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...