Unleash Your Faith at Work: Living a Fully Integrated LifeSample

Choose to Say Yes to God

Every day, in each moment you have a choice—to work according to the pressure and influence of the world around you, or to say “yes” to God. Once you invite God into your work, He will direct you, sometimes prompting you to do things you don’t understand.

Simon and the others had been fishing all night and caught nothing. Tired and discouraged, they were ready to pack up for the day. Jesus arrived at the shore surrounded by a crowd of people and decided the boats made a great platform from which he could teach. And after he finished speaking, he told Simon to “Put out into the deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” As a seasoned fisherman, Simon knew that the chances of catching fish in deep water were even slimmer and they had caught nothing all night. But he had also witnessed what Jesus could do. 

Simon felt compelled to point out why this didn’t make sense (can you relate?). Still, he did what Jesus told him to do and the catch was so great, it filled two boats to the point that they both started to sink. Saying yes to Jesus unleashed his power into their work, yielding a catch beyond what they could have imagined. And they left that great catch behind to follow Jesus.

The world’s definition of success and God’s are vastly different. God used the failure Simon and his coworkers experienced followed by the abundant catch at Jesus’s command to show Simon and the others what can happen when they depend on God for true success. 

Has God used a failure you’ve experience in your work to point you back to Him and the purposes He has for you? 

Saying yes to God requires: 

• Being willing to say no to worldly influence. 
• Overcoming our own fear of failure or success through faith in Jesus. 
• Obedience to what God asks of us.

What has the Holy Spirit prompted you to do recently? What steps can you take to say “yes” to God?

Prayer

Father God, help me to remember that true success only comes from obedience to and dependence on You. Help me to find the courage to say “yes” when You prompt me to act. I want to give You all of the glory in my work. In Jesus’ name. Amen.