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How to discern from which spiritual source the stimulus comes? Rationally considering the previously described event (in which the entrepreneur is considering expanding the scope of work), incentive can come from all three sources: a) God – the Lord wants to glorify Himself through greater customer satisfaction and increased wages, b) man – the desire of the entrepreneur or a member of the family for career, status or some other personal goal, and c) demon – the enemy plans to complicate the processes in the company and direct the company towards extinction, and the family of the entrepreneur to split.
So, when it comes to incentives that are not initially opposed to the Decalogue, they can come from all three sources, and rational thinking of man as much as he has expertise and experience is not enough to discern the source of influence. Such a challenge cannot be discerned in any rational way, for the rational mind cannot dive into the depths of man’s emotions nor can it transcend God’s intentions. God delegates responsibility and freedom to man to discern and make decisions with the help of the Spirit, because it is written: “For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us” (Acts 15:28).
Incentives that are not initially opposed to the Decalogue can only be discerned by the prayer of listening when we allow the Spirit to speak to our hearts through a certain amount of time required for discernment. When can we listen to the Lord and how does it look like? It is necessary to ask the Lord during the Holy Mass, ten minutes after receiving the Body of Christ, during the rosary prayer when we reflect on the mysteries of Jesus’ life, during a reading of a text from the Scriptures, or during another prayer to God or the saints for their intercession with God.
God wants us to discern and make decisions for our own lives and therefore wants to speak to every man about his life. It is very helpful to have a strong spiritual leader or someone who is very experienced in the prayer of discernment. The prayer of discernment is not rational thinking, so one should stay away from any advice that goes in the direction of interpreting which direction to go in life and which decision to make.
The least intelligent demon is seven times more intelligent than the most intelligent man. The devil is betting on the card that people look for answers exclusively in a rational way. Therefore, any distinction regarding decisions that are not contrary to the Decalogue, and which are based only on the human intellect, is not sufficient and carries the risk of falling. The role of the priest or spiritual leader is not to make a decision for us or to suggest which decision to make, but to follow our prayer experience and express in the Spirit what seems to him to be the right choice in key decisions.
A believer must know that the final decision is confirmed by God, not man. That is why you need to take responsibility for your decisions before God. It is completely wrong when a person counsels another person to make a decision, because God’s will is subordinated to the opinion of the counselor. No one has the right or authority over another person’s life to make decisions in areas that belong to the free creativity of the individual and do not oppose the Decalogue: ”Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17).
Imposing on children which school or college to enroll in, imposing their opinions on others with prejudices on topics other than religious truths, banning, blackmailing, moralizing on human freedom, coercing, manipulating spiritual talents and behaviors is like playing with “knowing good and evil.” God gives us complete freedom of decision in matters that do not directly oppose the Decalogue precisely in order to ask God for His opinion. God has not allowed anyone to do such a thing, because man is free from everything except to obey God’s Law and listen to God’s word!
How to recognize God’s incentives? First of all, it should be emphasized that only a person in a state of sacramental grace and firm in prayer and fasting can discern spirits. Christians have at their disposal various prayer activities in which we need to hand over to God the incentives that come to us: regular Holy Mass on Sundays and holidays and during the week for as many days possible, regular daily reading and meditation of the Scripture, regular daily prayer of the rosary or even all misteries of the rosary, frequent prayers in tongues, interpretations of tongues and prophecies, and many others.
Through all these prayer activities, a believer can ask the Spirit about the source of some incentive. The longer the life experience of discernment, the stronger this charisma. When it comes to incentives that do not oppose the Decalogue, there are three key criteria for distinguishing God’s incentive. The Lord’s incentives are such that they create a kind of confusion in people who grow in faith: “How will it be?” (Luke 1:34), bring peace to a humble heart: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord,“ and demand great trust in God: “be it unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38).
Throughout our lives, God calls us to unconventional solutions and radical decisions to change the direction of our life, but He always prepares us for such changes during a long period of time. More important decisions require a long time of discernment and God never calls for radical change in a short time.
A person can feel in their heart that change will soon come, and when God’s calling follows, it will still be a surprise: “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).
Therefore, great incentives and changes necessarily take time to be discerned and comprehended, and everyday events and decisions are easily discernible. To Christians who do their own will and call on God to bless their own decisions, this charism means nothing, because they lead themselves thinking that they are serving God. On the contrary, for those who truly want to do God’s will, this charism is like a lamp in the night that illuminates God’s ways: “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isa. 55:9).
Cognition, according to the general definition, is the process of acquiring knowledge, i.e. understanding the truth. There are two levels of knowledge: a) spiritual knowledge, and b) rational knowledge. The need of entrepreneurs, managers and workers for personal and professional growth is often discussed today. Spiritual knowledge contributes to personal growth, while with rational knowledge we build a profession. With reason we acquire knowledge about both realities, spiritual and rational, that is, we grow personally and professionally.
Reason is, on the one hand, the gift of the Holy Spirit by which we know the Truth in faith, and on the other hand, reason is the ability to understand our profession, which we learn about through schooling. The challenge for the man of the 21st century is to grow in both directions, spiritual and intellectual, so that one can achieve true success in business, which is manifested in financial, material and family blessings. Modern management proves that both levels of knowledge are important for such success in business: spiritual knowledge which is called tacit or hidden in the literature (values, attitudes, beliefs and lived experiences), and rational knowledge which is called expertise.
Many scientific studies over the last three decades have shown that ethics and emotional intelligence are more important for business success than a high level of expertise. In other words, the core values of creating and understanding the feelings of other people are more important for success than the expertise related to the profession. Unfortunately, some entrepreneurs or managers are intellectual giants and spiritual dwarfs at the same time, and there are those who are strong in spirituality, but lack the expertise for the business they are running. The imbalance of personal and professional construction makes a person dissatisfied, moreover restless and anxious, because one part of their personality is not realized. It should be borne in mind that the Lord Himself was a professional carpenter before public action!
Spiritual knowledge as the charism of the Spirit is a gracious gift to those who follow Christ in order to understand spiritual reality and acquire spiritual knowledge. It comes in two ways: a) through word, and b) through understanding. By spiritual cognition, we understand spiritual realities that we do not see, but for which we know that they exist and affect our lives. The word of knowledge comes in the Spirit as God’s response to our effort to understand the causes of a particular situation.
Often, the word of knowledge is the solution to a complicated problem. Reflecting on the circumstances of life with the received word of cognition leads to an understanding of reality on a larger level. Spiritual knowledge is gained through prayer experience. Understanding spiritual reality is essential to one’s true business and life success. Moreover, this understanding of spiritual reality is more important than the profession, and both are important and nothing should be neglected.
Guided by faith, and not just rational pragmatic thinking, the entrepreneur will pray for a word of knowledge from the Lord to understand the specific business and life circumstances he is experiencing, good or bad, and patiently from day to day. The word of knowledge that he receives can solve the complicated situation in private and business life, but also encourage greater proactivity for the Lord. For example, an entrepreneur notices that a company is getting into trouble with declining sales of its products after the sale was effective some time ago.
The rational realization of this problem is that the product is no longer competitive enough in price and quality, so such thinking creates a fear of uncertainty and possible decline. However, the entrepreneur-believer seeks enlightenment from the Lord in prayer why this situation occurs and receives the word of knowledge “new beginning,” which brings peace to the heart and understanding that God is preparing for change and calls for business activity of a higher degree of creation. That is why the entrepreneur continues to persistently pray to the Lord for blessings in launching new initiatives. The word of cognition grows in the experience of understanding the spiritual reality that affects the reality we see. Greater experience of understanding spiritual reality leads to the charism of wisdom.