​​“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” John 7:38
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REFRESHED ​​
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​IIn California, where we reside, a natural phenomena occurs once every 10 years or so. We call it a superbloom. In a rare wet season, an atmospheric river of rainfall transforms an otherwise expansive desert topography into swaths of color. The typical dry brown landscape becomes a colorful painting of yellows, oranges, pinks and purples. Wildflowers which have remained dormant for years all of a sudden respond to the abundant waters and bloom simultaneously. In fact, the new flowers of the superbloom cover so much surface area, that the colors can be seen from space via satellite images.
Superblooms are visual invitations for employees in the marketplace. Many of us work in some very dry workplaces. They can be dry spiritually when you feel you are the only one who holds a deep value of faith. They can also be dry emotionally and mentally because of the demands of work - on our time, our minds, and our energy.
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However, our Faith & Work Movement community has witnessed God changing parched environments into life giving ones for His children. It is not just happening in one or two companies, but hundreds of the largest publicly traded companies in the world. God is doing this through His promise stated in John 7:38. He promised that the Holy Spirit would live and flow through his sons and daughters. God is on a move today, waking multitudes of individuals, like you and me, to a work life in step with His Spirit.
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This promise of the Holy Spirit is one of the greatest resources offered to us who work in the corporate world. With this promise comes His daily presence and involvement in the very details of our lives. This will transform everywhere we go and everything we do. Unfortunately, too often when it comes to our work, we don’t quite know how to apply this promise. Even though work consumes the majority of our waking hours, we are so used to a secular and sacred divide that our default is to work out of our own strength, mind, and efforts. We also haven’t had the mentoring or workplace discipleship to show us how to work in concert with the Holy Spirit in the day to day. However, if we embark on a journey to learn this, He is ready and willing to show us how.
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Os Gusiness in his book, The Call, says “The New Testament knows no monasteries or monks, only…. disciples in a demanding, everyday world.”
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You are that disciple living in a demanding, everyday world. If you have been feeling that work is draining and your corporate world mirrors a desert-like existence, may I invite you into this journey of bringing the fullness of Christ with you? This refreshing of the Holy Spirit in you day to day is one of the greatest assets you bring to the workplace. Start simply by inviting the Holy Spirit into the areas you tend to leave Him out of. This includes inviting the fullness of Christ into all aspects of your work. Pray over and invite the Holy Spirit into your tasks, your team projects, the products you build, the services you provide, and your interactions with your coworkers, customers, and your supervisors. Ask him to help you bring to mind verses from His word, especially if you are feeling frustrated, angry, and overworked. Set an alarm to stop and pray for moments in your day to remind yourself that He wants to join in the work you are assigned to do. Before you go into meetings, pray that the Lord would remind you of the presence of His spirit that goes before you and with you. As you do so, you will begin to feel that His Spirit fills your soul in the midst of your daily work. If we allow ourselves to bring our full faith identity to work, the way we work, the way we feel about work, and the way we respond at work can be refreshed.
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In addition, pray for the Lord to create divine appointments with other believers in the workplace who also carry this living water. Pray that He would surround you with a community of believers to be living water for each other and to bless your company collectively. As you do this, you may indeed see a superbloom transform what was once a dry workplace!
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This type of superbloom is happening across the global marketplace. Communities of like minded Christians, in the largest companies across industries and around the world, are collectively bringing their full faith selves to work each day. These communities are workplace fellowships, corporate Christian fellowships, and ERGs. They exist to fulfill their callings together, to refresh one another, to be faithful representatives of Jesus, and to be the priesthood of believers in the workplaces God has called them to be. You are not alone and God deeply wants to bring about a superbloom in your everyday work and amidst your workplace.
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Reflection:
Take a moment to come before the Lord about you, your work and workplace. Be still and know He cares more about your work and workplace than you do. Ask Him what He wants to reveal to you.
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By Esther Tinklenberg
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We know that we are all inundated with info and content. Our intention in these words that you took precious time to read is simply to encourage you. We invite you to pause a moment from your daily grind and consider God’s great resource of Himself to you and your work. Our hope is that if these thoughts resonate with you, we will have the privilege to have further conversation and to build relationship with you. We gladly invite you into this global alliance of fellowships among marketplace believers that our Lord is building in every corner of the world.
Faith & Work Movement Global. All rights reserved.
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