God’s goodness:!is is a quick look at the Goodness of God.It is an overview on excelling in life in such a way that show how we can deal with one of the results of the curse!Excelling in life is not really an option. God excels in everything that He does.!e creation account in Genesis chapter one clearly states that what He did is good.It is the Good! !ink of the implications of this goodness.Goodness can mean that someone is doing the right thing. !e Hebrew word for Good in Genesis is ṭôb meaning good, pleasant, beautiful, delightful, glad, joyful, precious, correct, righteous. Other terms are beautiful or expensive.In its broadest sense, the word Good can refer to: (1) practical, economic, or material good, (2) abstract goodness such as desirability, pleasantness, and beauty, (3) quality or expense, (4) moral goodness and (5) technical philosophical goodness. When someone says, "It is good", it is an idiom that may describe a state of happiness or wellbeing. For example, when Saul was disturbed, David's music produced such a state (see 1 Samuel 16:16). To be good to someone or being good in their eyes indicates that person's desire or will.

Hard

Labour

Hard

Labour

By Robert Carter

It was good in God's eyes to bless Israel in Numbers 24:1,5. It might seem obscure but this goodness can be likened to pleasantness or desirability when we see in Songs 4:10. How beautiful are your expressions of love, my bride, my sister! How much better are your expressions of love than wine and the fragrance of your perfume than any spice.

An important meaning is goodness as seen in the command that contrasts goodness and moral evil,Depart from evil and do good. Psalm 34:14.

I laboured the point to illustrate that God is a Good God!His business is doing good all the time. It is His goodness that leads us to repentance (see Romans 2:4, 11:22 and 2 !essalonians 1:11). Psalm 52:1 reveals that His goodness is everlasting, or endureth forever. !at’s great news for us, because it tells me that God is not "ckle and changes his His mind about it. God is very concerned with your development in life. He wants all of His children to excel and move ahead, not just a select few.He doesn’t want any one of us to suffer spiritual lack—it’s not His will that any perish, but rather that all have the opportunity to enjoy everlasting life—to the full until it over%ows. He also doesn’t want us to suffer any other form of lack. God wants us to excel in life—to see us grow and help others to grow and excel in life with us. !at may be well and good, but how do we go about this? !e secret is to work with God in it.In other words, Work With the Divine Worker.

Working:Work is one of the main ingredients to excelling in Life. I am not talking about hard labour or striving to work and please God or bribe God with our good deeds, charity, trying to live right and so on. We can’t do it like that.Paul said-You were once dead because of your failures and sins. You followed the ways of this present world and its spiritual ruler. This ruler continues to work in people who refuse to obey God. All of us once lived among these people, and followed the desires of our corrupt nature. We did what our corrupt desires and thoughts wanted us to do. So, because of our nature, we deserved God's anger just like everyone else. But God is rich in mercy because of his great love for us. We were dead because of our failures, but he made us alive together with Christ. (It is God's kindness that saved you.) God has brought us back to life together with Christ Jesus and has given us a position in heaven with him. He did this through Christ Jesus out of his generosity to us to show his extremely rich kindness in the world to come. God saved you through faith as an act of kindness. You had nothing to do with it. Being saved is a gift from God.It's not the result of anything you've done, so no one can brag about it. God has made us what we are. He has created us in Christ Jesus to live lives filled with good works that he has prepared for us to do. Ephesians 2:1-10.

Salvation is a free-gi& from God! We cannot earn it, but we can receive it and we do that by faith. God did it for us by sending Jesus and what He did was complete.On the Cross. Jesus cried triumphantly, “It is "nished” (see John 19:30). !e word Finished is Teleō, meaning accomplish, accomplishment, complete, conclude, end, ending, "nish, ful"l, ful"lling, ful"lment, go, go onward, pay, payment, perform, performance, to discharge a debt, to make an end to something, to "ll up and so on. !ere is nothing we can do or need to do, but believe and receive. If we try to do anything else, we are in effect insulting God and discarding the completed work of Jesus. God has done His part. Our part is to get alongside Him and function in it, or, work together with Him in this thing. !at’s the kind of work I mean.

2

We are created to work with God. As human beings, God created us with a built-in need to be productive. Even before the fall, man was given a job to care for the garden he was placed in and was given the command to be fruitful, multiply, replenish, and subdue the earth. !is was no small task. !e meaning in doing those things is varied, but it boils down to one word—Work. !is work is not what most people immediately think of and we shall see more of this shortly, but whatever it is, do your best in it. Excel in it. Be diligent. Be wise and productive. Do what it is that has been put in front of you to do and do it as best you can. Ecclesiastes 9:10 states-Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol (the place of the dead), where you are going.

!e la'er part does not apply to a born again believer of course because we are going up and if you are not sure about it, do something about it right now! Ask Jesus to come into your life. It really is much simpler than you may think.

When life seems to be a grind, remember that you have a productive nature built inside you. It like a seed that has to be allowed to grow and cultivated. !row a seed on concrete and it will do its best to do what it is created to do and that is to grow. !e environment might not help it, but there is something inside that seed that simply does what it supposed to do and grow. It does not even know it is doing it! It is a driving force so powerful that a fragile tender plant can force its way through rock to grow! If you have seen that, it truly is amazing.

!ere could be rocky ground ahead of you. If so, Push Yourself to a Higher Way of !inking. It’s Worth the Effort and all the Work.!e seed of greatness is already inside you because you are created in the image and likeness of God to be creative. You might not even be fully aware of it, but it is there.

One scriptural foundation for excelling in life has been 2 Timothy 1:12, when Paul said-...I am not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return. Hold on to the pattern of wholesome teaching you learned from me—a pattern shaped by the faith and love that you have in Christ Jesus.Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you.

Paul said that under inspiration of the Holy Spirit. !e King James Version states,-I know whom I have believed!

Paul did not say what he believed but WHOM he believed! People can believe anything, but not be free. People can believe a Catechism or the Apostle’s Creed but not know the one whom to know is life eternal. Such a life never removes the laboring of the curse.What Paul said is rich with wisdom but it’s also packed with work!It tells us that we have to do something. We must entrust something to the Lord. We have to

guard what we entrusted Him with. We have to hold on to the truth and guard what God has entrusted us with.

!at’s work!

We can push ourselves to go beyond the average believer in spiritual WORK—to move beyond doubt and into true faith, to go from believing to knowing, and to get to a place of being fully persuaded. To excel with God, we must push ourselves into a higher thought pa'ern and we do that by “hearing, and hearing” the Word of God (Romans 10:17). When we hear God’s word, we have to put it to work in our lives. !at is something that requires effort, which means work.

3

You have a productive nature built inside you!

!ere are few things in life worth having that don’t require work. Doing something well is critical to our wellbeing. Laziness not only brings us to greater lack in tangible things, but it also brings us to greater lack in every other area because the human mind was created by God to be active and always growing. !e bible warns us of laziness. See Proverbs 6:1-11 & Proverbs 24:227-34.

It’s good to push yourself to both know more and do more. !e newness of pushing yourself to grow brings vitality to your life.I want to excel in life and I want others to excel, too! People are worth the effort. !ey are worth the time. Preparing this study takes some effort but it is worth it if it helps one person! When I see people’s lives saved and changed by God through my efforts, it doesn’t just bring me joy and make me feel good, it repeatedly con"rms that no ma'er what I have to do to reach people and change lives, it’s worth the work!

What we do, it is a good thing to consider it as being done Unto the LORD (not For the LORD), so work can be a form of worship. We are not working for God, we are co-labourers with Him. It is not a ma'er of deciding to do something and then ask God to bless it, but si'ing with Him and asking, “What are we going to do?” It is a partnership in which He is the senior partner. He is our rock and our foundation and He believes in us. We also need to believe in Him.We have to back Him. O&en times we want Him to back us up, but He also depends on us.If we don’t do it—it will probably not be done. We are His hands and His feet on the earth.If we do not go, He does not go! We are His voice and if we do not speak, nothing is said!You can do all things because it’s God who gives you the strength, but, if you’re not busy working as to the Lord and you aren’t diligent with what He has placed before you, the devil will gain a foothold in your life and from a foothold he can develop a stronghold.If you allow that to happen, the devil will stop you from excelling in life. Don’t let that happen!Don’t Let a Foothold Become a Stronghold!

I consider my work for the Lord to be a form of worship. When I put forth the effort to work and excel in life, it is God Who gets the glory and honour! I want to always give God what He rightfully deserves and that is worship. I worship Him in my living, my giving, and my excelling in life. I refuse to be lazy! Laziness produces poverty and brings you into a state of continual need. It stops your forward motion in everything you do.

We all desire greater blessing in our lives. We can create blessings. God gave us that ability. We can accomplish much in life if we work at it. My personal motive for ministry is to excel. I long to give and distribute the blessing to others. Spiritually, physically, "nancially and in every other way, I want to be a blessing.It’s so wonderful when you can help to make people happy with the blessings the Lord has bestowed upon you and helping those in need. !at’s why work is so important to excelling. It not only helps you to excel, but it helps others to excel, too. You can "nd greater blessing for your own life and you also give others the opportunity to come up in life. When you give them the principles found in the Word, you give them a key to excelling and prospering so that they can do the same for others. It’s a wonderful cycle of blessing!

It does not come automatically however and it does not come easily. We must preserve ourselves from the corruption of idleness.It is harder to hit a moving target that a stationary target, so keep moving! Refuse to become an easy target for the Devil!I "nd that when I am not active, my mind starts wandering and it is at that point that the devil starts to sow his seeds of doubt and negativity.When I am idle, I am not meditating on the word of God and His acts and start to dri& onto all sorts of areas.You know what I mean! You do it too!

4

Work can be a form of

Worship

It has been said that idleness is the devil’s workshop. All I know is that when you are idle, you become an easier target for the devil to hit. It is not easy to hit a moving target.!at’s why I keep moving. !at’s why I change channels and think on the things of God. I make my mind work. Paul said-Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Philippians 2:5.

!at word Let is Phroneō and it is an action word. It means to exercise the mind. It talks about working on your thought processes and make them focus on the LORD and His ways.He added-Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:4-9.

Did you notice that everything the Holy Spirit said through Paul involves work? It is no sloppy sentimental dribble, but a cold, hard, deliberate act to do what he said. When we keep applying ourselves to doing those we receive the bene"t. If we do not, we do not receive the bene"t. If you read that passage again, you will see that you have a part to play and God has a part to play. You must do the rejoicing. You must quit worrying and tell God about things. Once yo have done that, God’s peace will guard your heart and mind—as you live in Christ Jesus! You have to "ll your thoughts on the good things of God; keep thinking of them and practice living that way and then the outcome will be that the God of peace will be with you.

Do you see how this happens?

You and I have to do something and then God does something. It is a reciprocal law and it works!

How do we do these things when si'ing behind a desk in a busy office? How can we do that as a checkout chick at the supermarket? We can’t do that when trying to get a customer to sign on the do'ed line.” We can’t—not when WE are trying to do it ourselves. A'empting to do it like that removes God from the equation. It is a partnership.

When I "nd that it is ge'ing too hard, or I am struggling, I stop and ask if I am doing it without God in me.I check myself to see if I had my morning breakfast with the LORD of if I swallowed a quick coffee and raced out the door without so much as a “Hi’ God” and expect things to always be great. !ey might not! Do not fall into the trap I nearly fell into. I once started to tell the Lord I haven’t prayed enough; I haven’t read the bible enough I haven’t done enough of this or that and He quickly stopped me saying, “Robert, you do not have to perform. Do not put yourself under a guilt trip and try to be religious.” What I was a'empting to do was coming into the area of self effort and good works.

!ere is a rest in God. He created the world and everything in existence in six days and then rested.Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. Genesis 2:1-3.

5

God does not get tired and weary, so He did not need to rest in that literal sense. He had "nished the task, so stopped! It is that simple. !e Hebrew word for Rested is Shābat from which we get the word Sabbath. It means to cease!It means to rest, to desist from exertion, to leave, to put down and to celebrate. Man was not meant to labour so hard that we exist by sweating and toiling. !is does not mean that we do nothing! It means that the toiling that came with the curse is done away with. When Adam fell, he fell from revelation knowledge to sense knowledge. A&er that, the hard labour came. Jesus however, has delivered us from that curse. He came to bring us back into the state of blessing Adam once enjoyed. Proverbs 10:22 states-

The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.

Please note that the blessing—It—maketh rich.It (the blessing) produces richness that embraces every area in life—"nances, health, safety, protection, peace and wellbeing.It (the blessing) ensures that no sorrow or ʿeṣeb comes our way. !is is speaking about the blessing that eventually produces the blessings! !at Hebrew word means no sweat, pain, sorrow, hard labouring and the like.Our labouring should be to enter into that rest! !e Israelites who perished in the wilderness did not enter into that rest because of their unbelief (see Hebrews 3:18). Our labouring should follow the lines of Hebrews 4:9-11-There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

!e rest spoken of is Sabbatismos. It sounds like Sabbath, doesn’t it? !at’s because it is much the same thing. It is also a representation of us entering into Heaven! !e next time the word Rest I mentioned it is the word Katapausis that relates to abiding in a state of rest. How did Jesus sleep in the storm? Perhaps he was… resting! We are to Labour to reach that state. !is word is Spoudazō and it relates to diligence and

endeavouring, to use speed (lazy people are o&en procrastinators), to study, to be prompt and to make the effort.

Please read the rest of that chapter. You will "nd that the very next verse starts talking about the word of God. Our work in this sense is to see what God says about us, what we can do, what we aught not to do, determine our rights and privileges, "nd the boundaries, discover and exercise our authority in Christ and enter into those things. We have to put them to work for us.Our labour is to Receive what God has provided for us! It is more than just believing it, but appropriating it; taking possession of it and claiming it. !at’s not always easy.

!is does not imply that we become lazy. We are to do what you can, whatever that may be. If you need to set the alarm clock a li'le bit earlier and make sure it is just out of your reach! Whilst you are making breakfast, start talking with the LORD about your coming day—together! If you re in a relationship with Him, wherever you go—He goes; whatever you say should be what He says; whatever you see should be what He sees.

As you crunch your breakfast cereal, place one bible verse in front of you and say that aloud (between the munches). You don’t have to read the whole bible then! What I am saying is to prepare and excel in your preparation. Work at it. If you have to, open your bible to the verse you will read in the morning—before you go to bed! Stand it up next to the coffee machine! Write a passage on a piece of paper to take with you on your way to work!Do something. God could surprise you. He could give you a way to do what I am saying. When you are in the train to the office, read a verse and say it (you can do that so&ly).

!ere is a Rest

in God

6

When in the office or wherever you are, allow your natural mind and faculties to do what is expected of you at your job, but you do have a spirit! Learn how to develop your spirit man to work whilst you are working!

Someone once said, “!ink of it as divine education that is one of the ways God teaches discipline to the human race. Just as a child is educated at their school, so we are educated in the things of God to excel in life. A person may do the work, but work makes the person”.

You previously Worked For It—Now It Will Work for You!

Robert.

For further information, contact-Bashan Ministries

P.O. Box 152Mount Tamborine Qld 4272 Australia

E-mail info@bashanministries.orgWeb www.bashanministries.org