Beyond SALVATION is OCCUPATION

SEVEN MOUNTAINS OF INFLUENCE

Deuteronomy 1:8 All of this is the land which I, the LORD, promised to give to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their descendants. Go and occupy it.

I would like to share some thoughts with my Christian or religious friends on some truths that we seem to be missing in our pursuit of happiness. I have met very prayerful friends. When you meet them they are at least praying for something, either chasing demonic forces (call it the devil) or praying for break though of some sort. My problem has been this devil must be very elusive because he is being bound every day and being released at the same time. The question then is, if the devil is being bound every day at every church or spiritual gathering, who is setting the devil free? I have been troubled by this for some time until I realized that Christians have spiritualized everything. To a typical Christian everything is spiritual. Well that sounds nice! But tell me will the spirit come down from heaven and hand you money, cook for you or dig the copper that our country relies so much about? This tells me that the things that you are built to do you can't use prayer as an excuse not to do. Right now there may be some one praying for a miracle of a $100,000. Nice prayer, but what else are you doing that will enable that money to craw its way into your life? Faith without works is a  very Bad Idea of being religious

I once asked a married friend of mine the question; if this friend of mine and the wife wanted to have a child what would they do to achieve the objective? Is it by sleeping in separate bedrooms where the wife and the husband never come together but just stay apart and pray? I am pretty sure you can all guess the answer. When you find an average church building in my country, you can tell even if it has no sign post to tell that it is a church. Why? The quality of the building is usually very low sometimes lower than poverty itself. Why? Because the vast majority of the so called believers are not engaged in any kind of meaningful profitable business enterprises (put simply they are poor and are only waiting to go to heaven). The Bible says in Mat_7:16, “you shall know them by their fruits” and believe me it is not by the fruits they talk about. Christians speak big, but are not willing to go down and get dirty. They need finances but they pretend all is well and never want to get into activities that bring finances. Some brothers and sisters have even misunderstand the so called call of God. Christians will never have any meaningful influence on society if they do not strategically position themselves in life-o-sphere. To help us discuss this issue let me share with you an article on the Seven mountains of influence available at  http://www.the7mountains.com/

What are the seven mountains?

The 7 Mountains – Fulfilling Your God Given Assignment.

How are these two linked?

(Read this with an open mind Please)

The 7 mountains are 7 sectors in society that mold the way we think, that is our culture is shaped by these spheres or mountains. Society is changed/transformed through all 7 mountains.

1. Economy, 2. Government 3.Family 4. Spirituality 5.Education 6. Media & 7. Celebration.

God has a strategy for transforming society; it is through the marketplace/workplace, in each of these mountains. “Those people who occupy the high places have the influence”Today there is a great awakening as Gods people are becoming aware that there is a mighty move of God in the workplace.  Men & women are becoming aware that their work is their God given assignment.

God has designed each person individually, with a unique mix of abilities, strengths, desires. God has an assignment for each person.  Some peoples’ vocation (calling) is to work in the religious field. Most vocations are in other areas. We all are in on a mission [assignment], some are called to foreign lands, most are called to their local areas, and most are called to the jungles of the marketplace.

God has given you the desire, the interest to become an accountant, plumber, pastor, mother, cleaner, secretary, etc……  all are full-time Christian workers.

God never made a distinction between sacred and secular. In fact, the Hebrew word avodah is the root word having the same meaning of “work” and “worship.” God sees our work as worship.We have incorrectly elevated the role of the Christian vocational worker to be more holy and committed than the person who is serving outside in a more secular environment. Yet, the call to the secular marketplace is as important as any other calling. God has to have His people in every sphere of life. Otherwise, many would never come to know Him.

Let him demonstrate His power through your life so that others might experience Him through you today and see your vocation as worship to His glory.

God values our work even when the product has no eternal value. Christians often measure the significance of a job by its perceived value from the eternal perspective. Will the work last; will it “really count” for eternity?

The implication is that God approves of work for eternity, but places little value on work for the here and now. By this measure, the work of ministers and missionaries has eternal value because it deals with people’s spiritual, eternal needs.

Based on the above thought, the work of a doctor, shop owner, salesman, technician or jockey has only limited value, because it meets only earthly needs. In other words, this kind of work doesn’t really “count” in God’s eyes.  However, thinking this way, is ignoring several important bible truths. God himself has created a world that is time bound and temporary, and He placed us in it to live.  2 Peter 3:10-11.  God promises rewards to people in everyday jobs, based on their attitude and conduct.  Ephesians 6:8; Colossians 3:23- 4:1

The Lord has called each of us to be excellent in what we do. Those whom God used in the Kingdom as marketplace ministers were skilled and exemplified excellence in their field. Not only were these men skilled, they were filled with God’s Spirit.

We are living in a time when there is a reformation taking place in the body of Christ, not of doctrine but of practice. God is moving among those in the workplace. You and I are part of this movement. As more and more men and women take their rightful place as workplace ministers with signs and wonders that accompany their life, we will begin to see pastors and church leaders understand this movement and begin to embrace it.

These marketplace minsters are leading by results, providing solutions, by the power of God, which will change the old paradigms. However, be sure of this, whenever there is a move of God, there is also opposition by Satan that comes from the religious leadership, just as it did in the early church movement.

95% of the body of Christ are not employed by the church in “full time ministry” so there must be a destiny for this 95%.