E-Letters

It is my pleasure to introduce a new friend of mine, Brian Golter. I met Brian in Colorado at a retreat a few weeks ago and he is a bright gem straight out of God's treasure chest. Brian has written an important book for "the times" we are living in of the unemployed or underemployed. You can link to the book at the bottom of his e-letter.

I hope you enjoy Brian as much as I do.

Jeff

Realignment

By Brian Golter
Feb 23, 2010

Men,

Personally, when I'm suffering I hate to have some pious jerk come along and tell me that this is all part of God's plan. Typically I respond with, 'Well if your comment is part of God's plan, then the devil can retire!" But there are times when we must suck it up and look God right in the eyes to understand why we are experiencing hardship.

As a headhunter, moonlighting in men's ministry, the question I used to hear most often was, "What is God doing in my career?" With the changes in the economy, the question I now hear is, ''What has God done with my career?" For the first time in our lives many of us are uncertain of how we are going to pay our bills and support our families. Inherent in these two questions is an understandable, but fatal mistake in the way we view ourselves and God. The first mistake is that we assume God is 'with us' when we have a job and 'not with us' when we don't. The irony is the men who suffer the most from job loss are the same men who most disliked the jobs they were in!

At the core of this mistaken belief structure is a lie the enemy has inflicted on most of the men I know and that is, "You are not loved." What does being loved have to do with paying the bills? One of the foremost qualities of love is protection. Our Father in Heaven is always engineering our circumstances to bring us ever increasing protection. Another quality of love is provision. Again, our Father is always moving to bring us an increase of provision. Lastly, love always offers rescue. Our Father is always in the activity of rescuing us from our enemy.

I don't know the specifics of your current circumstances, but I can tell you that despite the hardship or fear you may be experiencing, God is protecting, providing and rescuing you. Your hardship is God's act of loving you. If you're struggling financially and that last statement didn't piss you off, you're probably not really struggling.

I awoke one morning and God whispered in my ear, "I never said that I wasn't a difficult God." Then I heard Him laugh. It was a short, but hardy laugh. God will ask us to do extremely difficult things in order to protect, provide and rescue us. He will even risk losing us to the lies of the enemy to further deepen His love for us. So how are we to respond to this God who is not afraid to see us go broke? This 'Good Father' who is not afraid to humiliate us right down to our very core?

There is an old saying that goes, The best way out is through. The only way to find true relief from our suffering and humiliation is to go directly to Him. We must go to our Father for an interpretation. We need to ask Him what He is doing in our circumstances. Ask Him, "Father what is your purpose in this hardship? What do I do next? How exactly should I pray? Who do I turn to?" Bring Him your anger, doubt and desperation. For those of you having difficulty hearing from Him, seek out trusted men who can help you develop the ability to do so.

I asked God the question, 'why are you putting so many good men through financial/job hardship?" Here is how I believe I heard him respond. "I am exposing the lies that have kept you in bondage. Lies like, 'I am what I do'; 'I am what I have'; 'I am what other people think of me'. These lies hold you down. Lies that have you speaking boldly one moment, but living a life of fear the next. Do not turn your backs on me during this time of correction. Rather, join with me as I unveil a new plan for your life, a plan that will bring you more freedom than you have ever known. Here's the key: Seek out wisdom from one another. Seek my word and the movements of my hand in your life. My hand is here this very moment. It is always here to guide and protect you. Seek me with all your heart and watch what I can do. Move in trust. Work in this way, don't sit and wait. Go in my tremendous blessing over your life'.

For more go to www.mybossjune.com.