subject: Have A Prayer Priority Relationship [print this page] Now can you imagine doing something about 40 hours a week, 2,000 hours a year and 90,000 hours over a lifetime, with people that you dislike? Yet people say, I have worked with that ego-maniac, tyrant, self-supporting so and so for 15 years and I have hated every day I was there. People have said that to me. I heard someone say the other day, You know Ive worked in that environment for 8 years and every time she walked by my office space, I just cringed. Life is too short to go through a career like that. God wants you and He wants me to cultivate community-based relationships. He has put me in my sphere to influence and impact and inspire others for His kingdom and His glory and His purposes. And in a couple of weeks, we are going to spend an entire session on how to have influence in the marketplace.
I like what management guru, Peter Drucker, says. He says, When you have a couple of objects close together and they are rubbing up against each other, theres always going to be conflict. So plan on it. Take a quick panoramic view of the people you work with and work for. Do you have any frosty feelings? Are you harboring any hurt? Are you saying, Oh, that ego-maniac, tyrant. Well, she makes me sick when she walks by my work space. I challenge you to obey the radical words of Christ, to say, Hey, Lord, I want to have community-based relationships. I want to cultivate them.
I guess you are asking how? First of all, you have to live by the sunset principle. Do you know what the Bible says? Do not let the sun go down on your anger. Texas has some of the most picturesque sunsets in the world. And when you see the sunset, may it remind you to settle accounts quickly with those you work with and for. If there is a problem, the Bible says to go in a spirit of prayer and reconcile with that person. Ed Young Fellowship wants us to listen and find the common ground and deal with the issue that day. Do not let it fester. Do not sweep it under the rug. Do not download it on your mind, in your conscience. Deal with it.
Secondly, make your relationships a prayer priority. Pray for that ego-maniac tyrant. Pray for that person who makes you cringe when she walks by your workspace. Pray that God will give you the opportunity to express and give some sound bites of the savior to these people.
