UNDERSTANDING YOUR GOING IN

Just a quick blog today on entering new assignments.  I came across some notes in my journal about this and thought I would share a couple of experiences that might be helpful to others.
This year God started releasing many people into new assignments, new positions, workplaces, projects, and divine connections so they can be people of influence who leave a spiritual impact.

IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW YOU GO IN
Joseph went into Egypt as a prisoner and came out as one of it’s most powerful leaders. I’m not sure if Joseph fully discerned what was happening in his life at that time and what God’s full purpose for his situation was. He chose to trust God with what was happening to him at the time. In the days ahead we may find ourselves ‘going in’ to different situations and not necessarily in the way or the position we might want it to be.  Let me tell you a story to illustrate this.

Back in 2009 I was sitting at home with not much to do during the days and got so bored I pleaded with God to give me something. I was at that time also reading my way through the Karen Kingsbury books. One of the last ones I read was the story of one of the daughters working in a rest home. Well, I bawled my way through that book. It had a massive impact on me which I now realize was God building into me a compassion for the elderly. A couple of weeks later I saw an advert in the local paper for caregivers at one of our local rest homes.  I thought why not. So I trotted off down there with some apprehension because I hadn’t worked for quite a number of years. Long story short, I started off as a cleaner and over a 9 month period worked as a cleaner, receptionist, and caregiver in both the hospital and dementia wards.

The day I started working there I spotted the dedication plaque on the wall. The home was dedicated to the glory of God and I sensed in my spirit that I was there for a purpose. At that time there was a lot of unrest among staff, some of it quite nasty. I was able to pray into that. There was a change of home manager so I prayed into that. There were elderly people there who loved the Lord but never got to talk about Him with anyone. They did with me. There was the man who could no longer speak or really move and lay in his bed day and night, and who loved to be prayed over each night (he had a note to this effect beside his bed). He would squeeze my hand and have tears in his eyes as I prayed.

One particular instance stands out. A beautiful Seventh Day Adventist couple lived in the room next door to reception. She eventually got so sick she had to be transferred to the hospital wing. I started working in that wing. I was able to feed her at night time and pray with her. One particular evening she was missing her husband terribly. For some reason, he was not allowed to spend a lot of time with her. She asked me to pray for him, which we did and I prayed God’s comfort over her. I said I would call into his room on the way home and say hello from her. When I got to his room he had just passed away, peacefully sitting in his chair. My time at that job was finished soon after that.

If I had not had nine months of caring for these wonderful treasures, I would not have had the compassion to then run a senior citizens group for 5 years here in my local community.  I went in as a cleaner but I was so much more. It didn’t matter what position I held in the natural, it was the position that God gave me spiritually that counted.
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There are other stories where God has sent me into organizations, places, and circumstances because He has asked me to put my feet on the ground, carry His presence, shift an atmosphere, speak a word because that is what He has called me to. Some for a period of time, some simply one-off events.

WHY AM I SAYING THIS
So I have said all of this to encourage you not to despise or brush off the promptings you get from God to involve yourself in something. Our obedience to the smallest of requests from Him will have significant impacts. How we go in may well feel like a Joseph situation but to God, you are going in as a King. You will be bringing heaven down to earth. taking territory, shifting atmospheres and be a walking testimony of God’s goodness to those around you. It is about who we are in Him and what we carry, not the position or the label involved. Humility was Joseph’s friend. ​