Our country is experiencing an economic hurricane, but God is Lord of the wind too.  Eric Beck shares part 2 of his profound insights into something he calls, “authorized work”. Please share these with your friends…

The change in thinking that’s required to get your $650 billion bailout is simply this: Find your “authorized work” and do only that. If you have the right tools, not only can you do this…but so can your team, family, or business too! Without the right tools it’s a pipe dream! Nothing gray here. We are living in very serious times.

Our authorized work is often blurred by simple busyness. We are busy because we believe the lie that we have more to do than time to do it. That lie is at the heart of the worship of money and the fear of lack. That worship and that fear are what drive a “debt – wage” slavery system of economics that we are daily watching fall from its pedestal. Hope you’re not counting on it!

The only way to win the rat race is to stop being a rat. We must move to the areas of true value. And that kind of work, business, calling is anchored in what I call our “authorized work.”

Without knowing our authorized work we are susceptible to tons of unnecessary interruptions that consume about “28 percent of the knowledge worker’s day, which translates to 28 billion lost hours to companies in the United States alone.” (”The Cost of Not Paying Attention: How Interruptions Impact Knowledge Worker Productivity,” Jonathan B. Spira and Joshua B. Feintuch, Basex, 2005).

Do you see what’s going on here? Something so small, so common, but so destructive has us by the throat. Recognizing the enormity of the situation, I have created a new workplace strategy to determine and manage your authorized work: It’s simply called MasterPlan. This approach combines the science of dealing with interruptions with the art of living “on your post” - discerning and fulfilling your authorized work. Considering the impact of interruptions on not only our work but our quality of life, for those who have a calling, overcoming this is as important as breathing!

And yes we’ve got science to prove it. “People can’t multitask very well, and when people say they can, they’re deluding themselves…The brain is very good at deluding itself,” said neuroscientist Earl Miller.

Earl Miller, a Picower professor of neuroscience at MIT, says that for the most part, we simply can’t focus on more than one thing at a time. “Switching from task to task, you think you’re actually paying attention to everything around you at the same time. But you’re actually not,” Miller said. The problem is that this behavior is consistent with a type of willing slavery where we have believed that we must accomplish our work without the proper tools.

Exodus 5:6-8 “On that same day Pharaoh commanded the slave-drivers over the people and their foremen, saying,  ‘You are no longer to give straw to the people to make bricks as before. They themselves must go and gather straw for themselves. And the number of bricks, which they were making before, you will impose upon them; you will not reduce that number.’”

We miss our authorized work because we believe we are free when we’ve really succumbed to a willing slavery - a way of working that we’re so used to, it has become invisible. Time to open our eyes.

That’s why so many are fearful in these times…they don’t know the power of authorized work and don’t have any tools to help them find it. But not you…in my next post, we’ll wrap this up and show you exactly how to leave the slave plantations and their systems that are crumbling on the nightly news and to begin to transform your business and life into a stronghold of hope that the world will marvel at.

I have asked Eric to expand on his ideas in a free webinar next week. He has graciously agreed to offer two time slots (Tuesday and Wednesday) for those who run businesses or non-profits and one on Friday for everyone else. As always, we have limited slots which is why we’ve booked three different times. Click here to register now.

“Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man. Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.” (Ecc 9:15-16)

Like it or not, people pay attention to money. Poor folks, who may well be endowed with wisdom on occasion, are still despised and in general they are not listened to. Furthermore, too many Christians think poverty is a virtue and while you can certainly be virtuous and poor, poverty is no virtue. Let me encourage you again with the words of David, “Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favor my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.” (Psalm 35:27)

Our Father delights and has pleasure when we prosper. He does not delight in our misery and lack. He doesn’t live in misery and lack nor does He reserve that for His children. Now, follow with me here… If the poor have no voice and if God delights in our prosperity and if He loves it when we use our prosperity to affect the culture for good (remember Cornelius?), then it is perfectly appropriate for those of us called to the marketplace to make plans, strategize, pray and work diligently to succeed and prosper.

But why? We are very, very close to seeing the most challenging economic and geopolitical challenges in our lifetime. The media is the most powerful instrument on earth to shape opinion and control people. (Remember the election process?) Media is business and business takes money and money can buy media. Media will be a huge tool in shaping your opinion. Don’t think you are immune or that you won’t fall for their lies. It’s not the lies I am worried about. It’s the truths we are never told. You are going to have to get that from the Lord.

But I see the day, when folks like you and I actually live to take back the gates of commerce, use the profits to take back the gates of media and use that to win back and rightly inform the people God so greatly loves. That is why I feel an urgency to release our remaining inventory of the Taking Back The Gates conference where 11 highly successful Christian business leaders pass on the most salient wisdom they have as if you and I were their only heirs. When the CD’s and DVD’s first came out, they were sold for $166. Now while supplies last, you can save over 75% and get both sets for only $39. It’s that important! Click here for details and a short video clip.

“Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”…“I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.” John 15:2, 5

If you pay close attention to the above verses, you will see that Jesus is speaking to those who are in Him. Of those that are in Him, you will find four kinds of Christians… Those who produce no fruit, those who produce some fruit, those who produce more fruit and those who produce much fruit. All of them are Christians, but some are more fruitful. And really, it’s probably not four kinds of Christians, but rather a representation of Christians at four different places in life. Progressing through each phase is at once both painful and joyful if you can see it for what it is.

So what does God the vinedresser do to those who produce no fruit in their life? At first glance, it looks like He removes them from the scene, that He takes them away. But “take away” is not the best translation here. It really means that He “lifts up” every branch that bears no fruit. A good vinedresser notices the branches hanging low to the ground. He cleans off the dust that prevents them from receiving the light and producing fruit, lifts them up and ties them to a trellis. They may feel confined, but they are finally in a position to produce fruit.

If you have not been fruitful in your life of late, maybe it’s time to ask the Father to lift you up from the ground, wash off the dirt that so easily besets us, blocks our vision of the light and deprives us of fruitfulness. Ask Him to fasten you in the place you belong in the light and help you keep you there. It won’t be long before you start seeing fruit.

Last week I predicted on Sunday that the coming week would make history in the markets. It did. We suffered the worst weekly loss in 112 years of the Dow Jones. No worries though. The central bankers of the world got with the political leaders of the world and hatched a plan. Then our president assured us that all would be well. I feel better now. How about you? For a brief overview of what leading political and economic figures have had to say in previous turbulent times, you really need to check out this link. Pay close attention to the last quote by FDR. It should rock your world.

To give you some context for the times, you really need to familiarize yourself with this chart from the depression era. What you will notice is that the 1929 crash was not nearly as bad as what followed in 1931 and 1932. It took three years for the markets to lose 90% of their value. We on the other hand are only down 40% in the last year. What you need to pay close attention to is the enthusiastic spikes upward every few months that led folks to believe the recovery was on the way. It was not. Not until they had reached nearly total collapse.

What’s going to happen this week? I don’t know. A precipitous drop or a spectacular gain are both probabilities in my book. The latter will only last long enough to get some more sucker bets from folks who think this is a great time to buy back in. Been there. Done that. Not true. Read the links above to understand where I am coming from.

So what does this mean to you and me? First and foremost, do not get into fear. Fear tends to lead people to make poor decisions. This is a time of crisis and the crisis will worsen before getting better. Be Issacharian in nature. Discern the times and know what to do – and how to do it! Crisis creates opportunity.

In my book Rainforest Strategy, I talk about the Fungus Factor – How to Get the Most From the Least. It’s about creating tremendous value out of what other folks see as valueless. It can make you a lot of money because the cost is very low and the upside can be very high. I call the process fungigation. One of the ways to make it through this coming tough time is to learn how to fungigate. It’s a new way of seeing old things and then helping others see what you see. It is probably the most significant wealth secret in the rainforest.

There’s more to it than that and space does not allow. Besides, I really want you to buy the book. It won’t bring world peace, but it can bring economic peace if you apply the rainforest wealth secrets I share inside its pages. Get it now and let me know how you apply the wealth secrets to your life. Blessings on you all.