Christian Entrepreneurs: Are You Looking in the Wrong Place?

You want to do the right thing when you start and grow your business. You pray, read business books, go to conferences, practice, work with coaches and masterminds. These are all good and right things and I do them too!

But Christian entrepreneurs often miss the first foundational step!

Here it is: Working closely with the Holy Spirit to dig out the old sinful behaviors and deep vulnerabilities that threaten your business.

God cares about your business! But He cares more about you. He will use your business as a leading edge of spiritual growth, and as you grow in Him, you will hear him more clearly and have more power to act in his will. That, in turn, will expand your life and your business.

What happens if you don’t  take this foundational step? For instance, you started your business. You prayed over it! You chose the land, plowed it, planted it, and watered it. You’re doing everything right. But things aren’t working out, or they are, but you feel empty. What did you miss? In our metaphor of the farm, what you missed is that the ground underneath your crops is full of rocks! You didn’t know you needed to dig deeper, but the roots of your plantings are shriveling up and dying. Another way to picture it is that you irrigate your field without realizing that the water you’re using is polluted.

This can happen even when you start your business for all the right reasons. If you didn’t go deep enough in prayer, you may not see that obstacles and strongholds are draining the life from your business or ministry.

For example, you might have trouble deciding. You keep asking God what to do, but you don’t get an answer. Maybe God will not answer you until you turn and recognize that He wants to free you from a spirit of fear!

Or if you’re a coach, your clients aren’t making the progress that you or they want to see. You wonder what you’re doing wrong. Technically, you might be doing nothing wrong! But the Lord loves you enough to affect your work, so you will turn to him and see that you have a spirit of pride. Then he will work closely with you to change pride into holy humility.

So, how do you get to this place of deep listening? First, keep on doing the right things you’re doing. Read your Bible. Pray. Go to church. None of that should change. The change is in addition. Read the Bible meditatively, listening for the still small voice of the Holy Spirit to direct you to a certain verse or passage. Listen for what God is telling. And add silent prayer to your prayer time. Pause and listen for the Holy Spirit to speak to you. He will. And the rocks underneath your field become rich earth. The polluted water grows pure.

Do the holy work with God to become more like Christ, and you will see the fruits of that work in your business and your life.