Getting wisdom and breakthrough while serving God and others
Considering that we have reached an age where unemployment and long term joblessness have become a trend in many countries of the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I feel led to share a testimony that has helped me build my career and ability to create wealth.
I started writing at age 17 , back in my home country of origin. In 2000, while I was gearing to turn 18, I started serving in my church as a writer and then as a journalist. Little did I know that the service I was giving to my church would carve a path towards my current ministry 21 years later.
In 2012, I started seriously blogging by sharing the word of God online through my blogging platform. Back then, many of us were using Blogger because of its simple presentation and easy to use platform. While I was blogging through the years, God helped me improve my writing, the techniques of managing and building a website, and the marketing techniques to reach people.
And I was doing all of it for free. I was doing it for God and I was doing it because I had a strong desire to see people being raised in real and solid teachings of the Bible. While I was blogging at night, I would work in restaurants and retail stores (as a waiter and later as a manager) during the day. Years later, I would land a job as a college lecturer.
In 2017, I landed a job as a training consultant in a consulting firm. During the interview process, candidates were required to respond to essay questions (very long essay questions). I managed to write down the responses to those questions. However, If I had not been a skilled blogger and writer for the previous five years, I would not have been able to accurately reply to those questions. I eventually got the job.
As I got into the job, there was one big problem in the company: 'we were trying to sell training products and courses to clients across the African continent. We knew what we wanted to do but the company lacked the strategy to win customers. Before my arrival, they had tried reaching out to customers but with no success. So, the burden was given to me as my own little baby.
This is what I did: 'I used the same strategy I utilized in my blogging ministry for the previous five years. I redesigned the company's website and their newsletter, and I 'copied-pasted' my entire blogging strategy into the company's structure. Within a month we managed to get international clients to come to South Africa and who fully paid for those training programs.
It was only possible because I decided to volunteer in the Army of the Lord as a Teaching writer for years without a salary .To this day, I do not earn a salary from what I do.
The Bible says in Proverbs 11:30 : 'The fruit of the [consistently] righteous is a tree of life, And he who is wise captures and wins souls [for God—he gathers them for eternity]
(Amplified version)
By winning souls, you will get wisdom.
When someone decides to win souls, he/she positions himself/herself as a mouth or representative for God. Consequently, God will ensure that wisdom flows through their mouth in order to honor His own representation in front of the people they try to win.
Do you know that most of Jesus' disciples were uneducated? How do you think they were able to stand in front of Kings, magistrates, governors? How do you think they were able to shake nations?
You know what's even more amazing?
When wisdom comes into us, It does not leave us. Therefore even after we finish speaking or serving for the Kingdom, we can go around and use the same Wisdom at work, in our relationships, in our communities, in our business ideas...Just like I did.
Many people are struggling in their lives because they don't (or never) win souls for the Kingdom.
When you win souls, God will expand your thinking capacities and sharpen your manner of addressing others. That wisdom will affect your life positively. But you need to lay down your life to save others.
You can do it directly by addressing people and you can also do it by serving in your church or in a ministry. When was the last time you did something related to the Kingdom of God.
And I know that we do not have the same gifts, but it is not an excuse to sit and do nothing. Churches and ministries are looking for aides in every area (administration, media, cleaning, ushering, finances, charity, catering, health and many other roles...).
God has planted gifts in you for His services and to win souls. It's time to serve. As a matter of fact, if you are unemployed, you could even use your ministry volunteering as an experience in your CV and it could help you land a job. Furthermore, your volunteering experience will help develop skills that could help you earn an income in the secular world.
Do not underestimate your volunteering for God.
Serve, Serve, Serve!