NOT A JOB, BUT YOUR EDEN...

Browsing online the other day, and I came across a headline which read “Bank X will be cutting a further 1,200 jobs this month, car maker B has declared losses of £xxxx million and the effect will be 2,000 job losses. I thought wow, that is sure a lot of people to be out of a Job.

A couple of days later, I was speaking with a very good friend of mine and she explained how some friends lost their jobs and how they were distraught and complained that they had never-ending bills to pay, children and family to look after – car loans to service, mortgages to pay and the lot.

After the conversation, I mused and thought back to last year, 2008, when I was out of a job for almost seven months. However, without a job, I was fed, able to pay my bills, bless others and much more. The invaluable lesson I learnt, which God drummed into my heart, spirit, mind and soul was that, "my job was never intended to replace him as my source, he is my source". This is where most of us, at some point in this life, get it wrong. We use and see our daily job – (which by the way for most people), they hate, as our source.

As my friend put it, "most people live, pay cheque to pay cheque". This means they are solely dependant on that job for sustenance, increase, joy, importance, and the key to establishing realising that dream or that vision. This is and has NEVER been God’s will, intention or plan for us.

Whatever we find ourselves, our hands busy doing, it should be because:

• We enjoy it: deriving the sense of enjoyment from one’s job means that we are aligned or being aligned with God’s will for us.



• It helps us to release the creativity that God has placed within us: You see, we have to work because it is part of God’s divine nature in us. After all he worked 6 days to create the heavens and earth, thus, bringing to forth the beauty of his creativity – heaven and earth – the trees, fishes, seas, land, clouds and much more. Thus, we must work, but the work must be aligned to bring out the creative spirit that is within us. When this happens, it brings forth joy and creates solutions to problems around us.



• It is what we have been designed to do: when we work doing what we are born to do… Joy is evident, even when we are tired, we will still get up and go to work, and we will not have the cause to moan or complain about “the job” and so on.



• It gives room for God’s glory to shine through us, through our creativity, through the solution it brings, hence helping people, and thus advancing the kingdom of God.

Yes, God expects us to work (not have a Job), because that is part of his nature in us. However, we are not meant to be tied to and reside within virtual prison walls of a JOB, of a 9:00am – 5:00pm routine for a living. Why you ask? It is because God wants us to prosper through him.

I call it a virtual prison because for most people, the reality is this:

Wake up, get to work at 9:00am or thereabout, leave work at 5:00pm, get home, make dinner, watch some TV, chat with some friends, go to bed, then start the pattern all over again the next day. For some, this pattern repeats itself five times a week, for some it is seven. And then comes the weekend, because of being in the 9-5 prison all week, all the individual does is ‘relax’ or ‘catch up with ‘house chores’ – laundry, dishes, watch TV, eat, chat with friends and that is it.

Outside of this routine, nothing else it seems, happens! Sometimes the individual might get really fed up with the current job (at this point I sometimes imagine our angels telling us, yes that is it, the master wants you to go this way, embrace that gift or talent) and then, decides to get another job! Okay, a better paid job, but still within the same virtual prison. The difference might be that, the job is in a different company, a different city, town or even continent, but the routine and constraints continue to abound.

For every single one of us, God has an EDEN planned for us. We just need to align our vision and thoughts with his, walk in his will and he will lead us there. God’s desire is for his children is to prosper, not get stuck in the confinement of a job.

When we put all we have, hope and expect for (sometimes unknowingly) in a job, then we limit ourselves and we limit God to work on our behalf and deliver us into our destiny.

When we read Genesis 2: 8 – 12; 15 , it teaches us that:

• The Lord God PLANTED (CREATED) a Garden Eastward in EDEN


• then he put the man he had formed in it to TEND the garden


• And he made everything pleasant to the sight and pleasant for food

Genesis 2: 8 reads "8And the Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden [delight]; and there He put the man whom He had formed (framed, constituted)."

Genesis 2: 15 reads "15And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and guard and keep it."

Eden is the place where Adam and Eve lived before the Fall. Gen. 2:8–24. The dictionary defines Eden as a state of perfect happiness or bliss and a delightful place; a paradise.

So see, before God created us, he already established a place of abundance for us – OUR EDEN
And I believe that is not in the virtual walls of a job that we sometimes imprison ourselves in. God wants us to walk in a state of perpetual blessing – and in turn to be a blessing to others. In God’s Eden for us, there is no lack, no loss of job, no hunger.

A Job, will not provide the best of God’s Eden for us. We can all have the best of this land, of our Eden, as long as we come to the conclusion that:

• Jobs is not meant to be our Source, the Almighty God is.


• our expectations are not tied into a job, but in God


• A job, at best is just an enabler, to bring out the creativity and goodness God has placed within us, bringing forth his beauty, solutions and hence working to the advancement of his kingdom.

So, have you lost your job and in great despair? Well don’t loose hope! Take it all to God in prayer. Remember everything works together for your good. Even a job loss, sometimes this is what we need to bring us closer to God and use the gifts, talents and abilities that resides within us. Besides, what stops you from being a competitor to the company that laid you off? Selah.

Do you still have a job, be thankful to God, but DO NOT embrace the job as your source. Break free from the 9-5 virtual prison walls, walk and work into the very Eden God has created just for you, making you prosperous to be a blessing to others, whilst making him famous along the way.

Much Love

Remi Banjo

***Pictures by Photobucket***