The Dignity of Manual Labour: Practical Helps For The Overcomers, #11

By Zacharias Tanee Fomum

Although work requires the assistance of the whole being, Z.T. Fomum takes care to show that there is spiritual work, intellectual work, and manual work. Manual work is that which requires physical energy in any accomplishment.

Therefore, it is obvious to note that all the heroes of the Bible were great manual workers, beginning with God Himself.

Thus, every manual work should be done with a sense of honour, respect, and perfection. In this book, the author exhorts the Third World to work, to cultivate the abundant land that God has given them.

Each worker must ensure that God is glorified in his work by his nature and that this work is pleasing to God in its quality and quantity of productivity.

This book is a study of work through the Bible. Read it and be blessed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Books4revival
• Release date: Apr 19, 2015
• ISBN: 9781513096971

Zacharias Tanee Fomum

For FREE books from Zacharias Tanee Fomum: https://books.bookfunnel.com/ztf-free-ebooks. Professor Zacharias Tanee FOMUM was a man of uncommon spirituality, a leading voice for revival, a workaholic, a prophet-teacher, and a world-shaping spiritual genius. He was a bestselling Christian author (with over 350 books, over 10 million copies in circulation in over 100 languages) and a professor of Organic Chemistry (with over 160 published scientific works of high distinction (earning him the award of a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Durham, Great Britain). His books and the millions of people he influenced in more than 40 years of Christian ministry continue to impact the world with the Gospel today. He founded Christian Missionary Fellowship International (CMFI), a missionary movement that has planted churches in more than 120 nations on all continents. He believed in a life of simplicity and with the support and dedication of his wife and their seven children, his all—time, money, heart, and soul— was dedicated to spreading the Gospel. He carried out exploits for God through the making of disciples for Christ, planting of churches, building spiritual leaders according to the model of the Bible, and serving the body of Christ, especially as a teacher on prayer. Learn more and read exclusive excerpts at: https://ztfomum.org

Book preview

The Dignity of Manual Labour

THE DIGNITY OF MANUAL LABOUR

PRACTICAL HELPS FOR THE OVERCOMERS

BOOK 11

ZACHARIAS TANEE FOMUM

Books4revival

Copyright © 1996 by Zacharias Tanee Fomum

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Except otherwise stated, all Bible references are from the New International Version of the Bible

Published by

A division of the Book Ministry of Christian Missionary Fellowship International

[e-mail]

CONTENTS

Preface

1. Dignity ?

2. God The Father in Dignified Manual Labour—1

3. God The Father in Dignified Manual Labour—2

4. God The Son in Dignified Manual Labour—1

5. God The Son in Dignified Manual Labour—2

6. Noah in Dignified Manual Labour

7. Abraham in Dignified Manual Labour

8. Isaac in Dignified Manual Labour

9. Jacob in Dignified Manual Labour

10. Moses in Dignified Manual Labour

11. Joshua in Dignified Manual Labour

12. Caleb in Dignified Manual Labour

13. David And Dignified Manual Labour

14. The Mighty Men of David in Dignified Manual Labour

15. Elijah in Dignified Manual Labour

16. Elisha And Dignified Manual Labour

17. Gideon in Dignified Manual Labour

18. Nehemiah in Dignified Manual Labour

19. Peter in Dignified Manual Labour

20. Paul in Dignified Manual Labour

21. The Local Church And Manual Labour—1

22. The Local Church And Manual Labour—2

23. You And Manual Labour

24. A Word of Testimony

Back Matters

Thank You

Very Important!!!

Recommended Books

Our Distributors

I lovingly dedicate this book to

MR AND MRS JACQUES MBANG,

A couple involved in dignified manual labour, with the glorious interests of the Lord Jesus in view.

PREFACE

This book is the eleventh in the series, "Practical Helps For The Overcomers". The other books in this series which have been written are:

Book 01: The Use of Time

Book 02: Personal Spiritual Revival

Book 03: Retreats for Spiritual Progress

Book 04: Daily Dynamic Encounters with God

Book 05: The School of Truth

Book 06: How to Succeed in the Christian Life

Book 07: The Christian and Money

Book 08: Deliverance from the Sin of Laziness

Book 09: The Art of Working Hard

Book 10: Knowing God (The Greatest Need of the Hour)

Book 11: The Dignity of Manual Labour

There are people who consider that working with the hands is inferior work and that such work should be reserved for those who cannot do anything else. Because of this way of thinking, many who could invest their lives usefully doing some manual labour run away from it, or do it with shame and a sense of failure.

Is manual work for inferior people?

Is manual work for failures?

For startling answers to these questions, we encourage you to read this book.

God bless you as you read!

1

DIGNITY ?

WHAT IS DIGNITY ?

Dignity is that which calls for respect.

It is that about which there should be no shame whatsoever.

It is that which is fit to be exposed with a sense of honour.

It is that which can be done by the highest authority with a sense of satisfaction.

WHAT IS MANUAL LABOUR ?

There is spiritual labour that involves primarily the human spirit.

There is intellectual labour that involves primarily the human mind.

There is manual labour which involves primarily the use of human physical energy. The person who is involved in manual labour may use spiritual energy to pray things through and intellectual energy to plan, evaluate and so on. However, he will certainly employ physical energy before his project is accomplished. So we have used manual labour to mean that portion of any accomplishment that requires physical energy.

2

GOD THE FATHER IN DIGNIFIED MANUAL LABOUR—1

GOD THE FATHER: THE FIRST FARMER

"This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens -- and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground -- the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground - trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to take care of it." (Genesis 2:4-15).

GOD THE FATHER: THE FIRST FARMER

God planted a garden in the East, in Eden.

God is the most dignified Person in all creation. He planted the first garden that was ever planted. That makes God the first farmer. How marvellous this is! Yes, it is truly marvellous !!

God was the first farmer.

God is the Author of the farming profession.

God identified first with farming before He identified with any other profession.

Farming is honourable.

Farming is dignified.

Farming is a truly dignified profession because it was the first profession that the Lord God Almighty chose for Himself.

God was more or less saying, "If you want to identify Me with a profession, identify Me with farming first, and then you can identify Me with the other professions in a secondary place.

Farming has a very special place in the heart and purposes of God.

The farmer is in God’s profession!

The farmer has the Almighty God as his professional leader, guide and colleague.

GOD THE FATHER: AN EXCELLENT FARMING MODEL

God was the first farmer!

He planted all kinds of trees.

The trees were pleasing to the eye and the fruits were pleasing to the eye.

The fruits of the trees were good for food.

There was no tree in the garden of God that was bad to look at.

There was no tree in the garden of God that produced fruits that were bad to look at.

There were no fruits in the garden of God that were not good for food.

Everything in the garden of God was good to look at and good for food!

Everything in the garden of God was excellent.

Everything in the garden of God was glorious and beautiful. Everything was produced for the glory and the beauty of God to be manifest in them. All was for beauty and for glory! Nothing was carelessly done. Nothing was disorganized. There was a glorious harmony of all that was in the garden in outward appearance and in its nutritive value, as well as its taste in the mouth. The garden bore the imprints, Made by God in every way.

Praise the Lord !

The Lord did it that way because it was consistent with His nature. He is the all-beautiful, all-glorious, all-harmonious and all-useful One. How could He produce anything that was out of harmony with His person and His personality ? He couldn’t!

The Lord also did it that way in order to provide a model to all farmers who were to join His profession. To all of them He says, Your gardens and farms must be good to look at. The fruits you grow must be good to look at. The fruits you grow must be good for food. The overall garden must be good to look at. It must be orderly and it must be clean.

We do well to obey Him and follow His model!.

GOD THE FARMER : THE GOD OF ABUNDANCE AND OF VARIETY

God did not plant one or two trees and then stop. The garden of God contained all kinds of trees. God did much work. He did abundant work. He worked hard. He provided variety!

God’s example demands that farmers cultivate the largest portions possible and provide the largest abundance possible. They are also to provide the largest variety possible.

The person who can farm one hundred hectares of land, but settles for something less, is not