Biblical Based Business Devotional

Back Up And Begin The Beginning

John 1:1-5  “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by Him and with out Him was not anything made that was made.  In Him was life and the life was the light of men.  And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.”

If you are contemplating stating your own business, you are in the right place at the right time to receive this word form God.  If you have already started your business and things are not going well or things are good and you want to make them better, Glory to God, you too are in the right place and time.

“In the beginning was the Word and the word was with God and the Word was God” No matter what you are endeavoring to do the beginning of all your thoughts, plans and ideas must be God.

What an awesome time to be alive and a part of the body of Christ.  God has so orchestrated and ordained this time to be the time of Harvest for His children.  I understand times have been ruff and money has been tight, but you have withstood the pressures of life and have overcome the obstacles set before you to reach the place you are right now.  You are in the place of prosperity, the place of divine favor, and the place of endless blessings.  Oh yes, what a glorious time to be alive. Deuteronomy 8:18 (NIV) But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms His covenant, which He swore to your forefathers, as it is today.

Whatever phase your business is in, the biblical principals being shared with you here will be the foundation of your success from now until eternity.

When beginning a business as with anything else in life that requires making a decision, it is imperative that we consult God every step of the way.  Never loss sight of the fact that you were created by God and your creation was specifically for His pleasure: Revelations 4:11 Thou are worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honor and Power for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

It has been said many times, to know the purpose of a creation; you must consult the one who created it.  It is in the mind of the creator, who designed it, why it is.  To understand your purpose, you must ask Him who created you.

Your parents, earthly that is, did not create you.  They were just the tools used in the process.  Only God can create life, we simple procreate or reproduce life.  Before you were ever in your mother’s womb, God had already set in motion your purpose for being and your destiny.  Therefore, your purpose in life cannot be solely predicated on who or what your parents are or did.  Whether they are very successful God fearing people or the most abusive, hateful people imaginable, it is up to you to consult God Almighty to fully understand and fulfill your purpose on this earth.

Know this; God had other people in mind when you were predestined.  The fulfillment of your destiny affects the lives of countless others.  This is not just about you!  God uses His children to draw those yet still in darkness to His marvelous light.  Philippians 2:13 “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”

When the purpose of anything is not fully know or understood, there is a tendency to misuse or abuse it. (To abnormally use it)  Take drugs for example, when used properly, their effects are good.  However, when used incorrectly, abuse occurs.  The average drug addict will tell you they are not hurting anyone but themselves, but it is people, not just the individual that become the victims of the abuse.

The same principle works in our lives when it comes to relationships.  A parent who does not understand their purpose in a child’s life will abuse or molest instead of loving, protecting and nurturing the child.  A person, who does not understand the purpose of marriage, becomes a partner who does not understand their God ordained role in the relationship and tends to abuse their spouse.

Businesses are no different.  In order to start, operate and succeed in business, we must first ask God what He has purposed for our life.  We all have God given talents within us that have been inputted for a reason.  It all works together to bring Glory to God, which in turn brings success for us.  If we don’t take the time to consult God daily for direction, then we misuse the talents He has given us and spend much too much wasted time in search of self-gratification.

Romans 8:28-32 “And we know that all things work together for the good to them that love God, to them that are called according to His purpose.   For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called, them He also justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified.  What shall we say to these things?  If God be for us, who can be against us?  He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?’

If we carefully look at these scriptures, it is obvious we are in need of guidance from the Holy Spirit to successfully live our lives.  Remember, Revelations 4:11 declares all things were and are created for God’s pleasure.

We often miss the mark of success in life because we try and live for our pleasure.  In order to turn things around, we must submit all to the Lord, including our thoughts, words, actions and deeds.  I know it is a hard concept to digest at first, but as we learn to surrender all, then all is added unto us.

Let me break it down for you in a different manner:  You are no longer in control of your life.  If you have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord, “you do not own you”.  A great price has been paid for you.  1 Corinthians 6:19 & 20 “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God and ye are not your own?  For ye are bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God’s”.

You may be wondering what all this has to do with your business.  If you are to succeed in business as well as life, you have to lay the proper foundation.  For every action there is a reaction and for every cause there is an effect.  If you are not properly aligned with God’s will and plan for your life, your foundation will be unstable.  If your choice of action is to operate your business without God’s direction and guidance, your reaction will be that of stress and worry about how things will work out.  Thinking you can handle it all by yourself will cause your effect to be failure.  I understand you have all your degrees on the wall and you have done all your research on the demographics of the area and everything is in order and that is good you have done your part, but you don’t know what tomorrow holds so it would definitely behoove you to know who holds tomorrow and take direction from Him.

Submission to God is essential for success.  Understand this, we are all slaves to something or someone whether we admit it or not.  I know some of us have a problem with humility, submission and the idea of being a servant or slave, but it is time to get over it.

To become submissive to someone is to submit yourself to their mission or to come under the mission of another.  Paul describes it this way in his letter to the Romans:  “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey-whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?  But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.  You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.  I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves.  Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.  When you were slaves to sin, you were free for the control of righteousness.  What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of?  Those things result in death!  But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:16-23 NIV

Let’s take this a step further.  Not only do you not belong to your self: you are dead!  Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Isn’t God wonderful!!!  He created us, loves us, has mercy on us, sent His Son to die for us, who rose with all power to give us, reconciled us, justified us, sanctified us, transformed us, gave us His Holy Spirit to teach us and guide us and is seated on the throne watching over us to bless us.

Why are we so reluctant to give all to Him?  There is no doubt He can do much more with and for us than we can do for ourselves.  It simply stands to reason that if God created us to will and do His pleasure, then we need to yield ourselves to His directions.

 Count Up the Cost

 If you stop and think about it, it is going to cost you far less to surrender your business to God than to hold on to it thinking you can do it by yourself.  Consider going out and spending thousands of dollars on an ad campaign with no results, when you could have gone into you prayer closet, consulted the Lord who would have directed you in another direction.

Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In allthy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.  Be not wise in thine own eyes, fear the Lord and depart from evil.  It shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones.”

I know I sound like a resounding cymbal, but I really want to drive this point home.  Submit, surrender, give ear to the leading of the Holy Spirit, study the Word of God, walk in obedience to the laws of God and your business will be successful!  Joshua 1:8 “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”

Go forth my Brothers and Sisters and make your Father God proud.  It is absolutely His desire that you are successful in all your Kingdom endeavors.

© Coylette James 2005