Christian Business Builder

You know I think that being actively Christian in this society is as difficult as I have ever known it to be in my 30+ years as a Christian. The reasons for this are numerous; Christianity has been rejected by the vast majority of the population, schools have taken an almost anti-Christian stance in educating students, and business leaders have embraced a quasi-Christian philosophy that values human effort over the wisdom of God.

With this backdrop it is difficult for we who are dedicated to the truth of God and his word to find place in our chosen professions. There is often lots of “God talk” without much “God seeking.” In this series of articles I am trying to reverse this trend. It is time for we “Christ followers” to look to him and his word for the answers to our business life as well as our personal relationship with God.

We have been examining the passage in Proverbs 3:5-10 to see where we might seek the Lord more directly in the building and operation of our businesses. This article will cover the third thought seen here:

“In all thy ways acknowledge him,”

For more than a century, we have been taught in school and in life that if we are going to be successful in life that we need to “pick ourselves up by our bootstraps” and “never quit.” We have been told that we can achieve anything as long as we stay focused and keep at it. We have been told to find something we love and do that thing. It is all up us and we are the only one who can make or break our success story.

Now, while the scriptures do surly speak to the subject of industry and hard work, they also speak to the subject of God’s direction and leadership in making directional choices in life.

I for one can tell you that listening to the voice of the Lord in making the right choices with regard to direction isn’t as simple as it sounds. There are so many voices in the world today with so much advice and so many options. How is someone supposed to make right choices in the midst of all that is out there in the world?

The answer to this question rests in this simple phrase from Proverbs 3, “In all thy ways acknowledge him …” Only when we acknowledge the Lord throughout the whole of our lives activities will he provide us with the wisdom to make the right choices at the right times in our lives. What is also so amazing about God is that even if we have made wrong choices, he is always willing to help us return to the right path by simply seeking his forgiveness and acknowledging him from this point on!

The little word “way” is the key to understanding this portion of scripture. According to Strong’s Concordance, “Way” means a course of life, mode of action. In other words our acknowledgment of God needs to be throughout our entire course of life and mode of actions, not just those we find easy, but also those we don’t want to release to anyone.

Only as you release more and more of your life and business to God will you have the power to know and understand the level of success God has in store for you. The only caveat that I need to make here is that God’s view of success may be quite different from yours. However, you will never find yourself in a better place as a Christian business owner than the place that God has called you to Think about it!

Talk more later …

In this article series, we are looking at Proverbs 3:5-10. This passage is often used to describe generally the whole of the believer’s life (and rightly so). We are narrowing the focus a bit and looking at how this passage should effect the believer as they follow God’s leadership in their business life.

Today we are going to look at step 2 of the process, “and lean not unto thine own understanding.” Have you ever wondered out loud what was wrong with your own understanding. After all, you might well think. you are a pretty smart person, an entrepreneur, and someone who can surly make it in this world. After all we are taught from the time we are first able to catch a ball, run a race, or swing a bat that “we can do anything we put our minds to.”

So, why would the Holy Spirit inspire Solomon to put such a thought as this into the very pages of God’s word? I think that there are at least three reasons:

1. Man’s understanding, since the fall, has always been corrupted by sin. In Genesis 6:5, God’s word tells us, “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

Now I realize that this verse represents mankind at its most rebellious, but their minds/understanding became more and more evil (corrupt) the more they operated on their own, without a heart that trusted the Lord.

In business, the more we lean on our own understanding rather than having a heart-felt trust of the Lord, the more apt we are to drift from God’s will and be drawn into areas of struggle we are not meant to travel through.

2. God’s thoughts are above our thoughts. In Isaiah 55:8-9 God himself declares, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Given the opportunity to build your business on the limited understanding of man or the limitless understanding of God which would seem to be the best choice?

3. Even after our conversion to Christ, our understanding is still under the attack of Satan and without God’s blessings we will surly fall! (Romans 7:17-23)

Without God we are limited to a humanistic worldview that basically says, “Get all you can, can all you get, and sit on the lid.” The problem with this worldview is that it violates God’s desire for us to spend ourselves in life (and business) to glorify him. His word clearly teaches that if we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness that he will add to us all the things in life that we need!

So … this week think about your view of business and ask yourself the question, “By whose understanding am I building this business?

Talk more later ….

By the way, as always, your comments are both requested and appreciated!

Ok, yesterday I told you that I had a seven step plan for business success. I told you that I would deliver that plan to you over the next seven days. I also told you that the creator of this plan can guarantee you success if and only if you are willing to follow the plan completely. If you fail to completely follow this plan your level of success will be effected.

So … without any further adoo, here is step number one in the seven steps to business success:

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; …” (Proverbs 3:5a)

I know, I kown, you’ve heard this before. But wait, give me a chance and I will show you how all of these thought fit together before I am done and, if you believe God’s word, you will see how your success can be guaranteed if you are willing to work this plan.

Now, let’s look at step one.

Trust means to be confident or sure. It means to be bold and to make to trust. So, if we apply this to business success, we could say that if we are going to be successful in business, we need to be confident in the Lord; to be bold in him.

We need to trust in the Lord “with all our hearts.” Our heart is the seat of our intellect, emotion, and will.

So, when we put these definitions together, we need to be confident in the Lord with all of our intellect, our emotion, and our will. This means that the Lord needs to be our confidence when we consider the technical aspects of business and marketing, when we struggle with the emotional ups and downs owning a business can bring, and as we surrender our will for success to that of the Lord. (Remember he doesn’t always define success the same way that we do.)

It is a simple first step, but it is not an easy one. To truly trust in the Lord means that you have to always agree with him and yield yourself to his direction throughout the course of your business career. Add to this the fact that Satan battles, seeks to blind and discourage all those who trust in the Lord and you have to make a real commitment to this first step.

However, if you are willing enough and surrendered enough God will bring you to a place of real success if you trust in him with all your heart.

Tomorrow - “and lean not unto thine own understanding.”

Over the next eight days I want to outline for you a sure fire success formula that will allow you the greatest opportunity to be successful in this life! Now, I cannot guarantee anyone success, mostly because I don’t know what success looks like to you, I don’t know how closely you are walking with God, I don’t know if you are being led by the Holy Spirit, I just don’t have enough information to guarantee you success.

What I can do is lay out a plan that was written by the Creator of all that is. His plan will at least lead you to the greatest opportunity for success (guaranteed if you follow the plan without fail). But, remember as you go along, Adam and Eve were guaranteed success in their lives as well but failed to follow God’s plan. His guarantee was good while their execution left something to be desired.

This plan lays out perfectly with seven clear and distinctive parts. (Remember 7 is the number that represents perfection.) This is a perfect plan, designed by a perfect being, to provide perfect success to those who have the faith and the courage to follow it perfectly. Any deviation from the plan lessens the synergistic effect and lessens the level of success you can expect.

Success is a strange thing, God desires it for everyone, yet so few achieve it! Are you ready to take up the challenge? Come back tomorrow and we will get started!

Wax on, wax off Danielson!

Over the past couple months, I have been much in prayer about God’s leadership in the development of my business. It has been a very interesting time with the Lord as he has clarified many things to me. While the details of God’s direction are not really important as they pertain to the specific needs of my business growth, the principles can apply to everyone considering God’s will in their business.

God led me to a passage in Proverbs 30 to teach me two key principles about the development of my business:

“Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.”  (Proverbs 30:7-9)

The first thing I came to was that my business was to be operated with transparency and integrity. No business can operate successfully for long based in “vanity and lies.” While I understand that you must be seen as an “expert” in your field for people to consider you, your business, or your advice, to take self-promotion to the extreme heights seen in business today smacks of vanity.

God’s word tells us conversely, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” (1 Peter 5:6-7)

When we work hard at what we do with transparency and integrity, God will put us in the right position at the right time for our business to be as He wills it to be.

The second key principle in these verses deals with the question, “How much is enough?” The writer here asks God for something that seems a bit out of step for our modern western culture. He asks to be neither poor nor rich, to be fed with food convenient (an appointment of quantity) for him.

The idea here was that people who are “poor” and hungry will steal to get their food, thus declaring God of no value to them while the “rich” will gorge themselves with every delight, thus declaring God unnecessary in their lives. What the writer is then saying is that he wanted to have all that should be appointed to him while not forgetting his reliance on God.

Too much emphasis is place on “how much” money is made these days while too little emphasis is placed on who we depend on to make it. Along with this, people are often overcome by the opportunities that wealth brings while forgetting its responsibilities.

Andrew Carnegie once said “You should spend the first half of your life making money and the second half of your life giving it away.” While most of us don’t have this luxury, it does remind us that those who have been given much, of them shall much be required.

Talk more later ….

I wanted to take just a minute to say “Hello” to the whole online world. I am writing because I have a passion for business and for my faith in Christ. I want this blog to reflect both passions.

If you become a regular reader you will see that the theme of my writing will be a combination of the biblical understanding of business, finances, and making a difference in the world along with what it takes to be successful in the online business world.

My expertise comes from both failures and successes. I want people whose faith really means something to them to be able to have a place to gather around a proverbial cup of coffee and have a conversation about what it means to be a Christian Business Builder.

Come join me and let’s change the world through our faithful service to God and man in the world of business.

Dave Wellman, Founder
Christian Business Builder