I was running a restaurant in New Orleans and each night nearing the closing hour one of the owners, or a manager or two, would sit down with a glass of wine, or two, while the staff was closing down. They always asked me to join them.
Now I was a new Christian, but it was the idea of loafing while everyone else worked, that bothered me more than the wine.
I guess I was a fish out of water. I somehow was hired as the General Manager without any restaurant experience. Tell me God wasn’t some how connected.
Maybe He thought this was just the learning experience I needed. A new Christian in a very secular industry. It was a great initiation.
I was on my knees praying for help daily. I didn’t know if God cared about my business life or if it was okay to pray about business.
It was prayer or face the 6’4″ gnarly Head Chef all by myself when I told him the special wasn’t working and to take it off the menu.
I chose prayer.
But, I wondered. I wondered if I was doing it wrong.
Not the restaurant thing.
The Christian thing.
Seriously…I wanted to know if God cared about my business. Was I breaking some prayer rule to pray about work?
Then I Switched to A Christian Business
Within a couple of years I was able to make some major transitions and become a Christian business coach and a Christian mental health counselor. I was making sure that the King of the Universe was the center of my business.
But my questions were still the same. Did God care about my business? Was it okay to pray about it?
I Studied the Bible to Find the Answers
As a new Christian I was studying the bible voraciously. Okay, I admit at first I was trying to figure out if I had to give up all forms of cussing to follow Christ.
What a joke! That was the least of what Christ wanted from me.
I had to hold on tight to God’s Word. It was my lifeline to Jesus.
I learned that the bible has a lot to say about business just as Brad Harmon recently shared in his guest post What Does the Bible Say About My Business?
Looking At God and Our Business from Many Different Angles
Over the past couple of years, as these questions have plagued me, I explored them from several angles:
Am I doing my part to include God in my business? (You know the who goes first thing.)
Does God Care about my Business?
Is their a correlation: Is Success Greater if We Include God? (The rest of the world doesn’t seem to think so.)
Every angle and path lead to the same conclusion; a resounding YES!
I have found that even though my studies and my prayers and my stepping out in faith have brought me to the undeniable conclusion that God cares about all facets of our lives, I still need a reminder from time to time.
Past Posts on the Subject of God in Our Business
Maybe you do too. Here are a few posts where I explored these angles. Reviewing them gave me that reminder. I hope it works for you too. I hope they reconnect you, as they reconnected me, to the Truth that:
God Absolutely Cares About My Business
…because it is a part of my life. He cares about ALL parts of our lives!
Am I Really Following God in My Business?
Exploring the Correlation of Our Relationship with God to Our Business Health
How to Tell if Your Vision is a God Vision?
Applying a Panoramic God View to My Business
A Simple Plan to Reflect God in Your Business
And last but not least,
Does God Care About Our Business?
He Is Still Our Greatest Point of Difference!
Why is it so hard to believe that He not only cares about our business, but that He is also our greatest point of difference?
Is it because the rest of the world mocks the possibility?
Is it because we are afraid to embrace the truth?
Are we worried we may be using God for our own gain?
Or do our egos refuse to let go and give away the glory?
Christ told us to pick up our cross and follow Him. We are to give up our lives and follow Him. A 24/7 commitment. Therefore, I have to conclude that God would inevitably include “following Him” in our businesses too!
Have you ever struggled with this? Do you have a different thought process that brought you to the conclusion that God is interested in our business life?
Please share your comments here as you reflect on the difference God makes in your business. Also, this is a great summary post to share with other Christians in business. Tell them we would love for them to join us!
He absolutely cares and thank you for reminding us of that. Too often, we separate our work, our family and our faith into neat compartments.
he can handle it all! Now, we just need to do it…
I have been trying to open two businesses for the last year. I have waited on God to tell me if it is His will for me to do so, and it seems as if he is saying absolutely nothing. I am so afraid that I have not moved to do anything else toward opening either business. My uncle just recently came to me and sasid that he wantd to invest in my bussinesses and took me to the bank to withdraw money and gave it to me. I was so excited. However I still think God has not spoken to me as to if I am to move forward or not.
Hi Tami, Obviously I do not know the background on the businesses, but when I am uncertain, in addition to constantly praying, I just take steps forward. I trust that if it is not God’s will, and only He knows if I am really seeking it, then He will close the door. You must truly want God’s will since you are waiting to hear from Him. Think about taking steps forward, continuing to pray, and asking God to close the doors if this isn’t His plan. I will pray for you too!
I have left all family and my home taken up my cross and moved steadily across continents following what I believe was the direction God wanted me to go.
I started in UK, moved to Istanbul, from there to North Iraq, then Baghdad, Kazakhstan and I am currently living in Thailand.
There have been many miraculous successes and mountains have been moved, but right at the pinnacle of achieving what I considered was the end game of my mission everything has come to a sudden unexplained halt…………..??
So I’m using this time to study the word of God everyday as deeply as possible for many hours.
I’m getting many confirmations (see Exodus 14:14) from this time of study but I feel that I should be trying harder to move things forward, and perhaps this is my problem……….God is bigger than my understanding or comprehension and that is something I’m trying to learn.
I have no clear answers yet, but I don’t believe the mission is over because so many things, including seemingly impossible hurdles, have been cleared from the path in front of me by His intervention.
Having God as the CEO of my company is very tough because it’s a fine line between letting go and not using the skills He has blessed us with……………to be continued.
May God bless all of you who are out there trying so hard to further the Kingdom through business and sailing through these uncharted waters. Jc
After losing my first salon in the 90’s, losing my health, car, home and everything God informed me that I would (Isaiah 5) but that He would also restore me. Of course we don’t always wait on the Lord and come up with our own ways. (Sarah getting Abraham to sleep with Haggar). But of course God allows it but it doesn’t work. So I’ve moved from shop to shop till finally He opened a door for another salon. Mind you this happens when I am newly released from the hospital with NO money and very few clients. BUT God!!!! I thought I could get my old name back but it was unavailable. My dad who the Lord is using for my financial resources suggested Kim’s Tracks & Trims…..lol (I do a lot of extentions) I told God that I didn’t want that for a name and He said Raising Eyebrows. At the time I had NO idea the journey I’d be on and continue to learn more. The space is large enough for a 10 stylist salon BUT nooooooooo……He puts a thrift store in “MY” beauty salon. Clients poured in donations and it’s overflowing but yet fear set in. Ironing one morning I hear “I’ll give you houses you did not build, Wells you did not dig, and clothes you did not buy”. Lol. I pass out cross key chains, tracks, pray with customers and so forth but YET I guess I haven’t been able to get mind wrapped around “exactly” what and how I’m supposed to be doing this. I sew, I make jewelry too. I have a lot of talents and just don’t know how to use them all for the glory of God. Yet I hear from various forms to “JUST DO IT”!!!! I’ve come this far by faith. By the way, back when I lost my other shop and was sick. The doctors told my parents to put me in hospice care because there was NOTHING else they could do. I was 36 wearing Depend diapers BUT God!!!!! Psalm 91. He delivered me. I just turned 50. Our business is His business!!!!!