vladimirgrebenar 
biblical text,
direct speech of God,
heart,
imagination,
substances
charisms,
angels,
saints,
conscience,
sacraments,
other people
events in our lives,
reason,
science,
natural signs,
supernatural signs,
feelings,
our own mistakes,
the opposite spirit,
other ways…
Scripture is the written creative word of God that has power and might over man and nature. The Bible is not like other books written by one author or a small number of authors in a short period of time. It has been around for millennia of history, and has been written by many writers led by the Holy Spirit in this endeavor. The first book is Genesis, written by Moses around the 13th century BC, and the last book is Revelation, written by the apostle John in the late 1st century AD. The Bible interprets the origin and development of the world and man in the language of faith.
To the uninitiated reader, but also to many who approach the Bible exclusively by reason, it seems that it originated as a special literary genre of its time and that it represents only an expression and reflection of the understanding of faith in its time. However, the depths and mysteries of God’s message written in the Bible can only be realized by living in faith, and that is much more than reading the Bible. For example, those who crucified Jesus were scribes, i.e. those who knew the biblical text by heart, but did not live in faith and therefore did not know the Son of God, but condemned Him as a robber.
Jesus made it known that the entire Law, the Prophets, and other books of the Old Testament were “coded” messages that God had written through His prophets as they are: “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Mt 5:18). Elsewhere, too, Jesus teaches God’s unchanging messages written in the past to give a true testimony of future events: “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).
The Bible is full of messages and meanings, which is why it is understandable to honest, righteous, humble and small, and repulsive to conceited and arrogant people who think they know everything. Arrogant and conceited people cannot read or understand the Bible because they consider themselves “wise and prudent.” Jesus teaches about this: “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes” (Luke 10:21). Thus, by “wise and prudent” Jesus does not mean smart and humble people, but conceited worldly sages who consider themselves smarter than God. When it comes to the relationship between truly wise people and the Bible, suffice it to say that the Bible is the most quoted written work and the most read book in all of human history. Written in such a style that its message is as vivid today as it was two or three millennia ago.
The Bible was and still is a source of inspiration to the greatest philosophers, artists, scientists, entrepreneurs and political leaders, but equally a guide to life for small and unknown people. Faith is the key to understanding a superior reality that cannot be proven by scientific methods. It is fascinating that the Bible, especially the New Testament, was written by ignorant people, and the written word of God inspired the greatest minds of human history.
When it comes to practicing faith in the business world, the Bible is a source of inspiration for business decisions and a guide to starting a business. It is the most important literature for personal development, while professional literature is focused on human professional development.
God speaks through the Bible in the following ways:
1. by remembering the described narratives and God’s messages,
2. by meditation of the biblical text,
3. and by spontaneous openings
The first way is when a person reads the Bible daily and remembers important events, words and teachings spoken by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, apostles, prophets, and other biblical figures. In this way, God always brings to the mind of the believer an advice for specific life circumstances. For example, a person after a long prayer experience feels God’s calling in his heart to become independent and start a business, and parents who are not in faith want to deter their child from this decision because they think rationally and under the fear of business failure. The Spirit reminds a person that it is written: “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me” (Matt. 10:37), and encourages him to make important decisions that he would probably not dare to read in the Bible.
The Bible is so rich and full of descriptions of various events and messages that there is not a single man who could not find comfort and hope for his life’s challenges from these descriptions. However, recognizing and interpreting the Bible’s message as a narrative to be applied to one’s own life circumstances requires daily reading and a steadfast life of faith. Equally, living in faith requires knowledge of God’s word, for the Lord says through the prophet, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hos. 4:6). The most important message of God in the Old Testament is the Decalogue or the Ten Commandments of God, which are engraved in man’s conscience.
Another way God communicates through Scripture is through meditative consideration of a text. Meditation is a type of prayer in which the believer uses memory, reason and will to grasp the meaning of events. First, the Bible text is read slowly so that every word is memorized, then the will is focused on God’s message, and then the Holy Spirit guides the mind to know what God is really saying and what cannot be known by superficial reading. Sometimes meditation leads a person to a contemplative relationship with God, and this is a greater degree of prayerful relationship than meditation which is no longer under the control of reason, but under the influence of the imagination through which God speaks to man in images.
For example, a person contemplating starting a business may consider a text from the book of Jeremiah with the intention of gaining the grace of comfort and encouragement of stronger faith and patience: “Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord… Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit” (Jer. 17:5-8).
By reflecting on this text, an entrepreneur can gain the grace of knowing that God wants him to wait patiently in faith for the development of healthy business relationships with those partners who will be sent to him at the right time in his life, and not to rush to find influential people as soon as possible and create false business or political ties that he becomes a slave to for many years. This text is a powerful anti–corruption remedy that warns business people that all those who cling to immoral business–political ties cannot have peace in life, and that they will finally inherit the curse.
By reflecting the text, one realizes that God’s will is not any attachment to people and dependence on organizations, but reliance solely on God. The Bible teaches business people that there is no one more influential than God, no one whom they should worship or whose favor they should seek in order to succeed in business: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:2). To live according to the Holy Word means to be dependent only on God, and completely free and without fear of people’s reactions and their opinions. A true believer does not care what people think, but what his Lord thinks of him!
The third way how God communicates through the Bible is through its spontaneous openings, and only in those moments when we are committed to God in prayer. How can a believer pray to God for an answer in this way? It would be good for a person to say a spontaneous prayer of surrender before opening the Bible, such as: “Heavenly Father, I surrender my heart and my hands to You and ask You in the name of Your Son Jesus to open that page of Your Holy Word that answers my prayer.” By a spontaneous opening, the Lord speaks through the described event on the opened page.
This approach to prayer can be practiced by believers who are steadfast in faith and who already feel a decision in their heart as God’s will, so they ask the Lord for further confirmation by opening the Bible. It is not good for a person without an intense prayer life, without experience in faith and with superficial piety to open the Scriptures and seek answers, because such an approach would be like superstition. God speaks to those who steadily bring fruits in faith, not to those who are like grains that “fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth” (Matt. 13:5).
Making important life decisions solely through this prayer approach without prior persistent prayer of listening to God’s voice cannot be considered God’s will. The spontaneous opening of the Bible is similar to the dice-throwing prayer practiced by the apostles, for at that time the Bible was not a bound book to be opened, but a group of scrolls: “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication” (Acts 1:14), and after persistent prayer: “and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles” (Acts 1:26). How can an entrepreneur get an answer by a spontaneous opening?
For example, a person has a dilemma whether to enter an important and lasting business partnership with a large company to which he feels resistance at heart. Reasonably, such a partnership could open new business, but by listening in prayer he discerns that there is some obstacle and begs for further confirmation. After persistent prayer for this purpose, he can seek God’s will by spontaneously opening the Scriptures, and an open page with a text like “Lamentation over the Fall of Tyrus” can be read as a message that God does not want to cooperate with a company threatened with extinction. After a few years, a large company really disappears from the market, and the entrepreneur gains a prayerful experience of discernment and wisdom according to which it becomes easier to discern and make decisions later.