Ps 51:5
5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
(KJV)
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Disclaimer: I am exposing sin in my past in order to help you. Don't hurt yourself by judging me and missing the point.
The Hill Ministry Devotional section now called, "TheGhostWriterBlog" began "in sin".
That's right, I said it, this devotional began "in sin".
In 1998 while working as a contractor for the ___ _____ on a government server I sent out my first devotional message. The zeal for sending devotionals was half inspired by God and was also half inspired by the fact that I didn't want to be on that job. In the early days, the Hill Ministry Devotional was typed during office hours while I was being paid by Babylon. There where several times during the work day that other people were inconvenienced while I was typing devotionals. There were times where work was "dropped" while I was sending out inspiration.
Thousands of people have been touched through the years but it started off the wrong way.
In the 2003 and/or 2004 time period, the Lord began to expose this sin to me. Three things happened:
- There was a sister where I was working at who was a "Christian", she was the office joke. She would walk and talk really s-l-o-w all day long until 330. Then she would ZOOM out of the workplace. She worked for 30 years and retired as a GS5 in the DC area. Everyone loved her but everybody knew that she was LAZY and TRIFLING. The Lord used that sister to make me look at myself.
- I read a boring book by this brother named Dennis Bakke called the "Joy of Work". While the book was a very slow and a dry read, it exposed a biblical truth that I had been ignoring out of convenience. That book pointed out that we spend so much time on a job that we should be working to the GLORY OF GOD.
- A really hard working sister from The Hill began working in the same place. When ever I would get lazy on the job the Lord would send her into my office to ask for spiritual counsel. Her presence alone used to always tell me without her saying anything, "Tony you have to be a better example, GET TO WORKING".
Nowadays, the devotional is NEVER sent on Babylonian time. Nowadays I stay up at night or wake up in the morning to get the devotional out. When I first started typing the devotional at night, I thought, "Tony this will never work, where will you get the energy?" We have had our own webpage or some variant for four years. I haven't used a gubment server for YEARS!
Why do I share this with you?
UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLE: Good things can have bad beginnings.
Inspired by the Holy Ghost, David wrote, "shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me".
I hate to break the news but while little babies are a BIG BLESSING....we as human beings don't get babies by thinking divine thoughts. This is especially true on the male side of things.
Where we start, THANK GOD, is not where we end.
Think about that before you tell a young person:
"God ain't in that...YOU AIN"T NEVER GONNA BE BLESSED!"
"How you supposed to blessed startin off like that?"
We are broken pitiful humans in need of Grace. God meets us while we are "a long way off". God works with us where we are at. God loves us that much. If God didn't work with MESSES like me, then all of humanity would have perished at Noah's Flood.
I still am not "the gold standard" on my job. I am pressing though.
Don't get depressed by your humble beginnings. You need to keep pressing towards your PERFECT ending...which is Jesus Christ saying, "Well done my good and faithful servant."
Posted at: 07:10