vladimirgrebenar 
Unrestrainedness and peace are necessary preconditions for us to hear the will of God. Jesus sought solitude for a prayerful atmosphere so that people would not interfere with his conversation with the Father. “And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed” (Luke 5:16). We can hear the word of God when we calm the external and internal noise, that is, when we are in a special place of prayer that is isolated from outside influences and where we find no disturbance and peace. The outdoor noise is natural, and it is created by people and sounds from our surroundings. A special place for prayer should be free from the influence of telephones, mobile phones and the possibility of disturbing people, in order to prevent the influences of the world.
Entrepreneurs and managers like silence because there is too much noise during the working day. However, being undisturbed from the restless influences of the world is not enough for us to know the will of God. Jesus left us another and immeasurably more important peace than worldly peace: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). Thus, Jesus gives us an inner peace that is stronger than the unrest and fears within us.
How to gain such precious peace? First of all, it is the grace of God that cannot be obtained by human wisdom or some psychological methods. It is about the spiritual peace that God gives to those who have a great longing to do His will and who do so. Entrepreneurs and managers who want to do God’s will through a business venture will gain the spiritual peace Jesus spoke of, but they must first remain tested in faith. Inner noise is a restlessness within us that only the peace of Jesus can overcome. There are different sources of unrest in us. It is important for business decision-making to identify five sources of influence that create unrest in us in order to know how to prevent them and stay at peace.
The first and most common source of unrest is our sins and the influence of evil over our sins. Sin leads us to a state of mind in which we lose Jesus’ peace, or cannot find it. Because of sin, we cannot listen to and do the will of God. Sin, the greater it is, has more devastating consequences on stakeholder relationships and creativity.
Man cannot be entrepreneurially creative under the influence of grave sins as much as he could be without sin, for sin brings fears. God is merciful and forgiving to us, calling us to change direction in life: “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezek. 33:11). The unrest resulting from our sins cannot be appeased by external silence, but is appeased through the sacrament of confession and reconciliation. A Christian who wants to hear the word of God must not have mortal or grievous sins if he wants to do the will of God.
Another source of unrest are everyday circumstances that have a strong impact on our inner mood. Tensions in the family or at work, injustices in society, ugly words and curses we hear while others say them, staying in a space where occult objects exist and their impact, false and hysterical news through the media, and many other external stimuli can keep us tense constantly. An evil spirit attacks us through situations and some people in various ways. He acts with superior intelligence to keep us constantly restless and in fear, and to make his presence imperceptible.
His goal is to harass and frighten people so that they will not be able to hear God’s word. That is why attacks, condemnation, slander, intrigue and intimidation often occur in Christian workplaces. Jesus described such situations as expected and said: “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake” (Matt. 5:11). Therefore, whenever we are in turmoil because others are falsely attacking and persecuting us, we should have faith and trust in Jesus to be rewarded for it, so we should pray for Jesus’ peace to be restored. “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles… O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him” (Ps. 34:6-8).
The third source of unrest is spiritual dryness or a sense of resistance to the prayer God gives us to test us as to whether we are still faithful when the feeling of His nearness temporarily disappears. Also, resisting in prayer can be a warning that we are doing something that is not to His liking, even though we are not committing sin. For example, God wants us to do business with some stakeholder that He sends us on our way, but it is our will to keep looking for other offers and lower prices in the market.
The fourth source of unrest is envy, jealousy, evil words, evil desires, and the occultism of people close to us such as some family members, false friends, and some employees. Compromises and human considerations from people from our immediate environment who have negative feelings bring lasting unrest and problems in private and business life. Successful people should not share success with people who have negative feelings or establish strong relationships with them, no matter who those people are.
The Lord teaches us, “be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men” (Matt. 10:16-17). The fifth source of unrest is the pure influence of an evil spirit without the mediation of people or our mistakes. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5:8).
When an important decision needs to be made that brings justice to the organization and truly glorifies God by works, the evil spirit resists itself because it loses influence over people and the organization. For example, when fair work procedures are needed to reward hardworking, responsible and creative employees, and reduce the influence of lazy and reactive employees and expose injustices, there is a real spiritual battle in which an evil spirit often directly attacks the person leading such a project and makes him restless. “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?” (Isa. 58:6).
Every Christian should have an intimate relationship with God, because God revealed Himself in the Son as “Emmanuel – God with us” and poured out His Holy Spirit on us. God gives us the Son and the mysteries of the life of Jesus so that we may live with Him, cooperate with Him, and fulfill the will of the heavenly Father. God is with us through the mysteries of the life of Jesus. When we consider the mysteries of Jesus’ life from Scriptures and apply them to our lives, the sacraments we have received as Christians become active in us and we, ourselves, proactive. An intimate relationship with God has a person living according to God’s laws and praying daily. Christians who are active in prayer have the experience of God in their lives.
The more prayer, the greater the fruits and the feeling of God’s nearness. Prayer activity leads to such experiences of life events in which God arranges some situations and relationships with people in an extraordinary way. People who have no prayer relationship or prayer experience, when they need to make important decisions, they think purely rationally and are always influenced by the fear of losing something they have gained. Entrepreneurs who have prayer experience and business decision-making experience where God has intervened are developing an increasingly intense and intimate prayer relationship with God.
They get to know God’s nature day by day and realize that in God they have the best counselor for their business decisions. Having an intimate relationship with God means that in complex situations and before big and small decisions I want to first ask my Lord what He thinks about it. God wants us to be so close to Him so that we become friends: “I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you” (John 15:15). Friends are trusted!
Trust in God is trust in a best friend. None of our friends, not even our best, would go to court for us if we made the mistake and take the verdict instead of us and serve the sentence. Jesus did just that! He redeemed us even when we knew nothing about Him. He wants His sacrifice for each of us personally not to be in vain, but to get closer to Him and believe that the best life choice for us is to have Him as a friend. Jesus is unobtrusive. He will not act in our lives if we think we don’t need Him or that He is a distant past. Jesus respects our will.
When we come before God, for the final judgment, we will not be able to say a single word against Jesus that He was responsible for our problems. It is our choice whether we want to create our own career and start private and business ventures with Jesus or without Jesus. Many who do this without Jesus are full of anger at politicians, employees, family members, friends, and anyone else, and they should consider who is their best friend in life and whom they trust. Christian, who do you trust more in your life? The media and the world under the influence of evil that rejects God’s laws, or the Holy Spirit who speaks in your personal prayer with God? “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13).
Trust in God is like the trust of a small child in its father or mother. Although it does not understand everything, it trusts its parent, because it is warmed by the love of its father and mother’s heart. Trusting in God means listening to what the Church teaches, the Scriptures, and what we receive in personal prayer. Trusting in God means being willing to make a decision that is His will for my life. Trusting in God means not persevering in seeking all the explanations “how it will be,” because I want to remove all ambiguities before I decide.
Trust in God means a willingness to be patient and persistent in doing His will even when for some time there is no result I hope for. “Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods” (Matt. 24:46-47).