Hearts Before Hands: How Business Owners Can Follow Jesus’ Example

"Tend to their hearts and they'll lend their hands willingly."

During his time here on earth, Jesus needed help spreading the gospel and appointed his early disciples to help him. But, he also knew he needed to speak to their hearts before he expected them to lend him a hand.

So, he told them in Matthew 11:28-30 to come to him and he would give them rest. The kind of rest Jesus was offering his disciples was not a “stopping of activity,” but rather a “change in activity” and in their attitudes toward that change of activity.

A smart business owner knows (s)he can’t run every aspect of their business on their own. They know the value of being surround and supported by a good team of people who want to work with them and they understand the importance of making their team feel supported and appreciated.

If we continually ask for our team to give us a hand, without being willing to first listen to their hearts and offer them what they need in order to be as productive as possible, we may as well succumb to working with people who’ll be giving a half-hearted effort when it comes to helping us succeed in our businesses. And in doing so, we succumb to owning and operating a business that’s not living up to the potential God gave it when He gave us the idea to start the business in the first place.

I spend a lot of time fixated on whether or not customers are being treated fairly and whether or not they’re completely satisfied with their encounters with me, but I sometimes forget that it’s just as important to make sure those I depend on to help me run my businesses are just as happy, fulfilled, and satisfied. If they’re not, they’re probably not living up to their full potential as my team members.

So, I have to make sure I’m in tune with the needs of the hearts of those who work with me before I ask for their hand in the tasks needing to be accomplished to make my businesses run smoothly.

Like Jesus to his disciples, I need those on my team to know that if they’re working with me, they’re going to be cared about and given the opportunity to “rest” when needed. This may mean letting them change duties or do some work in another place besides where they usually work. The important thing is that I’m asking them what they need and listening to their answers. Then, and only then, can they help me in the ways God intended them to when he put them in my path.

Listening and Waiting

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." - Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV)

A comment on one of my recent posts got me thinking and praying and I want to do my best to answer the questions that were posed to me.

The comment was, “If we are searching for God’s will in our business life, how can we know and how can we be sure? We might be chasing the wrong opportunity? If we keep on and on and we never see success, does that mean that it is not the right path?”

Those are great questions and ones I’ve also asked in the past. Below are the answers I feel God has given me.

As far as knowing God’s will for our business life and being sure we’re on the right path, I think there’s only one way to know for certain. Like any other part of our life for which we are seeking to know God’s will, we need to be in constant prayer about God’s will for our businesses. We also need to remember that prayer is a form of two way communication, so if we’re going to talk to God and discover His will for our businesses, we must also spend time listening for His answer.

The biblical passage I’ve memorized to remind me to speak as well as listen to God for the answers I need is found in Jeremiah 29:11-13 which says, “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord; plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you, You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.“

I truly believe that if we are walking a close walk with the Lord and seeking with all our hearts to know His will for our businesses (or any other part of our lives), we’ll hear Him unmistakably speak the answers to us. I also believe we can hear His answers in the circumstances surrounding our daily business life and in the still, small whisper we hear in our hearts when we’re making important business decisions.

In answer to the second part of the question, I don’t believe that not getting to see the successes of our business efforts means we’re on the wrong path. God knows us better than we know ourselves and He has his reasons for not revealing certain successes to us. In my case, He knows that if I saw too many successes in too short a time, the human part of me might be tempted to say, “Look what I did!” instead of giving Him all the glory for each and every success in my business.

If you’re not seeing success on the path you’re currently on with your business, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re on the wrong path. Again, the only way to know for sure whether you’re heading in the direction God’s calling you is to pray without ceasing, listen for his answer, and wait until He tells you to move.

I hope I’ve  helped answer your questions.

Heavenly Fire

As business owners, we all long to feel the spark of godly fire in our lives; that fire that prods us on to doing extraordinary and impossible things we can only do with the fire from heaven surrounding us.

Unfortunately, this heavenly fire isn’t present in us each and every day. When it isn’t, we sometimes resort to making our own fire and if we’re not careful can easily mistake this “man-made” fire for the igniting power that comes only from our Father in heaven.

So, how can we tell if our daily business operations are being fueled by God’s fire or by a fire we’re making ourselves? There are three, easy to spot, signs that we’re lighting our way instead of praying for, and depending on, God to light the path in our businesses for us.

First, man-made fires have a tendency to go out quickly. When we’re going about our day creating our own motivation instead of looking to the Lord to motivate us, we aren’t usually able to sustain an upward momentum for long. We tire easily, become impatient, and eventually give in to our human nature to take the easy way out. God’s fire, on the other hand, remains with us for as long as our focus remains on Him. Jesus tells us in John 15:4, “Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” (NKJV)

Unless we are running on “holy fuel” we will only be able to keep pace for so long before we get overwhelmed and eventually give up and give in to the temptation to question whether we’re even doing what we’re called to be doing in the first place.

The second sign that we’re making our own fire is that our own fire is not sufficient for today. In contrast, God’s fire will continue to push us onward and upward and will continue to meet our needs day in and day out; so long as we are diligent to seek it and operate within it. God’s knows our needs better than we do and though we may think we know exactly what we need to do to build our businesses, if we allow God to motivate us and light our way, He’ll take all the guesswork out of building our businesses.

If we’re allowing his fire to motivate us, we’ll undoubtedly feel the warmth of His holy spirit as we make daily business decisions, develop and achieve our business goals, and show others God’s love through the running of our businesses.

That brings me to the third and final way we can tell whether we’re making our own fire or whether we’re allowing God’s heavenly fire to flow through us and out to those we’ve been called to serve. When we make our own fire, it’s not contagious and others aren’t drawn to us. When, however, we allow God’s fire to guide our business decisions and actions, others can clearly see that light and it’s contagious. People will want to know how we do what we do and we make it work so well. As long as we keep our focus on God’s fire and not our own, and give Him the glory for all of our business successes (and even our failures, but that’s another post for another time) others will see us as the shining lights of God’s love. They won’t be able to help but be touched by the never ending flames of God’s love and devotion to His children.

In Matthew 5:16 Jesus tells us to, “…let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven.” (NIV) As business owners and managers we’re constantly being watched by others and whether we’re operating under our own fire or by the fire given to us through the Holy Spirit, the light we’re guided by will be seen. The question is which kind of fire do we want others seeing in us and in our businesses?

Thinking Big for a Big Change

"It can help any person in any profession."

My latest read is John Maxwell’s “Thinking for a Change” and I feel blessed to be under the tutelage of Mr. Maxwell, even if it’s only through one of his many thought provoking books. I’m only half way through the book and already it’s made me challenge myself to think bigger, listen better, learn more, and most importantly to think more about who I am and who the Lord called me to be even before He called me into being.

It’s so easy, with all the struggles, stresses, and disappointments that being a Christian doesn’t keep us from, to lose sight of the big picture of why we’re doing what we’re doing and what the end result will be.

Part of “Thinking for a Change” teaches the value of what Maxwell calls, “big picture thinking” and it makes me want to focus more on the end result of my business decisions instead of just the “here and now” daily outcomes I see.

I often find myself so caught up in something that’s not going the way I want it to that I forget what Paul’s message in Philippians 3:14 when he tells us, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (NIV)

Paul was definitely a “big picture thinker.” Even as he sat in a Roman prison, he kept his eye, not on his current circumstances, but on what lay ahead for him and for his calling to start new churches and preach the gospel to the lost. Paul could have looked around at his surroundings in that dark and depressing prison and seen hopelessness and despair, but he didn’t.

He chose instead to look past his current circumstances and to keep his eye on what he was certain God had called him to do. He committed himself fully to the belief that no matter what the outcome of his upcoming trial, his life and his decisions would represent his calling from God.

Like Paul, we also must keep our eyes on the big picture – the prize – and not allow ourselves to be caught up in the details of our current situations. If we focus inward on ourselves and the way things look for us, the picture may look very bleak. If, however, we choose to focus our thoughts, feelings, and actions on the big picture – why we’re doing what we’re doing – we’ll get a brand new perspective and a “peace that passes all understanding” about the current state of our businesses and our lives.

Knowledge Without Application is Stupidity in Disguise

Knowing how to fly is not the same as flying.

As I was sitting in Sunday morning bible study this past Sunday, our teacher asked the following intriguing question:

“What’s the difference between being taught the ways of God and walking in the ways of God?”

At first, it seems like a pretty easy question to answer. I wanted to blurt out an answer, but instead sat thinking for the rest of the class what the main difference is. When God gave me the answer He knew I would resonate with, I immediately began relating it to not only my daily walk with the Lord, but also my business life.

For me, here’s the answer to the question. Being taught the ways of God means we know what God expects of us and we know we’ll be blessed if we obey Him. Walking in the ways of God, on the other hand, is the act of applying that knowledge and doing our best to hold up to our end of the deal.

As I began to think about this (later Sunday afternoon, not during class), I realized that this concept applies to any part of lives and not just our spiritual journey.

When it comes to marketing our businesses, for example, we can spend all kinds of time reading marketing books and the e-zines we subscribe to, listening to teleseminars, and going to marketing conferences and workshops all over the world, but if we never begin to apply the things we’ve learned, I would question whether we’ve really learned anything at all.

In order to really know something, we have to have applied it and be able to discuss, even if just with ourselves, whether or not it works, why it works, and what might make it work better. If we can’t do that, do we really know the things we claim to know? My answer is a resounding, “No.”

What do you think?

Joint Venturing with God

Two is better than one; especially when one of the two is God.

One of the latest and greatest marketing tools in internet marketing is the joint venture or JV. Those of you who are familiar with using the internet to market your products and services are probably familiar with this term and its many benefits.

But, for those of you who are new to using the internet to make money, a joint venture is simply a strategic alliance where two or more people or organizations agree to contribute goods, services and/or capital to a common commercial enterprise.

As I was thinking about the general definition of a joint venture, an idea came to me. What if, as Christian business owners, we made a commitment to be joint venture partners with God? What benefits would there be to us and to the Lord’s kingdom?

I can think of several, but here are just five of them.

1. Not Having to Do All the Work
Just like doing a joint venture with another human being, when you choose God as your JV partner, you don’t have to do nearly as much work as you would if you go it alone.

In fact, there are some things in your business that only God can handle. If you’ve had those moments when something has just gone incredibly right with your business and you’re absolutely amazed at how easy it was to accomplish, that’s God making it happen for you. When you commit to a partnership with Him, He’ll, make miracles happen in your business.

2. Leverage from the Lord’s Resources
God has numerous ways of taking care of the things that need to be taken care of in order to make our businesses successful. When you invite Him to be a joint venture partner with you in your business endeavors, He’ll unearth resources in the form of people, time, and money you never realized you had before.

3. Great Way To Separate Yourself from the Competition
When I first started my business, I wrestled with whether or not I should publicize the fact that I’m a Christian. After much prayer and talking with those close to me whom I know have a close relationship with the Lord, I decided that not only should I make this information known, I should include it in my marketing campaigns.

I decided that letting my customers and prospects know that I’m on a team with God was a good idea because first, it helped weed out those who I would not best serve. And second, and more importantly, my faith helps separate me from everyone else out there who does what I do and offers the services I offer.

Those who are drawn to me because I’m a Christian are people I know God has decided I should do business with and those who are offended by it are those with whom a business relationship would not be beneficial to them or to me.

4. Gain Credibility with a Particular Target Market
Christian business owners make up a target market that’s not tapped into as much as business owners in general. So, when you joint venture with God and other Christian business owners know it, you have access to that market because they know that as a fellow Christian who owns a business, you can truly relate to them.

And, if your target market isn’t business owners at all, but rather some other target market, allowing the Christians in that group to know that God is your JV partner opens up new opportunities for sales and growth in your business.

5. More Abundant Financial Rewards
Just like in a traditional joint venture where both sides pull their capital together to increase the amount of money making opportunities, a joint venture with God allows you to share in the financial abundance God has waiting for you.

When you partner with God in your business, part of your commitment should be to give God his share of the profits. He’s definitely going to be doing the “heavy lifting” and we should cheerfully give back to him 10% of what He’s given us.
The Bible assures us that when we do, God will continue to give us back more than we could ever return to him.

In this respect, joint venturing with God is more powerful than joint venturing with anyone else because with anyone else you’d combine your money with your JV partner and the two of you would split the profits 50/50. With God, you give Him the 10% He requests and He puts back a hundred times that. That’s a deal I’ll take any day.

There are a lot of reasons why we should choose to joint venture with God and the benefits definitely outweigh the demands of doing so. But, the number one reason I chose to make God my JV partner is because I didn’t want to find what would happen if I didn’t.

Don’t Give Up

"It's through many failures that success is found."

During these tough economic times, it’s easy for small business owners to be tempted to give up. Satan only needs a small foothold – and the terrible economy is more than a small foothold – to convince us that we’re not really called to do what we know in our hearts God has called us to do.

Maybe your business, like many others in this country, is struggling right now. Maybe you aren’t bringing in enough sales to make ends meet, maybe you’re having trouble making payroll, or maybe you’ve just had enough and you feel like you’re sitting on the sidelines watching your business crumble, feeling like you’ve tried everything and it’s time to just let it go.

Let me assure you that if God has called you to further His kingdom by being a business owner, He never intended for you to give up just because things are difficult. He never promised us things wouldn’t be difficult, but He did promise us that through all the struggles and difficulties He would never leave us or forsake us.

Joshua 1:9 tells us, “…Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (NIV)

Then, in 2 Chronicles 15:7 God says, “But as for you, be strong and do not give up for your work will be rewarded.” (NIV)

And, just in case you didn’t hear Him the first two times, like a good father does, He repeats himself a third time. In Jeremiah 31:16  He instructs and assures us, “…Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded…” (NIV)

God wants you to remember today, and every day,  that He called you into this work and if you keep at it, even through the hard times, your persistence, perseverance, and hard work WILL be rewarded. Don’t give up on the calling you’ve received from the Lord. He has big rewards planned for you, but you’ll never see them if you quit now.

If  God has called you into business, He will make a way for you to succeed.

Aim higher,

Jessica

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Aim higher,

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