves to listen for God’s voice and quickly follow, quickly answer, quickly respond.  I am still learning to hear Him, how about you?

Oh beloved, what a blessed child of God you are! Not only were you placed into an earthly family, with teaching, learning and growing, you were placed in God’s family! You have a Father who loves you unconditionally, the Son who obeyed all the way to the Cross for your disobedience and the Holy Spirit who keeps you able to listen to God the rest of your lives!  God knows the problems you encounter every day. There are so many things that would steal your joy, steal your heart and cause you to go deaf! But if you will trust the Lord and train yourself to listen to Him, you will find increased strength, increased stamina and multiplied joy and blessings! If you’ve found yourself in the wilderness of disobedience and you’ve quit hearing anything, today is your day to return Home to the Father! He is waiting outside your heart’s door to take you in immediately! He’s been searching for you as though you were a lost child out of earshot. He’s been calling you to repentance, which simply put is turning from your own desires to return to His fellowship!

Oh beloved, run to His Word this morning and hear Him speak: “I love you and I AM for you and that’s what you always need to remember to love Me, obey Me and live for Me alone”.

1 Samuel 15:22 Samuel said, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.

James 1:25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

Isaiah 30:21 Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.

Psalm 86:11 Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.