WAKE UP & GET 2 WORK

And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it (GENESIS 2:15 KJV).

This week’s message is so thought-provoking that I had to stop for a few minutes and gather my thoughts together to see which way to go with this. The main text of the sermon, although powerful, is very often neglected or forgotten in the body of Christ. In the King James Version, it says, “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it” (Genesis 2:15). We are definitely reading about our Creator’s intent for each and every one of us.

This text speaks about God, our Heavenly Father, creating us with a plan to put us to work in His garden, which was the world at that time. It says he placed man there to dress it and keep it.  God created this garden not for himself but for mankind and gave mankind the responsibility of its upkeep. According to Pastor Exzabia, to dress it means to serve, to guard, and protect in every aspect of your life, whether in the house of God, the marketplace, as a wife, husband, or child.

This all tells me that with God, placement comes with responsibility, and responsibility is work. God never intended for us to sit idly by and watch others work. There has to be something in that placement that requires my contribution, and pastor Exzabia said it best when he said, “Man was never created or placed somewhere or placed into a position to do nothing.”

Ever so often in the body of Christ, we notice so many among the masses who are anointed but idle, not realizing that they are anointed with purpose to do, to work.  Throughout my life, I have discovered that a person never really knows for sure what they can do until they actually do something. It is in the doing that we discover the call upon our lives. While we sit idly by waiting for someone to tell us what to do, we must recognize even in the uncertainty, we have been chosen, gifted, called and sent. When you are called to start a business, go back to school, write a book or lead a ministry but you keep postponing, you are not lacking in talent, but rather you are lacking in movement.

We must understand that there is no unrighteousness in God when He placed us here. He will not place us here empty of the ability to take care of our world, life, and ourselves. He says in Jeremiah 28:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, thought of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” Does that sound like a God who is not intentional about you? Too often we treat the anointing as the destination when it is actually the invitation to work. The anointing is the starting point to get to work not the finish line. We need to Wake Up & Get 2 Work, because there is no one coming to do our work for us and saying we are waiting on God when He has already placed and assigned us is being asleep.

James 2:17 (KJV) tells us clearly that “faith without works is dead.” Idleness is disobedience when you know you’ve been called. We often cover fear, perfectionism, procrastination, and ‘waiting on the right time’ behind spiritual patience, but are we really waiting on God, or is He waiting on us?

I firmly believe that God blesses movement and work. Let us look at a few in the bible: Abraham “went,” Peter stepped out of the boat, the woman with the issue of blood pushed through, Peter cast out his net, Moses stretched out his hand, etc., etc. The miraculous always meets us in motion. They didn’t wait for perfect clarity before doing what they did. Proverbs 14:23 tells us, “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” Small steps in obedience will always create massive waves in purpose.

Remember, you are not stuck, you are merely stationary. Wake up and start moving and it doesn’t require perfection, just participation. Start your day with prayer, prioritize, and proceed with it. God can’t steer a parked car. Start moving in faith. God guides those who step out in faith, even if it is messy or uncertain in the beginning. Apply for the job you are not sure you will get, start the ministry with what you do know, enroll in school even if you don’t know how it will be funded, write the first page of the book you are afraid to start. According to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “You don’t need to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”

Wake Up & Get 2 Work!