"Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich. Be wise enough to know when to quit." ~ Proverbs 23:4 There's a big difference between working hard and working right. As we pass through the Labor Day season and many people celebrated a day off from their intense work lives, a thought came to me about how hard Christians work in their businesses. I wonder if we're working TOO hard as entrepreneurs... Now that's a strange idea for typical entrepreneurs to embrace, because most of us have been drilled with ethic of hard work all our lives. We have been taught that without hard work we won't accomplish our goals. We also have been taught to "work smart versus working hard." However, we haven't always been taught as Christian entrepreneurs that the smartest way to work is to engage God more intentionally in our work. The truth is if God is not intimately involved in working smarter, you really aren't working all that smartly and you won't achieve the results that you desire. Grace works by faith, not by works. We are not just saved by grace, we are supposed to work with grace. After salvation grace empowers us to do what God has called us to do in the way that He wants us to do it. God doesn't want you to work hard just for the sake of working hard, especially if it involves stress, anxiety, health issues and anything else that steals the joy from the work for which God purposed you to do. He wants you to work right. And the right way to work in the Kingdom is through faithfulness, diligence, and trusting Him to direct your business activities and decisions. You don't have to waste a lot of time, energy, and effort toiling to get things done, when He can open doors in moments versus the years it took you to get them open by yourself. That's called favor. I don't recall Jesus sweating to get much of anything done. As a matter of fact we never hear of anything related to him running, rushing, or anything else related to many of the behaviors we experience as we operate our businesses. Jesus wasn't just speaking figuratively in Matthew 11:30 when he said, "my yoke is easy and my burden is light." The reason Jesus could be so calm in his business was because he spent so much time in prayer that the "work" he did was made much easier. The less you pray the harder your work will be. The more you pray the easier your work will be because God will give you revelation, insight, and wisdom to work more efficiently and effectively. In 1898 pastor Andrew Murray said it like this... "Time spent in prayer will yield more than that given to work. Prayer alone gives work it's worth and its success. Prayer opens the way for God Himself to do His work in us and through us. Let our chief work as God's messengers be intercession; in it we secure the presence and power of God to go with us." Unfortunately, many Christian entrepreneurs don't trust this principle and spend a lot of time in a nose-to-the-grind, trial-and-error, blood-sweat-and-tears mode, mainly because we don't know any better. The ways of the world are not the ways of God. The less you allow God to direct your decisions, the harder you will have to work. The less you depend on God, the more you will have to depend on your own talent, resume, network, money, resources, etc. Now God can use all those things if He desires, but He will show how to use them so that your results are so much greater than you could have done on your own. Working without God is toil. Working with God is worship. I'm not saying that following God's instructions will always result in "easy" work, but what I am saying is that following God's instructions will keep you from unnecessary mistakes, detours, and u-turns. Many of these delays - that cost you time and money - could be avoided by acknowledging God in all your ways. Don't you think that if God gave you the business idea, He wants to see you succeed and will tell you everything you need to know to make that happen? I'm just sayin'... Many scriptures speak to how success is accomplished in God's eyes. Very few of them relate to working hard in the natural. Most of them relate to "work" that happens in the Spirit.
God wants to be your board chairman, CEO, CFO, partner, operations manager, advisor, coach, angel investor, virtual assistant, and so much more. He gives your business the best competitive advantage that you could have in the marketplace. If you trust Him and the work He wants to do through you, He will be all that you need to succeed.
What are your thoughts about how hard Christian entrepreneurs work? How do you engage God in your business? In spite of the recession, billions of dollars are awarded every year to small and minority owned businesses by the government and corporations. Relationships to Revenues is a workshop that equips small businesses to get in position to compete for lucrative contracts from corporations. Based on my background as a corporate purchasing agent, small business coach, and supplier diversity consultant, I teach small businesses how to identify what's most important to corporate purchasing agents, evaluate purchasing needs, and meet performance requirements. This workshop series will train small businesses in the following:
Our next workshop - available live and online - is Wednesday, October 24th in Kennesaw, GA. Click here for more details... You picked a great day to read this blog! Starting today we are offering an almost 30% discount on the already ridiculously low price of our Christian Entrepreneurship Boot Camp. The only thing you have to be willing to do is bring someone with you. So you can purchase one regularly priced ticket for $35 or get two discounted tickets for $50. This will be a monumental experience that you want to share with someone special. This deal is only good until this Friday, August 10th at midnight. So don't delay, get your tickets today at kbubootcamp2.eventbrite.com. Listen to some satisfied customers talk about their awesome experiences in our most recent boot camp... Many churches are still struggling to regain their financial footing in this economic recovery. This is largely due to the domino effect of many families still being challenged financially due to the unemployment and underemployment situation. Research from Barna Group revealed that the church is falling short in in terms of providing proactive support to the economic crisis for their members or communities. Some of this is due to the financial pain churches are feeling. Some of it is that pastors and church leaders may not be aware of many of the practical things they can do – apart from just giving money – to those who are hurting financially. Here are a few ideas your church can use to provide assistance and direction to your congregation and communities who are experiencing major financial challenge difficulties…
For many people entrepreneurship is the path to fulfilling their purpose and reaching their financial promise land. More importantly, we are teaching people how to do business God's way. Also, we would love to come to your church to facilitate one of these boot camps for your congregation and community. Just contact us to today to get more details. Free Resources for EntrepreneursGet a preview copy of Inc. My Dream where you will learn how to plan, launch, and grow a profitable and sustainable business that has a social impact in your community by utilizing Kingdom business principles. As an added bonus you will receive one of Paul Wilson's teachings 7 Fundamentals of Christian Business Success (mp3). Download your free copy now!
Summer Boot Camp Prepares Christian Entrepreneurs to Take Their Businesses to a Higher Level6/14/2012 Certain challenges are common to practically all entrepreneurs, such as finding new customers, generating consistent cash flow, differentiating your brand in the marketplace, communicating an effective marketing message that connects with your target market, delivering great customer service, maximizing technology, etc. And while all entrepreneurs must solve these issues in order to become successful and sustainable, I believe Christian entrepreneurs have a competitive advantage that can't be duplicated, replicated, or simulated by non-Christians. He's called the Holy Spirit.
John 14:26 tells us that the Holy Spirit will teach us all things, and 1 John 4:4 let's us know that greater is the Spirit that lives in us than the spirit that's in the world. These scriptures don't just relate to the spiritual matters of our lives, but also the practical areas, including our businesses. The Holy Spirit can help us complete everything God created and called us to do... if we learn how to listen to him. This is why we're very excited about the quickly approaching Christian Entrepreneurs Summer Boot Camp. We'll be discussing spiritual and practical best practices to help you start and grow the business God put in your heart. If God gave you the business idea, He wants you to succeed doing it. That also means if He wants you to succeed, He already has the perfect plan for you to do so. This boot camp will help you incorporate a biblical foundation and actionable strategies into your business so that it will glorify God, produce sustainable profits, and impact the people He's already positioned you to reach. If you want to take your business to a higher level - spiritually and financially - then join us Mondays, June 18th - July 23rd. Just go to kbubootcamp.eventbrite.com or click on the image below to register for this boot camp. We look forward to seeing you there and helping you become the CEO God created you to be! Kingdom Business University presents... Christian Entrepreneurs 6-Week Summer Boot Camp! “Biblical Strategies to Start & Grow Your God-Inspired Business” You will learn powerful principles and practical tools that will help you build a profitable business that honors God and makes an exponential impact in your family, community, and ultimately the world. We will explore and engage the word of God to extract best practices that will grow you spiritually, professionally, and financially. You can think of this experience like Vacation Bible School for Christian entrepreneurs! Big Benefits:
Time: 7 pm - 8:30 pm Location: Heaven's Harvest Ministries, 1669 Phoenix Parkway, Suite 100, College Park, GA 30349 Register at http://kbubootcamp.eventbrite.com. Only $25 to cover administrative costs. No additional fees for books or materials. For more information about the Summer Boot Camp please contact 678.310.3017 or info@biznovations.com. Facilitators: Paul Wilson, Jr., President of Kingdom Business University, is a "Dream Catalyst" and Marketplace Pastor for leaders and entrepreneurs. He equips leaders with creative, faith-based strategies to flourish spiritually and professionally, while operating from several multi-media platforms, including TV show host, inspirational speaker, and stimulating writer. He is the author of the life purpose igniter “Dream B.I.G. in 3D: How to Pursue a Bold, Innovative God-Inspired Life!” He is also the host of Passion in Action, a motivational and educational faith-based Internet TV show for social entrepreneurs, business leaders, and community change agents. Amos Johnson Jr, PhD is the author of amosjohnsonjr.com, the number one “FREE” online resource for Christians to learn about business success from a biblical point of view, which is visited by over 1,000 people per month. Dr. Johnson has a passion for helping Christians develop God-inspired businesses because he strongly believe that financial prosperity comes through faith in God & Business. "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." ~ Mark 10:25
Do rich people have a harder time with morality than poor people? Are they more susceptible to character blemishes than those in poverty? Do people with a lot of money have more to overcome in their ethical decision-making than those who only have a little money? Recent research reported in an article on MSNBC.com seems to answer these questions with a resounding "Yes!". According to the article, University of California Berkeley researchers repeatedly showed that upper-class individuals were more prone to unethical behavior than people from more deprived backgrounds. Now before you start thinking I'm just automatically about to jump on the bandwagon that all rich people are evil, we need to compare their research to something Jesus said more than 2000 years ago - that it's easier for camels to squeeze through the eye of a needle than for rich people to get to heaven. What Jesus was really saying is that the task of trying to be a "godly rich" person is impossible - without the power of Christ fully at work in our lives - because the temptations of this world are too strong for us to resist. We can look at the wisest man to ever live, who also happened to be one of the richest that ever lived - Solomon - and see that even with all his wisdom he was still unable to live a completely holy life, because he strayed from living by God's principles and standards. Now all of his issues weren't necessarily related to money, but who's to say that his financial excess didn't lead him to desire the same kind of excess in other areas of his life, specifically with women. Is it possible that God's blessings led to Solomon's downfall? Well, it can happen to anyone of us who start enjoying the gift more the Giver. I would also submit that God is holding back blessings for many people who He knows would start living sinfully if He blessed them like He's capable of. So in reality, some people's current lack of finances is for their own good. However, God doesn't want their character to stay in that place, because He really desires to pour on them mind-blowing, abundant blessings. It's important to be clear what Scripture actually says about money. It's the love of money that is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10), not money itself. It's interesting that this verse doesn't refer at all to how much money a person has. So a poor person can have just as much of an unhealthy lust for money as a rich person might have. How much you have is irrelevant to what your heart attitude is towards money. Fortunately, Jesus died for everybody, even rich people. The answer to the rich man's dilemma is a few verses past Mark 10:25 where Jesus says, "... with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." So, according to Jesus, a person can be rich and godly at the same time. You don't have to be poor to be pious. You can be wealthy and worship God with a pure heart. Will there be rich people in heaven? Absolutely! Will they have gotten there because of their riches? Absolutely not! Will they be excluded because of their riches? Absolutely not! If you are pursuing money for money's sake, you will end up inheriting the wind. It will use you up, throw you away, and then wait for its next greedy victim. However, if you pursue God's purposes for your life, He will provide the money you need to succeed. What are your thoughts about how hard it is to be rich and righteous? Read the full MSNBC article here: http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/27/10512938-rich-people-more-likely-to-cheat-behave-badly-research-finds |
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