Believers today face a number of unique challenges where it comes to really reaching out for and achieving success. Religious training has, unfortunately, not done us any favors along these lines… something we’ve talked about repeatedly here. But today I want to bring up one of the challenges that all of us face.

This nasty critter is more fundamental, more universal and more subtle than perhaps any other obstacle we must overcome. It’s one I hate to even name. It’s partly a belief about ourselves (and about God), but it’s better described as a condition that controls us.

What's Holding You Back?

This one will cause you to second-guess yourself. It will make you feel like a fraud. It will cause you to want to avoid contact with your Father God. It will undermine your faith. It will sideline you.

This controlling condition has weakened the greatest among us. It has aborted dreams, robbed destinies and prevented miracles. You were born with it and so was I. Once in a while someone seems to be more or less immune to it, but most of us suffer silently.

And in the greatest of ironies… it’s already been dealt with.

The condition I’m referring to could most easily be called shame.

We certainly have Adam to thank for this. He entered life without it. All of us since him have been born with it. Jesus whipped it on the cross, but our souls are wired & trained to accept its presence. Efforts to eradicate it from our lives are like getting the car aligned… only to hit a nasty pothole. Again. And again.

A few months ago, I had a conversation with a good friend of mine that started a chain reaction. He’d been studying the subject of shame, and like interlocking puzzle pieces it connected right up with some of what I’d been studying. It was truly a pivotal moment.

Since then, it’s as though God has been showing me shame everywhere. And I’ve become convinced that conquering the effects of shame in our lives is not only critical for our own sakes, but it’s being highlighted by God as an area in which He wants to work right now.

Shame is a Thief

Here at Nourish The Dream, we often talk about dreaming big dreams. But if we don’t deal with shame, it’s hard to dream at all. Your “big dream” today might just be surviving. You may find yourself sitting in the ashes of broken dreams… maybe you experienced a foreclosure, a bankruptcy or a business failure. You may have lost a job, lost your marriage or are separated from your children. You may think that dreaming any kind of dream at all right now is out of the question.

I’m here to tell you that you’re not alone. When Jesus said, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age,” (Matt 28: 20 NIV) He didn’t mean, “I’m with you unless you goof up.” He is with you. Right now.

And it’s in His great heart today to tell you that He took your shame. You’ve been made righteous. The charges against you haven’t been dropped… He took them Himself. For you. On your behalf. The penalty for your sins and your mistakes has already been paid.

Religion tries to tell you that you have to suffer for your sins & mistakes. But Jesus suffered so you don’t have to. You’ve been placed in complete right standing with the Father today. As with the woman caught in adultery, the only One capable of condemning you is justifying you. He’s releasing you.

It doesn’t matter what you’ve done. It doesn’t matter what you haven’t done. Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. God’s favor and power to overcome the challenges and obstacles you face is aimed at you today. Jesus earned righteousness so He could give it to you.

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV)

“For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:17 NKJV)

We’re going to spend more time on this subject in the days ahead… but if you possibly can, take a moment and give this a listen today:

Bezalel is my hero. Well… one of them. Aholiab, too.

You may not remember their names. Chances are, you’ve never heard a sermon preached on them or even a Sunday School lesson that does anything more than mention them casually (if at all) when plowing through the Old Testament.

But what God says about these two guys is amazing. It’s one of the most fascinating, inspiring moments in all of Scripture:

“See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship. And I, indeed I, have appointed with him Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and I have put wisdom in the hearts of all the gifted artisans, that they may make all that I have commanded you….” (Exodus 31:2-6 NKJV)

There are only a handful of instances in the Old Testament where someone is described as being “filled with the Spirit of God.” Off the top of my head, I can only think of 3 or 4. There are lots of occasions where the Spirit of God comes upon someone. But we usually think of the Spirit of God within someone as being a New Covenant benefit — only available to us after the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

But here sits Bezalel. He’s completely unknown. All we know about him is that God filled Bezalel with Himself. And He also gave him wisdom, understanding and knowledge… and for what? Was it to lead the nation? Was it to fight the enemies of Israel? Was it to be a prophet? Was it to teach God’s people amazing hidden truths?

Nope.

It was to work. God anointed Bezalel (and Aholiab and some other unnamed artisans) for workmanship.

My friend, if you’ve ever thought that God only empowers and enables preachers, missionaries or influential leaders with supernatural ability, it’s time to look at Bezalel.

God had a plan. He gave Moses the blueprint and detailed instructions for building the Tabernacle. God wanted it a certain way and He let Moses know that He had already prepared the right people for the job. It was going to require specific skills — in metalworking, sculpting, carving, etc. But more importantly, for it to turn out the way God wanted… it was going to require someone who had the ability to let God breathe upon their work.

Out of hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of Jewish people under Moses’ leadership at that time, how many of them must have acquired skills of this type in Egypt? We know the Egyptian culture was filled with gold, jewelry, elaborate sculptures and carvings.

But one person caught God’s attention. In fact, God was so pleased that he dropped Bezalel’s name to Moses and Joshua there on the mountain as He laid out His plans.

My friend… today I want you to realize that you were created by God for this very hour. You weren’t born by accident. You are alive at this very moment because God has a plan. He has never stopped working. All of your life experiences — the training, schooling, education (or lack thereof), successes, failures, all of it — have led up to this very moment.

Allow God to breathe on you today. Let His Spirit fill you with power and ability to do what you do. It doesn’t need to be in the pulpit, on the mission field or in any form of what we call “ministry.” Let God take your efforts today and turn them into “workmanship.” Be excellent. Be the best… not out of your own ability, but out of His strength. Reach out to Him today. He wants to use you!

For this reason [seeing the greatness of this plan by which you are built together in Christ], I bow my knees before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…. May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality]. Ephesians 3:14, 16 AMP

Photo: David Monniaux.

The past decade has been full of change. Marking the 10th anniversary of 9/11 really provided an opportunity to look back and see just how much things have changed… and how much faster they continue to change.

From a business perspective, failure to adapt is deadly. This places tremendous demands on each of us personally as well. Change can be exciting to those of us who are wired to enjoy it… but even then, it is incredibly stretching. That process can be painful enough that we avoid and delay things that need to change.

The Key to Success is Breaking Out

But with all the “transition” going on,  we can find ourselves struggling to maintain a personal sense of  identity. Our understanding of our calling — both personally and corporately in business — is vulnerable to being rocked. And if we aren’t careful, we can find ourselves changing things that shouldn’t change.

How can we stay anchored to the things that shouldn’t change while at the same time freely adapting in other areas?

Guy Kawasaki tells a story* that we frequently use when training entrepreneurs & business leaders in the principles of 21st-century marketing.

From the 1830s to 1890s ice harvesting (cutting up frozen ponds and selling the ice) was a huge industry in New England.  In 1886, the biggest ice harvest that ever occurred amounted to 25 million tons.

By the 1920s, almost all the ice-harvesting companies were out of business.  Ice harvesting had been made obsolete by ice-making plants that could operate in any part of the country during every season.  Later, these ice-making plants were themselves made obsolete with the advent of refrigerators in people’s homes

Before I read about it, I’d never even imagined that someone would have at one time made their living cutting up frozen ponds. It’s easy now, though, to imagine why changes in technology (refrigeration) put the ice-harvesting companies out of business.

But what if there had been an ice-harvesting company that understood its real calling? What if they had realized that they existed not to cut up frozen ponds, but to “create & deliver cold?” Had such a business existed, they could have seen the changes coming. They could have constantly been working to discover better ways to get the end product to the buyer. And perhaps they would’ve invested in refrigeration technology.

A business like that might have even lasted until the modern day, had they truly understood their purpose and calling. You see, it’s easy to confuse mechanisms with purpose.

In your life & work… you must be willing to let go of methods that are outdated & outmoded, but you must be unshakable about the calling God has given you. In our own business, we’ve had to do a lot of re-evaluating. In some cases, we’ve had to go back and fix things that we allowed to “change with the times” that were central to our calling. It’s painful to change things back after enduring a painful change to begin with… but I’d rather have egg on my face than miss God’s purpose.

“Many plans are in a man’s mind, but it is the Lord’s purpose for him that will stand.” Proverbs 19:21 AMP

How closely connected are you to your God-given purpose today?

*In How to Drive Your Competition Crazy: Creating Disruption for Fun and Profit

“And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church [Gr. ekklesia], and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18 NKJV

Recently, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to why more believers aren’t successful financially and in business. Since I work every day with business owners on growing their businesses, I’m constantly confronted with this subject. And the longer I live, the more convinced I am that business and financial success is almost entirely internal. By that I mean that our mindsets and our thinking control our outcomes.

One pattern of thinking that we seem to have adopted in the Church world today is that of standing on the promises of God and using the power available to us to defend ourselves from the onslaught of the enemy. And let me be the first to say that I believe in Psalm 91 for protection. I stand on it for myself, my wife, my daughter, our home, etc. Countless times in my life, I’ve witnessed supernatural protection from threats — everything from auto accidents to natural disasters.

But I believe that all this focus on protecting us from the enemy has caused us to lose sight of the point: we’re supposed to be plundering him and taking territory… not going on the defensive and desperately hoping to keep what we’ve got.

Jesus made this point clearly in Matthew 16 (quoted above). He told Peter that He (Jesus) was building his ekklesia (governing assembly) and the gates of Hell would not prevail against it. In other words, Jesus was establishing new government — outside the realm of the existing government structures — and Satan and his cohorts were going on the defensive.

On my recent trip to Haiti, I observed first-hand the effects of the dominion of the enemy. Sickness, poverty, and death are the result of the government of Satan. To a certain extent, this includes the natural human government, but far more importantly, it is the spiritual environment of the land.

Taxis to Hell—and Back—Into the Jaws of Death, Robert F. Sargent / United States Coast Guard (Public Domain)

We — as believers — have been delivered out of the dominion of darkness and conveyed into the Kingdom (Colossians 1:13). Jesus called us to bring His government and dominion every where we go (Matthew 28:18-20). This isn’t a matter of defending ourselves… it means we’re going on the offensive.

Imagine what would happen to an NFL football team that spent all of its energies working on defense… if they eliminated the offensive coordinator and never practiced playing offense — only defense. They might be difficult to score against, but they would never win any games.

This, my friend, is what we’ve done in the Church. We’ve trained everybody to cower in the corner and try to protect themselves and their families from the influence of the world. We’ve piled the salt into the saltshaker and hidden the lamp. But this isn’t the plan of God for us. His plan is that we take territory from the enemy and gain influence so that His government can increase. And His power is there for you today to do it.

It may seem a little late to say, “Happy New Year!’ but this is our first communication so far this year, so I want you to know I am personally praying for you to have an exceptional year. How’s it going so far? Have you gone through the exercise of taking time to re-evaluate where things are in your life? Did you make any resolutions?

Personally, this year, I’m skipping the resolutions. Too many times, these fall through the cracks and then just create an extra weight of guilt that I don’t need to carry around. If you made some, that’s great — this year, they just aren’t for me.

Make 2011 an Extraordinary Year

But that isn’t to say that I’ve skipped taking some time to re-evaluate. In fact, my wife and I have taken quite a bit of time to examine our lives and look at what God is doing and is leading us to do differently in 2011. We’re not finished, actually… we’re taking this slowly so that we can be deliberate and prayerful about the decisions we’re making.

Fasted Lately?

We’re thankfully surrounded by some people who have chosen to do some fasting, and while it can be extremely painful (this one included caffeine for me… youch!), it’s so valuable to quiet the soul and to break some of the habits that we don’t even know are holding us back in life. Whether you choose to abstain from all foods, from certain foods, or even from activities that are particularly pleasurable to you, this discipline alone has incredible benefits to help bring clarity and perspective to your life and make 2011 a better year.

Serve Someone Else

Fasting has a way of bringing us down a notch or two, but I can’t think of anything that will do this more quickly than setting out to serve someone else. We all know someone who could use a helping hand, and when we give of ourselves in a selfless way — especially when we’re already busy (or even overwhelmed) in our own lives — it can really help shift our attitudes and our point of view. I personally always seem to come away having learned something important, and usually feel grateful for the opportunity to be a blessing.

Developing a heart of servanthood can make all the difference in your success this year. Remember, Jesus said, “But this is not to be so among you; instead, whoever desires to be great among you must be your servant,” (Mark 10:43 AMP).

Recently, my wife came to me and said she felt like 2011 was going to be a “year of service” for us. We had already decided to take on supporting the Haiti Orphanage Project I mentioned to you just before Christmas, but after hearing her share this, we’ve prayed more about it and thought about our business:

How can we better serve our customers and clients?

This kind of thinking has already caused us to rethink some of the strategic moves we were getting ready to make and I believe everyone will be the better for it.

Who can you serve? Make it a neighbor, a homeless shelter, or go clean the toilets for your church. Whatever you do, allow God to speak to you as you demonstrate His selfless love and goodness toward someone else!

I’m looking forward to your thoughts on this. Feel free to comment here! And watch for part 2 coming soon…

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1 Timothy 6:10 NKJV)

In previous articles here, we’ve talked about the inner struggle that some of us face — particularly those who have been around Christianity for awhile — where business and financial success are concerned. One of the biggest contributors to this struggle is an abundance of erroneous teaching about the Bible and what it really says.

The Root of All Evil?

This screwed-up teaching is so pervasive that even people outside the Church have been infected by it.

For example, here’s a direct quote from a 2008 Newsweek article:

“For one thing, Scripture is full of exhortations against accumulating wealth. The New Testament, especially, repeatedly reminds followers of Christ that earthly wealth means nothing in heaven. ‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God,’ says Jesus.”

These few sentences are so full of misunderstanding about Scripture that it’s almost infuriating. (Where does Newsweek get off interpreting Scripture anyway?!) But the tragedy is that many churches have actually taught fallacies like this — arguably with good intentions.

Another big example is the, “root of all evil,” Scripture referred to in the title of today’s message. Not only is it frequently misquoted as, “money is the root of all evil,” but the entire passage that it comes from is (in my experience) usually preached from a fundamental place of misunderstanding.

If you’re hearing from those you look up to (spiritually speaking) that it’s wrong to accumulate wealth, doesn’t that directly work against you?  Isn’t business challenging enough without wondering if God is upset with us for doing well in it?  Is God so cruel as to require that we work to provide for our families and even call us into the business world only to tell us that we are only pleasing to Him when we fail?

It’s time that we take a hard look at some of these teachings and find out what the Scripture really says.

Stay tuned for more on this topic. If you’re ready to dive into some more intense study of this and other topics related to money, business and profit, be sure to check out our 5-part audio teaching series on bulldozing the barriers to your business and financial success.

This week, Nourish The Dream founder David G. Johnson, CEO of Epiphany Marketing, LLC,  is appearing as a special guest on the popular Faith Life Now broadcast with Gary and Drenda Keesee.

On this television program, which airs on the Daystar and NRB television networks, hosts and entrepreneurs Gary & Drenda Keesee talk with David about the opportunities that exist right now — especially in these changing times — for believers to tap into the creativity of God and establish mechanisms for creating wealth.

To view this program, check the broadcast schedule for air times or watch the program online at Faith Life Now.

Kingdom Thoughts is being offered this week on the Faith Life Now broadcast

In connection with the program, Gary & Drenda are making David’s 5-disc teaching series, “Kingdom Thoughts” available to viewers at a very special price. If you’ve ever wanted to get your hands on this teaching series, now is the time to take advantage of the offer and enjoy a substantial discount.

In this powerful teaching series, David talks about the internal struggles that believers face where wealth, money and business are concerned. He talks about the teachings that have unfortunately contributed to these difficulties, what the Bible actually says, and how to overcome these struggles and bulldoze the barriers to your business and financial success.

In addition to the substantial savings, Gary & Drenda Keesee are also adding a single-CD teaching from Gary’s ministry called, “The Parable of the Sower.” Gary’s unique perspective on this foundational teaching of Jesus will transform how you view wealth creation in the Kingdom.

Click here for the Kingdom Thoughts package from Faith Life Now.

In this episode of the Nourish The Dream Podcast, I’m posting audio from a message I shared recently in the pulpit of my good friend, Jesse DiMartino of the Freedom Center in Sarasota.

If you’ll forgive some local information and a brief personal story, you’ll hear the real heart behind the recent post, Cultivating a Heart that Listens to God. I’ve become convinced that despite all of the bad news in our economy, we’ve not yet heard — nor experienced — the worst. There’s more to come.

At the same time, if we will focus our energies on digging a well deep enough to retrieve the sustenance we need — out of relationship to God — we will be properly positioned to come through this season and the next.

(For the record, the story of the motorcycle accident was told to me as completely true story by someone whose word I trust. Please don’t try to use motorcycles as a weight loss program.)

Special thanks to Jesse DiMartino, Jacob Owens, J.R. Yoder and Andrew Owens… as well as to the entire Freedom Center family.

It seems like the bad economic news just keeps coming. Last week’s jobs report reflects the worst numbers in the entire lifetime of Generation X. Hopefully the recession hasn’t impacted your business or family personally, but even as I write this line, I know that the likelihood is that it has — or at least some of the people in your life.

You may know by now that I’m not a “doom and gloom” guy. I’m about as positive and optimistic as they come. That being said, I don’t think that the worst of the economic news is behind us. Things are changing very rapidly, and will continue to do so. In fact, I believe that what’s ahead of us is different than we could’ve possibly imagined.

The Importance of Hearing God

A Listening Heart

Back in March, God began to call to my mind the time in Isaac’s life when God spoke to him about starting a new business during an economic crisis. The passage is in Genesis 26, and it’s worth taking some time to study. Here are some of the highlights:

• God spoke to him not to move to Egypt, where the economy was better off (he was considering it).
• He and his “tribe” of people were nomadic. Raising crops was not part of their livelihood.
• Farms all around were going under — there was a famine. When this happens, it means that if you’re considering going into farming, now’s not a good time.
• After listening to and obeying God, Isaac plants crops. His harvest was 100x what should’ve been expected from the amount that he planted. One… hundred… times…

You may have heard preachers refer to this story in the context of an offering — as though Isaac gave money to a ministry or to a prophet or priest or man of God. Nope. His “sowing seed” was the beginning of a new (albeit temporary) business.

Countless Promises

The Scriptures are full of promises from God for provision — even during economic hard times.

“I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; The humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together. I sought the LORD, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.” (Psalms 34:1-10 NKJV)

The problem is this: if you’re dealing with financial pressure, worry, anxiety, concern — either because of focusing on your own situation or due to the fear of what might be coming your way given the constant barrage of economic bad news — then you’re successfully distracted from listening to God. In times like this, it may take additional effort, energy, discipline and focus to silence your soul and dig deep enough to hear from God.

But it’s critical…

and worth it.

“Moreover, by them [the words of God] is Your servant warned (reminded, illuminated, and instructed); and in keeping them there is great reward.” (Psalms 19:11)

No one — not the best Wall Street analysts, the most qualified business consultants, the academicians in the ivory towers, nor the people attempting to pull the levers of the economy and our society — can predict what’s coming.

But by hearing from God, we can be

• warned
• reminded
• illuminated, and
• instructed.

If your life has, in other seasons, deceived you into thinking that hearing from God wasn’t critical or essential, then this season is one of those that will serve to teach you that it cannot be overlooked.

Had Isaac not heard from God, he wouldn’t have received the abundance that came his way during the famine of Genesis 26.

I don’t know about you, but right now, I’m working hard to cultivate a heart that hears from God. My life depends upon it.

It always happens in an election year — some kind of upheaval. But this year it really seems to have teeth. Banks failing, huge drops (and gains) in the stock market, businesses closing, layoffs, etc.

As believers, how do we respond?

I’ve spent a lot of time studying this subject this year. With ups and downs in my own business and perhaps more personal financial pressure than ever, a serious question emerges:

Does what we believe have the ability to produce what we need?

Notice the question does not address the One in Whom we believe. His character, His love, His ability and His goodness aren’t even remotely in question.

But what I’ve learned is that it matters what we believe about Him.

If, for example, I don’t believe that His help is available — whether it’s because I’m unaware of it or because I haven’t built up trust in Him through relationship and experiential knowledge — then I won’t seek it out. If I do seek it out, I might choose not to do what He leads me to do.

And guess what? That means that I don’t get the result that He promised. It’s that simple.

In today’s Proverb is this verse that caught my eye:

“Every word of God is tried and purified; He is a shield to those who trust and take refuge in Him.”
(Proverbs 30:5 AMP)

With the storms of economic bad news raging around us, it’s time to “trust and take refuge in Him.” You may be surrounded with wreckage in the midst of this economic storm. You may have even taken some personal blows in your business or your family. But now’s not the time to leave the battlefield. It’s time to surround yourself with the shield and take refuge in it.

It occurs to me that shields are unnecessary if you’re not getting fired upon or attacked.

More on this in the days ahead.

Your thoughts?