For a little over a year I have been having conversations with other Christian businesspeople about a new emerging Kingdom Economy. Many of us have stumbled across each other, and formed close relationships because we have received similar God-given dreams, messages, missions, etc. We have all separately been experiencing the phenomenon of a new God-driven economic system forming. We feel that God has been bringing together those, with this similar call on their lives. The uniting theme we all see is that God is moving to
form a new Kingdom based economy that will continue to function even when our existing national economic institutions fail, or are non-functioning. God desires to keep his resources flowing from where they are not being put to good use, into places where they can do the most good. The Lord has been bringing this move of His to my attention. Every time I come into contact with another spirit-led businessperson who mentions their God-given mission “to help in the raising up of a new Kingdom Economy”, I am given further confirmation of the Lord’s new work. So, I was not at all surprised when my wife showed me a prophetic word from a few weeks back posted by Rick Joyner of MorningStar Ministries. He has posted a series of weekly prophetic words that outlines this new Kingdom Economy many of us have been talking about. I am posting below, an excerpt from his prophetic word from Discerning the Times, Part 23 which I think best sums up and gives confirmation of what we have been discussing and receiving independently through divine inspiration.
“We are beginning to see a kingdom economy emerge which is so distinct and separate from the world’s that when the order is given that no one can buy, sell, or trade except they take the mark of the beast (see Revelation 13:17), then Christians will not even care if they can buy, sell, or trade with the world—they will have their own economy. That may sound grandiose or complicated, but it will be grand and a demonstration of how things are done differently in the kingdom of God, it will not be complicated, but to the contrary, it will be very simple.
The kingdom economy will become a practical system of interchange built on kingdom principles and is a part of the highway of Isaiah 40 that must be built to prepare the way for the Lord. As we have been addressing the last few weeks, this economy is founded on love, which is at the root of all kingdom economic interchange. The most basic principles of this economy is I Corinthians 13”.
Visit the MorningStar Ministries site and read through these wonderful prophetic words. It is a truly exciting movement of God that we are starting to discern in the business world.
There may be many reasons behind why people start their own business, but people become entrepreneurs because of two driving forces: desire or fear. Most entrepreneurs start their own business because they desire something better. They may want more control, more money, more flexibility, or a better quality of life.
A few though, start a business out of fear. They may have lost their job for an extended period of time and see no other options, they may be afraid of how they will feel if someone else beats them to market with a similar idea, or even be fearful of being trapped in a dead-end job for the rest of their lives. Christians are not immune to these desires and fears, after all we are living in the same 21st century world, and are exposed to the same pulls and tugs of culture, the same difficult situations, and the constant consumer minded advertising driving us to want more than we have. That is why it is so important to seek the Lord’s will in these situations.
We should never do something out of fear or greed, but out of love. When considering starting your own enterprise you must ask Him: “Lord is this what you want? Is this the outcome you would like for this situation, or are you trying to teach me something else?”.
For Christians there may be a different set of desires in starting up a business, and these desires should be driven by love. The Christian entrepreneur may want a workplace where they can feel free to be the person God desires them to be, including to express their Christian beliefs and to put God first in their lives and business (loving God). They may want to use a business model balanced more toward doing God’s work instead of focusing solely on profits (loving your customers), or to have a business that provides jobs and a functional, stable workplace for other Christians (loving your employees), or even to use their business as a mission to minister to people in areas that are hostile to Christians but welcome foreign business investment (loving the lost). Whatever our desires may be, the most important point here is to seek God’s will. He wants us to be a light to the world. "No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light” Luke 8:16. Whether we shine our light at a job working for someone else, or in our own business doesn’t matter, just as long as we are where He wants us to be. In a previous post I talk about using a business as your ministry. In the post I talk about my own personal experience starting a Christian business based on a God-given mission, but one size does not fit all. God’s kingdom is full of endless variety, and there are many types of businesses that can be considered Christian. They can be tailored to the Christian marketplace, or not. They can state publicly that they are Christian, or they can keep these motives in the back office leaving customers to think to themselves “there’s something different about this company”. Different people have different preferences, and I hate to repeat myself but, foremost in this is going to be what the Lord desires to accomplish through your business. Whatever the format, or target market, a Christian business should be a light shining in the darkness; to the community, its customers, and employees. It should be run in a Christian way, based on biblical principles. In 1Timothy 6:9, Paul gives us a warning “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.” So we should not be motivated by the love of money, but for the desire to be a faithful servant though our business. Many Christians run their own business but are not following biblical principles. They say things like: “business is business”, “business is war”, “all is fair in love and business”, and a myriad of other sayings aimed at separating their business lives from their spiritual lives, and making themselves feel better about the sins they are committing for the love of money. The Bible says: “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water”James 3:10-12. So, as Christian businesspeople, we must strive to not be contradictory, but to do everything with one purpose in mind.
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving”Colossians 3:23-24.
Starting up and operating a Christian business is not the easiest thing to do, not only must you be profitable so that you can continue serving the needs of your customers, and providing a stable job for your employees, but you must put God first in everything you do.
There are constant tests, challenges, and temptations in this, especially when our competitors are not abiding by the same standards, but the reward is the great satisfaction in allowing God to work through your business and seeing the good that comes out of it. There is much peace in knowing that you are operating in God’s will. “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light”Matthew 11:30. If you think that you can walk along this narrow path then a Christian start up may be right for you.
As I was mentioning in the first part of this post. When God created you, he had a purpose in mind for you. He designed you to fulfill a mission tailor made for you.
If you know what your mission in life is, congratulations! If you don't, keep praying and continue to build a personal relationship with Him. Let the Holy Spirit minister to you, press in and meditate on Him. He will make it very clear to you what your purpose is, but in His time. If this is a subject matter you would like to know more about, let me know in the comments section and I can cover it in a future post. This post has to do with going forward once God puts that mission in your heart. To revisit part 1 of this post, I believe Nehemiah can be used as a blueprint to go forward and successfully establish that mission. The first five steps had to do with identifying your mission, and the preparation needed for success. These next steps have to do with the task of getting "the wall" built.
Build relationships and surround yourself with trusted people- People must buy into your vision. You can't do this on your own. You need other faithful people, and their talents, to help you complete your project. In Nehemiah 2:17-18 Nehemiah says: Then I said to them, "You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace." I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said to me. They replied, "Let us start rebuilding." So they began this good work. He identifies their problem, he provides the solution, calls them to action, and shows them the reward. He then tells them about God's calling on him and the backing of the king. In the end he gets their buy in, and they begin the work.
Organize and delegate- In order to succeed you must divide the project into smaller more manageable pieces. In Nehemiah 3 the circumference of the wall is divided up into portions and the work is carried out, each group working on their assigned segment. Nehemiah organizes the groups and delegates the work so that each group is in charge of building their piece. When broken up into smaller sections a project's massiveness does not become overwhelming and every finished piece brings a sense of accomplishment. What once seemed unattainable is now achievable.
Be ready to fight for your dream- You will have to multi-task too. In Nehemiah 4, the Jews learn of a plan by their enemies to attack and kill them in an attempt to thwart their mission to rebuild the wall. At first these people had ridiculed them and had not taken the attempt at building the wall seriously, but as the wall neared the halfway point of completion, they became angry and decided to attack. Nehemiah 4:16-17 says the following: From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other. Remember that you are moving the battlefront forward against the enemy of your soul. You are advancing God's cause. Do you think he won't try to undermine you? To attack you? You are in a war, and you should expect spiritual warfare. At first things may move smoothly, but once he realizes you are serious about achieving your mission, he will try to attack you. The attacks on Nehemiah continued even after the wall was finished. The "enemies of the wall" and surrounding dignitaries, those who had exerted control over the Jewish people, are not so ready to give up their power, so they keep attempting to derail Nehemiah's efforts using every trick in the book. Nehemiah 6 is a great resource on fighting off these attacks. Keep your guard up and always be in prayer, for God is your covering.
Once your goal is met, celebrate!- Give God the glory for the accomplishment. Jerusalem threw a party. It wasn't focused on debauchery. It was focused on God. They read the word, feasted and rejoiced. And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy.The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.
Establish your mandate- Now that you have reached your goal, the work isn't finished yet. It's important to make sure that your vision is on course to accomplish its final purpose. Sure, Nehemiah got the wall built, but what was the purpose of building the wall? The main purpose of the wall was for protection, but it also established a place (Jerusalem) that the Jews could call their own. The gates could now be closed to keep out merchants on the Sabbath. When evening shadows fell on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered the doors to be shut and not opened until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my own men at the gates so that no load could be brought in on the Sabbath day. Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem. But I warned them and said, "Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do this again, I will lay hands on you." From that time on they no longer came on the Sabbath. Nehemiah uses this time of victory to make sure that Jerusalem's house is in order, so to speak. You must clean house, and make sure the enemy has not crept in the back door and set up shop in your storeroom (see Tobiah). He does this in order that all the hard work they did and the dangers they faced would not be in vain. If he had left the people of Jerusalem entrenched in their ways with their enemies within the city walls, Nehemiah knew that the whole purpose of the wall would be defeated within a few years, maybe sooner.
Which brings us to the end. The last lesson we learn from Nehemiah talks about what's next. Nehemiah not only accomplishes the original vision given to him by God, of building the wall of Jerusalem, but he also takes it to the next level and turns Jerusalem away from sin, and helps the people to establish a lifestyle focused on God. That is a testament to all of us to take our successes and use them as a stepping stone to greater things. If Nehemiah didn't use that moment to get Jerusalem back on track and into God's will it would have been much harder later on, once people became complacent again. He took the completion of the wall and used it to accomplish a much greater feat. This is a great inspiration to keep taking things to the next level. Keep praying and remain in God's will. His word and guidance will get you where you need to go next.
Over a year ago "The Big Guy" told me to "start building the wall". By "Big Guy", I mean "the man upstairs", you know...God. I had been praying for years that he would show me my ministry. Every morning when I got up, I would pray and read His word, and in my prayers I would pray for the ministry that He had for me, and pray for His anointing. I had been praying this for so long that I did so almost automatically. So it came as a great surprise to me, one Sunday morning when I was in the shower getting ready for church, that he answered my prayer, just like that. In a blink of an eye he gave me a full view of my future ministry, and it wasn't what I thought it would be. I wouldn't have to sell everything, move to some remote corner of the world, and live in a primitive native hut! Hooray! What a relief. That just wasn't for me. He showed me that a business would be the vehicle for my ministry. Although now that I have been pursuing the mission he planted in my heart, I think that living in a hut might have been easier, and less stressful.
Its a wonder I did not see it beforehand, having been the owner of a business or self-employed for most of my adult life. I had just never viewed a business as being a ministry. My life plan was to run a successful business and save enough money to retire early with enough money to support a ministry for the remainder of my days. I realized that I had been allowing the world to program me into believing that Church and Business were to remain separate. Business was what you did during the week, and Church was what you did on your free time and Sundays. I never thought that I could contribute to the Kingdom as a businessperson other than through tithing. As I examined the mission God planted in my heart and prayed for confirmation, I thought, "if I felt this way how many others were out there that felt the same"? I imagined the impact on the business world, of thousands of business owners sold out for Jesus. As business owners, our "congregations" may be there 5 days/week, 8 hours/day. That's 40 or more hours a week that we can be living models of Christ to our employees. An opportunity any Pastor would be enviable of. How many lives could be touched? Changed? But, preaching the Word at work is not just a walk in the park. It brings its own set of challenges and difficulties.
God had told me "start building the wall". I didn't know what that meant at first. So I asked Him for further guidance, and confirmation. I wanted to make sure this vision was from Him. While praying I clearly heard "Nehemiah". I immediately turned to it in my Bible. I had read Nehemiah a few times but all I remembered was that he had rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem, and he and Ezra were contemporaries. Over the next few days I read Nehemiah and prayed for discernment about the meaning of the passage. Why had I been led to read this? I felt that Nehemiah was to be a blueprint for the start-up of the business. Through prayer, God gave me further confirmation. I received a 3 page insightful explanation, linking Nehemiah's project to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, with my God given mission to start up a Kingdom-minded business for the Lord. Reading over it today, I am amazed by how on-point it has been, and I receive new insight on problems I am just now encountering. God is amazing! The more I nurture the seedling of the idea he planted that morning, the more I realize how much grander his dreams are than mine. I see how he has tailored this mission perfectly to suit me. How perfectly he weaves people, places, and moments in time to fit together like rotating cogs. Perfectly designed machinery, comprised of many pieces working in unison, and in many dimensions, to accomplish his perfect will.
BLDNG THE WALL is a non-denominational Christian blog focused on raising up Christian businesses. It is meant to provide support, encouragement, and knowledge to other Christian businesspeople entering, or presently doing business in the Christian economy.
Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name. "But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.
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