I’m excited to share this blog with you today. I see God orchestrating it over the past few days. But before I begin, I want to define for naught to help you understand my post. “It’s often used to describe efforts, plans, or actions that ultimately fail to produce any result.” (From internet search on for naught.)

There are times when I struggle with my writing. I study, I read, I go to conferences, and listen to workshops. I work hard to get my sentences to flow and in this season of working through the edit on my novel, I question if I’ll ever be happy with what I type on the page.

Friday I committed to my friend and support person, Melissa, to try a new approach to my writing and what it morphed into was a walk to the beach and a story I wrote to describe my experience.

In my prayer journal the Lord led me from this first scripture in my frustration on Saturday—

Be humble in the Lord’s presence, and he will honor you.‬‬

James‬ ‭4‬:‭10‬ ‭CEV

—to the following scripture in my aha moment on Sunday.

Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted. Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good.‬‬

Psalms‬ ‭127‬:‭1‬ ‭NLT

Hard work is not the issue here. These builders, these guards are most likely doing the job they are meant to be doing, but they aren’t engaging in what God is doing. They are focused on their own goals. Let’s look at some more scriptures to focus in on what God wants.

Put your heart and soul into every activity you do, as though you are doing it for the Lord himself and not merely for others.‬‬

Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭23‬ ‭TPT

Our pastor spoke about what it was like working for a mean boss. It makes us miserable, we whine and complain, and lose our joy in our work. But think about working for our loving Boss, the one who would sacrifice everything to help us do the work, including working alongside us with joy.

We have everything we need to live a life that pleases God. It was all given to us by God’s own power, when we learned he had invited us to share in his wonderful goodness. God made great and marvelous promises, so his nature would become part of us. Then we could escape our evil desires and the corrupt influences of this world.

2 Peter‬ ‭1‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭CEV

Other translations say we may share or partake in his divine nature. This allows us to be empowered, through the Holy Spirit, to do what he calls us to do. Whether we’re building a house, guarding a city, or writing a novel, we can find our satisfaction, our success as we follow God’s guidance.

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.‬‬

Ephesians‬ ‭2‬:‭10‬ ‭NLT

You’ve heard the saying, “work smarter, not harder,” I think a better saying would be, “work with God, not against God.” That’s what I want to do.

How about you? Do you need a better boss?

Check out these other verses: Proverbs‬ ‭3‬:‭5‬-‭6‬, John‬ ‭6‬:‭27, Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭16, James‬ ‭4‬:‭13‬-‭17, Matthew‬ ‭11‬:‭29‬‬‬, and 1 Corinthians‬ ‭3‬:‭9‬, for mor insight into God’s perspective.

Grace & Peace,

Sandy

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