God's Upside Down Kingdom

This morning during my Bible reading, I discovered another one of God's upside down principles. As we continue to struggle with frustrations concerning the building of our new restaurant, God continues to bless us with solutions and wisdom, but it always seems to come after long times of wrestling with issues. I feel like things should be solved easier, quicker and with less struggle. I am always expecting microwave solutions. So this morning I found this gem:

James 1:2 (The Message)

2-4Consider it a sheer gift (or "pure joy" in another version) , friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its' work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

We just want easy (don't you love that Easy Button concept from that office product store) but God wants maturity. Now, we all know this principle, and are very familiar with that verse, but why is it so hard to remember in the midst of a trial? In the midst of a trial, all we can see are the circumstances. If we could just turn our focus to the Lord, then all would soon become clear. Well, maybe not as quickly as we would like, but when He knows it's time, His faithfulness will be evident.

God is always moving us to higher levels in Him and unfortunately, uphill walks require more energy than walks on level ground. But consider it pure joy....

The IFs in LIFE

As my husband and I continue down the road of building a new restaurant, I've discovered numerous "what ifs". They especially come at me in the wee hours of the morning, when it's dark and I'm groggy and susceptible. They have a way of temporarily alarming me, until I can come to my senses and fight the way the Lord has taught me.

This morning I was reading in Luke 4 and noticed that I am in good company. The Lord Jesus had the same kind of attacks when He was in the wilderness. In verse 4, the enemy says to Him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." And there were many other "if" attacks on our Lord by the enemy in the wilderness. I thought that was very interesting. The enemy loves to place subtle doubts in our minds about who we are, what the Lord has called us to do and upon the Lord's faithfulness.

And of course, this is one of the greatest battles that we face...the battle for the mind. If the enemy can get us to believe the doubts and lies that he subtly whispers into our ears, and we react in fear or desperation, then he has won. One of my greatest battles in this area is over provision. The enemy knows how to place doubts into my mind to try and make me believe that I have to provide for myself or that my customers are my provision. I have learned over and over to remember and proclaim that the Lord is not only my provider but also my provision, my very great reward. As I refuse to dwell in those places of doubt and fear by remembering what my Faithful Father has done for me in the past, as I focus on Him and His Word rather than on the situation, I find that slowly but surely I am able to overcome the alarm and move to a place of security and victory. After all, we are called to be more than conquerors.

I know that God blesses us with enough problems in life, so that He can rescue us and prove Himself to us so that we will no longer fear problems, but see them as opportunities for God to show Himself strong and faithful. I know I'm not fully there yet, (maybe we never will be this side of heaven) but I know that He is moving me in that direction. Sometimes it's one step back but ultimately I know that, by His grace, I will take two steps forward.

Psalm 27:5-6 says, "For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in His dwelling; He will hide me in the shelter of His tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at His tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the Lord."

So Faithful Father, we give you all of our "what ifs", knowing that you are sufficient for all that we face. Thank you that you will not let us be tempted beyond what we are able to bear. Amen

Let's live like we believe Him!

The Battle for the Car Wash

When we built our car wash, we envisioned a no hassle business. After being in the restaurant business for 25 years, we figured, how hard could a self serve car wash be compared to a restaurant? But we were sadly mistaken. It did well at first, but never really achieved the level that we had hoped for. And then it began to go down, down, down, so we decided that the best thing to do was to sell it.

But when the business didn't sell, the Holy Spirit began to speak to me about it, through my desperate hopelessness. He impressed upon me that He had given us that asset and that I had not fought for it at all, in prayer. I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that it wouldn't do well and had given up.

God is raising up His warrior bride to fight for the Kingdom. For the marketplace minister, that very often is our business/ministry. When we find ourselves in fear and/or hopelessness, that can be a key for us to know that we need to seek God and see how and where He wants us to fight for a situation. God is in the process of preparing us to don our sword, shield and combat boots to accent our wedding dress as we become "more than conquerors through Him who loved us." (Romans 8:37)

He actually has already won the victory, but He invites us to join with Him to accomplish that victory. He invites us to battle in prayer and seek His face for strategy. He has also given us co-conquerors to join us in the battle and we need to gather those warriors around us to join us in the battle.

When we are in battle, there is an incredible danger for us to become focused on the battle and the opposition and on ourselves and what we are to do. He reminded me recently that we have always got to keep our focus on Him and Who He is and what He has done. Always, always, the whole point of our lives is to draw back to intimacy with Him.

Since that "Godly wake up call" concerning the car wash, I have begun to fight for the car wash in prayer and petition. I wish I could say that the victory has become manifest and that the car wash has tripled its' sales, but I can't. Sometimes God answers prayers immediately and sometimes He lets us linger in battle for His purposes and our growth. He has reminded me often of Daniel's prayer, which took some time to be answered because Daniel was being opposed. So, I'll keep in touch concerning the status of the battle for the car wash, but I guess you'll just have to stay tuned to hear the end of this story...

The Safest Place

In light of the recent gloomy economic news in our nation, sometimes I find myself thinking that my husband and I would be better off if we were in some other business or just had regular jobs, rather than functioning in the marketplace. Surely, everyone else's provision is more secure than ours, isn't it?! Whenever I begin to think about which job or business would be the most secure if the economy really tanked, I actually discover that every job and business will be affected.

Every time I start down that path I feel the Lord speak to me very clearly about the fear that wants to rise up and destroy me. He always assures me that the safest place we can be is where He has placed us. It is not a matter of where we are physically, but where our hearts are. He has promised to shake everything that can be shaken, everything that is not based on His Lordship. When fear arises within us, looking at Him is our only help. If we have built our kingdom upon worldly foundations, then they will be shaken. Our Heavenly Father loves us too much to leave us in a place of relying on anything but Him. He knows what we need, He knows what will bless us and those around us. We can choose sinking sand or we can choose the Rock!

Fear so easily creeps into our minds, especially when we are focusing on ourselves and the possibilities that could happen to us if the economy gets really bad. But God has not given us a spirit of fear, but He has given us a Spirit of power and of love and self control. (2 Timothy 1:7) He wants to deal with anything in our lives that comes between us and Him and fear is one of those.

As I was looking for a scripture recently about fear on line, I was shocked to see how many references there was for "fear". I have a feeling that God knows that we need lots of help with this one, because the enemy knows how much we are affected by fear. And I know that God does not want to leave us there in a place of fear or timidity.

He tells us in Romans 8:15 that we have not received a spirit that makes us a slave again to fear, but we have received the Spirit of sonship. We are the precious children of the King and Creator of the Universe and He knows everything about us and knows what's best for us. As we spend time with Him and look at His face and come into greater intimacy with Him, He will bring us out of the fear and lead us into a peace that passeth understanding, even in the tumultuous times that we are now in.

He also tells us that we are to lean not on our own understanding, but to acknowledge Him in all our ways and He will make our paths straight (Proverbs 3:5,6). If we focus only on our circumstances, the storms and the possibilities, we will be easily overwhelmed. As we acknowledge Him in everything we do, even if it seems like it won't accomplish our plans, He will straighten out all the circumstances and calm the storms. His perspective and vision is much higher and greater than ours and we can trust Him in everything that we face. Praise Him in the midst of the storm and watch Him work!!

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. -John 14:27

Prayer

I have often appreciated the prayer guidance some authors have given me concerning an issue so I thought it might be helpful to share some prayer insights that God has given me concerning ministry in business. Remember that ultimately we should be seeking the Holy Spirit about what to pray, but here are some starter thoughts that might be helpful:

• Ask God to cover, hide and protect you and your domain, especially with His armor.

• Ask Him for wisdom and strategy as you minister in the marketplace.

• Ask Him for the authority, power and anointing that you will need to accomplish His purposes.

• Ask Him to give you a willingness to put His Kingdom ahead of your own.

• Ask Him to prepare and teach you His ways of doing business.

• Ask Him to lead you into all truth.

• Ask Him to give His angels charge over you and your domain.

• Ask Him to be the builder and architect of your business.

• Ask Him to provide resource and provision for His purposes to be accomplished and for the grace to wait for these to come forth.

• Ask Him to bless your business so that it will be a blessing to your employees, suppliers, customers and community. Ask Him to expand your territory.

• Ask Him to allow everything that you do personally and in your business to honor Him.

• Ask Him to oppose those who oppose you and contend with those who contend with you.

• Ask Him for strength to fight the fight (your part) and trust Him with His part of the battle.

• Ask Him for grace, favor, mercy and to increase your faith.

• Ask Him to search you and know you, so that you can know Him more intimately.

• Ask Him for rest and peace.

• Ask Him to connect you with those He wants in order to advance the Kingdom.

• Ask Him for divine appointments

Sometimes I pray these daily, and sometimes I will focus on one or two a day, as the Lord leads. Our Father loves for us to invite Him into every aspect of our lives and businesses. Over time I believe that we will see Him answer the prayer requests that honor Him and bless us in Kingdom ways.