Do you need or want God’s help in your business? The answers are yes and you should, respectively. So how can God get involved in your business? This teaching shares some thoughts from Gary Shotton on this subject. By Gary Shotton #000083

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God In My Business

By Gary  Shotton

In my interaction with people I know that there’s a common thread that seems to surface that we want God to help us in our business. I’m working to Christian world, and we’re talking about basically Christian and ethically based business. How do I get God involved in my business? I think that’s a legitimate question. I hear some cool little statements like, “God is my partner.” Or “Partnering with God.” Or “God is my copilot.” Or things that imply that God is helping me but how does it really work? I’m going to share some thoughts, some ideas. You don’t have to take them, they could be for you, they may be something you disagree with. That’s fine. This is some of the things that I’ve tried to look at through the years.

First of all, I think that we highly underrate the fact the God has put in me personally. Skill sets, desires, interest, abilities, those were put there by God. These are not something that we call a natural ability to do Math, or a natural ability to be a speaker. Those are God given things. I think we ought to find ourselves in and using and maximizing those natural skills. There’s no natural skill that just happens to be complete, so if you’re a good singer, guess what? You’ve got to take lessons and improve and take coaching to be a better singer. You could be a good athlete, but nobody’s going to be great unless they get some help and really develop that. Don’t just rest on being naturally good at something.

Now I also have a common ground that I, through the years have used, it’s called know what the fruits of the Spirit are. Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, self-control, faith, and whatever the ninth was is. I’m sorry that I forgot it. You look it up, those are found in Galatians chapter 6. There’s also right behind there, you can find there fruits that are not of the Spirit. Anger, envy, strife, jealousy, things like that, those are clearly not God’s plan. Yes, you have some abilities but what’s your culture? Are you lined up with the fruits of the Spirit? Is your purpose lined up with those things? Greed is not a reason to be in business. Envy and strife, I want to be on the nine fruits of the Spirit and use them wisely.

The bible talks about don’t despise the days of small beginnings. I started small with a moving and storage company. I had a horse trader pulled behind my family car and I just started moving people. One dresser, one washer and dryer, one headboard set, and I just worked from step by step by step by step and it grew in to a substantial company. I’m an advocate, don’t try to start too big. It’s another whole teaching, I’ll talk about it every time I get a chance but many people disregard those little ideas. I always have a notepad, or something in my iPhone or my phone, able to capture my thoughts because those little thoughts could be very important to me.

God lead by steps. Step by step by step. I’ve been telling you, starting too big, or trying to get too big too fast until you learn the lesson that you want to learn at a smaller scale. That’s a formula for disaster. God doesn’t want you to be over your head. I know people that just, I call it a, “Lap around the mountain.” They tried something, it was over their head, they were too big, went too big too fast. Four or five years later, they find out that they’re exactly the same spot that they would. Would have been if they hadn’t tried that big. Start small and grow. Learn at every level. Grow that way.

I tried to plant seeds, I think this is part of God’s provision. I think these ideas are seeds. He places ideas in our mind, in our thoughts, in our path. You might find something that’s easy to fill a need or find a surplus and sell it. There’s a whole teaching on that, but these are little seeds. I was walking across the hard pave asphalt driveway not long ago. Here in the middle of absolutely impossible is weed seeds sprouting and growing through that asphalt. I could not believe it. You are like that, you have a seed inside of you. You put a little water on it, little fertilizer on. You make a way, just any way possible and that seed is going to grow and develop if you’ll just let it do that. It’s very important that you do that.

I believe that God is in three parts. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. That’s not a spooky thing to talk about the Holy Spirit. I believe that Jesus, after his death and resurrection, left this Earth so that the helper could come, and that’s what he’s called, the Holy Spirit, the helper. If I’m going to pick up a desk and move it, I’m telling you, I need a helper on the other end. They’re waiting for me to give direction, they’re waiting for me to indicate where we’re going. How fast can get in sequence, the helper’s waiting for you. Don’t wait on the Spirit of God to lead you, show you exactly what to do. You get out there in the process of movement, in my experience, he will guide you and lead you or you’ll put up a red flag. That’s fine, you might be going the wrong direction, trust in him.

Last, but not the least is what’s your purpose for being in business. You should look at that very seriously. I believe you should be in some business, and almost every kind of business is they’re somehow helping people. I know a cake decorator that’s helping the wedding to be good. A hair stylist to make sure the hair is nice. A car salesman making sure that they’re helping people get in to a car that they can afford, and that it looks good and fits their need. Everyone should be in business as a helper. I’m in this machine shop business because I’m helping my customers complete their parts so that their customers have product to produce something that helps other people. It’s a chain reaction.

I believe that God wants us to be a witness in our business. If I’m going to work and being a different person than I am on Sunday, that’s a red flag. I should be myself day by day. I have better chances of sharing the love of God in the marketplace than almost any other place. I believe that you ought to consider and really be a giver. How can you ask God to be in your business when you’re not supporting the gospel? Supporting your local church with the tithe. Supporting missionaries, I’ve been a tither for many, many, many, many years. I wouldn’t stop if it’s the last thing I did because I know the benefits of it. I tithe of my personal household budget. I think there’s misunderstanding when you start talking about tithing of the business revenue. That’s just a whole another subject.

I am a giver. I found missionaries that are similar size. When I’m getting started, I find a missionary that’s just getting started. I’m a partner with them. Why do you want to be in business? I think that makes a difference. What’s your core values? Why are you into this? I believe God will join with you, be your partner, be your copilot, be co-owner with you, whatever terms do you want to use. Let’s move it off of a cliché and the reality.