252. WORKING FOR THE LORD

(The Faith Forum Series – Batch 7)

There is a work far more noble, more precious, more worthy, than any secular work that you could do for yourself and that is the work you do for the Lord.

In early 2017 or thereabout, while on a neighbouring island and inundated with a crazy work schedule for a job I had, which literally wanted to consume all of my time (late hours, nights when I arrived at home and even weekends), God impressed upon my heart and emphatically, through a Sermon I heard on Harbour Light Radio one Sunday evening (and through some other means as well), the whole idea of legacy. He got me thinking, when this life is all done and over, what will be your legacy? What will be the summation of the work you’ve done, not for yourself but for me?

Truth be told, I’d been procrastinating on a ministry idea for months and maybe even years, making one excuse after another as to why I couldn’t get started or why I needed to wait some more and even questioning whether God really wanted me to do this work for him. After all, I was a nobody. Why did he want me in particular, to do it, when he had many other of his children, some far more noble, to choose from? Why me? Did I even hear clearly?

Undeniably though, I knew that God had gifted me in a particular area and that he had also given me talents, abilities, skills and creativity and he was now calling me to use all of it in a particular and unexpected way, for his Kingdom purposes.

After that Sermon, coupled with some other confirmations that he sent, I was so convicted (and honestly so shaken up and terrified at the idea of having nothing much to show for the work I’ve done for the Lord when this life is over), that I got up and acted. I knew God was calling me to this work and so I obeyed the call, making no more excuses. He’d been laying so much material on my heart for years, as I read his Word and I’d been writing it down in my own private Bible study and now he wanted me to share it with the world. And he wasn’t even finished. As I continued to read his Word, he was still downloading, to the point where I had begun to feel heavy, as if I was full of something that was meant not just to be kept to myself but to be out-poured on others. I had a burden that was weighing heavily on my spirit and the only way to relieve it was to go out and do what God was calling me to do, to share what he had blessed me with, with other women.

I therefore said, “Yes Lord. I know you’re calling me to this work and I am going to take the plunge and obey. I will no longer make excuses. I will do what you want me to do.” And so, in 2017, I opened a Blog but I was soon suspended for violating something or other with my content and so I moved to Facebook and opened a Ministry Page there in early 2018, to share my material with women all over the world. I had a heart for single women and a passion for addressing single issues, my being single myself and so I opened ‘Single Daughters of God – Hephzibah Diaries’, thinking that it would be for Christian women only.

Ha! Little did I know, that God had so much more planned. The Page turned into much more than that and not surprisingly, God used it mightily to send the gospel message out to the unsaved as well. Actually, when I was about to open the Page, I had told him that if he sent 50 women to benefit from the material uploaded, that I would be so thankful that he used me to reach those 50 people. Yet, God did not have plans for just 50 people. When we obey, he does the multiplying. He didn’t just send 50 people. He sent thousands of women. Praise God! To think that God would use a weakling like me to accomplish such a feat is astounding. Today, I am still amazed as to the level of activity and buzz that the content on that Page generated.

I started with one Page in obedience and shortly after, ideas for other more customized Pages to address women, came to mind. Maybe within two short years, that one Page grew into five other Facebook Ministry Pages for women (and a possible sixth which I have not yet published because the timing is not yet right). I have been quite active on those Pages, especially in 2020, the year the pandemic raged the most. This was perhaps my most powerful year yet of dispatching the gospel. The Lord used the ‘Single Daughters’ Page that was abuzz with visits from women, to push the gospel out and mightily so. I felt the need to keep boosting these posts (which required me to keep spending money to do so) but it was worth it. Many people from around the world, vulnerable at that time were receptive to the message. They listened, some sent private messages for advice in their situation and I could only hope that having been convicted, some of them gave their hearts to the Lord or returned to the fold if they had backslidden.

Nevertheless, after being temporarily suspended by Facebook on more than one occasion because of truth that I posted (apparently, some people reported me to Facebook as they found some of my content to be offensive and so it decided to suspend me as punishment), I decided to leave the Pages up with the material there, so that people could visit whenever they pleased and benefit from the material (which people still do almost daily). I took my Articles elsewhere though, where I would not be threatened with suspension because of the truth of God’s Word. Indeed, the Word of God cannot be contained, nor can it be restrained.

Facebook also removed the Articles feature which was a heavy blow to my Ministry because the Lord had given me Articles to share. The move was therefore necessary.

With the Lord’s help, I opened a Website, something I never thought I would do, in a million years. I spent countless hours uploading and re-uploading the hundreds of Articles that I had written over the years, from the wisdom that the Lord had so graciously imparted to me. As I was busy uploading, God wasn’t even finished. He continued giving me ideas for more Articles to write and wisdom from his Word about what to write. My hands were not fast enough to type the material it seemed. The more I wrote and the more I read the Word, the more God continued to let me know that he wanted me to address another important topic on one issue or the next.

I could hardly believe it. Never would I have thought that he would have given me so much material! When I look back on the Website, I am in shock as to how many Articles he has had me write. There are literally hundreds of Articles on the Page!

It has been a lot of work but it is a delightful work. Because God has called me to this work, I don’t really consider it work. He has graced me with all I need to do it and to do it well and for the most part, the words come to mind quicker than I can type.

I have spent hundreds of hours working on these Pages and Website but it is the best work I have ever had, to date. It is worth it. Secular work, while important and good to have, cannot compare to working for my Lord. He is the best employer!

When God calls his children to do his work, the results blow even the minds of the ones he called to do it. It may not be the traditional secular work that people are accustomed to (which, when you consider it, is selfishly for one’s self) and so, if you spend quality time doing God’s work and less on the secular, people may find it strange and even try to oppose. Yet, the Word of God tells me:

• “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)

And truly, my heart has been in this work. I have never felt more passionate about any other work. The hours, days, weeks, months and even years I spent working at it, brought sheer joy to my heart. No other work in the secular world has ever brought me so much satisfaction.

Instead of spending all my time, wasting my years laying up treasure for myself, like the man the Lord Jesus called a rich fool in Luke 12, I made decisions and took a difficult and unpopular path, that enabled me to be rich toward God and despite all the criticism I have received for doing so, I have no regrets.

I will give up jobs again in a heartbeat, as I have on different occasions, where I have been pressured to do wrong, to be dishonest, to embrace corruption and displease my Lord and people can say what they want. God knows what I went through, the stand I consistently took and I believe that he will honour my decision to choose the path of integrity, honesty and no compromise, even if it meant walking away from secure and quite lucrative employment.

People have not been pleased with some of the decisions that I have made but I know that God was pleased and that is all that matters. I live for an audience of one and his name is Jesus.

In any event, I don’t think that God is concerned about people’s opinions. They didn’t create you and certainly were not given the blueprint for your life, although they audaciously behave sometimes as if they were. God reserves the right to give his servants whatever work he wants them to do, to whatever extent, however he sees fit and calls them to it, whenever he pleases. And despite the naysayers, whatever God intends to build, he does, even in the face of ugly and intense opposition. As we saw in the Bible with Nehemiah, no Sanballats and Tobiahs, indeed no devil, can withstand the work that HE endorses.

Be prepared for opposition though. Be prepared for people to have you on their radar and to seemingly behave as if they are driven, to come to harass, provoke, insult, criticize and gossip about you, as you build for the Lord. Isn’t this what Nehemiah and the Jews endured, as they tried to build the wall?

As you seek to pursue the will of God, not necessarily your will but HIS and to submit to it, people will come out of the woodwork to frustrate and oppose you. They will come from near and from far and they will seek to derail you. Such has been my experience. Be prepared therefore and stand on your guard! There are modern day Sanballats and Tobiahs all around us. These are any persons that want you to act contrary to the will of almighty God and his plan for your life. He wills you to go in one direction (not even a direction that you yourself willed for your life) and they are willing you to go in another, as if they own your life and have the right to tell you what to do with it. BUT GOD!

As I built the Pages and Website, spending countless hours doing God’s work, I faced much attack and opposition. People had much to say about what they did not even know but the more they fought against me with their tongues, the more the work persevered because GOD WAS IN THIS WORK. He had called me to it and so, he gave me the determination, sometimes with tears (and even when, despite my best and repeated efforts, according to his divine wisdom, the doors to secular employment remained firmly shut), to rise above the many voices and press on quietly, to his honour and glory.

As I stated in earlier Articles, many, if not most of the material I uploaded to my ‘SINGLE Daughters’ Facebook Page and this Website were deposited into my spirit as I meditated on God’s Word, in those times when, although I gave it my best, I could not find work anywhere. In that prolonged season, it was God’s will for me to just sit silently at the feet of Jesus and learn from him and do introspection where necessary, without the distraction of anything else. And so I did and today, many women (including myself) have been benefiting from the material. Praise be to God!

2 Chronicles 15:7 reminds me, “Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.” For, “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” (Psalm 126:5-6)

I am also reminded of Jeremiah 31:16, where God told his children in the Old Testament, “Thus saith the Lord; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord.”

The Lord reminds me ever so often, when people come to bring discouragement and to derail me because they have an idea of how my life is supposed to look, as if they created me and gave me purpose, “Let them wag their tongues. You focus on what I’ve called you to do, obey ME and I will deal with the naysayers.”

And so, I look to God, not man. I commit everything into the hands of the one that knoweth all things and judges righteously. I listen to him and block out every contrary voice, of people who think they know so much but in truth and in fact, know so little. The Lord is my inheritance and he is my reward. My life is in his hands and may I do what HE, not what anybody else, wants me to do. 1 Corinthians 2:5 comes beautifully to mind. It says, “That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the POWER of God.”

1 Peter 3:13 also asks the question, “…And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?” In other words, who dare have the nerve to try to harm you, whether with speech, insults, criticisms, badmouthing or otherwise, if you are pursuing the will of God? It seems to me that such persons don’t have reason to rejoice as they think they do but to tremble. For, almighty God is in heaven, beholding all, the good and the evil and he has stated in his Word, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” (Romans 12:19).

Verses 14-18 of 1 Peter 3 also goes on to state:

• “…but and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God…”

I am mindful of what God told Habakkuk in Habakkuk 2:2-3. He has not given me a vision but he has equipped me with a message, writing ability, wisdom and the hands to write it. I will therefore continue to write, for as long as he impresses topics from his Word, on my heart.

The Word of God reads:

• “And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”

(Written on 1st and 2nd August, 2022)

Dear Reader, if you wish to read more on what I’ve written above, feel free to click on my ‘About’ page, where there are more details about my experience. If you found the Article to be interesting, informative, beneficial or edifying, you may also be interested in reading the following:

• Note 12 – ‘Stressful Attacks – How David, Jehoshaphat and Hannah Handled It’
• Note 15 – ‘Why The Enemy’s Attack Is My Cue To Sing’
• Note 47 – ‘Silencing The Naysayers’
• Note 55 – ‘Self-Inflicted Wounds?’
• Note 59 – ‘I Will Trust God With My Enemies’
• Note 61 – ‘Are You Putting Yourself In The Line Of Fire?’
• Note 63 – ‘After They’ve Done Their Worst, Yet Still I Rise’
• Note 67 – ‘What The Enemy Is After’
• Note 79 – ‘The Woman Who Wanted A Baby – Key Points From Hannah’s Story’
• Note 96 – ‘The Bridal Train’
• Note 103 – ‘Fifteen Things I Love About God’s Character’
• Note 104 – ‘If That Tree Could Talk’
• Note 106 – ‘They Can Think Whatever They Like – God Will Do Whatever He Pleases’
• Note 111 – ‘What I’ve Learned About Obeying God’s Call In Ministry’
• Note 119 – ‘Bring God Glory – Build With Excellence’
• Note 123 – ‘God Calls Me Hephzibah’
• Note 124 – ‘It Is Well!’
• Note 125 – ‘When God Promises To Write-On A Write-Off’
• Note 126 – ‘A Hopeless End Or An Endless Hope?’
• Note 127 – ‘Left For Dead…Then Resurrected’
• Note 128 – ‘Tired, Weary And Don’t Know What To Do?’
• Note 145 – ‘Our Difficulty Is God’s Opportunity’
• Note 146 – ‘Death Must Come Before The Resurrection’
• Note 147 – ‘From Bad…To Worse…To Deliverance’
• Note 153 – ‘Note To Self – Keep Building!’
• Note 161 – ‘Overcoming Oppression – Spiritual Warfare’
• Note 171 – ‘Dear Peninnah…’
• Note 174 – ‘Grace & Glory – The Lord Will Help Me’
• Note 183 – ‘The Beauty Of Being About The Father’s Business’
• Note 187 – ‘Stirring Up The Gift – Getting God’s Work Done’
• Note 188 – ‘Opportunity To Rejoice Or A Reason To Tremble?’
• Note 189 – ‘Dear Sanballat And Tobiah…’
• Note 244 – ‘Stay In Your Lane’
• Note 251 – ‘Fixated On Me? Focus On Him!’