iWork4Him PowerThought

Martha: Welcome to the iWork4Him Power thought for the day, we are Jim and Martha Brangenberg with iWork4Him    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 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...

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 w...

Our God is a God of order. Look at His creation. In our bodies, every heartbeat and breath works with a thousand other systems to maintain life in every fiber of our being. The chemical balance within the kidney is precisely controlled, the fluid pressure in every cell is maintained , and our sleep tonight will initiate a series of brainwaves that defy even the experts to explain their purpose, rh...

We live in the midst of a non-stop world. Our responsibilities at home and work fill our thoughts the instant we wake up, then run with us throughout the day. Our jobs, meetings, phones, TV, personal trials and temptations are relentless, noisy invaders that drive us all our waking hours. The result – we can't hear God in our life, not enough anyway .  Would you recognize the Lord's soft voice if...

Do you act differently around your pastor than you do around your family or friends ?  Most people do – even those who don't go to church.  We feel like we have to be on our best behavior.   We can't be our authentic selves .  On the other hand, how do coworkers act around each other ?  It's usually easier to speak freely with the people we work with, especially if we've taken time to invest in a...

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...

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 th...

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...

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...

Jim: Welcome to the iWork4Him Power thought for the day, we are Jim and Martha Brangenberg with 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....

This week we paid special attention to you , the everyday workplace believer, and your role in bringing God's Kingdom here to earth .  Just because you're not a pulpit pastor or a foreign missionary doesn't mean that you're not in full-time ministry .  Your workplace is your mission field !  You might be the only representative of Jesus that your coworker, vendor, supervisor, or client ever comes...

At some point in our lives, most of us have had at least one job that made us pretty miserable.   And even if you haven't , we all have days when we don't feel like clocking in .  When we don't want to be at our job, it shows .  Our coworkers notice .  Our vendors notice .  Our customers usually notice .  What kind of testimony are we displaying at work ?  I'll remind you of one of our favorite ve...

Modern church culture emphasizes the importance and prestige of working in full-time ministry as a pastor, foreign missionary, or the like .  But here at iWork4Him, we want to help resurrect the original idea behind the idea of ministry .  There's a theological misunderstanding that the top jobs in the Kingdom are missionary and pastor, but that's simply not true !  There are no tiers in the kingd...

Perhaps the single most devastating sentence I ever hear is this "I have decided to quit my job and go into full-time Ministry." Ugh…This one sentence describes the condition of the hearts and minds of millions of Christians. It is a misunderstanding that STOPS TODAY. You don't need to quit your job to go into full-time ministry. You are already a full time fully funded, fully trained missionary....

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...

When Jim came home one day and said, I think we should hire a prayer intercessor for iWork4Him, I didn't know what to think . We had heard from and interviewed business leaders and organization leaders from around the country with prayer intercessors on their staff. I thought it was powerful, but  I had never considered that someone should be paid to pray. We pay people to do all kinds of other th...

I grew up in a household where faith and work were lived out daily. My mom and my dad prayed over their business all the time. So it wasn't new for me to see a connection between faith and work and prayer when Jim and I got married. However, we had never been discipled to understand the relationship between faith and work. I saw it lived out in my dad' s and my mom' s lives, but JIM had never seen...

We haven't been taught to take advantage of the power of praying while working. I'm here to tell you today that it makes a difference. That it changes things. That it will revolutionize decision-making in your work. Whether you're the organization's overall leader or anywhere on the organizational chart, prayer can impact everything you do. Praying with others at work is also powerful. As we finis...

I have to be honest with you. I never thought prayer and work had anything to do with each other. I'm guessing I'm not alone. Prayer seemed like the kind of thing you did at church and around a meal at home, but in a business meeting or around the conference table? Not a chance. I never thought prayer would become an active part of my work life. But that's been part of the transformation process i...

What do you do when you're faced with a problem at work? If you're like me, you probably go about trying to find a solution, usually starting with Google !  We met and interviewed a remarkable woman named Susan. She went to God first, not google. She asked HIM for the answer to the problem. And kept praying in earnest expectation until He answered .  She said to us "God has the answer to every pro...

Do you need to be removed ?  Sometimes, we start something and think we are supposed to stay in it, lead it, and serve it. And, we stay IN IT…sometimes too long. We no longer seek the Lord's counsel about IF we should still BE where He placed us. Sometimes He just wants us to START something, sometimes He wants us to "help get it off the ground ", NOT stay and lead it or serve it. Sometimes, the B...

Life - work balance. How many of us have fallen for that myth and tried to make it happen ?  Only to fail over and over…a business coach we interviewed has a better concept. How about living an INTEGRATED LIFE ?  One that brings Christ into each aspect of our life and work, so that we are putting The Lord, not our futile "balance" efforts, first .  So how about you ?  Are you ready to live ONE INT...

Culture. Webster's defines it in the corporate realm as: the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization. How aware are YOU of YOUR COMPANY'S culture? When's the last time you really stopped and took a look at it?   How does it align with your OWN personal values as a Christ follower? And if you're a leader, what are you doing to ensure y...

When's the last time you were UNCOMFORTABLE, OR PUT YOURSELF IN A POSITION TO BE UNCOMFORTABLE in your work? Discomfort = growth, and comfort = stagnation. The people doing the most growing are the ones that submit to spiritual and personal growth, like having a group of fellow Christ followers, who challenge them and hold them accountable, in their professional life, their leadership and business...