Motivated by Needs

We are all motivated by needs. We all have needs at every point in our lives; we have a need for one thing or another. Some people have needs for basic survival such as food, clothes and shelter. Others may have a need for a mortgage or a vehicle. In response to our needs, we do what the world does. We do what we have been taught to do. Generation after generation strives for employment, to get a job, to work for others so as to provide for their everyday needs. While in school, children learn the necessity of having a job. Various career options are presented to them so they can identify with a career that will help them live a better life. Oftentimes, adults who may have wanted to become doctors, lawyers, athletes, and musicians as children, give up on those desires so that they can find a job that provides for their daily needs. The workplace is full of dreamers with a dream deferred. I was one such employee, working in a plot of other employees who found it hard to make ends meet. We griped, we moaned and we complained. We joined unions and rallied for higher pay, more paid time off, and fair treatment. We wanted to be valued. We wanted positive affirmation and five star performance reviews. Our employer gave us life; money to supply our daily needs, and as such, we became indebted to a system that kept us bound, begging and broke living hand to mouth and paycheck to paycheck. Barely able to make ends meet, in a position that could care less about our strengths, skills and talents, we remained and we thanked God for a job, because at least this job does one thing, it provides our daily needs.

Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2

Where is God in this? We ought not reduce God to a distant heavenly Father outside of space and time who is providing us enough strength to deal with a job that is suppressing our gifts and talents. God Himself put gifts and talents inside every one of us to share with the world. We are all innovators, designated agents, gifted to dominate the earth. Created in God’s image and likeness, we are to dominate science, technology, music, business, literature, education, medicine, arts; so on and so forth until the deep mysteries of God’s creation are unearthed, explored and marveled. There is a deep seed within us all to maximize our fullest God-given potential. What you are most talented at doing, and most skilled at perfecting will never be fully harnessed working a job that is at enmity with you, and you with it. You were designed to cultivate the seed within you alongside God. His highest priority is to be in a relationship with you. As you grow in your relationship with God, it is He who will harness, grow and catapult your gift to the next level, if only you will believe it and receive it, by faith. He is faithful to provide all of your needs according to His riches in glory. Your purpose is bigger than you think. Satan fears the potential of your purpose. He knows that you have a gift. Yet fear of not having enough to survive keeps many Christians locked and bound to a system for the duration of their lives never having lived to their fullest potential, thereby dying with unmanifested richness on the inside. Richness that could have inspired the next Einstein, Nelson Mandela, Bach, Napoleon Hill, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mother Theresa, among others. The death of your God given seed could destroy generations upon generations of innovators and thought leaders who remain undiscovered because you did not harvest your God given seed and inspire a new generation in your family and beyond. The destruction of the gift thereby passes along the manmade desire to pursue needs in lieu of purpose. Generation upon generation of “need seekers” emerge and transfer the same thought process until someone emerges and shifts from need to purpose.

Are you that someone?

25-26 “If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.

27-29 “Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.

30-33 “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

34 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. Matthew 6:25-34 (MSG)

We are constantly in need, and there will always be a need so that God can meet them for us. We are not designed to live cognitively of need, we are designed to live cognitively of God.

God meets needs. When we come to Him in prayer with our needs, God responds. We are created to be in relationship with Him, and in partnership with Him. We must have faith in knowing that God will provide all of our needs according to His riches in glory. We must remember that God knows all. His will and power is supreme to our limited knowledge and understanding. To truly trust God to supply your needs, a relationship must be developed and established with Him. As a newborn baby, new to this world and its surroundings, must learn to trust its mother and father, so must the christian learn to trust and have faith in our eternal heavenly Father. A loving mother wants her baby to find comfort in her, and have the assurance in knowing that she will provide all of its needs. When her child cries out to her, with loving attention she swiftly goes to her baby to take care of its needs. In time, the baby knows that its mother is faithful to provide for its every need. So much so that the baby prefers mom over all others. The baby will refuse others and adhere to its mother because of the love, trust and faith in her to provide its every need. In like manner, we must trust ourselves to God and have faith in Him to provide our needs. Fulfilling His purpose in us should be our focus and life’s work.

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)

Once we plant our faith in knowing that God will provide our needs, we can proceed confidently in purpose. Fully comprehending that the desires that God planted on the inside, will come to pass. As you grow in your relationship with God, your needs will grow, your desires will also change and grow larger than our human reasoning. The capacity to trust God for more is a desire he places in us all. We move from faith to faith. God is faithful. God is an infinite God. He does not have a small purpose for you. God is looking for those who by faith in Him will change nations, win souls, build businesses, and give generously thereby impacting the world for Christ in a mighty way. As we join together with Christ, His business becomes our business. Jesus came to announce and advance the kingdom of God here on earth. His work is being carried out by His church in the power of the Holy Spirit. Every member of the body of Christ is fully armed to carry forth the gift inside by faith. Will you partner with Christ to do so? Disarm fear and move forward in faith. Pursue your purpose. Give your gift to the world. Change your generation.

Visit www.awe-inspiringyou.com for more faith-based resources, prayers, and encouragement for healing from heartbreak in God’s presence.

Footnotes:

-finding purpose at work

-find meaning in your work