Tag: Employment

May God Bless Our Employers, Because of Us

On By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED Monday, 2022-01-31
WRITTEN AT: Okeechobee, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Genesis 39:5-6
TRANSLATION: New Living Translation (NLT)

BIBLE TEXT: 5 From the day Joseph was put in charge of his master’s household and property, the Lord began to bless Potiphar’s household for Joseph’s sake. All his household affairs ran smoothly, and his crops and livestock flourished. 6 So Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. With Joseph there, he didn’t worry about a thing—except what kind of food to eat!

APPLICATION: The obvious question is perhaps: how could I possibly make a difference to the success of my employer? I believe that qualities that our employer, and God, might be looking for in a child of the King are:
-*- HONESTY – I believe that any employer will tell you that the money they lose from dishonest employees is mind-boggling. The dishonest may tend to work the clock to make sure they give no extra time to the boss, however, the time wasted on the job is never considered cheating by them. I trust that the Christian worker will always be looked upon as honest and trustworthy in every way.
-*- PRAYER – I believe the Bible teaches us to pray for those in authority over us. Suppose we prayed for the success of our boss and that the company product would flourish in its market. Sure, that will inflate their pockets, but it also increases the chance of us continuing to have a job. Perhaps as profits increase, our working conditions will improve and the opportunity for raises become more possible. Pray for the soul of the boss, for they need Jesus just as we and other coworkers do. I bet it would be such an honor to work for a Christian boss!
-*- TRUST – I once knew a boss who bragged on one of his Christian employees and added that he would have a great company, if he only had a half dozen other employees as trustworthy and dedicated to their job. Oh that every boss will be able to say something similar because of Christian workers in their employment.
Our Scripture today says that God blessed the home and assets of Potiphar for the sake of Joseph. It sounds to me that God was so pleased with having an awesome representative working for Potiphar that He knew that in blessing Potiphar, His servant Joseph will also be blessed. I wish that would be the case for every believer who meditates on this devotional today, God being your strength and your Helper.

BLESSING(S) NOTED: Our dedication to God and our representation of Him and His good works, will cause God to bless everyone and everything in which we actively participate!

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, please help us to be Your hands and feet in our workplaces. May we always choose to represent You well and without always pushing the envelope for more money, better positions and greater recognition. May our boss just simply see us as an extension of the One True God, and may they and their businesses be blessed because of our employment. Thank You Lord for Your provisions and always showering us with Your blessings. May we be willing to just pass along the blessings so that others will see Jesus in action, and want to also know Him personally. Lord, we are a blessed people. Please help us to also bless others in return, and may we always praise You for Your kindness and Your faithfulness to us. AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: There are two more pages on my blog that will provide you with additional information, one of them being ‘To Know Jesus’. If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please click on the above page, or speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. Please allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Words underlined in my blog might indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to Nuggets From God’s Word and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. You may also visit me on Spotify and listen to Nuggets while you’re out and about. I would encourage you to find a church home near by your home, and attend as frequently as you could. Get to know God, and allow His people to encourage and strengthen you in your Christian walk, while making every effort to be a blessing to them. God is at work among His people! Please consider growing in your faith, as you worship with fellow believers!

Where and What Did You ‘Glean’ Today

On By Ed AlgreenIn Answered Prayer, Appreciation, Blessings, Needs, Praise, Recognize God, WorshipLeave a comment

DATE POSTED Tuesday, 2021-10-05
WRITTEN AT: Okeechobee, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: Ruth 2:18-19
TRANSLATION: New King James Version (NKJV)

BIBLE TEXT: 18 Then she took it up and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. So she brought out and gave to her what she had kept back after she had been satisfied.
19 And her mother-in-law said to her, “Where have you gleaned today? And where did you work? Blessed be the one who took notice of you.”
So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.”

APPLICATION: It is a good question for us to ask ourselves every night, where have I gleaned today? What improvement have I made in my knowledge and grace? What have I done that excites me and perhaps made someone else happy? When we deliberately recognize the Lord’s blessings on us, perhaps we will accept Naomi’s advice and not search for another field. We might actually shun Divine favors, if we slight the blessings given to us and seek pastures that, in our own opinion, are ‘greener’! Ruth dutifully observed her mother’s directions, and I hope that we will diligently seek God’s directions on where He would have us glean each day. To ‘glean’ is to ‘gather up’ or ‘extract’ from various sources. Ruth gleaned the leftover grain from around the edges of the field owned by Boaz, as it was a customer for harvesters to deliberately leave scraps for the poor. At the end of the day Ruth was able to reflect on the welcome, and the kind attitude of the field owner towards her. With a heart of gratitude, she noticed the way he seemed to have looked out for her best interest. Naomi shared in this gratitude, as Ruth’s gleaning resulted in food for their table. How does this compare to your attitude when your spouse arrives home each day? Are you grateful and appreciative for the job they hold? Do you show appreciation to their boss whenever possible? And now to the business owners: are you practicing like Boaz in leaving scraps for the poor? Don’t you know that as you bless the poor, God will bless you in your business? Friends, I believe that there are several principles for us to benefit from in today’s Scripture: 1). Search diligently for ways to put food on your table. Ruth did and God blessed her richly for her efforts; 2). Be willing to do whatever God directs you to. Ruth was willing to glean from the rejected grain storks, and alongside others whom she didn’t know, at a farm where she didn’t know the owner; 3). Encourage each other daily – Naomi was an encouragement to Ruth after a long day gleaning grain; and 4). Consider what all you have gleaned in a day – yes, Ruth was able to gather grain for food, but along the way she also had opportunities to share, to love, to encourage, to witness and to care. Instead of looking at all the negatives in our day, there are always things we could be thankful for. Let’s learn to praise the Lord in all the ways that He directs us and provides for us. Perhaps we will be so overwhelming in praise, that we won’t be tempted to complain about anything. Remember, God is for us and not against us. He loves us unconditionally and is always looking out for our good. Let Him, dear friend!

BLESSING(S) NOTED: God provides in ways that we could never imagine. He looks out for His children and will always ensure that we prosper in His many blessings!

PRAYER: Lord, please teach us to be thankful, knowing that You are working all things out for our good. Ruth had no idea where she was going to find food, but You provided a way and the means for her to glean plenty enough grain for herself and her mother-in-law. You bless us daily also, dear Lord, and we want to say thank You from the bottom of our hearts. As we glean each day, may we be careful to spread cheer, thankfulness, kind words, a gracious attitude, and most of all – the love of our Savior. As you bless us, please bless those with whom we come into contact, and especially bless those who provide for our well being. Please bless each company owner that pays the salary of all my readers and listeners. May they profit tenfold for allowing others to glean at their place of business. AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: There are two more pages on my blog that will provide you with additional information, one of them being ‘To Know Jesus’. If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please click on the above page, or speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. Please allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Words underlined in my blog might indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to Nuggets From God’s Word and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. You may also visit me on Spotify and listen to Nuggets while you’re out and about. I would encourage you to find a church home near by your home, and attend as frequently as you could. Get to know God, and allow His people to encourage and strengthen you in your Christian walk, while making every effort to be a blessing to them. God is at work among His people! Please consider growing in your faith, as you worship with fellow believers!

Enjoy Your Work

On By Ed AlgreenIn God's Work, Teamwork, Work, Work Til Jesus Comes, WorkplaceLeave a comment

Post Date:

 Tuesday, 2017-04-25
SCRIPTURE

From:

 Ecclesiastes 9:9-10 (ERV)

Text:

 9 …. Enjoy every day of your short life. God has given you this short life on earth—and it is all you have. So enjoy the work you have to do in this life. 10 Every time you find work to do, do it the best you can.…
OBSERVATION:
Our attention is drawn to the fact that God has given us the ability to provide for ourselves – the strength, knowledge, pride and desire. We are encouraged to take advantage of that and not look at it as punishment, but rather a blessing. Wow, if only we could find employees who enjoy coming to work every day because they consider it a God-given privilege and joy! Perhaps we should lead the way, right?
APPLICATION:
For the child of God, we find verses like these that God uses to spur us on to be the best we can be in our work places and to show that we actually enjoy our jobs. We often use phrases like ‘TGIF’ or ‘Hump Day’ that indicates to the world that we are glad to see this chore, called ‘work’ nearing an end. For the unbeliever, there might be a variety of feelings, including feeling unappreciated, underpaid or perhaps overworked. Isn’t it amazing how unimportant all of these things become when we hear of our competition closing their doors, and many dear friends or family losing their jobs? Or perhaps we apply for a job elsewhere and see that we are not worth anywhere near what we thought we are worth monetarily? Friends, I believe that the Scripture is telling us to appreciate the gifts that God has given to us; the blessings that God has poured out on us to have a good job; the interesting challenges that we face on our jobs that come to stretch our minds and give us the ability to grow in knowledge and understanding; the awakening of being faced with a menial task sometimes, so that we could appreciate what subordinates face each day; the occasional walk through a hospital, assisted living facility or a prison so that our eyes might be opened to the fact that but for grace of God, it could very easily have been one of us in that facility. I truly believe that the person who sits idle and unappreciative of work, is the one who says to God ‘thanks, but no thanks’! Friend, God has blessed you with gifts, abilities and a desire to provide for yourself and your family. Is he proud of what you are doing with all that He has given to you? Can you praise Him and thank Him even today for the work that you do? I pray that you will not be ashamed to stand before the throne and thank God for all your accomplishments resulting from all that He blessed you with!
PRAYER:
Lord, with my hands; my mind and the many gifts that You have blessed me with, I lift them to You in praise and thanksgiving. I pray that You will help each of us today to use our talents to provide for ourselves and our families, and that we will never hide them under a bushel because we feel like someone else is much more capable than us. I pray that our eyes will be opened to the gifts You have specifically blessed us with, and that we will see the purpose for which You have placed us where we are at for such a time as this. You have never made a mistake Lord Jesus, please help us to stop finding excuses for why we can’t…. but instead look for all the blessings You have given to us that allows us the abilities to accomplish great things! AMEN!
FOOTNOTE:
There are two more pages on my blog that will provide you with additional information, one of them being ‘To Know Jesus’.  If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please click on the above page, or speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. Please allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Words underlined in my blog could indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to Nuggets From God’s Word and read more, or you may freely to subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. If you are anywhere near the Highlands County, Florida area and do not have a church home, I would be thrilled to welcome you at Bible Fellowship Church, located at 3750 Hammock Rd, Sebring, FL 33872! Click the link to check out service times and/or other special activities. God is at work among us! Please consider coming to worship with us!