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FAITH

Identity | Integration | Calling.
Masked Sunrise

Each day awakens with a different sun expression.

By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, ‘and was not found, because God had taken him’; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. 5-6

Enoch’s Faith Features and Translation:

  1. The Non-Negotiable Foundation. Without faith it is impossible to please God!

Faith is non-negotiable for those seeking to honor God. In the market place our professional excellence, ethical decisions, and relationships must be rooted in faith-driven conviction; not merely out of convenience or expediency. Just as Enoch couldn’t please God without faith, believers in the marketplace can’t truly honor God through competence alone. Faith must undergird our labor. Belief in God to empower your excellence.

  1. The Testimony of Consistency. He was commended as one who pleased God!

Prior to disappearance, Enoch had ‘this testimony, that he pleased God.’ This is a sustained witness- over 300 years of walking with God; not a one-time event. By faith he believed all he knew about God as fact so; he conformed his character and conduct to that. In the workplace, this speaks to the power of consistent, long-term faithfulness. Your daily reliability, integrity in small matters, and steady character over the years creates a testimony that transcends any single achievement. Colleagues notice when someone consistently operates from principle rather than convenience. And above all, the God we represent is honored through this conduct and character.

  1. The Dual Conviction. ‘Anyone who comes to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him’

Enoch’s faith was both belief in God’s existence and in His responsiveness to seekers. In the workplace, this means maintaining both theological conviction – God is present and sovereign in corporate meetings, difficult projects, and workplace conflicts and practical hope – God sees your faithfulness. He will honor it, even when promotions are delayed or credit is taken by others. This dual conviction prevents both empty ritualism and cynical disengagement.

Faith Application

  1. Faith guides our conscience to believe in the invisible God’s existence and His willingness to reward His seekers.
  2. Faith leads us to live lives that seek and please God. It Ignites obedience and trust which attract God to do the impossible for us. ‘Enoch did not see death. God took him.’ Faith is the only channel through which to please God. ‘Without faith it is impossible to please God.’

Think About It:

  • Is my faith compartmentalized or negotiable, believing God can only handle some situations? Is my work driven by faith in God’s purposes, or am I relying on my skills and strategies to get by?
  • Is my faith fueling a testimony of consistency – in character integrity, action, word, prayer? What reputation am I building through my daily choices at work: one of convenience and compromise, or of steady faithfulness over time?
  • Do I have a dual conviction of God’s revelation? Do I truly believe God sees my work and will honor my integrity, even when no one else notices or rewards it? Do I believe my faith will be rewarded?

By faith…

By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.4

Abel’s Faith Features and Translation:

  1. The Superior Offering: Abel’s offering was better than Cain’s. Not better in appearance or quantity but in faith. A believing obedience. The heart behind the gift matters more than the gift. Abel’s choice of best offering was informed by his conscience from a heart fully devoted to worship. Faith sacrifices. It believes, obeys, hopes, decides and acts; giving God the best of what one has. His belief not the sacrifice bore witness – giving him a favorable disposition in God’s eyes.
  2. Divine Commendation: God spoke well of Abel’s offerings. Commended him as righteous. God’s approval was from recognizing Abel’s faith and obedience to requiring a sacrifice. Then he obtained a testimony of righteousness. Acts of faith testify to God. Bears witness to our righteousness with God. Is a shield that causes or makes room for God to testify on our behalf.
  3. Lasting Testimony: Abel still speaks even after death. His faith created a witness that transcends his lifetime. The impact of faithful work, done in obedience to God outlives the worker. Faith results in an eternal testimony, leaves a legacy. ‘Abel still speaks even though he is dead.’ NIV How? Faith acts as a lasting testament of one’s life and values, hence, influences future generations. It serves as a personal, enduring message spoken through actions, stories, or records that bear witness to what a person believed and held dear.

Principle: Faith transforms ordinary offerings into righteous acts that gain God’s approval and creates an enduring testimony.

Faith Application:

1: Quality Over Appearance: God is more impressed by the faith and integrity with which we work than the deliverables. Are you doing excellent work as an act of worship or to impress others? Do you believe God deserves your very best in using your abilities and competencies?

2: Divine vs. Human Approval: Abel sought God’s commendation, not human recognition. In your career, whose approval do you seek first – your boss, peers, or God’s? Faith-driven work through obedience seeks divine validation over earthly approval.

3: Legacy of Faithfulness: Abel’s faithful offering still speaks centuries later. Your work ethic today (with integrity, excellence, and faithful obedience) creates a testimony that outlasts employment, projects, and even your life. Will your work ethic leave a lasting testimony of faith and faithfulness?

Think About it:

  • Offering! Is my work an offering to God done in faith and obedience, or am I just going through the motions to meet expectations? Does my faith testify of my worship by reverence for God?
  • Testifies! Will I leave a legacy of faith that testifies of my faithfulness to God? Is my work creating a testimony that will speak of faithfulness long after I’ve moved on?
  • Bold! Does my faith lead me to put on the breastplate of righteousness in the marketplace; which would cause God to stand up for my defense? Am I unashamed of representing him?

By faith …

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. 1-3

The role of faith: What does faith do?

– Faith gives assurance of what we hope for; things to come in the future. [Return of Christ, eternal life for those who believe in Him]

– Faith provides the conviction of things not seen. [the blood of Christ and forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit’s transforming work in a believer’s life]

Through possessing and exercising faith in their daily lives the ancients received divine approval.

‘By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.’

Faith in comprehension: Trust in God precedes and enables true comprehension of reality, acting as a lens that reveals divine truth beyond human logic. The visible made from the invisible. Faith perceives and views the creation of the universe as stated by God. It doesn’t question God’s ways. It chooses, settles to understand the power of God’s Word as revealed. More than intellectual knowledge and observation, it enables understanding and perception. We grasp reality and spiritual comprehension by faith.

Faith in creation: universe was formed – ordered, framed by God’s Word. A command, decree. The abstract (Speech) actualized (Universe). The invisible (Word) materialized the visible (creation). The intangible (Command) generated the tangible (world).

The Paradox: Incomprehensibility of God. What is visible (material seen). Came from the invisible (God’s word, not pre-existing matter). The seen originates from the unseen.

Faith is Evidence

Principle: Faith reveals that ultimate reality is spiritual, not material. God’s invisible Word has more power and permanence than anything our eyes can see.

Application: Just as God spoke the world into existence from nothing, faith recognizes God’s purposes and promises in our work are more real and lasting than the visible circumstances (budgets, metrics, office politics) that seem to dominate.

What faith produces: A reoriented perspective. We must learn to trust the invisible (God’s character, promises, presence) over the visible (immediate pressures, apparent outcomes).

Think About It:

  • Do I believe God’s invisible purposes are a reality and eternal? Am I making decisions based on what’s immediately visible (profits, politics, pressures)?
  • Do I believe God can speak new possibilities into my work situation, even when nothing seems to exist that could change my circumstances?
  • What would change in my work ethic if I truly understood that the unseen spiritual realities are more foundational than the seen material?

By faith…

What does faith say about how we live and work?

Faith shapes our identity, informs purpose and speaks to the complexity of real working life.

Faith is confident in hope. It is assured of the invisible. Functional not philosophical. It ‘is’

  • present, ongoing: a state of being.
  • woven in thought, word, speech. Ingrained.
  • Internal not performative.
  • Personal – lived out from a place of personal knowledge and values.

Journey with me through Hebrews 11 – as we reflect on Faith in Action. How did the Ancients live out their faith? What practical lessons can we learn from their walk?

We shall look at the ancients’ faith – features, principles, application and reflect.

Faith asks the hard questions: Who are you when there is nothing left to prove?

What would it mean to lead from identity rather than achievement?

By Faith….

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Hebrews. 11:6

Reflection

Is there an unseen promise that is fueling your faith?

Do you earnestly believe God is a rewarder of those who seek Him?

What does intentional seeking look like in your daily life?

Have you ever gone to bed genuinely worried that the sun won’t rise tomorrow?

Without even thinking about it, we trust the sunrise. Each night we rest, we are expectant of dawn. This unspoken confidence is faith in action.

Faith invites us to extend to our Creator the same effortless trust we already give His creation. Trust Him. Your sun will rise.

Faith is substantive confidence that shapes how you live. It defines the risks you take, your plans, and what you’re willing to wait for. Let the Sovereign God be the object of your faith.

Visit Kingdom ZIL

The Thinking Signature Series – Faith; is our monthly editorial. Drawing from Scripture to explore thinking as a God-given skill that shapes our faith walk, how we lead with purpose and live with intention.

LIFE – WORK

Purpose | Growth | Direction.

The Winding Mind

The best thinking rarely happens in a straight line.

‘The question you are avoiding is often the one worth asking. The quality of your life and work is mostly determined by the quality of questions you ask.’ ZIL

The question you silently mull over. That persistent question you keep brushing off; yet it nudges your mind during a sleepless night. You’ve talked yourself out of addressing it; convincing yourself either: it was not the right time. It would be disruptive. Or you know the answer but do not like it.

That is the unasked question worth your attention.

We are accustomed to asking safe questions. Questions with predictable answers that confirm what we already believe. Questions that keep the current arrangement intact. We ask how to do the thing better, rarely whether the thing is worth doing. We ask how to get along, rarely whether we belong. We ask what is expected of us, rarely what we really want. We default to questions that keep us functional: What’s next? What’s due? What’s urgent?

But the deeper questions that shape identity, direction, and alignment are kept in the rear. At times we know exactly what it is. It whispers and gnaws at our conscience and waits. But we are yet, to give ourselves permission to take it seriously. The questions you are not asking might be the gateway to your freedom. They might clarify your work, your boundaries, your calling, your next step.

Why Do Some Questions Go Unasked?

It is stated that great questions result in great value. If great questions are the first link in the chain of discovery and innovation; then why do most of us avoid the great questions that could open doors to meaningful change in our lives? Understanding why you evade some questions is the first step toward facing reality. Here are four suggestions for our avoidance:

Fear: The question threatens what we might have to do. Cost of the answer is too great.

Comfort: The current situation is familiar; even if it is not fulfilling. Disruption feels riskier than stagnation.

Blind spots: At times we genuinely cannot see what is yet to be examined.

Identity: The question, if answered truthfully, might require us to rethink our self-image. Who we think we are.

The more a question triggers one of these responses in you, the more likely it is that question demands your attention and has a great impact. Consider:

  • The professional who stays in a role they well know have outgrown because asking ‘Is this still the right fit?’ might upend a comfortable income.
  • The leader who never asks ‘How is my team experiencing my leadership?’ because the answer might challenge their self-image.
  • The career transitioner who refuses to ask ‘What do I really want, not what others expect of me?’ because they feel wanting something for themselves is selfish.

Unasked and unanswered, the question layers up tiers of discontent. It shapes decisions, relationships, and quietly limits what feels possible.

Quality Thinking Begins with Quality Questions

We often assume our outcomes are determined by our effort, access, or circumstances. But prior to either, outcomes are shaped by the questions we ask. Questions set our thinking direction. Thinking a precedes action.

A low-quality question produces a low-quality answer. ‘Why does this always happen to me?’ closes. ‘What is this situation asking me to learn?’ opens. ‘How do I survive this role?’ is a different kind of thinking from ‘What environment would allow me to do my best work?’ The question you ask determines the size of the thinking you are capable of having and the answer you will get. This is how the mind works. Ask a bigger question; you’ll begin to notice possibilities you were filtering out before. Ask a braver question; you’ll access a more honest version of your own understanding. The quality of your thinking and by extension, your decisions, growth, work rises or falls with the questions you are willing to ponder.

John Maxwell argues, ‘questions challenge mindsets and get us out of ruts.’ Many of us suffer from mental stagnancy. To fight against this, ask yourself: ‘when was the last time you had a good thought for the first time?’ Great questions fight mental laziness. The future belongs to the curious. The unafraid to try, explore, poke at, question and turn it inside out.’ To make discoveries, disrupt the status quo, make progress, and find new ways of thinking and doing, asking questions is a must. Growth begins the moment you acknowledge the question you have been circling around.

Courageous questions inspire empowering answers, reduce fear and ignite hope. But do you have the courage to ask the probing questions that have the potential to shape your destiny? Life is not only shaped by the answers you pursue, but also by the questions you avoid. Unasked questions have power. They influence our decisions, pace, confidence and direction. Be brave and courageous. Ask yourself the hard probing questions which make you think for and about yourself, and cause you to examine your motives.

Answer the unasked question this month. Here is how:

Observe – Raise the question you have been avoiding. Ponder: what question have you been circling but not asking? It likely comes to mind quickly. Notice it without judgment. Write it down exactly as it sounds in your own voice. Resist the urge to soften or reframe it yet. The raw version is the honest version.

Examine – Understand why it has been left unasked. Ask yourself: which of the four tensions is causing the avoidance – fear, comfort, blind spot, or identity? What is the cost of leaving it unasked? What could change in your thinking, relationships, work, if you took it seriously? Examine what the question is protecting you from, and whether that protection is still serving you.

Act – Ask it. Think it through. Asking the question is the first act of courage. The second is staying with it long enough to think well. Bring it to a trusted conversation. Journal through it. Take one small, concrete step in the direction the question is pointing. All you need is honesty to stop pretending it doesn’t exist.

Closing Thought

  • What is the benefit of avoiding asking the questions you know MUST be asked?
  • Be comfortable with yourself. Ask open-ended questions that allow you to wrestle with your inner man.
  • Pay attention to what you seem to be passing up. Ask why – until you get to the root cause of the avoidance cause. It is important to keep the big picture in mind.

The question you have been avoiding is evidence that something in you already knows there is more. That knowing deserves to be heard. Give yourself permission to explore the real you!

Here’s to zealous thinking…!

‘Urgency is often an illusion. An enemy to clarity. Do you know wisdom rewards the pause; where your best thinking lives?’ ZIL Thinking Quotes

We are obsessed with speed: quick replies, instant decisions, fast pivots, constant motion. Why then should slow thinking matter? Somewhere along the way, we started confusing fast with sharp. Is the quickest thinker the best thinker? Wisdom rarely arrives in a rush. Discernment does not bloom under pressure. Clarity is almost never found in the frantic pace we’ve normalized.

What Is Slow Thinking?

Slow thinking is neither sluggishness nor procrastination but the deliberate act of giving your mind the space needed to do its best work – sitting with a question long enough to reveal other real options. This intentional pause attends to what urgency overlooks. It is stewardship, conscious, logical, and purposeful. The discipline of resisting the pressure to react and choosing instead to respond. The difference between your first thought and your best thought.

When you slow down, you notice the patterns behind your reactions. You hear the questions behind your decisions. You recognize the difference between pressure and purpose. ‘In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be your strength.’ Isaiah 30:15

More than being cultural, the pull toward fast thinking is internal. We rush because stillness feels unproductive. Silence – sitting with uncertainty is mostly uncomfortable. We are convinced that lingering in a question feels like weakness – we do not know what we are doing.

But urgency is often an illusion. Most of the things that seem to need an answer right now do not. The email can wait an hour. The decision can breathe overnight. The reaction you almost gave in the meeting – the one you are glad you held back after all 😊 (many stories about this) was slow thinking saving you from yourself. The size of your thinking is the measure of your success, because our thinking quality determines the quality of our results.

The real cost of fast thinking is not always visible immediately. It shows up later. In the career move you did not fully think through. In the conversation that went south because you responded before you understood. In the missed opportunity because you were too busy reacting to notice it was there. Fast thinking will keep you moving. Slow thinking will keep your steps firm.

Why Slow Thinking is Needed

There is ‘information overstock’ that lacks interpretation and intentionality. Clear, focused thinking is the missing element. This matters whether you are navigating a career transition, leading a team, building something new, or simply trying to make better decisions in daily life. Slow thinking is the underneath skill that makes your communication sharper, steadies confidence, and aligns choices with who you actually are and where you want to go. Great thinkers have learned to pause before speaking, sit with complexity before concluding, and ask a better question before settling for an easy answer. Slow thinking is a strategic skill to be developed with practice.

Start this week, using the OEA way:

Observe – [Notice before you react]. Before responding to the situation you’re faced with – the difficult conversation, unexpected setback, pending decision; simply notice what is happening. What are you feeling? What assumptions are already running in your mind? What does the moment require of you? Observation creates the gap between stimulus and response, where slow thinking begins.

Recall a recent moment where you reacted quickly. What did you notice or miss in that moment? What would you have done differently?

Examine – [Ask better questions]. Once you have noticed, go deeper. Why does this feel urgent? What do I actually know versus what am I assuming? What would change if I had a different perspective on this? Examination determines your thinking quality; moving you from reacting to reasoning.

What is one area of your life or work where you have been rushing, yet it deserves further examining to answer the hard questions? What is driving the speed? Is it genuine urgency, or anxiety, people-pleasing, or the fear of appearing slow? What would actually happen if you took longer?

Act – [Move with clarity]. Slow thinking ends in purposeful action, not paralysis. When you observe clearly and examine honestly; your next step is grounded, mulled over – reflecting the best of what you know and who you are. Often better than the first thing that came to mind under pressure.

Introduce one deliberate pause into your day this week. Before responding to anything non-urgent, wait at least two hours. Observe what – if anything changes in the quality of your response.

The pause you are tempted to skip is where your best thinking lives.

A Closing Thought

The world will not stop. Notifications will accelerate. Demands won’t seek your permission.

But based on the situation – you can choose to think slowly on purpose. Not all the time for every small thing. But for the things that matter – those with great impact on your life: decisions, words, life goals. You owe yourself more than your first thought. Give yourself the pause. Do the thinking. Then move.

Here’s to zealous thinking…!

Most people have never audited their own thinking. They inherited, absorbed, and assumed it was theirs. Have you questioned how; not just what you think? Are you a deliberate thinker?’ ZIL Thinking Quotes.

Thinking styles are not fixed, but most people never examine theirs. They react, conclude, and decide using patterns absorbed from the environment, upbringing, and experience. The person who examines their thinking has an advantage. They start to see the patterns guiding their choices and uncover the beliefs shaping their direction.

Self-awareness about your thinking is the beginning of thinking well. Acting on this awareness, helps you reclaim agency. Being right feels good, but thinking well is better. They are not always the same thing. The thinker who cannot be wrong will never be right about anything that truly matters.

3-Step Thinking Framework

Observe

Recall the last time someone challenged your opinion at work. What did you do? Defend it immediately, go quiet, genuinely consider it, or change the subject? Jot down exactly what happened without justifying your response.

Examine

  • Does your response reflect a thinker who is open to being wrong, or one who is more invested in being right?
  • Can you trace the source of that pattern? What has that thinking style cost you professionally? Would you be surprised to discover that your dominant thinking style has been quietly working against you?
  • When did you last genuinely change your mind about something important at work — not because you were pressured to, but because better thinking led you there?

  • If the people who work closest to you were asked to describe how you think; what would they say, and would you be comfortable with that answer?

Act

In your next conversation this week practice saying: ‘That is interesting! Let me think about it’ before responding. Use the pause intentionally. At the end of the week note what changed — in the conversation, in the outcome, and in how others responded to you.

Did you experience any of them this week?

Those quick, automatic interpretations that feel true in the moment yet quietly distort our perspective. They often show up when we are tired, stretched, or stepping into something new. They distort clarity.

The cruel irony of thinking traps is that our minds are trying to protects us. Much time is spent thinking how to avoid pain and keep it safe. The problem is, safe and stuck tend to look alike. Here’s how to know your thinking might be trapping you:

  • Do you see life from the lens of perfect / failure? Either / neither. No in-between, no room for growth.
  • Do you base decisions on ‘predictions’ – taking them for fact? It won’t work before even trying. The future ends before even starting for you. They’ll say no before even asking.
  • Are you a mind-reader? Inventing certainty – assuming you know what others think, usually without evidence and rarely in your favor. No reply = they are angry.
  • Do you live in the ‘should’ world? You’ve set invisible rules that limit your authenticity.

Thinking through and naming these traps is a step to awareness. Awareness allows us to pause, and choose a different story, which aligns with who we’re becoming rather than who fear tells us we are.

A small shift in perspective can open the door to a different kind of clarity.

Is there a situation where you

  • Quickly keep arriving at the same conclusion?
  • Are assuming you already know the answer?
  • Are avoiding uncomfortable options?
  • Are group thinking?

What have these traps cost you? Leverage your thinking by asking: is this a thought, or a fact?

‘The most dangerous thought is the one you have had so many times you stopped noticing it.’ Wynnie

Here’s to Zealous Thinking!

Our world rewards busyness. We have mastered the skill of filling every quiet moment with noise, consuming all forms of info. The result – we’ve stopped thinking. I mean – productively.

Real positive change that impacts your life demands changed thinking. At some point, we all want to change something about our life or work. But can you go to the next level without investing in thinking time?

Thinking deeply about life, decisions, direction – costs time, stillness, and the courage to ask uncomfortable questions. Like most investments, the return is worth it. To be purposefully productive be willing to stop and think.

The investment begins here –

  1. When did you last give yourself uninterrupted time to think? What did it cost you?
  2. Are the thoughts you’re feeding your mind producing the kind of life you actually want?
  3. What is one decision you’ve been avoiding that clearer thinking could resolve?

‘You cannot outperform the quality of your thinking. Shouldn’t you invest in focused thinking first?’ – Wynnie

Here’s to zealous thinking!

Learn More About Us.

The Thinking Zone is a thinking space by ZIL Career Avenue. The Thinking Signature Series is the monthly editorial – exploring thinking as a skill that can be developed and shapes how we navigate life, lead with clarity, and grow.

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