Recognizing Our Source

Pride is a very dangerous commodity for Christ followers. While we can be proud of what we have accomplished, the glory is always His.

It was early 2007, I had just finished my first year as a bi-vocational minister work with a friends business. 2006 was the first year I streamed drag racing. It was also a time of wilderness wandering. For the first time in my life, I was not sure of my direction or even who I was suppose to be. I attended a pastors teaching conference in Phoenix, AZ. Lots of prayer, spirit filled praise and worship and listening to some of the best speakers in Christendom at the time, TD Jakes, Brian Houston and Joyce Meyers to name a few. I left the conference filled with hope, but little direction.

Shortly after returning home, I was led to fast for a period of time. If I recall correctly, it was 21 days. The purpose, our Father wanted me to understand He was my provider, not those who gave to the ministry or the people I worked for. While I certainly needed to do everything with excellence and gratitude, He showed me He was the source of all things in my life.

As we get ready to start the 2014 season, I have a deep sense of change. This is not just a chapter closing and new one starting, it’s the closing of book 1 and the start of book 2. Yes, it’s that profound. Everything is going to be different from this point forward. Not sure if it’s the change in our business, the sale of a long standing message forum a friend owned or my deepening relationship with our Lord. Regardless, today is a brand new beginning with the Lord firmly in control of my life and full understanding He is my source in all things.

…and can I add, it’s been 7 years since that season in my life…seven is God’s number for completeness.

Blessings

Recognizing Our Source
by Os Hillman
But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth. – Deuteronomy 8:18a

Pride is the greatest temptation to a successful workplace minister. When we begin accumulating wealth, managing people, and becoming known for our workplace expertise, we are most susceptible to falling to the most devious sin in God’s eyes — pride. The Bible tells us that God is the reason we are able to produce wealth. It is not of our own making. As soon as we move into the place where we begin to think more highly of ourselves than we ought, God says he will take action.

You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.”….If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God (Deuteronomy 8:17,19-20).

These are strong words from God. It demonstrates His utter impatience for any people who think that what they have accomplished has anything to do with their own power. It is God who gives us the skill, the mind, the resources, the energy, the drive, and the opportunities in life to accomplish anything. When we become prideful in heart, He will begin a process of reproof in our life.

Today is a good day to examine whether we have fallen prey to pride. Are you sharing what God has entrusted to you with God’s people, or the needy? Are you being the instrument of blessing that God desires for His people to be? What areas of pride have crept into your life? Ask the Lord to show you this today. And avoid being put on the shelf. Nothing is worse than being cast aside because of our own pride.