A Vacation with Meaning Or How To Rest Constructively

Summer is the time of long-awaited vacations. But how do we usually spend our vacation time, and holidays and weekends in general? More often than not we spend our day-off with family, and we get together with relatives and friends at the holiday dinner table to discuss current issues or just to have a chat. We also like to relax in front of a TV or kick back with a romance novel, mystery or a favorite science fiction.

All these activities are a waste of time, and as believers we can not afford it! If you count the number of days-off we have if we work from Monday to Friday, we will get 2 days x 52 weeks = 104 days-off per year! And that is not including the summer vacation, which is usually from 10 to 21 days (and sometimes even more than 30 days!), then add to that the civil holidays (we have many of them in the former USSR countries), which are also days off.

This way, if you do not plan your days-off and vacation time (i.e. spend them idly), it means that at least 4 months a year (1/3 of the year!) – one third of your life is wasted.

God gave us only one life to fulfill our calling, therefore, every moment of it should be directed at carrying out your destiny on earth. Every year – month, week, day, and hour – should draw us closer to the set goal. If our pastime does not draw us closer to the goal, then we are simply wasting our time, and burning away our only life!!!

Rest is one of the ways to satisfy oneself on the spiritual, mental, and physical levels. The prerequisite to satisfaction is a constructive and quality rest.

When on vacation, you are in charge of your own time. Therefore, this time is a special opportunity to do things you cannot do during working weeks because of regular work.

One can point out four quality levels of rest:

1. The lowest level of rest is the physical level. That is when we rest, or to be more exact, when don’t do anything. The purpose of such rest is often just to lie down, get a tan, have fun around, and indulge in idle chatter.

2. Rest on the mental level is a bit higher than the previous one. This one is all about allocating time for yourself: visit a museum, go sight-seeing, have a cultural and artistic experience, etc.

3. A Specialized, purposeful level of rest is inherent to people, who are moved by concrete goals, businessmen, for instance. Such people do not have any time to visit cultural and entertainment places, or at the very least they try to combine it with something constructive.

4. Level four is constructive rest. It is inherent to people, who set concrete goals and plans for the time of rest. For instance, to write a book during the vacation month, or complete an in depth study of a topic, read a planned amount of books, or listen to some sermons with relevant topics. In such a way, even being at the sea side (while reading useful books and listening to the sermons), these people will not only get closer to their goal, but also protect themselves from unnecessary temptations, as it is hard to entice away someone, who is busy.
Constructive rest is the level of highly organized and effective people, who know the price of life and value of time. Such people never allow anything or anyone to steal their time. They are not dependent on the stereotypes of the society. On the contrary, they dictate their principles to the society. This is the way Christians should be. Idleness must be overcome!

Now let us look at different kinds of rest.

1. When you rest by yourself
This is the most productive time for a purposeful rest. No one distracts you, and you can write books, read, study something. I, for example, take certain books to read, sermons, or write my own books. If your rest is not planned in advance, then you are most likely to get into different traps: like unnecessary connections, acquaintances, etc.

2. Rest with your family or friends
It is possible to rest with your family or friends, but at the same time to carry out plans you prepared in advance. Rest should always be scheduled: for example, 2-3 hours of communication with family is then changed to work on your goals. At the time of vacation communication with your close ones should be constructive, it should edify. That is real rest, because you can be really satisfied only when you are useful and helpful to others.

3. Communication with people you do not know
When you get into a circle of people you are not acquainted with, it is better to start your conversation with questions about common human values, about family, work, and place of living. It is important to give people the opportunity to have their say and find a point of contact, and then you can move on to more serious topics. The main value for each believer must be God. Therefore we should strive to lead every conversation to the main value – to God. We must seek and use all possible options to bring people to Christ.

4. Holidays and common entertainments
When you are invited to different entertainment events, for example, celebrations, birthdays, weddings, corporate events, etc., there also should be a certain task set and a conversation topic chosen. You should always pursue the set goal in every communication; change the subject of conversations to the topics of life goals, family values, calling, spiritual topics, and talk about needs of people. You also should remember that there are two kinds of effective communication with people: Either I am giving- being a blessing to someone, or I am receiving- I am learning new things. Based on this you should build your communication.

If you see that you can’t manage to give the right direction to a conversation, be brave enough not to visit such entertainments any more. Learn to say ‘no’. Value your time and life as a whole! If you can, converse only in case it brings you result.

What kind of rest can we call effective?

Japanese people have this tradition: every trip they take, every vacation should conclude in a deal. Constructive vacation should always conclude with a certain result. You should always return with fruit from a vacation; that can be the changed destinies of the people you preached to, personal changes thanks to the books you have read and sermons you have listened to, or even a written book, a developed program, a prepared plan for the future, etc. In order to carry this out you will need to plan out your vacation day by day. For instance, this summer, during your vacation, you can write the leadership school test.

Apart from that, vacation is an opportunity to meet God in different, unusual circumstances. (You must never take a rest from prayer or reading the Bible.) Vacation is an opportunity to grow spiritually faster than in your everyday life, because you are not in a hurry, you do not think about the things that need to be done urgently, you do not need to rush anywhere or make phone calls.

So let us summarize.

People of purpose and destiny will return from a vacation with fruits of time constructively spent.

1. Strengthened physically: because of doing sports and restoring their general health.
2. Strengthened mentally: because they were occupied with self-education and self-development, studied certain topics concerning personal growth.
3. Strengthened spiritually: because they read Christian books, listened to biblical, leadership schools, fasted at least once a week, went into prayer retreats and prayed more than usual.
4. They were blessed by the fellowship with the people close to them, discussing certain topics, drawing conclusions, and learning things.
5. They shared the Gospel through communication with new people.
6. They reached certain goals and drew closer to their calling: studied the necessary topics, reconsidered and analyzed their life goals.

Psalm 90:12: So teach us to number our days, so that we may bring a heart of wisdom.

THE MONTH OF WORK AND CREATIVITY (Anointing service, June, 2010)

Today we are going to talk about the influence of work and creativity on our lives.

Reading the book of Genesis Chapter 1 Verse 27, we can see that God created humans in His image. As the Lord Himself is a Creator, it means that humans are created to build and create.

Have you ever thought about the fact that God never does anything under compulsion, but always takes pleasure in His work? You can see it clearly in the book of Genesis, Chapter 1. When God was finishing creating the heaven, the earth, His work on the plants, animals, and humans, He looked at the works of His hands and He liked what He saw. In other words the Lord took pleasure in His work.

Labor is an important constituent of our lives. It is a guarantee of development, progress, and survival. If one does not work, then sooner or later they will come to degradation and even self-destruction.

God is clear in His Word: "Whoever does not work, shall not eat". Therefore whoever you are, a child or an adult, it is necessary to work. And even if you are a rich man, it does not mean that you have the right to waste your life at various parties, hangouts, and go to resorts, for all of that is dissipation.

When we talk about work we do not mean that only 8-hour working day should be the sense of your life. When the Bible mentions work, it is not only about the process of earning money. It encompasses any effort to bring about a benefit, including any creative activity, studying, self-perfection, fulfilling your calling, ministry in the family, in church, and charity and social activity. All this is work.

In John 5:17 it is written: "But Jesus answered them, My Father works until now, and I work". Jesus Himself emphasizes that in order to live a full-fledged life it is important to work all the time.

Solomon, one of the wisest men on earth said: "Behold that which I have seen. It is good and right for one to eat and to drink, and to see good in all his labor that he labors under the sun all the days of his life, which God gives him; for it is his portion", Ecclesiastes 5:17.

Let us look at 3 main levels of work.

Level 1 is physical labor. Construction, cleaning, cooking, equipment maintenance, agricultural works, tending the animals, etc. In general everything that has to do with a trade is physical labor.

Creative or mental labor is level 2. "The heart of the prudent gets knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge", Proverbs 18:15. Scientists, philosophers, mathematicians, arts, writers – all people of art and intellectual work, and everyone who has a hobby or is engaged in self-education and self-perfection, carries out creative or mental work.

However, the highest level of work is spiritual work. Spiritual labor is characterized in John 5:19, where Jesus says: "The Son can do nothing of Himself but what He sees the Father do…" Spiritual labor includes prayer, fast, meditation over the Word of God, strengthening in faith, fulfilling commandments – all of this allows us to see what God sees and then implement it in order to fulfill our calling.

In order to fulfill God’s will, it is important to know how to work on all the three levels. And if God works until now, i.e. constantly (John 5:17), then we have no excuses not to work.

"Also he who is slack in his work is brother to a great destroyer", Proverbs 18:9. We should not work for the sake of work, but we should love to work. Only through work can we use the opportunities given to us and realize our potential.

Here are the reasons, for which God established labor:

1. Paid labor gives the opportunity to have primary necessities. Food, place to live, clothes – all these need to be paid for, therefore we need to work.

2. Labor supports active physical and mental activities. Without activities muscles atrophy, and the level of intellect drops abruptly and you degrade.

3. Works keeps you from many troubles and problems. Whenever you can’t find what to do, you get into troubles. People say about such people: he was in the wrong place. Without work people waste their time, fall into depression, or lead a dissipated life, or get under the influence of problem companions. Idleness is one of the main reasons of forming bad habits.

4. Work allows you to reveal your potential: your gifts, abilities, and opportunities. Working we get to know ourselves better, our hidden abilities put into us by God.

5. Work is one of God’s ways to bless us. Only in work we find pleasure and satisfaction, and happiness, which only working people can feel.

6. Work allows you to realize your dreams, ideas, and achieve your goals. Everyone has many ideas, , purposes, and pursuits; and only through labor can we achieve all that.

7. Work allows you to create together with God. When we work we become co-creators with God, we implement God’s ideas. We see that God wants to act through us on earth, and therefore we become the instrument to fulfill His will.

8. Work allows you to be a blessing together with God. Thanks to the finances you earn; you can support your family, relatives, and bless people.

9. Work allows you to acquire new skills and reveal new abilities. For instance, 10 years ago there were few who could work on a PC, but thanks to the applied efforts; it has become possible. Now many people have mastered computer skills.

So, work reveals more and more sides of life to us and favors self-cognition. And also work has a point only when it is done from the whole heart.

Ecclesiastes 9:10: "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no work, nor plan, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave where you go". One of the common problems we have is that we are used to working on the superficial level. Ecclesiastes says that there is no point in such work. Therefore it is vital to learn to focus on your work and carry it out diligently, as only this kind of work brings result.

Proverbs 12:11: "He who tills his land shall be satisfied with bread; but he who follows vanities lacks heart". Thanks to work; we can have bread, provision, prosperity, and blessings. In order to have an effective life, you will need to work and love to work. You need to learn to take pleasure in work and turn labor into a habit.

Work must become our lifestyle; for that we need to develop the habit to work everywhere and always, wherever we are: at work, at home, or in vacation. There is this saying: a good work it is when you leave home gladly in the morning and go to work, and in the evening gladly return home. Of course, there are many home duties, which you need to do within a weekend, which is why it is important to combine both rest and work at the same time. Moreover, I believe that you need to live in such a way that you would look forward to the end of a day-off or vacation to continue to work.

Idleness is one of the main dangers, which we need to beware of. We must avoid idle pastime, empty talks, gossips, etc. It is necessary to remember that there are two fruitful kinds of communication: either I give something to others, in other words, I am a blessing; or I receive something, I learn things. That is why it is important to learn to benefit from everything! Think! What do you receive from communication or what do you give to others, and what seed do you sow during that time?

Especially now, at summer time, I urge you to be careful. Vanity always comes when there is idleness of mind. Many people go for a vacation and do not return to church, because they relax and lose self-control, and their life priorities get mixed up and their values change.

Therefore, it is so important to turn rest into creative process, which is one of the kinds of work. Use the time of rest to build yourself and do something valuable. If we are driven by eternal values, we will think of how we can rest so that God would be pleased with us.

You have a chance to have rest in interesting, and not idle way. The apostolic council of the Embassy of God made a decision to help our church members to rest creatively. From now on every summer all the Embassy of God members from the whole world can participate in the festival "South Wind", the purpose of which is to help believers and their families to have a fruitful rest and grow spiritually at the same time. South Wind Festival will be held from the 21st to the 30th of June in Crimea in a picturesque place – Kanakska Gully. Hurry and register by the phone numbers (+38)067-654-23-87; (+38)095-834-01-01.

I pray that this sermon would help you become even more like our Heavenly Father, Who always works: yesterday, today and forever!

In order to study this topic more profoundly please read the following books by Sunday Adelaja: "Life is time".

May the Lord bless you and your families!