It wasn’t hard to find something funny about jobs. Here is a comparison between work and prison. In prison you spend the majority of your time in an 8×10 cell. At work you spend most of your time in a 6×8 cubicle.

In prison you get 3 free meals a day. At work you get a break for 1 meal and you have to pay for it.

In prison you get time off for good behavior. At work you get rewarded for good behavior with more work!

In prison you can watch TV and play games. At work you get fired for watching TV and playing games.

In prison a guard locks, unlocks, opens, and closes the doors for you. At work you must carry a security card and unlock and open doors yourself.

In prison they allow you to visit your family and friends. At work you can’t there’s no time to speak with family and friends.

In prison there are wardens who are often sadistic and psychotic. At work we call them managers.

Hmm – now where should I go tomorrow? Work or prison??

This is the fourth in a series based on Catherine Ponder’s book Dynamic Laws of Prosperity. And we are defining prosperity as more than money. Being prosperous means having all of the peace, wholeness and abundance you need to fulfill your life’s purpose.

In week 1, talked about the beliefs we have surrounding prosperity and the fact that God wants us to have all that we need. In fact if we have a desire – we can be pretty sure that that desire is the result of Spirit’s prompting. Our job is to listen and understand that prompting because, after all, ideas are Spiritual tender. In week 2 we talked about creating room in our lives through giving and through forgiving. The Universe abhors a vacuum and as we release unneeded things and grudges, we make room for Spirit to fill those places with blessings.
In week 3, last week, we talked about taking those thoughts and ideas and creating a plan that is supported by goals that a measureable. We talked about reviewing those goals and practices on a daily basis as we move in the direction of turning our thoughts into things. And today we talk about “Not Our Jobs.”

In her book, Dynamic Laws of Prosperity, Rev. Catherine Ponder says, “The world is filled with people working hard to become more prosperous every day; yet many of them are not becoming prosperous at all.” Here are some statistics that paint a bleak picture for employers and employees. In an article dated 2/19/2020, Dana Wilkie reported that the latest research shows:

  • Middle managers are the unhappiest employees at US organizations.
  • 11% of owners and executives report symptoms of depression.
  • 18% of supervisors and managers report symptoms of depression.
  • 12% of blue collar workers report symptoms of depression.
  • When it comes to job satisfaction, managers fall in the bottom 5%.

So, we aren’t happy with our jobs, and they aren’t making us prosperous. Did you hear that?  We aren’t happy with our jobs and they aren’t making us prosperous. It’s enough to make you want to call out from work tomorrow morning even if you are working from home, isn’t it? The reason this dismal situation exists is because we have connected our identities with our jobs, and we have mistakenly believed that our jobs are our source. And that just isn’t so. We are NOT our jobs. And our jobs are NOT our source.

There is a story about a CEO, who was talking to THREE of his employees. He asked them, “What is two plus two?”

One of them quickly whipped out his pocket calculator, punched up the numbers and announced: “It’s four-point-zero-zero-zero, to infinity.”

“Well, we all know it’s four,” said the second employee. “But it would look a lot better at $3.95.”

The CEO chuckled and turned to the third employee, “What’s two plus two?” he asked.

This employee got real quiet, then leaning close to his boss. He asked, “What do you want it to be?”

Sounds like he was willing to sacrifice his integrity to please his boss. I suspect he had become his job. His entire identity was tied to what he did for a living. Do you know anyone whose identity is based on what they do or for whom they work? I bet all of you do – and like me, many of you have probably experienced that yourself. The spiritual truth is: We are not our jobs.
True, we may have a job, we may do a job, we may even love our jobs. But we are not the job. We are spiritual beings, each one of us is a child of God, an heir of God’s untold abundance. That’s the Truth. Did you hear that dynamic law of prosperity? We are not our jobs. We are spiritual beings. Each one of us is a child of God.

The Job and the Spider

Eric Butterworth tells a story about a man who was cleaning up his desk on a Friday evening. He was preparing to leave after a busy week, when he noticed an envelope that had not been opened. He assumed it had been put on his desk while he was on the phone. So he opened it, and read it. To his shock and dismay, he had been laid off. His entire department was being eliminated, and he was being forced into early retirement. He was furious.

“After all the long years I slaved for this company, and now they’re laying me off!” he thought. Long past his usual departure time, he sat… slumped at his desk in utter despair, thinking of what this would mean to him and his family.  He probably would have to sell his house, and his family would have to alter its lifestyle. He wasn’t really prepared financially for full retirement, yet he probably was too old to be hired anywhere else.Along with that, he was filled with feelings of worthlessness. He felt washed-up, useless, no longer needed. As he sat there, he noticed a spider on his desk, and he absent-mindedly brushed it off.

Suddenly he watched in amazement as the tiny spider spun a thread of silk to bear its weight and swung gracefully to the floor. As the man watched the spider land safely on the floor and scurry away, he thought, “If this insignificant creature could draw forth from within itself something that could save it, why can’t I do the same?” For hours, the man sat in thought that gradually became a creative meditation. Finally, the man realized that the source of his supply, his security, was not in his job, but in his oneness with Infinite Mind.

“They might cut me from the payroll,” he thought, “but they can’t cut me off from the flow of ideas in my own mind.” This thought, he realized, was his lifeline, just like that silken thread was the spider’s salvation. “Besides,” the man realized, “I never did like office work. This is a chance for me to do more writing.” So he changed his entire idea about being laid off and left his office that Friday actually humming a little tune, knowing that he would not have to report for duty on Monday morning. It would be nice to be able to report that the man became a great novelist and made a fortune writing best-seller after best-seller. In fact, that did not happen, but the man did accomplish some great things within himself.

He gained a new sense of self-mastery — and he did manage to do enough good writing that he was able to more than double his half-pay retirement income. So this man, … once so bitter about being laid off, had an epiphany that allowed him to do work he really loved — and have a higher income than he had before! He discovered an important spiritual Truth: His Job Is Not His Source. Our jobs are not our source.

In her book, Prosperity’s Ten Commandments, author, Rev. Georgiana Tree West, says, “Truth (with a capital T) applies to every area of our life.” She goes on to explain that when Moses delivered the 10 commandments to the Children of Israel, he voiced the Truth that God had revealed to him concerning the relationship of the people… to their Creator… and to each other.
“From Exodus 20:3, the first commandment is ‘You shall have no other gods before me.’ That means that we are to acknowledge no other source of life, love, wisdom and power than our Creator. Considering prosperity, this commandment might be written: “YOU SHALL LOOK TO NO OTHER SOURCE BUT GOD FOR YOUR SUPPLY.”

The Hebrew and Christian Testaments are filled with promises of rich fulfillment of every need for those that acknowledge God’s presence and power.

  • Job 22:21 “Agree with God, and be at peace; in this way good will come to you.”
  • Deuteronomy 8:18 “But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth.”
  • And in Luke 12:32, Jesus says, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

And there are many more. We’re back to what we talked about the first week of this series. The first step in manifesting supply is to have faith in God as the omnipresent spiritual substance that is the source of all that is. God is our supply. God is spiritual substance that is everywhere present. Therefore, our supply is everywhere present. Our acknowledgement of God’s omnipresent, spiritual substance brings it into our lives.

When we don’t remember this, we limit our prosperity. We mistakenly see our business, our employer, our investments, or some person who pays our bills as the source of our supply.
When we see our business or our employer as our supply, and when we aren’t happy, that business or that job does become a veritable prison. And if the job, the investment or the person fails us, we feel great despair that our prosperity has been cut off.

Rev. Tree West says, “What we need to realize is that all the material, physical avenues of supply are merely acting as pay clerks for God. If the individual that acts as pay clerk for a reliable firm makes a mistake or leaves, we don’t get worried. We know that the firm will make our pay check good.” She goes on to say, “The firm of God and Us, Inc. never fails. No matter what the junior partner does, the senior partner always makes good. Pay clerks may come and go, different jobs may come and go, but God’s infinite resources can always be depended on to become manifest through some new channel.”

We are not our jobs, we are beloved children of God. Our jobs are not our source, God is our source. When any human channel of supply fails, the key is for us to remember that God… our true source of supply… will continue to fill our needs through some other channel… when we ask in faith. In Matthew 9:29, Jesus said, “According to your faith let it be done to you.” You have heard the expression “pay on demand” used in the business world. The truth is that God always pays on demand – the demand of faith.

A Matter of Security…
We are not our jobs. We are beloved children of God. Our jobs are not our source, God is our source. When we are secure in our knowledge that we are one with Universal Source…we become just that – secure.

  • Secure enough that our jobs don’t have the power to make us unhappy or depressed.
  • Secure enough to recognize the workplace is our school of learning that naturally follows our primary and secondary education.
  • Secure enough to be detached enough to observe and monitor our own attitudes.
  • Secure enough to realize that our jobs are one of the primary places that we get to put spiritual principle into practice.
  • And…Secure enough to recognize any challenge in the workplace is an opportunity for us to grow spiritually.

The Four Agreements…
Work gives us the opportunity to be loving, non-judgmental, and forgiving.  Our jobs give us a place to practice the four agreements. Remember them?

  1. Be impeccable with your word.
  2. Don’t take anything personally.
  3. Don’t make assumptions.
  4. Always do your best?

Some of our jobs seem to be designed to give us plenty of opportunity to practice spiritual principle… and we get paid for those opportunities. Where we work gives us a place to be in relationship with others. Where we work gives us a place to practice looking for the best, being positive and being in service to others.

The Invitation…
This week I invite you to remember that:

  • We are not our jobs. We are beloved children of God.
  • Our jobs are not our source. God is our source.

When our identity is tied to our job, and we believe that our job is our source any job, no matter how good it is, can become a prison. But God’s desire for us is abundance and prosperity.
Good is always chasing after us. Psalm 23:6 says, “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” All we have to do is allow the goodness into our hearts and minds.

As we close out this Prosperity Series, I prayer that you have found new and refreshing ways to allow God’s goodness into your life. Remember:

  1. Ideas are Spiritual Tender.
  2. Let go of what no longer serves you (including grudges and resentment), and make room for the blessings God has for you.
  3. Take the time to sit down and write out your measurable goals and the specific plans need to achieve those goals.
  4. Finally, let’s remember that our jobs are not our source. God is our source.

May it be so for each one of us today and in the days to come.