An interesting thought came to me recently: compare & contrast knowing about God and knowing God.

I go to worship and take notes on the sermon, go to Sunday school and read the handouts, go to bible study and answer the questions. How much time do I spend on these activities?

Now how about my personal relationship with God? How much time do I spend in prayer? Quiet time? Other spiritual disciplines?

You can read and study how to drive a car all you want but until you get in one and actually drive you’re not going to get any closer to your destination.

Isn’t it the same way with Christianity? God is not a system, subject or technique, but a person. Knowing about God is necessary in our path to know Him but let’s not forget what the end goal is.

Which way is better to know someone? To spend a few hours with him or her a week or spend every waking hour doing everything together?

I think to really know God I need Him to be part of my every waking hour. Certainly that includes my work hours. Isn’t that where most of my time and focus go?

In fact maybe I can even say it is my work hours that determine how my non-work hours are spent.

Don’t I choose what city I live in because I work there? Doesn’t the amount of hours I spend at work determine how much time I have to spend with family and friends? Doesn’t how much effort at work determine my pay which in turn determines if I eat out for lunch or bring a sandwich, take public transit or drive, buy a house or live with roommates?

OK so I want to know God during work hours. Now what? How?

Revival seems to be a misunderstood word. Images of big tent revival meetings with people in an emotional frenzy come easily to mind. Revival in the original sense means to keep alive, to make alive - like how God keeps certain people from destruction. It means preserve, save (life, alive, lives) - how God looked after the Israel exiles in a foreign land. It means recover - that is making something that was old like the old broken walls in Jerusalem into something brand new. However, in scripture and in history God’s divine work for His people starts with revival.

In the books of Nehemiah and Ezra, the temple and the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt. Once the temple and the walls were rebuilt, Ezra the priest was empowered to teach the laws to the people and their sins were removed. The recovered lives of the exiles would be the foundation for God’s future divine work which pointed to Jesus, who’s life had died and was revived.

Because of the sinfulness of humanity, God in His jealousy and anger sends destruction and punishment (Psalm 85:6). Revival must start with a contrite heart and a lowly spirit - the attitude of humility and confession (Isaiah 57:15). Through faith by recalling God’s past extraordinary care for us, reminds us that God will save and preserve.

I believe that God’s calling starts with revival. Revival spreads from individuals, to groups, to the corporate body and finally to the lost. As individuals we pray for His ‘promises of life’ and in repentance. As we share about revival with others, we will face obstacles that revival might not be necessary, and we should convince Christians that revival is biblical. It will ultimately point towards Jesus Christ, the one who can remove our sins. 

And if God doesn’t answer in the timing we want, we perservere and continue to pray for revival.

In this verse Habakkuk sums up about our God of strength who will preserve and revive us.

O LORD, I have heard your renown, and feared,
O LORD, your work.
In the course of the years “revive” it,
in the course of the years make it known;
in your wrath remember compassion

Habakkuk 3:2

Nathan (in Ottawa)

Four questions to start your day:

• Where are you most behaved?  At church, home or at work?
• Where are you most loving?  At church, home or at work?
• Where are you the most hardworking/lazy? At church, home or at work?
• Where are you most responsible?

It’s odd how we separate these aspects of life and behave differently depending on which situation we are in.  Why do you think this is?  Is it because we have different “faces” in each environment?  If my coworkers do not know that I am a Christian, am I off the hook when it comes to workplace ethics?  Maybe it is because we have different priorities.  Are my work deadlines so tight that loving my coworkers is lower priority that finishing my work?  

Take a moment and consider how your coworkers view you.  What is the image you are projecting?  We must be a good witness no matter where we are, whether it be for our kids, our church family or our coworkers.  Are you bringing glory to God in your workplace?

If you want to be effective in reaching your coworkers, you need to be consistent and hardworking.  We must strive to be excellent at our jobs.  “Competency is a must” was the title of a previous entry by Andy Ng.  How does a Christian climb the corporate ladder?      

Proverbs 6:6-7
Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!  It has no commander, no overseer or ruler,

Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,

While we excel at our jobs, we must be careful to not sacrifice our love for others.  What does it mean to be Christian to your coworkers?  Do you care about the people you work with?  Are you considerate of their feelings and stresses?  Are you interested in what’s going on in their personal lives and families?  Do you pray for them?  We need to love our coworkers as ourselves.

Mark 12:31
The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’…

To love your coworkers, you must be connected to them.  We cannot just come and go from work unnoticed and unnoticing of others.  Is there such thing as a Christian hermit?  Do we care enough to stay culturally competent so that we can relate and carry meaningful conversations with our coworkers?  At the other extreme, we must not become so immersed in culture as to lose ourselves.  We must be part of it, but be apart from it, as Paul was.

1 Corinthians 9:20-22
To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. … To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.

We must be aware of the image we are projecting on others by our words and actions.  It reflects who we are as Christians and reflects the honesty of our testimony.  We must stay culturally relevant and connected without sacrificing our integrity.  We must earn the respect of our coworkers and build those relationships with them before reaching out and sharing the gospel.  We must care what our coworkers think of us and be aware of what we are doing to create that image.  But not to the extreme where we care more what they think, than what God thinks.

Four questions to take with you:

• What is a Christian hermit?
• How does a Christian climb the corporate ladder?
• What does it mean to be culturally competent?
• What does Kingdom Living look like in the workplace?

When was the last time you took a real long, hard look at yourself in the mirror from a “NON-Physical” perspective and liked what you saw? Our body is something we can see, feel, and um… smell and we can really evaluate what we may need to do in order to become a healthy, well-bodied individual but do we take the same care with our minds and spirit?

Can a born-again Christian be filled with evil spirits and demons?  Be filled with an ungodly hatred and malice?

The Bible repeats the exact phrase, “Love your neighbor” ten times and often, it’s accompanied by, “as yourself”.  Take a moment to think about this on a relational level… Are there co-workers, supervisors, managers, siblings, and people in general that you have conflict with?  Could it be that we fail to love others because we fail to see ourselves in the light of Psalms 139?

For the purposes of my blog, I’m going to say yes, born-again Christians CAN be filled with evil spirits and demons… I’m going to say that each of us needs to take a look at our heart and to see the various rooms of it and see what fills those rooms.  I’m also going to say that we are not created to live harmoniously with evil spirits and demons but to live with our rooms filled with, “Every good and perfect gift that is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” — James 1:17

You have just heard that a person you highly admire and repect is bringing his family over to your place to have dinner… what do you do? Because you highly admire this person and you respect them so deeply, I’m guessing that regardless of how good or bad of a house cleaner you are, you put on those already molded yellow gloves and start scrubbing, sweeping, vacuuming, swiffering…etc. every corner and crevice so that your place is spotless and smelling of pine trees…

Jesus wants to meet us everyday in our hearts… He and His Holy Spirit want to dwell in the “home” that is our heart but how can he if the rooms are occupied?  What kinds of guests have you invited for this get together on a daily basis?  A spirit of anger; a spirit of pornography; a spirit of low self-esteem; a spirit of witchcraft… even generational spirits of curses that have been passed down from generation to generation… Satan has legions (tens of thousands) of demons and evil spirits as we can see through the ministry of Jesus…

All of us need to look into the Spiritual Mirror and ask God to reveal to us things/demons/spirits that should not be there and use the power in the name of Jesus to expel those things from our lives and then to ask the Holy Spirit to fill those now clean, empty rooms of our heart so that those spirits cannot come back inviting more of their friends to interupt our God given destiny.

“When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, `I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.” — Luke 11:24-26

“Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” — Matthew 10:8

How well do you know Canada?  Well enough to know that Premier Williams and the PC government in Newfoundland/Labrador won ALL but 4 seats in their recent landslide election victory?  Well enough to know that the movie “Detroit Rock City” was filmed at the greatest High School in Canada (Cedarbrae Collegiate Institute in Toronto, ON) or well enough to know that the Father of Healthcare in Canada (The late Tommy Douglas of Saskatchewan) has a Grandson who plays the role of Jack Bauer in “24″?

How well does the NATO allies in Afghanastan or the American Allies in Iraq know about their enemies in those regions?  On a spiritual note, how well does the enemy know about you and your life? Al-Qaeda had detailed knowledge of Airport procedures, schematics of specific aircraft and knew the holes of US Homeland security, otherwise they would never would have been given a chance to carry out the atrocities of 9/11.  Their methods were subtle and we only know about it because it happened.

Are there things in your life that the Devil can see or hear that can be used to carry out atrocities in your life?  Granted the Devil CANNOT read our minds but every word we speak (Whisper, under our breath…etc.) the Devil hears… Every raised eyebrow, condescending look, facial expression of discouragement and anger, the Devil can see… every person that gets you mad, out of control and has you doing things that you normally wouldn’t do when you are of a sound mind, the Devil is using to frazzle you into doing things his way.

“…Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith…” - 1 Peter 5:8b-9a

When did the Bible say that we should resist our surroundings/environments/circumstances… our boss that treats us badly… our spouse who is getting on our nerves… the Church members who would rather point out the sliver in our eye rather than seeing the log in their own? Never.  The Bible teaches that we need to resist the Devil.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy…” - John 10:10a

Are we aware that the devil may use people to lure us into hating, hurting and harming ourselves or others? Are we aware of our enemy when we start our day at the office or the shift at the warehouse?  Our enemy first and foremost is the Devil and I encourage all of you to be aware of what he wants to do in our lives and that he’s willing to use anyone to do it… even Christians…

Are there areas of your “old self” that the Devil can use to steal and kill and destroy? Video games you won’t let go? unhealthy relationships you don’t wish to cut? Sexual sins that rest in your soul?  Prideful ideologies that you consider to be a staple in your life that Christ is asking you to cut?

Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” - John 10:10b

“For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and of a sound mind.” - 1 Timothy 1:7

 Next Article: KNOW THY SELF (Tuesday November 13, 2007)