God Favors Relationship Over Obedience
It is essential that we stay in communication with God. For giving thanks and worship to Him and to lean on him for guidance. Sometimes we call out and we don’t get an immediate answer. It can be frustrating in our fast-paced environment when He doesn’t respond the way Google does.
I’ve learned in my own walk that God didn’t create us to be order-takers. He didn’t intend for Him to make all the decisions for us, to give us all the answers and all that we do is take command.
Consider this: If you are playing checkers with an 8-year-old, how much fun is it going to be for that child if they keep losing every game by a long shot? Unless losing is fun for them, they will likely tire of the game. It won’t be a very good time.
Or if I'm wrestling with my 12-year-old, how fun would it be for him if I just won all the time? Still wouldn't be a whole lot of fun.
Say you and I are friends (we are) Strike that... If we were friends locally, and geographically friends, and we were getting to hang out, and you ask, “Hey, where should we eat?” And every time we decided to go to the place I wanted to go. You may eventually suggest chicken. But I responded with, “Let's go to the Chinese place.”
Or I ask you what kind of movie you want to go see if we're going to go see a movie. You want to see a romantic comedy. But I tell you, no, we are going to go for an action-adventure instead. How much fun would you have in that relationship? It wouldn’t be great. I’m not considering you and eventually, you might consider whether to hang out again. We would not be besties.
The point is that God favors relationship above obedience. He did not create us to be robots. He created us for relationships. So there are some times when God doesn't fully demonstrate his power in our life, in the same way that if my son was playing with me, checkers, and I always won, that would not be fun for his relationship with me. In the same way, if I was wrestling with my son and I always won, that would not be enjoyable for him.
Well, we have the same thing with God. Yes, he is all-knowing. Yes, he is all-powerful. Omnipotent, omniscient, all those O's. However, I believe based on my study and my walk with the Lord that sometimes he'll hold back his power so that we're invited to have a relationship with him, a co-creation with him, a dance with him.
As it relates to your business and decision making it won’t always be a matter of waiting on God to tell you what to do. My walk to get to coaching, I didn't know it at the time, but looking back, it was an invitation to pivot. So, I would hit these inflection points and I would shift gears, right? When I first started, I thought I needed to wake up in the morning and be like, “Okay, Lord, what is the plan for today?” That I was just a receiver of instruction.
If my son is 25-year-old son woke up in the morning and says, “Hey dad, what color socks should I wear?” I'd be a frustrated dude. I'm like, “Hey, like you can make your own decisions about socks?” And I would expect an elevation of communication and mentoring. The things he asked me about when he was 10 he shouldn't be asking me about when he's 30. Well, that's the same way with the Lord.
And so, as a Christian entrepreneur and coach, I just want to encourage people to make sure that they're not forgetting about that. Because there'll be times when you're asking the Lord and the Lord will ask you well what would you like to do? Or what do you think here? All right? Right? Yeah.
Another context here is I have a colleague who was talking about AI and chatGPT. And he described it this way. He said it's like talking to the world's most intelligent being that has all the answers instantaneously. Right? And he said it is exhausting because the flow of information is so rapid that he can only engage with it for 30 minutes and he just like 45 minutes and he finds himself just totally depleted.
In the same way that God is not chat GPT and he wants a relationship, as we're building our business and as we're growing, there will be times when we have a say in things, right? Look at God and Moses. God told Moses that he was going to destroy his people. And Moses asked if there was another way. And God backed off. And he did that a few times with some of those great people.
God gives you the power to initiate your actions instead of again, being some sort of robot. In that freedom of making your own decisions, there is growth and learning. And most importantly you have a relationship with God which is what He wants.
Otherwise, he could have just, he could have just built us to obey. That's why everything in the kingdom is an invitation. The most important thing is Jesus. If he doesn't force that on anybody, he's not going to force anything out. It's a kingdom of invitation. And that's why the church is so miserably failing now because it's somehow or another become a culture of intimidation and hellfire and loudness. It's supposed to be salt and light and love. Because He is Love.
And so in the context of being a Christian entrepreneur, it's critically important to recognize that he values relationship above obedience. And just like for a dad to have a great relationship with his son, he can't be a know-it-all, he can't always win, he can't always win the game, he can't always win the wrestling match, a relationship amongst people, they can't always go to their place they want to go to and do the things they want to do. There's got to be a dance, there's got to be a participation, there's got to be a framework in which both sides have a say.
There are three critical things that I've learned over my twenty-plus years, evaluating over one hundred and fifty different business models as a Christian entrepreneur.
I've put together my observations and these three keys (I learned the hard way) into a Christian Entrepreneur Manifesto, along with some step-by-step walk-throughs and demonstrations.
There is no opt-in required.
It walks through my favorite model, the Finders model.
It might be interesting for a Christian looking to start something new or for the first time to escape the "business running them vs. them running their business" or the nine to five and not to have to work for themselves or someone else until the age of eighty.
Check it out here:
https://christianentrepreneurinc.com/go-video
I hope it helps!
Blessings,
Paul
PS: God is a big God.
He gives us above and beyond what we can ask or think.
We must ask big.
We must think big.
And if we don't, it's not His fault if we live limited.
Work hard, pray harder, and never ever ever ever quit.
You've got this!
PPS: Whenever You’re Ready... Here's How I Can Help You Generate An Additional $5 to $10k Per Month Or More:
- Check Out Our Christian Entrepreneurship Manifesto
Learn why some "make it" and others don't - Access More Articles Like This
Sharpen your Mindset, Model, and get Mentored - Watch Our Christian Business Incubator Training
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