Faith and The Christian Business

This article encourages us not to settle for second best, but to receive God’s vision for our businesses and believe for His plans and purposes

I met with some friends recently. The conversation soon turned to goal setting, vision and aims. “So what are you believing God for in terms of your magazine?” came the unexpected question. “To sell 50,000 copies?” “No,” I replied, thinking I was speaking in faith, “100,000 copies will be sufficient.” The response was unexpected, even shocking, and called for repentance. “Even with 100,000 copies, you are still limiting God”. Now that got me thinking.

I have been brought up to think about long and short-term goals, and even goals for the medium term. I have trained as a consultant and I emphasise the importance of planning to both Christians and non-Christians; but there was something about the statement that really struck home.

The conversation continued. “What you need to do is get the vision from God and ask Him to fill you with the faith, but remember He does not always give you the full set of instructions, you just need to obey Him and as you do, He will lead you. He will tell you the direction in which you are heading but there will be an unfolding as you walk with Him. Whatever you do, don’t limit God.”
As I pondered these statements, I started to ask myself some questions. Does this negate business planning? Didn’t Jesus Himself say that we are first to count the cost and plan before we complete the task (Luke 14:28)? So what is the connection between planning and faith?

A different viewpoint
There is some wisdom in business theory, but God’s people need to start planning from a different point of view - God’s. Planning begins with first receiving the vision from Him. We need to write the vision that He has given us, make it clear and then start building our goals around it. Our short, medium and long-term goals should all be incorporated into the overall vision received from Him. Your vision should clearly state what you want to do, when to do it and where and how to go about it.
God can give even the minutest details as He did with the tabernacle. Planning is not optional but obligatory for any vision that will thrive. It takes planning to excel in business and excellence is a product of good planning. The quality of the planning process determines the quality of the final outcome. Proverbs 23:3-4 says that a visionary is a builder. Vision itself is a divine plan, and it therefore requires divine facts for it to be fulfilled.

Jabez
So how do you go about getting vision from God? One of the main teachings restored to the Church today centres on the prayer of Jabez. I believe that we are coming into the realisation of this truth for a purpose. God is limitless and that fact should determine our approach, for with Christ all things are possible. If you have been concentrating on your business plan and been satisfied with some increase here and there based on the statistics or research you have in front of you, then it’s time to stop and pray the Jabez prayer. It’s time to dream with God about His possibilities.

Jabez asked God to bless him and God granted his request. To understand and appreciate what Jabez was asking for, we need to define the word bless. To bless simply means to place God’s favour on you. This implies that the hand of God is on your business. It brings success, peace, prosperity, favour, grace and the list goes on. Jabez asked for His borders to be enlarged. As businesspeople, this should be our prayer also. Lord, enlarge my borders. Jesus said in John 5:30 that He could of Himself do nothing. Neither can we. Remember, God is able to do more than we can think, ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20).

This brings us back to basics in terms of our relationship with God. It is based not on statistics, expert advice, research and so on, as important as these are, but it is based on faith. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11:6). Abraham is widely acknowledged as the father of faith. First God called Abraham to Himself and gave Him a promise. Abraham believed Him and it was not only credited to Him as righteousness but he was also called a friend of God. As a friend, He had access to the ongoing nature and revelation of God’s will. He had to stay in tune with God. In fact, throughout the book of Genesis, God continually speaks to Abraham, reminding him of the promise and helping him to fulfil it. Abraham kept the big picture in front of Him.

Believe in your heart
When you can see and dream, you begin to believe in your heart and as you do so, you begin to speak with your mouth. You begin to act based on what you believe. In other words, you speak out what you believe and you act upon it. You then begin to translate that into specific tasks and goals. It is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks (Matt. 12:34). Commit all your ways to the Lord and your thoughts shall be established. Be willing to update the plan against the instructions that He gives you at each stage because as you stay tuned to Him, the plan will gradually unfold. The outworking of the vision involves faith and obedience each step of the way. Trust in the Lord and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path (Prov. 3:5-6). He promises to instruct us and show us the way we should go (Psalm 32:8). Locate your future and begin to work towards it.

No doubt you have guessed what I did. I repented and asked God to fill me with a dream and a vision that is limitless. My goal is for this magazine to get into the hands of every Christian businessperson, so that together we can build the kingdom of God and demonstrate that we are a distinctive people. Is this impossible? With God, it is not.

So why not, look at yourself and begin to pray, Father thank you for the plans that you have for my business. Thank you that as I watch daily at your door, you will instruct me. Thank you that I will be a demonstration of the kingdom of God. Thank you that you will do more than I can think or imagine and Lord fill me with faith to believe you for more (Amen).