You can trust God to guide you every step of your business journey. He may lead you into the unfamiliar but he will never leave you. Just as God led Abraham out of his land and the Israelites into theirs, God wants to lead and guide you in all of your decisions. Seek him in prayer today.
The life of an entrepreneur is often hectic and it can be hard to take the time to rest. It seems there are not enough hours in the week to do all that needs to be done. But you must rest and Jesus tells you how.
First, be yoked, or joined, to him. Jesus wants you to walk closely with him and be joined to him, as two oxen plowing a field. The animals must walk closely together in the same direction to harvest the field for maximum yield. In the same way, walking with Jesus will give us the abundant life he came to give us. This close relationship is made possible by being born again and accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior. The precious gifts of prayer and the Holy Spirit are the divine means given to us to allow us to enjoy this close walk with Jesus.
Secondly, Jesus tells us to obtain rest, you must learn his ways, especially his humility, as you guide your business. Reading the Bible to intentionally study the life of Jesus will allow you to model your life after him in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Bible also promises that we will be conformed to the image of Christ and that God will continue the work he began in us when we gave our life to Jesus. Despite setbacks, you can confidently continue to seek rest in Jesus. Learn of the ways of Jesus and walk closely with him so that he can direct you to the rest God promises in Psalm 23. He will make you lie down in green pastures and lead you besides still waters.
Rest in Jesus today.
Like this? Check out my Pray and Plan Devotional for 2017 at http://bit.ly/pray2plan
So a new year is upon us. People celebrated on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Resolutions were made. Calendars and planners were purchased. People are focusing on planning for the upcoming year.
As I consider the focus on the new year, I hear God in my spirit reminding me of his focus on the daily. So many Bible verses address God’s daily concern for us and his teaching us to keep a daily view of our lives. From the Old Testament to the New, we see that our God is a God of each and every day.
Moses in the Old Testament asks God to help him in this area. “Teach us to number our days aright that we may have a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12 After considering the power of Almighty God in the fleeting lives of men, Moses’ response is to ask for instruction in ordering our days to God’s ways that we might have his wisdom granted to us.
Jesus, when instructing his disciples how to pray, tells them to ask, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Was Jesus remembering the time of the Israelites in the desert, a time in which God gave the people only enough sustenance for each day at a time?
We get some idea of why God chooses to make us dependent him daily from these words of Moses in Deuteronomy 8:16 He refers to the God “who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.” Daily dependence on God is humbling and often difficult. We become tempted to want to get ahead of God and go our own way. But in doing so, we are likely to give the credit for our success to ourselves instead of God as Moses warns in a later verse.
Jesus directs to the daily view for another reason, to keep us from carrying over useless worrying into a new day. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Keeping a daily view, especially in time of trouble, keeps us from getting overwhelmed with the cares of life.
Perhaps the most comforting aspect of our everyday God is the fact that he loves us so much despite our sin that he is willing to forgive us every day. The Bible tells us that we wake up each morning with a clean slate from God and fresh compassion from him. Praise God for his mercy and grace! “It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23
I am so grateful to serve a faithful, everyday God.
This is one of my life verses. I need to be reminded often to stop relying on my way of looking at things. It is easy to rely on sight and how things look to your natural mind as you assess your business situation. God desires that you will look to him and admit your dependence on him as you conduct your business. He will put you on the best course.
If you like this devotional, find more like it in my new 2017 Pray and Plan Prayer Journal and Goal Planner. Learn more at http:bit.ly/pray2plan
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This is one of my life verses. I need to be reminded often to stop relying on my way of looking at things. It is easy to rely on sight and how things look to your natural mind as you assess your business situation. God desires that you will look to him and admit your dependence on him as you conduct your business. He will put you on the best course.
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God is an awesome God of variety.
When I had my first child and started having longings of not going back to work. I remember praying fervently for a solution of how I would replace my income working from home. I kept telling God that I “could not see my way through” my situation. I could not think of any way that would be possible. After a long time of staying in denial about possibilities, not trusting God and living by sight and not by faith, God finally showed me a way. This solution to my problem was one that I never thought of, it was so far from me. But God knew. God had a solution that exceeded my imagination and expectation. I must say my imaginations and expectations were quite lacking at the time. God always had a creative solution but he needed to trust him and work with him so that it would be revealed to me. I am convinced this process took much longer than it should have because of my inability to expect God to come up with a creative solution and then to wait for him to reveal it to me. I was too busy panicking as my 6 weeks of leave dwindled away to think creatively or abundantly. My faith was severely tested and I almost failed the test. But God… in his mercy and grace, despite my issues with being close-minded, made a way for me.
Check out this inspiring podcast episode from Unshackled, the longest-running radio program on the air today. You will hear a testimony of the power of Christ in one who many considered beyond hope.
Join me in this guided prayer to acknowledge God as our awesome Creator.
“The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.” Galatians 19-26
It is God’s will that through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, we no longer pursue the ungodly passions we had before Jesus Christ gloriously saved us.
All attempts to do this outside of the Holy Spirit will ultimately fail.
Pray and earnestly seek God and the fruit of the Spirit in your life and in your business.
God wants to guide you and your business today. Seek him early, before anything else.
#entrepreneurprayer
Surrender your business to God. Let him grow it and use it for God Kingdom. You are the steward of what God has given. All thanks, honor and glory belong to God.
#entrepreneurprayer
Do you feel lonely and alone as you plan your business goals
The burden you are carrying is too heavy!
You aren’t meant to create and grow a business by yourself.
Stay connected to the vine of Jesus Christ and reach out to those he directs you to. Other Christian business owners can be an important source of prayer and encouragement.
Seek God’s unlimited wisdom. He desires the best for you and will always lead you in the way you should go.
God has been showing me the importance of prayer in this season of my life. I have a renewed joy in my prayer life. And my gratitude at being able to come before God’s throne of grace surges inside my heart as I start to pray. I found myself in agreement with Charles Stanley’s thoughts on prayer in a recent article.
Stanley, a legendary preacher who has endured significant hardship, says:
“I start the day on my knees with the Lord. I end it that way. And oftentimes I’ll be studying and think, “It’s time for me to ask the Lord about something here.” And so for me, that’s the key. It’s the key to everything. Because what you are doing, you’re acknowledging God at the moment—you need his help, his insight, his understanding, or his courage, or his faith, whatever it might be.
I would say to anybody: the greatest lesson you can learn is to learn to live by faith on your face before God. You can face anything, no matter what it is. He said, “I’ll never leave you or forsake you,” but if I’m so busy I’m not listening to him, I’m not waiting for him, I’m not expecting him to do something—I think people face a lot of circumstances and go through a lot of heartache and trouble that would be unnecessary if they would just stop and listen.”
From http://www.christianitytoday.com/local-church/2016/september/charles-stanley.html
I need God every minute of every hour to guide me and my business. How grateful I am that God has, through Jesus, given me free access to his throne of mercy and grace through prayer.
You too can enjoy the same privilege of praying without ceasing as you face many decisions, big and small, through your day.
Seek God’s unlimited wisdom. He desires the best for you and will always lead you in the way you should go.
God is good and he is worthy to be praised. Let us enter into his gates with thanksgiving.
What are you grateful for today?
Do you ever feel like you have nothing to be grateful for when you are going through a tough time? It is easy to believe satan when you have your eyes on your problems. If nothing else, thank God for being a righteous, loving God and thank him for saving you.
Follow the Lord wherever he leads you.
Victoria Carrington 