“Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men.” (Colossians 3:23 BSB)
“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5 NKJV)
“Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. ” (Joshua 1:8 NLT)
I have been purposely focusing these posts on the journey that I have taken through my life in relation to the the call/assignment that the Lord gave me when I entered into His family at the age of 8. I have not shared the many experiences that I have lived through pertaining to family, and the many other facets of life. As time goes on I am sure that we will visit many of these areas. What we have been selectively moving through are the highlights (or in much of what I have shared, the low lights) that I now see as “milestones,” or “markers,” on the journey to where I am today. I believe that this journey is an important backdrop into understanding the message that the Lord has given me to share with anyone who will listen for the remainder of my days in this “Earthsuit.” So let’s keep going. We are almost up to the present. We have made our way all the way from the summer of 1969 to the fall of 2019. Let’s pick it up there.
As a third shift custodian, I was blessed with a job that allows me to support the ministry of the local Church, get a good physical work out most nights, and once I have learned a task kick into autopilot which allows me to meditate on God’s Word and pray all night long. I fly solo over 90% of the time while I am working. With it being such a large building, and only 4 other guys on my shift, I am mostly by myself with no one near enough to hear me (at least I don’t think they hear me). I talk to the Lord (and myself) out loud most nights. I have even had a vocal argument or two with the Him which I hope no one had to hear. Most nights I will read something from the Word, or a Bible based book, and then ponder what I have read during the first half of the night. I will then read more during my lunch break and do the same for the remainder of the night. I have the best conversations with the Lord while I am working. The Spirit takes what I have been reading and He teaches me for about 7 hours a night. I have grown more spiritually in this job than in any other position I have ever had (even as a Pastor).
When I was offered this opportunity I made the decision to do it “as unto the Lord.” To me this meant that I would pray over, and set apart for the Lord, every inch of the building that I would touch. I have anointed the entry ways. I have prayed over the stairs. I have made spiritual declarations throughout the building. My personal favorites are the bathrooms. When people think about ministry, and being “touched” by God, the last thing that they would ever think of are the bathrooms. The Lord gave me a vision for the bathrooms becoming a “holy” (set apart) place where people are “caught” by the Holy Spirit. Let me explain.
We live in a busy world where rarely do we stop long enough to hear from the Lord. People come to Church, and as soon as the message ends (sometimes sooner) they immediately shift gears and start thinking about whatever comes next (dinner, the beach, work assignments, nap time, etc.). I picture in my mind someone getting ready to leave the building, then they decide to stop by the bathroom first. They pause for just a moment before rushing into the next part of their day. With no thought of what they had just heard from the Lord during Worship, or the message, BAM! The Spirit of God hits them and they realize they have unfinished business with the Lord and allow Him to minister to what ever it is they need. Can you imagine with me major revivals tracing their origin back to the Resurrection Life Church of Grandville’s restrooms? It may sound funny (or foolish) to others, but it is real to me.
The Lord is teaching me to see every aspect of my life as “ministry” in the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. There is nothing too big, or too small, to be used by Him to reach a lost and dying world. Tomorrow I will share one of the clearest Words the Lord has ever spoken to me, and He did it will I was cleaning windows in the middle of the night.