Vocation Bible School

Day 1 – Christianity in the Workplace

This would be a great couple verses to memorize! “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” I guarantee that at some point in your adult life you will be doing work for someone (even if you’re the boss) that you find it very hard to like/respect/listen to. But God says not to do the work to please them, focus on pleasing Him! Pour your heart into your work, doing the very best that you know how. That’s what God blesses. Humans may continue to treat you poorly, no matter what you do. But if you are doing the work to glorify God, He will reward you. And I promise His reward is so much better than anything any human being can give you or do for you. Even if you don’t receive your reward on earth, you can know that it is coming because God said it is. And it will be worth the wait. Keep reminding yourself of this. And when it’s hard to remind yourself, ask God to remind you. He will do this in some pretty amazing ways.

So what does it mean to work hard? Initiative, perseverance, motivation, being on time and getting along with coworkers all play into this.

Let’s start with taking the initiative. And let’s be honest… your generation is not known for taking initiative. Initiative is simply doing something that needs to be done without being asked to do it. When I worked at the telephone company, from time to time I would get caught up on my work. When this happened, I was still on the clock, so my employer was still paying me. I would get up and organize something that needed to be organized or I would go to a coworker who was struggling to get caught up and I would take some of his/her workload. I guarantee that if you will do something similar, you will stand out from your peers. And if you are doing it because you are a Christian and you want to shine His light, well you can consider His light shone and He will reward you.

Perseverance – oh mercy! It is so hard to keep on keeping on when your boss doesn’t treat everyone equally; when your boss hates you because you are a Christian; when your boss isn’t organized and your work becomes chaotic. It is so hard to keep on keeping on when you’re tired; when you have drama in your personal life; heck, it can be hard when you’re hungry! But do it! Remember that your testimony for Christ is of utmost importance. Remember that your testimony for Christ should point to how good HE is, not how good you are!

My momma used to remind us that it takes years to build up your testimony for Christ and mere seconds to destroy it. Guard your testimony. And a good way to do this is to persevere in hard work and doing it the way you are told to (obviously don’t do it the way you are told if that way goes against God’s teachings).

Motivation and perseverance go hand in hand. What is your motivation? If it’s not to obey and glorify Jesus, then you will struggle to have integrity on the job. Pray about this often.

Be on time for work. For heaven’s sake, be on time!! If you find out that your boss won’t fuss at you if you’re a few minutes late, but he wants you there a few minutes early, which do you think integrity demands of you? Of course you need to be there on time! And on time means getting there a little early so that you can BEGIN working at your start time. Get up 10 minutes earlier if you need to. Consistently being late is a sure fire way to ruin your testimony for Christ. It is a respect issue – and yes, all authority figures in your life deserve respect whether you like them or not. And it is an integrity issue. BE ON TIME! Or you actually really do deserve to be fired!

Day 2 – Creating Good Habits

Psalm 5:3 – “In the morning, Lord, You hear my voice; in the morning I plead my case to You and watch expectantly.” What better way is there to start your day and to start creating good habits?! Ask God for His opinion about what you should do today. He has one and it’s right!

1. Make small changes. Over time, those small changes can add up to build big changes. For instance, let’s say I like to have dessert after every supper. (I promise I rarely have dessert!) I’ve read that the average dessert has 365 calories. I tend to believe that most people consume well over that amount with dessert, but we’ll go with that number. So the small change I’m going to make is that I’m only going to eat 1/3 of the dessert – just enough to appease my sweet tooth. Now I’m down to 122 calories, saving myself 243 calories for the day. That’s not really that many calories in the grand scheme of things, and I’m not going to see any change when I look into the mirror. But if I skip dessert for a week, I’ll cut 1,701 calories. That’s about half a pound that I would lose each week. And the only change I made in my entire diet was not eating as much dessert. Week two I could make another small change such as not putting as much creamer in my coffee. As I make small changes, I hardly notice them and each week it gets easier. And, quite easily, I am well on my way to being healthy.
2. Take a look at what you’re doing and what you want to be doing. Figure out, with the Holy Spirit’s wisdom, one small change you can make. See if you can figure out why you have that habit. There has to be a reward, of sorts. I have a habit of getting up early and working out five days a week. I have done this for a couple years with no visible physical change. But I still do it because my reward is that it helps me wake up, it helps me loosen up and not feel so stiff and I just feel a little bit better about myself.
3. Have a specific plan of action. I had a friend in high school who never went on a date without His Bible. But more than that, he would put the Bible on display on the console between the two front seats. This did two things. One, it helped him have a pretty good idea where the girl was in her relationship with Jesus. If she reacted awkwardly or thought it was weird, there was no second date with her. And two, it was a physical-spiritual barrier between them that made sex before marriage far less likely, between two people who loved Jesus and wanted to follow His commands.
4. What do you need to do regularly that you hate doing? (For me it would definitely be cleaning bathrooms!) Now think of something you really enjoy doing. (For me it would be listening to the soundtrack from Sight and Sound Theatre show, “David”.) Is there some way that you can do both at the same time? If not, is it something you can reward yourself with when you finish the task? I would strongly urge you to not pick an unhealthy reward. Eating cake and ice cream every time you accomplish something will not turn out well for you.
5. Think of a habit you want to start. We had a young man live with us for a while who hated brushing his teeth. He only did it when we thought of it (usually prompted by his bad breath) and told him to brush his teeth. I wonder, if we had helped him build a routine, if he would have gotten in the habit of brushing his teeth. He always remembered to get a shower in the morning. What if we had said, “Immediately after your shower, brush your teeth.”? He always remembered to call his girlfriend after supper. What if we had said, “Before you can call her, you have to brush your teeth.”? I wonder sometimes if he brushes his teeth yet. Maybe I don’t really want to know. Maybe he’s like Jessica Simpson and can’t stand for his teeth to feel smooth. (Oh my stars, that’s so gross!! But yes, she really did say that!). Anyway, all that to say this. Think of a habit you want to start and pair it with a habit you already have. See if the established habit can help you remember the habit you’re wanting to start, and encourage you to actually do it.

Day 3

How to Pray with Power

When a small child, say two or three years old, wants something but they can’t be bothered to use their words, what do they usually do? They point and grunt. Can I be honest with you? That irritates the crud out of me! Not only are most children at that age capable of saying a few words and getting their point across, they also really need to practice communicating. And pointing and grunting or whining is NOT communication, as far as I’m concerned. Anyway, I wonder if that’s the way God views us when we want Him to act on our behalf but we don’t take the time to ask Him for it.

God knows exactly what we want long before we actually ask Him for it. But do we really know what we want? We think we do. We want an escape from the pain, we want an immediate answer to our question, we want healing, etc. But here’s what God wants to know. Do you want HIM? Or do you just want what He can give you? That’s a really big question. One we really need to dive into, answer honestly and then learn to trust God with His BEST answer!!

In terms of how to pray powerfully, I’ll have to defer to children’s Bible Drill. I had felt for years that my prayer life was just not what it really should be. Yes, I prayed without ceasing because my heart and soul were desperate for communion with God. And yes, He graciously answered my prayers. But I felt like they were lacking something; like I somehow just wasn’t doing it “right”. Then in 2013 I was teaching Children’s Bible Drill at my church. The lesson was on prayer and they took the Lord’s Prayer and made the outline of it simple enough that a child… indeed, even I… could take and use. Basically it was whole body prayer.

Matthew 6:9-13 –

9) Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in Heaven, Your Name be honored as holy.

Begin your prayer time (at your head) with praise and adoration. Praise Him for Who He is, not just what He has done. He is El Roi (the God Who sees you, when it feels like no one else does), He is Jehovah Shalom (your Peace), Elohim (the Creator), He is the Great I Am!!!, El Shaddai (God Almighty), Jehovah Yireh (your Provider), Jehovah Rapha (your Healer), El Elyon (He is Supreme) and many more. He is so good and so worthy!!

10) Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Move to your heart. Our passion should be to see people come to know Jesus. Pray for those you know who don’t have a right relationship with Jesus. Don’t just list names. Pray personal, deep, desperate prayers for them. There is nothing more important for their lives! Then move into all the other requests you have, acknowledging that you want God’s will more than you want the prayers to be answered your way. That’s REAL power right there! For God to do things His way – we can know that it will be right and good. Spend time pouring your heart out to God and then listen to what He has to say about it. When you understand His heart, it makes it a lot easier to understand and take it when God says no or wait. He may not give you a reason for His no or wait answer, but He can speak peace into your heart when He says it.

11) Give us today our daily bread.

Hold out one hand. God knows your need even before you ask it. So ask boldly. He is our Provider and if it is a true need, He promises to meet it. Philippians 4:19 says, “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” He may not answer it the way you think you want it answered but again, He does know best and He loves you like crazy, so you don’t have to fear His answer or His ways. Receive what He has for you.

12) And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Hold out your other hand. Some would argue that repentance should be at the beginning of a prayer. I’m not going to argue that. Certainly, repentance should be AS SOON AS we realize we have sinned!! But sometimes there are sins that we commit that we didn’t realize were sins, or that we haven’t yet acknowledged as sin. I believe this part in the prayer is an excellent time to ask God what He wants you to repent of. How wonderful it is to be truly pure before God! I want to reiterate the fourth sentence of this paragraph. The very second you realize that you have sinned against God Almighty – whether the world would see it as a “big” sin or not – is the very moment you need to tell God you are genuinely sorry and ask for His forgiveness. He’ll give it. He promises!

And as you experience God’s gracious and undeserved forgiveness, think of those you need to forgive. With your hand open, let the anger, bitterness and hurt go. Give it to God. And forgive that person because they haven’t done more to you than you have done to God. And God freely forgives you, when you ask. If they don’t ask for forgiveness remind yourself that your forgiving them will be freeing to you, and forgive them anyway. Also, God says He won’t forgive us if we don’t forgive those who have hurt us. Matthew 6:14&15 says, “For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well. But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive your offenses.” I don’t know about you, but that thought terrifies me!!

13) And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Here we come to your feet. Ask God to direct your steps each day. Ask Him to protect you from temptations. And when you find yourself being tempted, ask Him to give you strength. Ask Him to lead you to someone who needs to hear about His great love for them. And then tell them about His great love for them. Ask Him to lead you to someone you can be a help or an encouragement to. Ask Him to show you what steps He wants you to take today toward the life He has planned for you.

And then go back to your “head” and finish your prayer with thanks. Thank Him for all the ways you’ve seen Him work, both in your life and in the lives of others. Thank Him for being the same God Who killed giants, shut the mouths of lions, parted the sea to provide a way of escape, etc. Yes!! That’s the same God we serve! What power and love!!!

If you will follow the outline of the Lord’s Prayer, you WILL see more power in your prayer. Because the One you’re praying to is more powerful than we can even comprehend!

And on that note, let’s talk for just a moment about how Jesus began His prayer. He said, “Our Father”! That’s Who we’re talking to. What a treasure that He is our perfect Father. Talk to HIM! Forget where you are, who is with you, who is watching – and focus on God! Take a minute, if you need to, before you begin to pray and come to the throne room. Know that it is GOD to Whom you are praying. He’s not interested in your empty words, and He’s sure not interested in what the people within the sound of your voice are hearing. TALK TO GOD! The focus is on Him, not you!

Since the focus is not on you, the communication is not affected by your righteousness, or lack thereof. We can have confidence at God’s throne because Jesus made the way for us by dying on the cross and coming back to life. It has nothing to do with us, praise God!

Hebrews 10:19, 22 – Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus – let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.

Pastor R.A. Torrey said, “We should never utter one syllable of prayer, either in public or in private, until we are definitely conscious that we have come into the presence of God, and we are really speaking to Him”. What irreverence for God, to speak words “to” Him that are not really to Him. We have GREAT need to get back to a reverence for God. We have strayed way too far from reverence.

The definition for reverence is: regard or treat with deep respect. That’s one reason I get so angry when people play around saying, or singing, God’s or Jesus’ Name. I promise it’s not funny to God! Does anything else matter?

One last thought on all of this… Several years ago I heard a precious young lady sing a song, the lyrics of which have stayed with me. The chorus says: “God forbid that I find You so familiar; that I think of You as less than Who You are. God forbid that I should speak of you at all, without a humble reverence in my heart.” Think about those words for a moment and let it sink in. Ask God where you are not showing Him reverence. And if you’d like to listen to the whole song… the lyrics are great and thought provoking… you can find it on YouTube. It’s Point of Grace – “God Forbid”.

Day 4

“Balancing” Spiritual, Social and School Life

The question was asked, “How do I balance spiritual, social and school life?” Whoo! That’s a loaded question! There’s probably not a simple, straight-forward answer. But let’s look at what we do know.

Let’s look first at “balancing” spiritual and social life. You simply cannot differentiate between the two. You are always in God’s presence – with friends, at school, at work, at Walmart – you are always in God’s presence. So you cannot separate spiritual life from social life or anything else. Praise Him for that!!

If you want to “balance” it, start each and every activity with prayer. Then ask yourself these questions: Why are you going? What’s there for you? Is it godly?

Romans 8:6-8 csb says, “Now the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace. The mindset of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit to God’s law. Indeed, it is unable to do so. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

So again, start each activity with prayer. Make absolutely certain you are in the right mindset – the mindset of the Spirit!

If one of the main reasons we’re on earth is to point people to Christ, then how dare we not have any social interaction with non-believers? I am an introvert. You’ll probably never hear me say that you need to be around other human beings every day. But you do need to spend quality time with others on a regular basis. Introvert or not, God created us to be in community with others. Our mental health will decline rapidly if we avoid time with others.

Enlightiumacademy.com points out, “Christ was literally the King of spiritual balance. He was perfectly God and man. He was tempted as we are tempted, but never sinned. He knew the Bible very well and knew exactly what to say to fight off the enemy.”

Matthew 22:37-39 gives us an excellent way of balancing the spiritual and natural… while giving precedence to the spiritual. “He said to him, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Enlightiumacademy.com goes on to say, “There will be times where the needs of others will come before your daily Bible reading”. Just be sure you’re listening to the Holy Spirit on this. Your friend wanting you to go hang out does not qualify as them need you more than your needing time with God. (Don’t read that incorrectly. I am not saying that hanging out with your friends instead of reading your Bible is inherently wrong. I’m just saying don’t forego your Bible reading in favor of hanging out. Make time for God!!) Your friend having a mental breakdown could very well mean they need you RIGHT NOW. That said, if you go to “help” someone, you had better be “prayed up” and in a spiritual mindset to hear God – both for you to be able to offer sound, Biblical help as well as to protect yourself from satan’s attacks. Your helping your friend should bring glory to God, not yourself.

We will never have it perfectly balanced like Jesus did. But He is Who we are striving to be like! We will not live a joyful, peaceful, fulfilled life until Christ is at the center of every part of our lives.

In the “handfulsofseed” blog, the writer makes some great points and says it very well. “Don’t separate your student (or work, or home, or social, etc.) life from your spiritual life. Christianity is a lifestyle, not something we do, it is who we are. Our faith and relationship with Christ should define who we are.”

When you go off to school, or move away, make sure you find and make other Christian friends. Get involved in Christian organizations. I would never suggest that you solely have Christian friends, but it is so important to have some who will encourage you, as well as hold you accountable.

Please make certain you have time set aside each day to read your Bible, converse with God, memorize Scripture, praise/worship, etc. I like to do these first thing in the morning so I know I won’t forget. Plus, it gets my day started right. But whatever time of day you choose to have your quiet time, try very hard to have it at the same time each day. This will help you make it a habit.

As for balancing social and school, I have just three suggestions.

1. Don’t focus too much on one over the other.
2. Maybe on Saturdays, sit down and look at what your next will look like. Prioritize and plan well. Each week will be different. This will benefit you for the rest of the week.
3. Be very careful about who you spend your time with.

Day 5

Accepting Your Calling in a World That’s Far From God

In the words of evangelist Tony Evans, “Your calling is your customized purpose which God has ordained for you to bring Him glory.” Your calling is for you, and you alone, to accomplish. God created this purpose specifically for you and it is your reason for being. He said, “If you’re not happy with who you are it’s because you’ve not yet figured out who you are. You don’t need to be somebody else. Why you wanna be somebody else, by the way? God already has one of them.”

Be joyful in your calling because you know that it will bring glory to God and will further His kingdom. Do we not love Jesus enough to do that? And when it’s hard to be joyful in it (and more than likely that day will come for every one of us) ask God to restore your joy in serving Him. I believe He wants to. I do not believe that God’s goal for our lives is to make us miserable.