Burn-out or Restful Work

Hebrews 4:10-11 (New Living Translation) – For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world.  So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.

The great act of Kingdompreneurs (those who have a relationship with God through Christ and have dedicated their businesses to the service of the Lord) is to rely fully on God – for everything.  In the world, entrepreneurs are identified by their drive.  Driven is a term most often used to describe the successful entrepreneur.  However, in the Kingdom, entrepreneurs are identified by their desire to seek the presence of God and to enter into His rest.  In the Spirit, entrepreneurs are defined by their ability to hand over all and submit their lives to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

1 Peter 5:7 (Amplified Bible) – Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.

Burn-out comes from us holding onto things that should be given to Christ to resolve.  What are those things in your life that you need to hand over to Him?  Have you been or are you currently disobedient to what God has called us to do to get our work done?  We must learn to trust Him to handle the little and great matters of our lives.

As I reflected on the past year, I discovered that I had suffered from several bouts of burn-out.  I now realize the errors of my ways.  There were times when I encountered great external pressures facing our companies.  I did not seek the Lord’s input but forged ahead to get things accomplished the way the world has so modeled.  I worked in my strength and in my own abilities and ended up paying the price for it.  God does not want us to participate in the rat race work of the world.  He wants us to come out of that system of doing things.  We must obey Him and enter into His rest.

Romans 8:14 (King James Version) – For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

When we are led by the Spirit of God, we put ourselves in a powerful position  because it is only when we do so can we enjoy the benefits of being a member of God’s family.  The rest in our business and personal lives will only come when we allow the Holy Spirit to guide our choices through His inner promptings.  God sees the burdens that we are trying to carry and all He wants us to do is to turn it over to Him.  Let Him solve every challenge in our lives and we will walk free of the hindrances of worldly stress and anxiety.

Through Christ, work has been permanently transformed.  It was a physical act and has now become a spiritual discipline.  No longer do we rely on our own strength and ability to get things accomplished.  But are commanded to enter into the rest that has already been secured for us.  The only labor that we must involve ourselves is the one to enter into God’s rest.  This is work for the new man! We must learn the new way of work – what it is like to work alongside God and not against Him.  In our former lives, we were taught that the only way to accomplish things was to do it on our own.   We must realize that it was all finished on the cross and it still remains that way even to this day.  Our work can be summed up in the following three steps:

1. Seeking His presence;
2. Listening for the still small voice of the Holy Spirit; and
3. Obeying His instructions to the very letter.

All you and I need to do is to grab hold of this great truth in the current year and we will cease from being burned-out again.