Almost every Christian businessperson has a sense that there is potential in their businesses or professions to make a greater impact for the Kingdom. Unfortunately, the idea is often too vague and unformed in our minds and therefore seems overwhelming. There are practical steps to begin to transform your business into a spiritual entity following the Biblical business model.
Here are three specific steps that every Christian businessperson and professional can implement to tip the edge of their basket a bit and allow more of their light to shine in the marketplaces that they inhabit.
1. Embed prayer more deeply into your routines.
When God told us to bring everything to him in prayer, he meant exactly that.
Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the Peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
For many of us, the notion of praying, in-depth and detail, for every aspect of our business or professional lives is a novel idea. But it is exactly what we are commanded to do. A business is rich with the fodder through which God loves to engage with us. Think of the thousands of decisions that could be informed by a nudge from the Lord:
Employees
Who to hire, who to promote, to whom to give raises, how much and when, who to train, who to discipline, who to encourage, who to terminate. Just this category alone can keep us on our knees for hours.
Customers
Who to pursue, who to withdraw from, for whom to make concessions, how aggressively to pursue late payments, how close to get to whom, etc.
Finances
What to charge, should you borrow, how much and from whom, should you sign a lease, etc.
Vendors
Who to buy from, who to pay, who to nurture, who to hold at arm’s length, how much of what to buy.
Personal Time and Priorities
There are a thousand things to do, but not all of them should be done. How do we effectively allocate and focus our time and energy?
It Never Ends
I could go on and on, but you understand the point. Being a responsible person in a business puts you in the middle of thousands of decisions. It’s like playing racquetball against three people at once – balls are flying at you from every direction, and you must successfully manage them. The overwhelming challenge of the marketplace these days just naturally drives the committed Christian to prayer. The challenge is to take what is a natural impulse and turn it into a habitual, dedicated routine.
Implementation
- Begin each day, on the job, with a dedicated prayer time. This means you dedicate the first 15 – 30 minutes of your workday to a conversation with God about the challenges of the day.
- You may want to walk the floor, greet each employee and see if there is anything for which you can pray for that person.
- Or, you may want to take your calendar for the day, note the decisions you’ll need to make, and make that the focus of your prayer.
- Find someone else to regularly pray with you at least once a week. Make it a regularly scheduled event. Certainly, there are some Christians in your organization or sphere of influence who would be eager to pray with you for the business that provides their livelihood.
- You may want to make this prayer opportunity available to everyone, and welcome all participants, or you may want to seek out and enlist one or more special people. For years, my customer service manager and I met in my office, early every Monday morning, 20 minutes before the workday began, and lifted up the week’s events to the Lord.
