Several years ago, my wife and I were having lunch and (much to her surprise) in the middle of our conversation, I proclaimed to her, “Our business is now going to be our ministry.” She quickly reacted and said to me, “We’re not Pastors. We haven’t graduated from seminary. How can we do that?” I simply responded by explaining that God laid it on my heart for us to do business His way. Little did I know the journey I signed up for that day. That was over ten years ago. When I look at our business now and the ministries that we’re involved with today, everything’s completely different and better than I could’ve ever thought possible.
Doing business God’s way is no small feat. It requires lots of patience; something that I admittedly don’t have enough of. I have the bad habit of doing something and then later on asking God if that’s what He truly wanted me to do. When His answer comes back as a “No” or “That was your idea, not Mine,” my instincts led me to pray and ask for His help to clean up the mess that I created. I often wonder if He has a good laugh watching me make one mess after another, and then come to Him after and say, “Papa, can You help me clean this up and point me in the right direction?” All this to say I’ve learned some valuable lessons and I’ve come a long way since the day God laid that vision on my heart.
Being on the other side and living out that vision He gave me, I’d like to share some of the valuables I’ve accumulated over time.
I’ve found a new definition of patience. I’ve learned to wait, pray to God, and ask for His direction and wisdom on His timing. This allows me to get out of the way and let Him do the heavy lifting. You’ve probably heard it said a million times, “Let go, let God.” I agree, but that’s not natural for me to do. That’s a muscle I’ve been working on strengthening for a long time. To the glory of God, He’s teaching me how to fit into His timing — not the other way around.
In certain seasons, God changes the pace. I’ve learned our real need is to spend lots of time on our knees. It’s so important to make sure that we’re listening carefully to what He’s asking us to do; this is where we get clarity on our specific role in the grand scheme of His great plans. Understanding the season we’re in is the key that helps us to move forward.
God has a heart for business in the Marketplace. This is where I’m learning the most lately. Think about it, did Jesus hold all of His meetings in the Synagogue or did He find and travel to people in the Marketplace? Paul and some others did the same thing in Corinth and Ephesus — they moved away from the Synagogue and went out into the Marketplace. They met people right where they were just like Matthew 28:19-20 tells us to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.” This clearly implies that the nations aren’t to come to us, we’re to go to them.
Don’t allow Satan to shrink what you’re doing, stay focused and He who began a good work in you will finish it.
Sometimes, we forget how big our God is and we get in the way of Him doing what He does best — carry us through each season with grace. As we listen to God, get into action and follow His lead, we come to find that He actually loves taking care of the rest.
I hope that by sharing a part of my story, you can learn from my personal mistakes and successes and experience the same growth in your own life. It’s easy to get caught up in the details of work, but when we really shift our perspective to doing business God’s way, we give Him the proper room to blow things up far greater than our minds could fathom.
