Pretty much everyone will tell you that stress is the biggest challenge they deal with today both in their work and their home life. Whether you work for someone else, for yourself, or are no longer in the workplace, there is no way to avoid having to deal with things we cannot control.  And let’s face it, not being able to control something stresses us out.

We as Christians know that we can turn to Christ for help in our lives, but let’s face it, we have a skewed sense of work.  We have this idea that unless we have a ministry of some sort, we think our work isn’t faith-based and God isn’t interested in helping us succeed.  I hope to convince you otherwise, and I’d like for you to refocus your thoughts on faith in the work world and encourage you to invite God into your work.  Every day.  All day.  

You probably already know that each and every one of us has gifts and talents that we are to share with the world and we are all called to conduct ourselves in the work we do in a Christ-like manner.  But really, what does that mean?  Let’s look at some examples.  

Depending on your work, you probably deal with co-workers or others you need to succeed who don’t show up on time or at all.  

I’ll bet you’ve worked with suppliers who don’t deliver what they said they’d deliver when they said they would.  It maybe isn’t even their fault, but it happens and it affects your day.  

I also bet you, too, tend with seemingly never-ending deadlines.  Even if it’s to get to a coffee or lunch date on time, if you are rushing to get there, you have stress in your life.  

We all deal with equipment that breaks down whether it is as simple as the print cartridge that needs changing or copier at the office that jams whenever you are under the gun.  

We also know that it seems the weather never cooperates when we have somewhere to be. Roads can be treacherous, flights get postponed, or school gets canceled and suddenly you have kids to deal with on top of preparing for that presentation.  

And there can’t be a soul alive who doesn’t deal with people who disagree with their position on issues.  Whether it is at work, in politics, or even at church, people are going to see things differently than we do.  And they aren’t always nice about it, are they?  It’s a sign of our times and it can be challenging.

And who hasn’t had to deal trying to make ends meet in our lives?  Really, at every season of life, we seem to find ourselves trying to balance time and money to be able to maximize our experience, don’t we?  It’s ingrained into us to always want, be, and do more and sometimes that can be very stressful because it seems that no matter how much money we make, we always want more.  

These are just a few examples of the variables that we simply cannot predict or influence in our work, but you get the picture, don’t you?  

It really doesn’t matter where you are in an organization or if we are even in an organization, there are hundreds of things that can go wrong in the course of a day or week.  So we work harder, longer, and hopefully smarter.  But to what avail?  Do we ever eliminate stress from our work?  I’m starting to think it is an impossible goal.

To be effective in the workplace we must always try to do the best work we are able to do and we need to stay focused on the things that are going to have the most impact.  So many of us do well with doing excellent work, but we often have a tendency to allow meaningless tasks to distract us from what we need to get done.  As a result, we never quite measure up to our own or our bosses’ expectations.  

Sadly, in work as in life, we forget to utilize the best resource we have available to us. Jesus asks us to trust him and to turn to Him in prayer.  But we forget to do that in the workplace, don’t we?  At least I always did.  Oh, sure, I would say a prayer when things were falling apart and I had no idea how to resolve the problem.  Or I would say a quick prayer as I headed into a difficult meeting or conversation, but truly, I’d only invite God into the situation if I’d tried everything else first.  

But what if, instead of keeping God on the sidelines, we invite him to be our executive partner in all our actions all day, every day? What if we started each and every day inviting God and the Holy Spirit to guide us through our day?  In Psalm 138:8 it says, “The Lord will work out his plans for my life…”  So what if we include God in our plans.  He alone knows what is best for us and he alone can fulfill his purpose for us.  So as we make our plans and dreams, let’s be sure to talk with him about them.  

Imagine sitting down each day before you launch into your work and asking God to assist you with your duties?  In a similar manner, you can ask him to help you in your relationships, your to-do lists, your meetings, your interactions with employees, and your co-workers.  Think how differently your day could be if you invite God to bless each of these people on your support team as well as the people you encounter such as daycare providers, clerks at the store, in fact, virtually everyone you encounter in your day?  

God wants to be a part of every aspect of our lives.  He would like nothing more than to equip us to do the work he has called us to do.  We do not have to struggle with the weight of it all ourselves.  So starting today, I invite you to begin your day with prayer, thanking God for all the blessings from the previous day. Then ask the Holy Spirit to guide your thoughts, words, and actions so that they would be in alignment with God’s will and for His glory.  

Allow yourself quiet time when you first wake up, before you turn on the radio, tv, or even check your email, and contemplate how your day will go.  Ask God to walk with you through each step of the day.  When you get to work (wherever that work is), sit quietly with your calendar or list of things to accomplish and ask him to prioritize what is in store for the day and give you a servant’s heart.  

A really great resource for starting your day with God as your partner is a book called, Daily Business Meetings with God by Felicia Slattery.  I highly recommend you check it out. 

A familiar verse that we often only think of in a time of death is Psalm 23.  It really has some great advice for our day to day lives as well.  Let’s see if you agree: “The Lord is my shepherd; I have everything I need.  He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams.  He renews my strength, He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.”  

I love how the footnote in my Life Application Study Bible describes that since the Lord is a good shepherd, we are his sheep – not frightened, passive animals, but obedient followers, wise enough to follow one who will lead us in the right places and in right ways.  It goes on to say when we allow God, our shepherd, to guide us, we have contentment.  When we choose to sin and go our own way, we cannot blame God for the environment we create for ourselves.  

And it’s true.  When we go off on our own and try to tackle all the challenges that come our way, we can create a stressful, harried, and sometimes hostile environment.  Tempers flare, feelings get hurt, and relationships become fragile.  But it doesn’t have to be that way.  We get to chose how our workday will go and with God’s guidance, it goes so much better. 

When we surrender to his will, we no longer take on all the stress and worry, but rather trust that his will always prevails and all will be fine.  When things don’t go the way we had planned, simply ask what you can learn from the situation and what changes might be necessary to have a better outcome the next time.  

Now I do need to caution you that God isn’t going to actually come to do the work for you.  We still have to do our part, but he will equip us to do our part.  Then he will do things beyond our vision that will be even better than we can imagine.

When things go wrong, and they will, the key is to ask God to help you to discern if it means you need to go a completely different route or simply take a different tactic and stay the course.  Sometimes we are absolutely on the correct course, but God’s timeline for completion is different than ours.  

One thing to keep in mind is that although it may seem counterintuitive, it is important to schedule time away from work. Both to take breaks during the day, and also to make time for vacations.  These breaks force us to utilize our time most effectively.  

Think about it, when you know you are going to be away from your work, whether it be for a day or several days, you are more organized and work harder to get those things you know have to be done completed, don’t you?  Why is it we can get our best work done with a deadline or vacation looming?  It’s because we have no choice but to focus on the most important tasks to ensure things will continue to run while we are gone.  What if we were to work more effectively and focused on the important stuff every day? We can if we invite God into planning our day.  

If you are a person who is used to forcing things to get done your way and on your timeline, this will take some getting used to.  You will be frustrated until you learn to let go of the reins and allow God to lead.  And you won’t do it perfectly.  It will be a habit you will have to form over time.  But if you commit to learning this habit, you will find yourself relaxing and actually enjoying your work and your life more.  As an added benefit, you will find your co-workers and family smiling more often and starting to trust their own instinct.   They, too, will become more productive at work and at home.  

If this resonates with you today, my challenge to you is to stop trying to control everything and instead invite God and the Holy Spirit to guide your day.  To simply surrender to God and let him take things in the direction that he has planned for you.  It’s about getting really in tune with where the Lord guides you and shutting out the chatter from the world.  

It’s about letting go of the hassle and embracing the peace and fulfillment you were created for.  I hope you will stop back next week when I will continue this series on Faith at Work and I’ll share ideas about being a servant leader.  If you want to see what else is in store, go to vonajohnson.com and accept my free gift of a poster with the 7 Mistakes Christians Make at Work.  It’s got some important things to think about and is in a format you can display as a reminder on how to incorporate your faith into your work life more consistently.  So please go over to vonajohnson.com and get yours now.  

And if you know someone who could benefit from this, please share it with them now.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I really appreciate your time here.  Have an amazing day!