Working Efficiently to Honor the Most High

"Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16, AMP)

These verse is like a punch in my face saying "Iris, wake up! Here's what you need to remember!"

I was in struggle how can I honor God because I feel am not satisfied with what I'm doing. And here comes the daily devotional from Joel Osteen (i regularly receive it). I will bring honor and glory to God if I will do good on work, if I will seek to excel in everything that I do.

Am working as a content writer. But must have to admit that the quality of my work don't seem to impress me and even others. Because I am working as an average writer! No more than that! I have to admit that I'm getting bored once in a while. But I forgot the very essence of working from the perspective of God. I came to bring honor and glory to Him by excelling on my work and doing my best.

Let me quote the explanation of Joel Osteen whihc really pound my heart....

I heard somebody say, “Your performance gives you a platform.” When you excel in what you do, that gets people’s attention. The way to gain respect, the way to gain influence is to develop your character and skills in such a way that people want what you have. They may not agree with what you believe, but when you are the best in your company, they can’t argue with that. You’ve earned their respect, not by your words, but by your spirit of excellence.

I encourage you today, don’t settle for mediocrity. You are a child of the Most High God. Make the decision today to let your light shine and bring Him glory in everything you do!

It's quite a challenge. Nd I need to start working for it right now....Am not serving the people..and i'm not pleasing my superiors..i should work with the intention of honoring God..and one of this to bring out the best quality output that i can make...

a Call to Be Patient and Self-Controlled

I must admit that I really can't concentrate on work... the environment is sooooooooo unhealthy. it seems that I am working in a marketplace with palengkeros and palengkeras. I feel so sad that there's no difference between educated and non-educated people. There is no difference between intelligent and foolish.

Yeah, God is teaching me to love my enemies, but Paul is also giving us a warning not to associate with bad people for it corrupts good manners. I don't want to get angry, as Bible instructed us to be slow to anger. We are acting like foolish when we tend to get angry so easily. I am like this when I don't have Christ in me.

It's really a challenge. But there are things that I need to give up or otherwise I will suffer. Am asking for Gods wisdom. I want to act like a Christian. I am no longer the same person who acts and thinks as if I don't have God in me...

This calls for perseverance, patience, and faith to keep God's commandments in times like this...and of course, self-controlled. It might seem like you wanna butt in and say "hey, you shut up!" but you can't because it's a wrong way. I don't want to blame but i need to find a way so I can work without getting distracted.

God Provides when Your Company Fails to Pay You on Time

When we are about to run out of money, our great tendency is to complain... You think you have all the right to do so most especially if your salary takes toooooooooo long to arrive... We are running out of supply and I can't even have a cash advance for crying out loud!

I am working on a company with very low salary...we always get paid almost a week after payday....so how am i suppose to react??? its always like this... there are times that you will be really disappointed and darn frustrated...but i doubt if this company will care about how you feel...

there's nothing we can do about this..we all end up losers if i will choose to feel that way... in this situation, God is teaching me to trust Him,,, that He will be the One who will provide me with what I need...

So what will I do? All i need to do is to ask Him about my needs and He never fails to provide me..It helps a lot more than choosing to become frustrated and disappointed...

as Jesus promised "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?Matthew 6:25-27"

So i don't worry.. And I don't get annoyed... which means I am far more spared from getting headaches...You might be asking why I am still here working? The answer is simple....there is a great catch of fish here.. and besides, I love the job, including my team. and am working not really to serve the company...i'm here to be a good servant and steward of God since He is the OWNER of these things...

When God Reveals a Worshipper in You

.... I have a lot of problems the past few days.. I can't even concentrate with my work. So much pressure...But everytime I go to office I always read this one.. it's an ebook that I downloaded from a Christian website.

But what catches me here is the fact that God inhabits our praises and worship. Yup we need skills... but this is more than just singing songs and hymns to God. I realize the power of music that works through the presence of God.

it's not all about music... rather, IT IS THE PRESENCE OF GOD IN MUSIC that deeply touches the heart of soul...

God cannot enter in a heart where He is not welcomed... And He cannot stay either if we continue to hold sins in our hearts...

God taught me to focus on Him, not on my ugliness and my imperfection.. I cannot understand why He is doing this to me..Or is it hard for my to accept that God loves me so much?? I need Him but somehow refuse Him to come to me.. I came to a point that I even hate and condemn myself.

But when I surrender everything to Him, and gaze at His beauty, you will stand at His awe.. and no matter what happens, He is very much willing to show how beautiful You are in His eyes..

I was remembered that I was created to glorify and worship Him.. Many will discredit me service to God, even my leadership... But I will never stop being a worshipper of God..and I know I can't make this, it is Him that fulfills my destiny and plan for me.

The Sacrifice of Praise

"Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name"
(Hebrews 13:15, AMP).

This verse in the Bible is teaching me to praise God amidst of everything...I have to admit that my heart is struggling to be healed.. But the irony is, God is teaching me to praise Him no matter what..I keep on playing christian songs here and I felt relieved when i fully dedicate and sing the songs for Him...

I am in great struggle... God knows it... God knows how I feel and what I am going through right now... But this verse reminded me to praise Him...it's not all about me and my emotions..It's all about God... I should praise Him in spirit and in truth....

God is Gracious

In spite of all the frusttrations in life, in spite of all my failures, ugliness, and imprecfection, God never fails to give me the strength I need. He was blocked by my sins and inability to become humble.

But being humble is the only way..admitting your weakness and asking help from our Father is a sign of humility..i know there is no way I can overcome my weakness except on trusting and asking the help of God....

God is asking me to be strong.. That i should obey His instructions...Right now I am trying to regain my confidence in Him...I'm holding on to Him and asking for the strength that I need because there is no way I can survive on this tough battle without Him...

Courage for Micah

Oh how she used to adore seeing the full moon on a cold Saturday night. She’s not supposed to be with Micah but he’s beside her right now. He’s still the same guy she used to know. Handsome as always… He never failed to make her heart melt like butter every time she sees him. He’s the kind of guy who makes her want to look at his face over and over again. He doesn’t know, but she just loves to look at his lovely sparkling eyes that speak innocence in spite of his blatant arrogance. He is strong and full of confidence for himself. There’s just one thing she hates about him—he can read what she feels and he really finds it pleasurable to tease her! Grrrr… ..oh my! Is she that obvious???
But tonight, she can’t see Micah. He’s with her alright, but she knew something is wrong. She can feel it even if he’s not speaking; she just sits beside him. There’s a big space of silence between them. She doesn’t wanna speak either. She’s afraid she might say the wrong words. She terribly missed him and he doesn’t have any idea that she was getting torned by the fact that she won’t be seeing him for months. No communication at all, not even through texting. And she knew the new heights of challenges he’ll be facing on a training camp.
Extensive trainings, strenuous activities, mind-grappling tasks that will test his skills and endurance. It’s the kind of life that he chooses—the life of a SOLDIER.

She can’t find any words to say. She knows right from the very start that she’s not capable of strengthening him. So she just grabbed his hands and held them tightly, not wanting to let him go. She looked straight to his eyes, but hoping he can’t see this pain that’s starting to consume her. His weakness was clearly mirrored on his beautiful eyes that’s starting to get wet…She felt the urge to cuddle him like a child but she was afraid she might just show her heart squeezed like a sponge to see him like this. Until he broke the silence with these words…



‘’I’m weak inside but I’m not supposed to show this to you. But I want you to know that no matter what happens, I won’t give up. I want to show you that in spite of these struggles inside of me, I am fighting so hard.”

He’s holding her hand so tight…. this seems to be the only thing she can give him. She loses the power to give him the strength he needs but she ought to be strong for him. Then she started recalling the story of her favorite Bible character.

“I remember what God said when Joshua was about to face his enemies, be strong and courageous. The Lord was with him and so he was able to overcome all of his battles. Just imagine how all kingdoms unite their forces in trying to defeat Joshua and his people. They are all powerful and their unified strength can terrify you. But none of these kingdoms have won the Lord was with Joshua. I know that you'll be facing a tough battlefield when you leave . But I know that He will be with you, and I put my trust in Him that you will surpass the challenges that God has give you.” she said without looking at him, flashing a smile with growing excitement as she proclaims the triumph of the Lord.

“When you’re on the weakest point of your life, I hope you will be inspired by Gideon. When God asked him to save the Israelites from Midian’s hand, do you know what his response is? He claimed that his clan is the weakest and he is the least in his family. Maybe he’s really weak. I imagined the kind of self-esteem that he has- so fragile, so untrusting, so desperate. But God made him a winner. He had 15,000 soldiers with him fighting against 120,000 from Zebah and Zalmuna. (Judges 8:7; 8:10). And you I guess you know what happened. Gideon won because the Lord was with him. In your weakness, He'll show you how mighty He is!”

“Woah! 15,000 against 120,000?!!!!” He exclaimed.
“uhuh”, she replied gently but arrogantly, not trying to look at him again.
“Amazing!!...that was incredible!!”…
“Thanks, that what I exactly needed!”……
There’s a long silence. He held her hand again and both closed their eyes.
Then he whispered on her ears, “I’ll miss you a lot,… and I love you so much Miss...”
She didn’t bother to say another word and instead she looked at him tenderly, enjoying a great view of his handsome face.

“I’ll wait for you”

“yeah.. and I promised you that the enemies can’t do anything to make me give up the fight. We’ll never back down you understand me??” Micah said to her with full of assurance. She just nodded, not uttering a single word.

She’s stronger now, armed with courage to go on with her faith to God. She knew it’s not going to be easy. But trusting more God and learning the battles he have won thousand years ago learned gave her hope and assurance. Micah will be alright. He’ll survive there, carrying the name of God...