iWork4Him PowerThought

God loves our work! Why? I'll give you a hint – it's not because He's a workaholic. It's because work is an opportunity for God to partner with us for the salvation of souls! When we head to our jobs each day, we have an opportunity to not only make a paycheck but to engage in Kingdom purposes! 2 Corinthians 5:20 says, " So we are Christ's Ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak...

1 Corinthians 12:27 says, "All of you together are Christ's body, and each of you is a part of it." I love it when the Apostle Paul talks about all the different parts of the body of Christ because so often, we get caught up in comparing ourselves to someone who was designed to function differently. But the truth is, no matter which part of the body of Christ you are, you are essential, and your r...

Why do you go to work? Something gets you out of bed and on the clock. Is it for a paycheck, to get experience, or to feel like you're making a difference? All of us have a reason. If you paused and assessed yours, what would the answer be? For nine years we have opened the iWork4Him radio show and podcast by asking: Who do you work for, really ? This simple question gets at the heart of the matte...

Have you ever had a coworker who seems to get all the breaks and suddenly, the green-eyed monster of envy rears its ugly head? Envy is birthed out of comparing our lives to someone else's and being dissatisfied with the difference. But here's the thing: comparison is a dangerous game. When you become preoccupied with watching someone else's life, you miss the things that God wants to do in your li...

Have you ever heard the old adage , " you have two ears and one mouth, so you should listen twice as much as you speak? " Well, it's true! Nobody likes to be run over with somebody else's words! James 1:19 says it this way, " Everyone should be quick to listen and slow to speak." What is your speaking to listening ratio? Do you tend to overrun the conversation, or do you wait to hear what other pe...

God is up to something. He is not idly sitting by up in the Heavens, uninterested and uncaring about the matters of earth. He is intimately involved . Luke 12:7 says that "He even counts every hair on your head!" And as if it isn't already crazy enough that the Lord of All cares about our day-to-day lives, He doesn't stop there. He asks us to join Him in His work! Let me say that again: the Maker...

We live in a busy world. If we aren't in a meeting, or working on a project, or going to an appointment – we are looking at our phones, or answering emails, or hopping on a video conference. Technology has made work accessible ALL. THE. TIME. Not just from nine to five. But as Mahatma Gandhi once said, " there is more to life than increasing its speed." So, how about you? Are you running so fast t...

When you have a major decision to make or a faced with a "fork in the road" in your career, whose opinion do you seek out first? Do you ask your friends? Your partner? Do you make a list of pros and cons? Do you just avoid it? Although we've all probably done each of these things, there is a BETTER way: ask the one who already knows everything about your past, present, and future. When we get on o...

Jesus gave His followers a clear mission: to make disciples of all nations. But in order to fulfill this mission, we cannot be focused only on our personal gain. Rather, we must constantly be pouring into and raising up those around us. In the book She Works His Way, Michelle Myers writes, "Limiting your kingdom impact to what you can do marginalizes the legacy it's possible to leave behind. Make...

If I had one hundred dollars for every time someone said, "I want my life to have a purpose, so I am thinking about quitting my job to go work in a church or Christian nonprofit" I would be a very, very rich man. There is a myth that has been circulating through theological communities for decades : that in order to have a Kingdom impact, you have to work in a four-walls church, a ministry, or a f...

How do you define success? Being promoted? Achieving a certain number of social media followers? Reaching a particular income level? Well, Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines it simply as, " a favorable or desired outcome." Take a moment today and consider how God's desired outcome looks different than the world's . In Matthew 22, Jesus tells a lawyer there are two main things we should desire in...

It's Holy Week – the week leading up to Easter. And today, Friday, is when Jesus was crucified. Traditionally, we call this day Good Friday, and it has often been observed as a time of sorrow, repentance, and fasting in the Church. Accordingly, I always thought the name "Good Friday" was a weird choice. "Bad Friday" seemed more fitting for the day Jesus died. And that would be true – if not for th...

It's Holy Week – the week leading up to Easter. Thursday marked the Passover Feast in Jerusalem, and Jesus met with the disciples in the upper room for a final meal. Before they began to eat, Jesus knelt down and began to wash the disciples' feet. This task was usually something the lowliest servants did – so the disciples cried out " You shall never wash my feet! " but Jesus said, " If I then, yo...

It's Holy Week – the week leading up to Easter. Sunday through Tuesday, Jesus had been busy teaching and prophesying in Jerusalem, so on Wednesday, most scholars believe that he and his disciples spent the day resting in Bethany in anticipation of the Passover. The fact that the Bible doesn't say exactly what the Lord did on Wednesday can serve as a lesson in itself . Knowing that his death was ap...

It's Holy Week – the week leading up to Easter. On the Tuesday before his crucifixion, Jesus told his disciples the story of a man who left his servants in charge of his finances while he went on a journey. When he returned, one of the servants gave him back double the amount, having worked to grow the sum. Upon receiving the new amount, the Master said to him, " Well done, good and faithful serva...

Yesterday was Palm Sunday – the day where we remember Jesus riding into Jerusalem and being met with crowds waving palm branches and exclaiming, "Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" You see, the Jewish people had spent thousands of years waiting for the Messiah, the true king, to come and deliver them – and there he was! But instead of a conqueror on a white h...

When was the last time you pushed yourself to do something that made you uncomfortable at work - whether volunteering to learn a task outside of your usual job duties, offering to take on a new project, or making friends with another employee? Moving outside of your comfort zone may feel awkward or stressful at first, but it is also the best way to grow! And in order to become a mature person – pe...

Matthew 5:14-16 says, " You are the light of the world… No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. " When you go to work, do you switch off your faith? Do you put your belief under a bowl? O...

The workplace is the largest mission field in the world, yet many Christ-followers don't engage in their calling as missionaries because they don't know how to share their faith at work. Fear around rejection, offending someone, or saying the wrong thing are just a few of the barriers that prevent believers from bringing the good news of the Gospel to their coworkers, employees, and clients. But h...

Most people consider a vocation to be a career that they feel a strong draw towards or that they are particularly suited to. But as Christ-followers, we look at vocation a little bit differently. Dr. Chip Roper from the Voca Center in New York talked with us recently about the biblical view of vocation, which is simply a divine call to God's service or to the Christian life. From this perspective,...

Most people consider a vocation to be a career that they feel a strong draw towards or that they are particularly suited to. But as Christ-followers, we look at vocation a little bit differently. Dr. Chip Roper from the   Voca   Center in New York talked with us recently about the biblical view of vocation, which is simply a divine call to God's service or to the Christian life. From this perspect...

Imagine coming to the end of your life, and standing before the judgement seat of God. He looks at you and says that if you have ever lied, had an impure thought, stole a stick of gum from your mom's purse, or hated someone that you will be condemned to Hell. Of course, you have done those things… and worse. But just as you are about to be judged, a man steps forward from the right hand of the jud...

Growing up, I lived in Minnesota. During spring, we had this phrase that, "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb" meaning it would start cold and snowy and transition gently into spring... but usually it was the opposite. "In like a frozen lamb and out like a roaring lion." Life can be like that too. The transition from a cold winter period of our lives – in other words some dark and...

65% of the population will never go into a four walls church – that means that over half of the people in the U.S. will never hear about Jesus from a pastor or dedicated ministry. BUT here's the good news: almost everyone will be employed during their lifetime, which makes the workplace one of the LARGEST mission fields in the world – a place where we, as ambassadors for Christ, are given free acc...

inspired from: PowerPod "Redeeming Business Itself"   Have you had a performance review in the last year or two? If you have, how did you do? Did you need improvement? Did you meet expectations? OR did you EXCEED expectations? Because here's the thing: when you do good at work, people notice. Your quality of work is, in itself a witness to who God is… a God of goodness, of care, and of EXCELLENCE....