The Blessing of Work by Sunday Adelaja

Hard work and the favor of the Lord rescued me from a life of oblivion. But many believers have wrong ideas about work. They think it's a curse, an obligation, a means of supporting themselves or a means of getting rich. Even worse, some see work as entirely separate from their kingdom life. They think that working for God and advancing their own careers are two different things.
But God has established work as a blessing for mankind and for His kingdom. Work was part of Adam's calling before the fall. His job was to subdue the earth, tend the garden and manage the animals. For us, hard work is a key to subduing our own promised lands.
God Himself works, and so did Jesus: "But Jesus answered them, 'My Father has been working until now, and I have been working'" (John 5:17, NKJV).
Jesus worked, and works still, because work was established by His Father as something good for humanity. During His earthly life, Jesus worked as a carpenter and as a preacher. He fully devoted Himself to the ministry and showed a strong work ethic. Anyone who does not work disgraces himself and steals from the wealth of those who do labor. "He who is slothful in his work is a brother to him who is a great destroyer" (Prov. 18:9).
If a man does not work, he gives nothing of value to the world. He is a thief. He is useless to God. We are made to bless one another through our labor. Work is good! You will not fulfill your potential in God's kingdom without hard work. Failure in life never means a person lacks gifts. But it may mean he failed to put the gifts to work. God gives everyone a chance to become successful. The resources you need to impose the kingdom on your sphere of influence are inside of you. Each person will give an account before God of how he used these talents and how much of his potential he fulfilled.
Some people don't work because they can't find a job that will pay them what they want. Some don't want to get a job for which they are "overqualified." But God will not give you something big if He doesn't see your faithfulness in small things. That low-paying job may be your first step toward discovering and ruling your promised land.
Some Christians have amazing talents but experience little results because they have not learned to work. Others are nothing but dreamers. They sit and wait for a breakthrough to come. But they forget that success won't drop into their laps like manna from heaven. People who think that God will do everything Himself while they just sit around and make big plans are pitiful.
Work has many side benefits. It gives us money to pay our basic needs. It keeps us mentally healthy by focusing our minds on something productive. It keeps us out of trouble. It reveals our gifts and helps us discover our potential and abilities. Work is the gift of God to man for him to discover himself. It is the means by which dreams, ideas and goals become reality. It allows us to become a co-creator with God. It makes us a blessing to other people. It increases our skills and abilities.
But by far the most important aspect of work is that it allows us to exercise dominion over all of God's creation. As kings and priests of the earth, we are to do more work and be more diligent than anyone else (see Eccl. 9:10 and Prov. 12:11).
Only those who know how to work hard will be satisfied with results. God is not obliged to bless people that do not work hard. But he that tills his land will be satisfied with bread.
It's time to start working hard for the kingdom. Let's all work hard to develop our gifts, passions and callings so we might have maximum impact for Christ. Hard work is necessary to develop the nature and character of Christ in ourselves. And hard work is absolutely critical to successfully bring the principles of God into our spheres of influence and in turn into the life of a nation. Let's train ourselves in this key kingdom principle so the land can become ours for the glory of God.