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iWork4Him PowerThought

Jim & Martha Brangenberg

Prepping for work each day, chug your coffee and take a short swig of workplace inspiration with the iWork4Him PowerThoughts. Hosts Jim & Martha Brangenberg give you a 1-minute daily challenge to live out your faith at work. Each episode is designed to kick off your day with an idea you can put into practice as soon as you get to work. The iWork4Him PowerThoughts are focused on helping you to recognize that your workplace IS your mission field. Catch new episodes every Weekday.

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Yesterday · 1 min
A Community Beacon
What's the purpose of business? God designed business to be a blessing to your community. What does that look like? It means that the service you provide is always done with excellence. It means your product is safe and does exactly what you say it will do. Your community is everybody you serve. But the community also means the area around where your business resides. Being a blessing to your community can look like investing in your city's infrastructure and in ministries that touch the lives of people there. Being a blessing to your community means much more than just writing a check. It means unleashing your employees in the community as volunteers on a regular basis. If you asked the local civic officials if your business was a blessing to the community, what would they say?
Thursday · 1 min
A Culture of Blessing
What's the purpose of business? God designed business to be a blessing to the employees of the business. What's that look like? It means paying your people well, treating your people nicely, providing a safe work environment, and listening to them. There are so many things you can do to be a blessing to your employees, but number one is they need to be loved… Have you ever asked your employees how they're doing? Have you ever asked them if they feel blessed to work for you as a business owner? If you haven't, maybe today is the day you start asking those tough questions. If your business isn't being a blessing to your employees, then they're likely not being a blessing to your customers, and eventually, your business will run out of steam and close its doors. Jesus said love your neighbor. Start doing that with your employees today.
Wednesday · 1 min
Your Business Should Be Respectful
What's the purpose of business? God designed business to be a blessing to the vendors that supply your business. What does that look like? It means ordering your supplies well in advance. It means being respectful on the phone when you're making your orders. It means paying your bills on time. It means telling others about the quality of service you receive from the vendors. If your business is blessing your vendors, then they will be a blessing to your business, because you're one of their customers. If your vendors aren't happy with how you treat them, then there's something wrong with your business. As Jesus followers, how we treat others really matters. It's one of the two things Jesus said was more important than anything else. Love God and love people. How are you treating your vendors today?
Tuesday · 1 min
Customer-Minded
What's the purpose of business? God designed business to be a blessing to the customers of the business. That may sound oversimplified, but if your customers aren't feeling blessed by your product or service, then you won't have a business for very long. What does it look like to be a blessing to your customers? It means that the product that you provide is well-built, long-lasting, and meets the needs of the customer. It means that the service you provide is done with excellence, on time, and exactly what you told the customer you would do. Do you ever survey your customers to see if they're satisfied? To see if you're a blessing to them? There really is no point in being in business if your business isn't a blessing to your customers. Ask them today how you're doing.
Monday · 1 min
Family First
What's the purpose of business? God designed business to be a blessing to the business owner and his/her family. What does that look like? A paycheck, or is it more? Of course, a business needs to provide an income to the owner, but it must also help his/her marriage and family to flourish. If your business is robbing your family of your time, then it's not a blessing. If your business isn't providing consistent income, maybe your business model needs a little work. God designed business to be a blessing, to have purpose in meeting the needs of those the business serves. But first and foremost, if the business isn't a blessing to the business owner and their family, something has to change. Is your business a blessing to your family?
August 21 · 1 min
Manufacturers are Kingdom Workers
I have never worked a manufacturing line. But I know this. If people don't do their jobs at the manufacturing plants, then many items we count on wouldn't be made. If you feel like you're just a manufacturing worker and want to quit your job to go into full-time ministry. Don't! That's a disaster. Your job is so critical to the lives of thousands of people, perhaps millions. God has gifted you uniquely to be able to build things, fix things, and package things. Without manufacturing, we'd still be in the dark ages. Every day as a worker in a manufacturing environment, you have the unique ability to touch the lives of everyone around you and impact the lives of people you'll never meet. Please stay at your job and keep making a difference. Imagine a world where everybody in a manufacturing environment quit their job to work at a church. That's not a world I want to live in.
August 20 · 1 min
Salespeople That Minister
I've been in sales before. For 10 years, I worked in Christian retail. I actually worked at a Christian bookstore inside of a church. Every day I had to manage employees, manage stock, keep track of sales, and please the people that owned the store. I loved selling people things they needed. I sold lots of Bibles. I sold lots of books. I sold lots of gifts. I sold a lot of music. I saw the joy of matching the right product with the right customer. I knew I wasn't just a salesperson. I knew I wasn't just a bookstore manager. I knew that I was in full-time ministry in a Christian bookstore. I knew that what I did every day was making a difference. Imagine a world where all the salespeople quit to go into full-time ministry. That's not a world I want to live in.
August 19 · 1 min
Cleaning Up, Making Safe
You might say, All I ever do is clean up after people. As a janitor, I'm sweeping floors day in and day out. I clean them, and other people get them dirty. I clean the bathrooms, and they get dirty again. I just want a job that matters. I'm gonna quit my job and go into full-time ministry. STOP. You are not just a janitor. You have a unique set of gifts, talents, and abilities that God has given you to see dirt and know how to clean. You see a mess and know how to bring order. You know how to fix things. You know how to clean things. You know how to make things safe. All of that stuff is very important. You are gifted, and you are called. Just imagine a world where everyone who is a janitor quits their job to go into full-time ministry. That's not a world I want to live in.
August 18 · 1 min
Gifted with Numbers
I had a conversation the other day with a friend of mine. She said to me " I'm a really good accountant but I'm thinking about quitting my job and going to work in a church. I just want my work to make a difference. I want my work to matter to God." So I said, " You are not just an accountant. You are someone uniquely gifted by God to work with numbers. You organize those numbers so they make sense. Without your set of unique gifts, talents, and abilities to work with numbers, the entire world would collapse. God designed you right from the start to love working with numbers. Embrace it." Now just imagine a world where everybody who's an accountant quit their jobs so they could go work in a church. That's not a world I want to live in.
August 17 · 1 min
A Plumber Who Loves Jesus
If I hear one more person say that their job doesn't make a difference so they're going to quit their job and go work in full time ministry - I'm gonna explode. You're not just a plumber. You're a plumber who loves Jesus and who's really good at keeping people's water flowing, their toilets flushing, their drains draining and their hot water hot. You're a blessing to everybody you serve because they depend on you for reliable plumbing. And when you do an excellent job, God is glorified and you have an opportunity to tell people why you do things with excellence. So you're not just a plumber, you're a Jesus follower who is a plumber. You are gifted and you are called. Just imagine a world where everybody who's a plumber quits their job and goes to work in a church. That's not a world I wanna live in.
August 14 · 1 min
Daily Preparation: Your Decisions
We can spend a whole year preparing for a short-term mission trip. But how much time have you spent preparing for your workplace mission field? We need to prepare our openness to God's leading as we work. All day long, decisions need to be made. You will also be presented with opportunities for conversations. How often do you stop before you make that decision and say, "God, what do you want me to do here?" How often do you stop before talking with someone and say, " God, what do you want me to say here?" Too often at work, we are so busy checking things off our to-do list that we miss the opportunities to involve God in our daily work. Prepare yourself today to be directed by God in all that you decide and in all your conversations.
August 13 · 1 min
Daily Preparation: Your Strength
We can spend a whole year preparing for a short-term mission trip. But how much time have you spent preparing for your workplace mission field? We need to prepare our strength daily. I'm not sure who said it first, but whoever said it was right: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Exercise isn't a bad idea either. If you never get to eat a decent breakfast and never get a chance to exercise, how can your strength be prepared for your workplace ministry? We need to be ready to battle the enemy who wants to keep the lost souls of our workplace neighbors entrapped in eternal damnation. We need to be at the top of our game every day. We must eat right, grow strong, and keep our face to the Son and our feet on the rock. Are you at your full strength today?
August 12 · 1 min
Daily Preparation: Your Soul
We can spend a whole year preparing for a short-term mission trip. But how much time have you spent preparing for your workplace mission field? We need to prepare our souls daily as we get ready for work. What does that mean? So often, our souls have been hurt and damaged by the people we work with and the people we live with. Preparing our souls means forgiving those who have sinned against us. Remember, forgiving isn't for them it's for you. If you don't forgive others, your soul will never be prepared for your workplace mission field. Do you have people at work that you need to forgive? If our souls are not prepared through forgiving others who have hurt us, we will not be able to prepare others for the soul repairing that Jesus can do for them. Is your soul prepared today?
August 11 · 1 min
Daily Preparation: Your Mind
We can spend a whole year preparing for a short-term mission trip. How much time have you spent preparing for your workplace mission field? We need to prepare our minds daily as we get ready for work. What does that mean? Spending time in God's word, prayer, journaling, and just plain quiet time. If we jump out of bed, get ready for work, and take off down the driveway, our minds will be filled with furious thoughts about everything we want to accomplish in the day. If we prepare our minds, we will focus on the people we work with and how we need to love on them and pray for them. If you don't prepare your mind, your workplace mission field is in danger today. If you do prepare your mind, those people you work with, they're in danger of meeting Jesus.
August 10 · 1 min
Daily Preparation: Your Heart
We can spend a whole year preparing for a short-term mission trip. But how much time have you spent preparing for your workplace mission field? We need to prepare our hearts daily as we get ready for work. What does that mean? It means confessing our sins to our heavenly Father before our day starts. Confessing just means agreeing with God for what He already knows about our attitudes and actions. So often we carry negative attitudes and actions towards those we work with because of frustrations at our jobs. Our hearts need to be prepared with love for those in our workplaces. Whether that be our bosses, our vendors, our customers, or fellow employees, our hearts need to be ready to hear the voice of God and respond lovingly to those around us. Have you prepared your heart for today?
August 7 · 1 min
Healing as a Calling
Our country needs healing, and it starts with bringing healing to your workplace. There is brokenness in us, in our world, work, and community. There is healing in Jesus. Today as you have zoom calls, meetings, sales calls, service calls, or power lunches, look for the broken around you through God's eyes. See people the way He sees them… as Image bearers. In following Jesus, we are to be like Him. He brought healing wherever he went. Sometimes it was physical, and sometimes it was emotional. Either way, He was a healer, and he wants you to heal too. You first, then others. By loving God and loving people, God will heal wounds through us. You are in your workplace on purpose because there is healing to be done. Remember, Jesus is a healer, and since we follow Jesus, we are healers too.
August 6 · 1 min
Healing Brokenness
Our country needs healing, and it starts with bringing healing to your workplace. Frederick Buechner once said, "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." I believe the greatest need is the healing of the lost and broken. Likely you have noticed brokenness in your workplace that needs to be healed. What are you doing about it? Praying about it? Seeking to understand it? Trying to find the person who is causing the brokenness? In our workplaces, we often find broken people bring their brokenness to work with them, and it multiplies. It's one reason you as a Jesus-follower are there. That brokenness needs healing, and you know the best healer in the world. Remember, since we follow Jesus, we are healers too.
August 5 · 1 min
Healing Injustices
Our country needs healing, and it starts with bringing healing to your workplace. Frederick Buechner said, "Pay attention to the things that bring a tear to your eye or a lump in your throat because they are signs that the Holy is drawing near." What injustice in your community brings you to tears? Homelessness, poverty, joblessness, sexual exploitation? What can you do about it? God provided you with a job and an income. What is that income for? For providing for your family and for bringing healing to your community. God asks that you consider 10% of your income for ministering to the needs of the lost and broken. Sometimes those lost and broken are right next to you at work. Remember, Jesus is a healer, and since we follow Jesus, we are healers too.
August 4 · 1 min
Healing Starts with Prayer
How about praying for that bad boss or coworker who you struggle with? Most of the reason you likely struggle with them, is that they are not living or leading with the Holy Spirit's guidance, but how could we ever expect them to, if they don't know God? Now if you're like me, it's still tough to get yourself to pray for bad superiors. But again, like everyone, they have burdens, internal struggles and pain they have to deal with. And considering they're muscling through on their own steam, with no help of hope from a relationship with Jesus, maybe that thought is enough to lift them up in prayer. In fact, your prayers may be the only ones on their behalf that they ever receive. We need to have mercy on them as the Lord had on us. Pray that they follow the Father's call into the Kingdom.
August 3 · 1 min
Healing Your Heart
Unforgiveness can destroy us. God knows our heart of flesh can become hardened and lifeless if the wounds we have received are not allowed to heal. Jesus told all his disciples that we are to forgive others as we would like God to forgive us. In the workplace, there are people who look out for only themselves. Many times, their actions and attitudes can create in us something very unholy. We may find ourselves wishing the worst for them, secretly hoping that "they get theirs". This mindset of hatred and bitterness is one that can fester and build over the years as more and more people make your "list". The Word of God is clear – we are not to harbor hate, but we are to love our enemies and forgive their misdeeds. It's hard work, but it is what Jesus demonstrated for us; and then commanded us to do likewise.

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