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Proverbs 29:11 A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control. The marketplace can be a pressure-packed world. The demands that are often put on us can bring out things that we never knew were there. Sometimes we begin to think that the source of that pressure is to blame for our response to the pressure. It could be an event, a spouse, a boss, a client, a child, or even a driver who cuts us off in traffic. I recall responding to a close friend one time, "If you had not done...

Matthew 5:11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Recently, a friend told a true story about one of his closest friends who experienced great suffering for the soul of his persecutor. This man worked on a cargo ship. His boss was the captain. This friend was a committed Christian who shared his faith with others and was a good worker. One day the friend led the sea captain's girlfriend to Christ. The sea captain already hated and ridiculed the Christian worker because of his faith...

Joel 2:25 I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten-the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm-My great army that I sent among you. There are seasons in our lives that involve times of famine and times of restoration. Solomon tells us that He has made everything beautiful in its time and that there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under Heaven. (See Ecclesiastes 3:1,11.) God brings about both the good and the bad. The seasons of famine have a divine purpose in our lives. They...

2 Samuel 24:10 David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the Lord, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O Lord, I beg You, take away the guilt of Your servant. I have done a very foolish thing." It just seems to be human nature. As we grow in wealth and ability, our confidence moves from complete trust in the Lord to trust in our resources. King David decided one day that he needed to know how many fighting men he had in his army. This was a grievous sin...

Genesis 16:2 So she said to Abram, "The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her." Abram agreed to what Sarai said. Presumption is based on our own reasoning. Abraham and Sarah fell into presumption when they got too old to have children. God had promised a son to Abraham and Sarah-a son who would fulfill His promise to birth a nation. But Abraham and Sarah were past the normal age for childbearing. So, they concluded that God needed help to work out His plan. Many businesspeople make...

Philippians 4:13 I can do everything through Him who gives me strength. In the thirteenth century a man named William Wallace became the instrument of freedom from England's tyranny over Scotland. A very wicked king ruled England. A tragedy in the life of William Wallace launched him into living for this cause. Initially his cause was revenge, but soon his cause turned to something bigger than himself-freedom for a nation. When he challenged the commoners to fight for this freedom, they responded that the enemy was too great and that they might die on the battlefield. They also refused to...

2 Corinthians 1:6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. "God must love you a lot! He doesn't allow someone to go through the kinds of adversity you have experienced unless He has a special calling on your life." Those were the words said to me by two different mentors at two different times within a three-year period. Later I would learn another related truth from a respected man of God-a man who lives in...

Psalms 127:1 Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. What does it mean for the Lord to build the house? It almost seems a contradiction when we consider that we might be the builders in this passage. God wants us to allow Him to build the house. He explains further: Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat-for He grants sleep to those He loves (Psalm...

Hebrews 4:2 For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. The people of Israel were called out of the bondage of Egyptian slavery. God said they would be brought out of 400 years of slavery so that they might worship Him. God desired to bring them into a place of milk and honey-the Promised Land. Yet that generation never entered into the Promised Land. Why? They never took what they knew in their...

Hebrews 12:15 See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. In business and life the opportunity to harbor bitterness for a wrong suffered is great. We are given plenty of opportunities to grow bitter from relationships that bring hurt and pain. The writer of the Hebrews passage above admonishes us not to miss the grace of God so that we won't take up bitterness as a response to life's pain. He cautions us against this because he knows that a bitter root grows and...

Colossians 4:12 He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. "Good morning. Before we begin our staff business meeting I wish to ask John to give us the intercessors' report regarding the direction of our new business development program." "Our intercessors have been prayerfully reviewing the action plan I gave them. We believe the Lord is directing us in this way. However, our intercessors believe we may need to adjust our direction on this." Does this sound like a far-fetched illustration of a modern-day company?...

Zechariah 9:13 I will rouse your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and make you like a warrior's sword. In the third and fourth centuries Socrates and other Greek scholars began to influence the Church in ways that were different from the Hebraic roots of the early Church. The Greek influence appeals more to the intellect, whereas the early-Church Hebraic model appealed to the heart. The Greek influence resulted in more emphasis on oratory skills and cognitive knowledge of God. Over the many centuries, this influence has shown itself in a more programmatic approach to the gospel rather...

Revelation 18:4 ..."Come out of her, My people, so that you will not share in her sins, sso that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes." There is a day when God is going to judge the system of Babylon around the world. What is Babylon? Babylon is a system of doing business. The stronghold of the marketplace is mammon and pride. Dependence on money and misplaced trust are at the core of a Babylonian philosophy of life. Revelation 18 describes a time when God...

Philippians 3:10 I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection.... If I asked you the purpose for which God made you, what might you say? You might give a lot of answers that required some action on your part. However, the simplest answer to that question relates to one primary thing: fellowship. The most important thing God desires from us today is to have a deep and intimate fellowship with each of us. The apostle Paul said he wanted to know Christ, and by knowing Christ he could experience the power of His resurrection. I find this...

Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood.... Have you ever heard someone say, "I will never do business with another Christian"? I hear this comment quite often in my dealings with Christian businesspeople. This comment represents the battle that rages against us by the enemy of our soul to destroy the witness and effectiveness of Christian businesspeople. We must realize that we are in a war-a war for the souls of men, a war to discredit all that a Christian stands for, a war that is designed to divide Christian against Christian. Satan's ploy in the...

Malachi 3:14-15 You have said, "It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out His requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape." Have you ever felt that serving God had little reward and the ungodly seemed actually to be more blessed than you? This is what the people of God felt. God heard their cry and responded through the prophet Malachi to explain God's view on this matter. Then those who feared the Lord talked...

Genesis 41:52 ..."It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering." Joseph named his second son Ephraim. Ephraim was given to him after he had been delivered from his suffering of 13 years. Joseph said that he named him this because God had made him fruitful in the land of his suffering. Ephraim means "twice fruitful." Joseph was fruitful in two instances. He was fruitful during his time of adversity and in his prosperity. When God brings us into a time of suffering, it can be a fruitful time. It's rare for us to see...

Zechariah 8:23 "...Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you." Few men of God have become extraordinary people of faith without the influence of mentors. A mentor is one who takes responsibility for the spiritual and, sometimes, physical care of another. It requires a commitment from the teacher and the student. Elijah mentored Elisha. Elisha became one of the greatest prophets in all the Bible. One of the primary reasons for this was Elisha's hunger. Elisha wanted a double portion of Elijah's spirit. It was this hunger that drove Elisha to be sold out...

Haggai 1:4 "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?" There is a crisis of grand proportions in the spiritual house of God today. The moral fiber of our world has eroded. Greed, idolatry, and pleasure are the gods of our day. And it is no different in the Body of Christ. The prophet Haggai wrote about a people who had lost concern for the need to build God's house because they were so focused on their own worldly needs. It is a dangerous place to get with...

2 Samuel 1:12 They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the army of the Lord and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. How would you respond if you heard something bad happened to someone who had been trying to cut off your head for several years? King Saul had been seeking to kill David for many years before Saul was thrust into battle against the Amalekites. In this final battle, a sword killed Saul. When the news reached David, instead of rejoicing that his enemy was...