Christian Business Builder

As we have been looking to scriptures for the step by step plan to business success for the Christian business builder, we have considered four steps to this point.

First, Proverbs 3:5 teaches us to trust in the Lord with all our hearts. No one can better bring success to you and strengthen the value that you bring this world through your business than the Lord. When we who are Christians trust in the Lord, we cannot be stopped.

The second step is to abandon our own understanding. When we focus our business on the things that we can understand, calculate, and decide our tendency is to take our eyes off the Lord and his direction for our life and business.

The third step is to not only trust the Lord but also to acknowledge him in all your ways. In this step we move further down the path of departing from what is traditionally considered as “business sense.” However, if you want real success as a Christian, you have to acknowledge God in all things.

The last article spoke to the fourth step which is to let God direct your paths. He alone knows what’s best for you, so if you want what’s best in your life and business, you need to let God direct your paths.

Tonight the fifth step is found in verse 7, were Solomon warns us to, “Be not wise in thine own eyes, …” What exactly does that mean? Well, the wisdom spoken of here means, “intelligent, skillful, artful.” So, God’s word tells us not to view ourselves as intelligent, skillful, or artful “in thine own eyes.”

In simple words, we need to avoid the prideful view or our skills. We need to see them as a gift of the Lord and honor him in using our skills in the building of our business. We have been trained in the world of business to “brand ourselves” as an expert in our chosen field. We can certainly do that as long as we are quick to acknowledge God’s role in making us and expert. It is when we begin to think that we are “all that and a bag of chips” that God cannot work in our life or business.

Our success in business is always going to be greater when we recognize the source of our intellect, skill, and artfulness. He wants to bless our efforts and will do so when we serve him and our customers in humility rather than prize.

Talk more later ….

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.”

When doing any business planning as a Christian we must always remember to look first to God. I have been overwhelmed with what the Psalmist said in Psalm 37.

We are told, “Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.”

This passage puts the responsibility on us to let God handle the planning of our businesses. We need to not let the world control our thinking when it comes to business. What we are to do is:

1. Trust in the LORD. God knows what our business should look like and what we can handle to bring the greatest glory to him. We need to trust the Lord in his wisdom.

2. Delight ourselves in the LORD. This simply means we need to be soft or pliable in God’s hands. As we do this, God will give (appoint, ascribe) us the desires of our hearts. In other words, when we are pliable in God’s hands he will place desires in our hearts that allow us to fulfill his will.

3. Commit our way unto the LORD. This is where the rubber meets the road. If we trust the LORD for the design of our business and we become so pliable in his hands that he can place his desires into our hearts, we then need to commit our way (the course of our lives) to him. When we commit ourselves this way, God promises to bring those desires to pass.

Business planning is important and every Christian business owner needs to have a strong business plan, but that plan needs to reflect God’s will above everything else.