When God is in Charge of a Business: Sharing the Love of Jesus

Nearly 30 years ago, a couple who wanted to serve God overseas among unreached people learned that people with business experience and teachers are welcome in countries that restrict missionary visas. The doors were opened for them to live in a country with little gospel presence based on their professional experience. For the last 20 years, they have stewarded a business with the goal of spiritual transformation. Here is their story:

Most citizens in our adopted country belong to a religion that is hostile to the gospel. The people around us have grown up hearing all kinds of untruths about Jesus. Their hearts tend to be resolutely closed to following Him. What a privilege and honor it has been to rub shoulders at work, day in and day out with people who would not or could not set foot in a church building.

“God is teaching us that the only metric for success in the business world, or any other sphere, is love.”

We steward a business with the goal of spiritual transformation. Our prayer is, “May Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven,” as people in our community are changed through our business activities.

This calling is birthed—and bathed—in prayer. Our business manual is the living, breathing Holy Spirit—His written and spoken words. What a Guide!

Stewards, Not Owners

The Holy Spirit is actively involved in every area of the business. God is the CEO and exclusive owner of the company. We are the stewards of what He has given us, not the owners. This subtle difference changes everything.

When the economy collapsed, we realized that if we were the owners, we would have been stressed and sleepless. As stewards, we made an appointment with the boss to inform Him of the situation: “Boss, there’s an issue with Your business . . .” We discovered, of course, that He saw the collapse coming. We left the problem on His desk and walked away greatly impacted by His peace.

God is in the Details

We’ve set aside a special “office” for the CEO. We call it “the prayer and reflection room.” We invite everyone who enters the premises to come and meet God in the prayer room and spend some time in His presence. Many take us up on it, providing meaningful opportunities to pray with our staff. We have made it our goal to be with the Owner in His office as much as we can. We are learning that when we spend time in His presence, we begin to see things the way He does.

One night our staff was working very late, implementing new software to manage business operations. After dinner, we were on our way to a prayer meeting when traffic became so bad that we decided to give up and head back home. The Holy Spirit spoke up: “Go and drop by the office and encourage the workers there instead.” We turned around and surprised the staff with snacks to keep them going. We quickly discovered that they had encountered a problem that they expected would take four days—and nights—to correct. The entire business would be on hold until the issue was resolved. We interceded right there, asking God for a creative and quick solution. The next morning, the staff told us that within an hour after we left, they had a breakthrough and miraculously resolved the issue!

God Cares for Hearts

If God is so interested in the operational details, how much more so is He passionate about the hearts of the people. Jesus Himself is actively pursuing every individual we hire and every client we work with. Recently I asked four of our staff if they’ve ever seen “the Man in white” (Jesus) in their dreams. (In this part of the world, dreams are a way that God breaks through to people.) One of them answered right away, “My daughter sees Him all the time.” Another woman described a dream she’d had just the night before! The Holy Spirit is at work in amazing ways here, wooing and drawing hearts to Himself.

To sustain and encourage us, God has given us multiple promises for the salvation of the people we work with. The other day, I was in the prayer room when one of the promises, Zechariah 8:21 _(ESV), came to mind, in which one group says to another, “Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the Lord and to seek Him; I myself am going.” I began to praise God that His promises are Yes and Amen in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20), and as good as done.

Minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Fatima walked in, followed by Gül. “I don’t know why, but it’s like God drew me here with a magnet,” Fatima said.

“Yes,” Gül continued, “She came to me and said, ‘Let us go at once to the prayer room and ask Elizabeth to pray for us. I myself am going.’”

Loving the One

As He woos their hearts, He’s also drawing us in. God is teaching us that the only metric for success in the business world, or any other sphere, is love. We take the time to treat each person as valued and deeply loved by God. A few years ago, the Lord challenged us to pray with every person in our company who became ill. Soon one of our leaders had major surgery, and we went to see her in the hospital to pray. We discovered that she had developed an infection and spiked a fever. The doctor had told her she couldn’t leave for at least another week, and that her recovery would take six months. I shared the story of the paralytic with her and asked permission to lay hands on her and pray in Jesus’ name.

After I finished praying, she said, “WHAT is in your hands? I felt this HEAT  . . .” That evening, the doctor confirmed that her infection and fever were completely gone. He sent her home the next day! Two—not six—months later, our CFO was back at work, telling everyone, “Jesus heals!”

God’s mercy and love expressed in practical and miraculous ways in our business give us hope for gospel transformation in individuals and society. “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” Romans 5:5 _(ESV).

*All names have been changed.

Praise God that His Spirit is active even in cultures where there are restrictions on Christians. Consider how you can live out your faith in your business and neighborhood, being salt and light for those the Spirit has prepared to hear and respond.