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Unemployed? Underemployed? Unhappily employed?

September 27, 2011 in Spiritual Gifts with 2 Comments

Whenever I talk about the will of God… It seems I usually end up with someone asking a question like,” What should I do with my vocation”, or “How do I get a job” and even “How can I find a different job”. Those are great questions; especially if you consider how much of our life we will spend working. Let’s say you work 48 weeks a year (4 weeks off for vacations and holidays), for 43 years (work until age 65- most will work longer) and you average working 50 hours a week. That is 2400 hours a year and 103,200 working hours in a lifetime. With that kind of investment we ought to ask, “God what do you want me to do for a living”?

Right now, the US is in a recession … at best some say depression and it has changed the field of play and work! I talk with a lot of people today that are unemployed, underpaid, underemployed or hate their job. They ask me, “Hal, what do you do? I have had people tell me:

  • “My boss treats me like a dog”
  • “I have a master’s degree yet I am doing an entry level job”
  • Or “I am doing a difficult job yet they pay me nothing”
  • Even,  “I have to have a job where do I look right now?”

Most of these statements are followed by a statement that relates their feeling of helplessness. Often people will ask- what does the bible have to say about my job?

That is where I am headed this weekend in the message I am calling- Free Agent.  I believe I have a word that will not only help your future employment but also help you today with the job you have or do not have. You must be at CATB SUNDAY and bring your friends!

By the way, we are having a lot of people get the FREE Spiritual Gifts test! If you haven’t got yours yet email me at gifts@halmayer.com now! Did I mention it is free? If you are looking for the blog post on Spiritual Gifts it is here.

Do You Know?

September 26, 2011 in Spiritual Gifts with Comments Off

This weekend a key teaching point was

“God’s thumbprints on you are clues about His plans for you.” 

          Hopefully you have taken the free spiritual gifts test.  If not, email me here and you will get an auto reply with the free online spiritual gifts test- gifts@halmayer.com .

Spiritual gifts and talents are God given abilities that we are given for you and I to use to honor God in our vocation and ministry opportunities.  Just because you have a gift doesn’t mean you are finished.   Paul told Timothy to “stir up his gift”.  I believe Paul is saying get out there and use it and develop it.  We would all agree that one of the saddest things we can experience is a gifted person who is lazy.  They have a gift- yet they don’t develop it, it just sits there and deteriorates over time.  What are you doing to develop your gift?  How are you leveraging it? Have you taken a test drive?  By the way, if you haven’t watched this weekend’s message go here.

I am always cautious with a spiritual gifts test because they can be misunderstood.  First of all- they are self-diagnostic.  Make sure you get some honest people to speak into the gifts (thumbprints) you believe you have.  Also, just because you have the gift of administration it doesn’t mean you should be in charge.  In fact, Jesus modeled first that we must have a servant’s heart before we can lead.  Just because you have the gift of teaching- it doesn’t mean you get to preach next weekend or that you should take over your Growth Group.  I firmly believe gifts must be recognized by others.  So jump up and take the opportunities at church and work.  Try something new and see if you think you might have a gift.  You have a gift from GOD if you don’t use it we all lose.