First fruits

There must be more! There has to be a way, how to bring Jesus more into my work-life! I was tired of these two identities: the better me, having a great time with Him at home, worshipping and fellowshipping with Him in the christian settings, and then the other me in my workplace. Often stressed, impatient, critisizing my colleagues.. My problem was not to admit, that I am a Christian, but in a hectic schedule I often found myself in a survivor-modus. I was just focused on completing one task after another, it felt like I don´t have any time LEFT to think or speak about Jesus. Mostly at the end of the day I was just relieved, that all my patients in the intensive care unit survived.. And one more thing: I was in a german environment. I didn´t grow up here, I didn´t study here and I still didn´t master the language perfectly. I felt unprepared, didn´t understand the cultural differences, had to learn by doing. 

After being promoted I found myself leading a small outpatient department in a hospital and I knew I was given an authority over this place, not only professionally but also spiritually. So I wanted to steward wisely what I was given.

Luckily our pastor had an experience of working as an attendant in a hospital, so I asked Him how can I bring Jesus to my workplace, how can I start praying for my patients, how can I cope with the cultural differences. And what he replied, changed my life: „You cannot walk into the hospital unprepared. You should wake up one hour earlier, let the Holy Spirit fill you FIRST thing in the morning, pray, worship, stay in His Word. Ask Him specifically what He wants to do through you that day, so when you will face the situation or the person, you will be prepared and you will know what to do.“ I thanked him for the great advice, but inside I thought, well, now you have to start getting up at 5am instead of 6am! Great! But I was curious, I wanted to check it out! It wasn´t easy, first I managed to wake up early maybe twice a week, then every other day, but after few weeks I noticed something remarkable. The days I woke up earlier were so much better! I started to feel, that I don´t want to spend the days in my old routine. What I was experiencing was so exciting, refreshing, full of life and joy. I COULDN´T WAIT to wake up, and mostly woke up spontaneously even before 5am. First thing in the morning I invited the Holy Spirit and asked Him to read my Bible with me and to teach me, reveal me the secrets of God´s Heart. And the Word came alive! It felt like I am listening to Jesus, the words speaking right into my life, was embracing brand new truths.  After about half an hour I started to pray, by then the room was saturated with His Presence and I was just giving Him my day, my hands, my mind, my thoughts, my emotions, my mouth, my ears. Sometimes I saw different faces, some of them related to my workplace, some of them not, sometimes He just reminded me to be patient or kind. Other times I experienced beautiful outpouring of His Peace, that was thick like an oil, and I knew no matter what happens that day I will not loose my temper nor my focus.

On my way to hospital I was worshipping, singing loud in my car, and when I finally entered my department I was not alone. The Presence of God entered with me. I usually came a bit earlier, so we had FIRST some extra time with my nurses to chat. Mostly I shared some recent Jesus stories, and I was surprised how open and hungry they were! They always wanted to hear some more and later I found out they were sharing the stories with their colleaques and friends. Our patients started to feel the atmosphere shift as well. They started saying: Oh, it is so good and friendly here, we are looking forward for the next check-up. Christians often started to talk about their faith spontaneously, one lady felt an incredible strength coming out of me while I was doing an ultrasound, another man saw my face glowing while I was checking his pacemaker. I was concentrated on the examinations and completely unaware of what they were experiencing. I made a habit of asking the Holy Spirit what to do when I wasn´t sure, and He always provided the perfect answer. He taught me a lot about lies, that my patients believed in, and so I could simply speak the opposite – the truths into their lives. I learned that we are interacting with people not only on a body- and soul-level, but also on a spirit-level. Every human being has a spirit. We were created in His image! And even if that spirit is malnourished, weak or slumbers, it is still there! So that short time I had with my patients I learned to keep an eye-contact, talking to them, but also praying silently, adressing the Spiritman inside of them. Most of the time they were the words of life, encouragement, hope, reassuring them that they do matter, that they do have a destiny to fullfill, many times convincing them that their heart is healthy (I am a cardiologist), that it is their soul that needs healing, that they should take better care of themselves and enjoy what they have more. Well, the inspiration of Holy Spirit has no limit! My reward was seeing these people leaving my office with a big smile on their face, with a hope, that it is never too late for a new beginning.   

Proverbs 18:21 says: Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.

I was and I am amazed of the fruits that come from spending time with Him as a first thing in the morning. I am convinced, that there is a special anointing in the first hours of our days. The Lord reminded me of the concept of tithing. It is familiar to us mainly from the financial perspective. I do believe, that we should tithe also our time to God. Let´s be honest, time is in our western culture often more precious than money. We should tithe the land (Lev 27:30), the herd or the flock (Lev 27:32), dedicate the firstborns to the Lord, tithe our grain, new wine, oil (Deut 14: 23). Then why not TIME? In Deuteronomy 26:2 stands: take some of the FIRSTFRUITS.. It never worked, when I was trying to give the Lord the rests of my time, the rests of my energy, the rests of my day.. But as soon as I started giving Him the firstfruits, first hour of my day, He honoured it in the most extravagant way. Tithing sets something free and you will end up wanting to give Him EVERYTHING! And that is exactly what God is asking for: your WHOLE heart, your WHOLE mind, ALL of your days, ALL of your money, ALL of your abilities. Because He wants you to be completely HIS, He is actually waiting for you to come to Him right now! How will you respond to His invitation?