Seeking the Lord in all business matters
ByThe title of this post sounds simple enough, like a no-brainer, but let me explain…
A few years ago, a well-respected Christian leader spoke at my church, and he shared this story…
He was seeking the Lord on a certain decision he needed to make, but he was not receiving an answer from the Lord. He said, “Lord, I’ve been praying and fasting and seeking You, and you’re not giving me an answer as to which way I need to go.”
Then God clearly told him that He loved him and trusted him, and that he could make the decision himself, and He (the Lord) would back him on it and bless that decision, whichever direction he took.
This message had a huge impact on me, but I took it to the extreme. For a period of time, every opportunity that came along, I would jump on it, thinking that God would bless my efforts. Rather than seeking Him on whether I was to get involved or not, I assumed that He was okay with it and would follow me rather than the other way around.
Well, this got me in trouble on more than one occasion…
I’m still recovering from some of my presumptions – to the point where I even questioned this speaker’s credibility over the years, even though it was hard to imagine that this person missed the mark.
But recently, the Lord showed me – it was ME that had missed the mark!
This speaker had indeed sought the Lord through prayer and fasting, and in this particular instance, God gave him the green light to make the decision himself. I believe he was right on when he said he heard directly from the Lord that way. It’s one thing for God to specifically tell you it’s okay to make a decision yourself on a particular matter you are seeking Him on.
But I built an entire doctrine around that one incident, and tried to apply that to everything in my businesses and my real estate, and it backfired!
Please seek the Lord on EACH and EVERY individual business decision you need to make and on every business opportunity that comes your way, whether this particular idea is something you should get involved in or not.
Remember, however, as you’ve heard me say in the past, don’t hide behind prayer as an excuse not to do anything. Don’t use “seeking the Lord” as a cover-up for fear!
I hope and pray that I’m FINALLY starting to get the balance. God really does know best!
Stay tuned…
As always, please let me know your thoughts by commenting below…
Blessings!
Mark
5 Comments
January 19th, 2009 at 10:19 am
Good point, I wish you’d written this right before we starting buying houses. We prayed, educated ourselves, etc. and then bought 3 houses in a few weeks time based on faith. Too bad we didn’t consider some basic wisdom in whether those 3 houses were the “right” ones. It’s been a long road back but we’re getting there.
Another thing that reminded me of in cases where we honestly don’t know which way God wants us to go is to consider whether or not the timing is right. You’re right on with the comment about never taking action because of fear, but sometimes the timing really isn’t right. Look at how Jesus didn’t even start His ministry until age 30. Surely He met sick people as a teenager? But He didn’t heal any of them. Surely He could have preached a sermon at age 20, but He didn’t. 25? 26? 27? That still seems like an awful long time to wait, but He had to wait until it was the Father’s time to act.
But when He did act? History was made.
January 19th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
That is a very good bit of advice Mark. One of my favorite scriptures if not my favorite in the whole word of God if Proverbs 3:5,6. I love that verse simply because it tells us that we don’t have to go it alone, He’s right there with us all the time and He does have our best interest at heart just like He said in Jeremiah 29:11 all we have to do is just to ask and He’s right there waiting to help us and bless us. The problem is and I really hope this doesn’t offend anyone but I believe it’s true is that we don’t really trust Him the way or as much as we say that we do and we think we can do it better on our own. WRONG!!! We can’t if we could we would have already done it but we can’t and that’s the gospel truth.
January 19th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
that’s a good word.. Wisdom is the principle thing, so in all of our getting, we need to get Wisdom!
January 19th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
It’s amazing the strains we, God’s people put ourselves through just to “accomplish his will”. Your word is timely as I have discovered once again that I really want ME to be in control and God to be my Genie in a bottle. He truly wants our total dependance on him so that he can do Great and mighty things through us and it not destroy us as He receives all the glory!
January 21st, 2009 at 6:53 am
Hey what wisdom. There are more christain believers then we no, that are in a difficult season. I believe that one of the most hard to understand word of the Lord is to “stand still and know that Iam God”. When all hell is breaking around you. Your business is failing, your house is the beginnings of forecloser, your bills are stacking up, and you are losing your vehicles. This is that time where knowing the word of the Lord is your life line of hope. There are plenty of people to give you a word, but there is only one true God. He is the rock that can shake us to our very core. To build our faith and trust in him, in these stormy seasons. Seek Him while he can be found.