I just finished Doing Business God’s Way- What every Christian called to the marketplace should understand about God’s Laws of Prosperity by Dennis Peacocke.

When we view business in a different light – that of the Lord, we begin to see that He owns everything.  Not only that but He is also in control of everything.   This is a tough concept for me to wrestle with, especially in a “me” society.  I know there have been many times where I have failed to include God in “my plans”.

How about this?  What if we saw God as the CEO of our business. What if we looked at His Word as our business plan.  What if we focused on truly serving others rather than just making a profit?  Now I know many of you will say, “should we really mix faith and money?”   To quote Peacocke, “God is a businessman and He’s building a business.”  I love how he lays out a business plan based on biblical principles:

  1. Change must work from the inside out – both personally and in your business
  2. Change must happen from the bottom up (local to national to international)
  3. Change must be comprehensive and not only look at today’s impact but the impact on eternity
  4. Change must be affected by godly stewardship of servant-leaders

Here are a few other great takeaways from Doing Business God’s Way:

  • We grow by caring for people and things
  • Problems grow our character and generate profits. In other words, it is during our trying times that God does His best work and prunes us for future growth (personally and businesswise)
  • All lasting wealth comes through the family unit and is built generationally – If we can pass wealth and wisdom, we can impact many generations to come!
  • Work is a holy, everlasting calling.  Retirement may be worldly but we should never retire from God’s work. We can retire from a job or career but there is still much to do to serve Him!
  • Service is the foundation of all lasting growth.  Look to truly serve others and improve their lives.
  • I love this one: God pays for what He orders.  Many believe more money is the answer.  Yet God always funds what is important to Him.  Are you operating under His will or your own?
  • Many of us are so afraid to fail so we sit in the same place – paralyzed! Yet, the possibility of a failure is essential for human growth.
  • Ideas and actions have economic consequences.
  • Here’s a controversial one: Men are not equal and economic redistribution cannot change this fact.  Think about it.  Can you jump as high as Lebron James?  Can you do business like Donald Trump?  Our gifts and abilities to create wealth are not equal…
  • Get back to the roots of business and build from there!

Overall, this is a great book to inspire you to take a more disciplined, biblical approach to business.

What are your thoughts?  What other key business principles have helped you carry out God’s plan for your life?