Odedeyi Emmanuel

For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Hebrews 6: 10 -12 (KJV)

It is an established fact that God- our heavenly father is a worker and that the first thing He gave Adam after creation was not a wife but a job-to tend and keep the garden. So no man (in my own opinion) is permitted to marry a woman without having something doing! Do I have a witness?
But the truth is that the statistics that stares us in the face especially now is alarming and record-breaking, as unemployment rate is almost hitting double digits.
A report last week showed that;

In the US alone, the unemployment rate jumped to 8.5 percent in March, the highest since late 1983, with a total of 663,000 job loss. Since the recession began in December 2007, the economy has lost a net total of 5.1 million jobs, with almost two-thirds of the losses occurring in the last five months. The number of unemployed people climbed to 13.2 million in March. In addition, the number of people forced to work part time for "economic reasons" rose by 423,000 to 9 million.

But the question still remains, does God have a plan for His children? Are there answers to the question of unemployment in the bible? How can one secure a job regardless of the scary stats.
Someone recently asked me (last week) to share with her how I got my job, so I have tried to put together this post to share with anyone who will “sheepishly” believe God and apply the truth God showed me in order to secure your dream job in spite of the recession, and we know God is no respecter of persons, what He has done for one, He can do for all who will believe. Please note that, God does the same thing in different ways- His ways are not our ways. This is a personal testimony;

One of the first things I did before getting the job was that I prayed for divine direction through a 24-hour dedicated prayer and fasting to seek God’s face and specifically to know where God wanted me to go- in terms of city to settle down. And believe me, God told me to move to the current city where I reside.
Let me quickly say that as believers, we must be able to hear from God or better still you must know how God leads you. Many years ago I read a book by Kenneth Haggin, “How you can be led by the Spirit”. God is our father and just like every child would recognize the voice of his father, we must know God’s leading. However, we must NOTE that whatever God says will never contradict with the bible.

The greatest asset of a believer is the ability to hear from God- Bishop David Oyedepo

So, when I got to the place He led me to, I searched through the internet for the names and addresses of specific companies and firms where I would like to work and their location in the city, and got a whole list, printed it out and re-packaged my CV to look more attractive, and began distributing it as I visited over 20 of such firms. How? I would set out with my friend I was staying with at that time every morning when going to work. The bible says;

A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— and poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.
Proverbs 6:10 -11 (NLT)

Please Note: I would dress up corporately in suit with my briefcase as if I was going to work too, with the understanding of 2 Thessalonians 3: 8- 10 (NLT);
We never accepted food from anyone without paying for it. We worked hard day and night so that we would not be a burden to any of you. It wasn’t that we didn’t have the right to ask you to feed us, but we wanted to give you an example to follow. Even while we were with you, we gave you this rule: “Whoever does not work should not eat".

To me, that means that I am not permitted to be idle and that NO WORK, NO FOOD!

Shortly within 10days or so after this, I got a job as an Admin/ Accounts Manager with a small company and average pay though, however, I remain faithful on this job and even drafted a corporate policy statement for the small company. A friend had spoke about me to the MD of the company and she asked me to resume immediately which I did.
But while on this job, I was still expecting a call from the firms I had dropped my CV earlier. And finally, a week on this job the call came from someone that I should come over for a chat with the principal partner of a firm (one of the firms where I dropped my CV). But the miracle was that when I went for the chat, it was really a chat- no interviews or serious questioning. I was asked why I would like to work with the firm and my answer was sincere- for professional experience and the within the same week my Offer Letter was sent to my email and I didn’t even reply or resume until two weeks later after I had properly handed over in my former office. The job waited!

Anything God gives, He keeps!

The Lessons I learnt in summary;
- Be divinely guided by God through prayers especially as to where He wants you to go. God still leads;
- Be sure God is the one leading you by affirming such leading in the Word of God ( the Bible);
- Never sit idle doing nothing. There is always something you can do. When you are faithful in little, you'll be considered for much.
- Have faith in God alone. You might know people, but connections and qualifications fail. Only God is too faithful to fail.
- When changing jobs, don’t leave anyhow- properly hand over. An adage says, rain can beat a man to the same shelter twice… Don’t leave your employer in a dilemma. You may meet again.

I hope this would help someone to be challenged to go get the job that is waiting.
Share your testimonies with me at www.atolase.blogspot.com.
Remember, there is always a way out!

Shalom!