One week our pastor’s sermon reminded me of a conversation I had with Holy Spirit years ago about working with a heavenly perspective. At the time I was working in a group home for girls that had survived sex trafficking. It was an extremely stressful and dangerous work environment mainly because of how the home was run, not because of the girls themselves.
As I was driving to work one day, exhausted after a rough night the day before, Holy Spirit posed the question, “What work would you do if you weren’t combating the curse?” The rest of the day I mulled his question over, realizing how much of our work and general human effort is spent trying to combat or correct the effects of the curse.
Without the curse would there be no need for healing, no police, no need for money to meet our needs? What would our world look like if the curse had never entered? Would there be any kind of work at all?
Work Before the Fall
In Genesis we see that work existed before the fall. God told Adam to take care of the garden and ultimately cultivate the whole earth (Genesis 1:28; Genesis 2:15). But after the fall the difficulty of his work increased because the curse (Genesis 3:17). Eve likewise is told that because of the curse there would be much pain in childbirth (Genesis 3:16).
So work itself is not part of the curse, its God’s mandate for us as humanity. Which means we likely can expect to work in heaven too, though without the curse and its effects our work will look much different.
Holy Spirit’s Question
As Holy Spirit asked me, “what work would you do if you weren’t combating the curse?”
My answer easily came that I would garden. Fortunately I get to enjoy a taste of my heavenly work now and not just in eternity. As much as I love getting to partner with God in restoring all things, combating the curse, and setting his people free through counseling and inner healing, I know that the greater glory is not in endlessly combating the curse but in worshipping God, enjoying his creation, and co-creating with him.
Working with a Heavenly Perspective
Work is an expression of worship. And when we have this paradigm shift it changes how we spend our time. Many of my greatest moments with God interrupted my plans for the day. Whatever things I needed to do, whatever work I had, all fell to the side as I fully embraced what he was doing in that moment.
We often are so afraid of having our work or our schedules disrupted that we try to schedule God into certain parts of our day. But when he sweeps us into his perspective on work and time and our efforts, everything we thought was more important suddenly isn’t.
And somehow all those important things do get taken care of. He’s aware of our needs and our time. And when we take the risk to set our clocks to his, lay down our priorities to align with heaven’s, shift out of combating the curse into worshipping through our work, we find that our time is spent the best it ever could be. Where else would we rather be than doing exactly what he wants to do?
And there is a unique glory not just in combating the effects of the curse but in correcting, restoring the damage that’s been done. We won’t always have the opportunity to do this kind of work with God. Scripture says that all of creation is waiting for the sons of God to know who they are and break the bondage of the curse (Romans 8:19-21). A heavenly perspective doesn’t mean we just give up and wait for heaven; it means we work to make it on earth as it is in heaven.
Types of Work
Combating
When we are combating the effects of the curse our work is an uphill battle, we’re easily tricked into looking at things through the enemy’s perspective – obstacles, poverty spirit, and fear. We might make a good dent in how the curse is affecting us, but we have to keep combating every day to keep those effects at bay. Ultimately we’re bailing water without plugging the hole, which sometimes is needed.
Correcting
When we are correcting the effects of the curse we are partnering with God in his work of restoration. The practicalities of our work may look very similar to combating, but our hearts are aligned with a heavenly perspective. When we our work is correcting the curse we are actively reclaiming territory with God rather than just trying to hold onto the little we have. This is sacred work that we only get to do this side of eternity.
Co-Creating
When we are co-creating with God we are operating from a place outside the curse. Our work isn’t about restoring what was broken, it’s about creating something totally new. This type of work isn’t reserved just for heaven. Correcting and co-creating are two worshipful types of work that we can access now.
Many of us will be in correcting type work in this life. That work is very important and a unique anointing for this time; it is an honor to be God’s agents of announcing that the Kingdom of God has come and making it on Earth as it is in Heaven.
However, I believe God also has co-creating tastes of eternity for each of us. It may be a hobby or side-hustle and not your full-time work, but eternity has been set in your heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11) – you have a God-given gift for co-creation.
Activation Prayer
Pray through this activation and listen for what you hear God saying to you.
- Is my current work correcting or combating the curse?
- Jesus, am I believing any lies about work?
- How can I shift into a heavenly perspective of my current work?
- What work would I want to do if the effects of the curse were gone?
- Jesus, what do you want me to know about my desire for curse-free work?
- Jesus, I hand to you my agenda, my sense of what is important for my time, will you adjust my priorities so that my time is spent doing whatever I see you doing.