Hi, my name is Alvin Phang and I have been a businessman since 2006 teaching people around the world how to sell stuff online with education training. The truth is I only started to get serious with God only in 2011 when my life got transformed through Jesus Christ.
Just like most Christian businessman, I was in desperate need to make money to make a living but at that point of the moment, I would say I was not mature Christian yet and make most of my business decision based on selfish desires than seeking God for direction.
If you are currently struggling in your career, business or maybe in debt this article will give you practical steps into helping you make wiser decisions that not only gives you a piece of mind but it will help you get connected with God again to direct you in your life.
God is All-Knowing & All-Powerful ( Omnipresence and Omniscience )
Before we can dive into making any decision we need to acknowledge that God knows what is best for us and He is all-knowing and all-powerful. He loves you so much
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life ”
– John 3:16
People who believe in Christ, accept Him into their lives and live a daily life of repentance are followers of Jesus Christ.
Do Not Worry God Knows What You Needs & He Will Provide Trust Him
We tend to worry a lot in real life, especially so when you are in need of money to survive for living or buying food. But the Lord promises us this.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can anyone of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you-you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
– Matthew 6:25-34
The key point in these promises is not to worry, trust God, seek His kingdom first and all these things will be given to you.
The problem with most of us is we seek the things first and demand a visible result first before seeking God. Most times, when we make any career decisions we often never pray or ask God is this the right decision to make and went on to make it without seeking God’s direction. Eventually, when things do not go the way you wanted, most people blame God for it.
However, the question here is ” have you seek His kingdom first? or your own selfish desire first?” Think about this for a moment. When was the last time, you pray before making a career decision? Has your prayer has anything to do with seeking Him first?
You Only Can Serve One God Not Two!
First, you have to know God works in ways and means beyond your understanding and sometimes what He tells us seems unusual or weird sometimes because it takes faith and trust in God to take action from the wisdom that God has given to us.
When I was a young Christian businessman, I had many selfish ambitions wanting to be rich and famous and drive a nice car. Unknowingly when I look back, I was drawn more toward Money as my God than God himself.
When you make a career decision based on monetary gain than God you are actually serving money as an idol than God. God made it very clear in the verse below:
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
– Matthew 6:24
You might have prayed this prayer, “God please blessed me in this business and make more money so that I can bless other later.”
If that is you, you have deceived yourself into thinking you are seeking God first but if you touch your heart you know you are serving money than God. You only can serve one, not both.
Practical Ways To Pray & Make Wise Decisions In Your Career
- Find a quiet place to pray first ensure no one is disturbing you while praying
- Grab your bible, pen and notebook along with you
- Start out your prayer by first thank God for His goodness and promises
- Ask God is there anything I can do for you today that would please you
- Wait for a response from God, He will reveal it to you in various ways
- For me personally, it’s thought thinking of the mind
- For some people, they can hear the audible sound of God speaking
- For some through visions
- For some through the reading of the Bible
- The important key here is you must be patient with God and be sensitive how God is speaking to you
- Once you get something immediately start writing down on your notebook what God is speaking
- An important side note, some people have mistaken what they heard from God is actually not from God but more of a personal voice or satan’s voice
- To ensure you are listening from God, make sure what you wrote or listen is always in line with the Bible
- Normally during this process of hearing from God will take a while. ( For me personally, it can go up to 1 to 3 hours even sometimes because you got lost into the presence of God )
- After you felt God is done speaking with you THAN at the last part is time to put up your prayer request on the career decision you are about to make.
- When you pray, it should have been a submissive prayer which goes something like this
- “Lord I thank you for the opportunity or idea you given to me, I not sure how I should decide on deciding can you help me decide”
- Notice how I frame the question as a servant asking from the master. Most times we demand things from God but that’s not how a servant ask for things from a master right?
God is Our Master, We Are His Servants
Often times, Christians get disappointed with God is not because God did not answer the prayers ( He always answers! ) but the true fact is the following:
- You cannot accept God’s answer to deny your request or you grow impatience ( lack humility )
- The resulting outcome is not up to your expectations ( a sign of more greed )
- You expect more from God ( a sign of greed here )
- You only expect good things from the Lord but cannot accept bad things to happen
Because of these points above, Christians will get disappointed because they fall to realise at the very start YOU DID NOT SEEK HIS KINGDOM first, you seek your own kingdom ( desires ) first.
God knows what is best for us and if something does not go the way you want. What can you do?
How To Response To A Negative or Bad Experience With God
The no.1 most common mistake every Christian do is they ask the “WHY” question. Why God? Why Me? Why This Disease? Why This Debt? Why My Children?
The word “WHY” is a very dangerous word that should not be used in your prayer walk with God. The problem once you ask the WHY question you expect an explanation from God but often times God might remain silent or actually told you the answer but you choose not to accept it and you dwell into bitterness and despair.
Change your “WHY” to a “WHAT” or “HOW” question by asking things like “What Lord do you want me to see in this very bad situation?” or “How Lord do you want me to respond to this situation?”
Do you notice from the question above, it positions ourselves in a servanthood mindset rather than Christian demand things from God?
God taught us in the Bible to be humble, teachable & have faith in Him. If you truly love Jesus as to how you sing at church than I would like to encourage you to have trust in God that He know what’s best for you and ALLOW God to be in every decision making you have in your career and life.
That is because once you allow God to direct your path, any bad situations that come your way would be easily overcome because you trust God knows what is best for you.
What Can You Learn From Asking God the How & What Question
When you start to learn to ask God for direction, you got to be sensitive to everything that you felt God is speaking to you to do or say. If you are not sure what to do, ask God for a clearer answer or for some people they need confirmations of signs from others.
Do note, not all the time God will give easy directions or request. Sometimes, God will give us directions to test our faith in Him or gives us directions to change our characters for something greater that is yet to come.
It would be a good habit to write down all the directions of things God has spoken to you and when you look back, later on, you realize one very common thing that all of us experience.
If you look back the past one year of your own life, has the Lord ever once not provided you with enough food, water and resources to enjoy what He has created on earth? For many they might think, I am still broke and poor but in God’s eye, you are rich because He loves you so much that He provided for you what you needed even though you desire for more in greed for more pleasure He still provides.
The problem here I want to conclude, will you be humble enough today to accept what is given to you and stop asking for more but instead, have a humble heart and seek His Kingdom first than everything else will be given to you 🙂 Remember start asking the How and What question more today 🙂
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