vladimirgrebenar 
Christians contemplating starting a business need to show such intentions to the Lord in order to receive the grace of knowing if it is God’s will. Often times Christians, whether clergy or believers, embark on ventures that seem good by human standards, seemingly not opposing the Ten Commandments of God, but ultimately failing. The reason for the failure is that the motives for which they were initiated are not good even according to God’s will. The Lord warns us, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:8-9).
To think that some noble and good idea will become a successful business with prayer is wrong! When it comes to business ventures, according to some scientific research, in the first year about a quarter of newly established companies with less than 24 employees disappear from the market. The rate of decline rises to about 50% by the end of the fifth year.[1] The scientific discipline of entrepreneurship explains that falling in business is a valuable experience, mainly for starting new ventures. Learning from your own mistakes and failures can be a positive experience, but it is not necessary for entrepreneurial success as many interpret it. Why would an entrepreneur have to fail before success?
Is there a superior way to learn to succeed than to experience your own downfall? God did not guarantee man failures before success, but success in every endeavor, if he did His will. Moses teaches the Israelites: “if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God… all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God… The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses…” (Deut. 28:1-8). So, if we listen to the “voice of God,” there is no promised fall before success, but a promised blessing after blessing, spiritual and material! According to the Bible, ventures fail because they are not the will of God, because if they were, they would not disappear, but would bear fruit.
Often times, entrepreneurs start start-up ventures out of the wrong motives, even though the business idea seems noble. For example, behind a good idea are wrong motives such as: profit, easy life, self-will, proving, social status and other motives that put the entrepreneur at the center of interest. Such motives do not benefit others. The Lord teaches us through the prophet Isaiah: “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isa. 55:11). Why do many Christians not want to listen to God’s will and hear the Word that “goeth forth out of the mouth of God,” especially for the endeavors they initiate?
Although many reasons could be given, the root cause is spiritual arrogance. Pride is the refusal to do the will of God and doing what is the will of man. The first sin of fallen angels and the first sin of men is spiritual arrogance. Spiritual arrogance is at the root of every sin, as well as in great mistakes in business. In contrast, humility is the doing of God’s will. Before their fall from Paradise, all angels were created as good angels.
The only sin at the level of perfect knowledge committed by a third of the angels was refusing to do the will of God. Because of the “non serviam” that they uttered, they were expelled from Paradise. Thus, the first people violated the will of God by placing themselves in the place of God by taking the freedom to decide what is good and what is evil. They did what they were told not to. They rejected the command of the Creator, knowingly violated God’s will, and did what was their will. God banished fallen angels from Paradise and pronounced an eternal curse on them.
God also banished man from Paradise, but gave him a second and only chance. According to the outcome of the disobedience of fallen angels and men, we clearly know that God does not bless any creature who says, “I serve myself, not You.” Equally, this rule applies to starting a business venture. An entrepreneur who thinks that faith and prayer are focused only on the liturgy and religious rites, and not on daily life and work, is greatly mistaken. True success in business implies great joy, peace, gratitude and contentment, and it is possible only by doing the will of God.
Every entrepreneur should say like the psalmist, “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest” (Ps. 40:8-9). A man who wants to start a successful business venture must ask the following question: “Lord, is this business idea Your will for me?” And the answer will surely come. “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened“ (Matt. 7:7-8).
How do I recognize if an idea that is in my mind and seems good has come as God’s will? The only way to know God’s will is to listen to God’s word in prayer. By definition, Christian prayer is a conversation with God. Conversation is a two-way communication in which one side communicates something to the other and then the other responds. Communication has an alternating flow. The Lord Jesus teaches us how important it is to listen to the will of the Father and carry out God’s deeds.
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matt. 7:21-23). Doing the will of the Father applies to all areas of life, not just to attending religious services and fulfilling obligations to the Church.
The sacraments and the Mass are not an end in themselves, but the power that God gives us to do His will in the specific circumstances of life. Thus, the sacraments, Mass and prayer help us to do God’s will as priests, teachers, farmers, merchants, athletes, artists, entrepreneurs, but there is no area of human creativity where one does not have to ask, “What is Your will for me?” However, many believers from the tradition cannot listen to this truth, because they say: “This is an hard saying; who can hear it?” (John 6:60). No wonder. Jesus was betrayed and crucified by traditional believers who did not want to listen to the word of God coming out of His mouth.
It is very dangerous to listen to traditional believers and to adapt to them, because they do not listen to God’s will, but often do the will of another spirit. God spoke through Jesus about what to do, but traditional believers did not want to listen to Him. Instead of giving themselves wholeheartedly to doing what God called them to do, they plotted to crucify Jesus. Traditional believers do what is their will and consider God biased because they are biased themselves. For such people, faith is a means to an end. They cannot know that God is perfectly righteous. They have a distorted image of God.
They are biased and expect benefit from other people, so they see God through their own interests. They give in to people, but not to the Creator! Human considerations and fears of world condemnation are a great evil and a trap for believers as well as entrepreneurs. The entrepreneur must think about what God expects of him, not what people expect of him. Many entrepreneurs give in to the selfish interests of dominant suppliers and customers, employees, political parties and other stakeholders. Because of a compromised world that does not listen to the will of its Creator, we often hear people say to one another, “Always listen to your heart.” However, if people always listened to their heart and followed it, the world would come to an end because of the chaos that would ensue. Peace, truth, order and success are possible only by doing what our Lord puts before us.
If a person is willing to hear God’s word and do it, he will experience peace and success as God’s blessing. God challenges personal change and adjustment. Many people in the world find it easier to choose a downstream direction. The leadership advice that leads to the success of entrepreneurs is “always choose the harder direction!” When God gives incentives, they always imply change for the better for others around me and myself. A man who obeys and does the will of God will be saved for eternity, and on earth he will experience the prosperity of the eternal homeland of the kingdom of heaven.
The world often does not tell the truth and many people prefer the lies of the world to the Truth. When we refuse to listen to the word of God, we testify against ourselves and write condemnation to ourselves by acts of pride! Our good deeds testify for us, and our evil deeds against us. Therefore, wake up, Christians, sleeping and thinking that God will answer your prayers, because you think that He is biased and on your side as well! An entrepreneur who wants to do the will of God must know how to listen to and do the will of God.
Jesus Christ came to teach us how to carry out our mission on earth to which He called us. The answer to this challenge is not simple. Doing God’s will is a lifelong process, not some event or period of life. The Lord Jesus gives entrepreneurs the best example of leadership: “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me” (John 6:38).
[1] Timmons, J., Spinelli, S. (2008). New Venture Creation. Entrepreneurship for 21st Century. McGraw-Hill. P. 86.