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?

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~ by jlstanfield7 on June 5, 2009.