Business Series 3

Business Series 3
After judging God Faithful

Faithfulness with the Work at Hand

It is a true saying that great men are made by little things. For a budding or an aspiring entrepreneur, it is certain that there is something you are engaged with at the moment, most often than not that present assignment is your training ground. You need to be faithful at that, faithfulness is becoming scarce in the workplace, so the economic surprises is really no surprise at all but then any CEO knows that integrity is an essential requirement for good business. Jesus said “if you are not faithful with that which is another man’s, who will give you yours?”

Joseph’s first test at Potiphar’s house was not Potiphar’s wife but rather the temptation of getting proud when he got the post of junior manager, of stealing when he became store keeper, mismanagement when he became senior manager. Potiphar’s wife was the last on a long list.

Lose it

Lose your “entitlement mentality”, this is the greatest burden of the African man; the expectation that The Government, My Boss, My Parents, My Uncle, Older/richer sibling, aunt or Niece will do something for me. In as much as help could come from these channels, don’t expect them. I do not infer that a student should not accept support from his/her parents towards his educational pursuit but that he should not expect them to fund his “ludicrous “ business ideas. It is between you and your God, period. While David was with the sheep an entitlement mentality would have sapped him of the energy to go after the bear or the lion. Joseph though a pampered young adolescent knew better when he was assigned duties at Potiphar’s house than to lament his loss.

Take it

Take responsibility, this implies being faithful with the work at hand and acknowledging that this is between you (the MD/CEO of your life Ltd) and God, do the work at hand to please Him first not your boss. Find creative ways of advancing the current venture. Who told David that killing a lion or a bear was the training for a Goliath? Or that interpreting the dream of the baker and the butler was what Joseph would need to make history, but little things have a way of adding up. And they always do.

One underlying theme that I would do well to state here is that divine inspiration is your greatest asset (biggest bargaining chip) and righteousness is its prerequisite. (more on Series 4)
When I got my first consulting job for an institute in Abuja, I discovered to my humor that I had to bring a lot of diverse experience to bear on the job, experiences I have gained over the years doing one thing or the other; from negotiating to powerful presentations, knowing who to call etc and general problem solving. Things nobody would teach in an institution, a lot of young individuals waste learning opportunities enjoying the frivolities that the workplace provide. These have mastered the Job and not the work.

Work vs Job
Know the difference. Enterprise developers don’t take jobs, they work even when they are under paid employment. Selah (think on these things awhile)
Job is what you are paid to do, Work is your interaction with the seed at the work place, and you are never paid for working. For more details consult “ The Blueprint” a best seller by Dele Osunmakinde.

Every workplace is seeded and a ground for seed sowing, there is something (a seed) that is the focal point of the establishment you are working for, to connect with that you must think like the owner of the place, the innovator and then go the step further and play with the other possibilities (a wise man will hear and increase learning). Africans want to invent things without first understanding the principles of the basic structure, we go to work without working and most times the employer doesn’t mind since He paid you to do a job, people who are paid for working are paid big. They are the policy makers; in summary Work is creation. People who do jobs are paid just enough to retain their service and to keep them motivated! A man with a job that is working doesn’t need motivation, the job itself has provided a workspace and is thus his greatest motivator. If your job isn’t looking like work to you, I suggest you quit or reassess the situation. Get to work, workers needed!

An enterprise developer must create, a typical example is Jacob. He not only took care of Laban’s sheep for years but He did a lot of study of animal husbandry until he discovered two things:

1. That the animals mate at a particular time
2. That there is a direct correlation between what the animals beheld and the colour of the offspring

The gentleman was working. One might argue that the supernatural was involved and my answer would be:

1. It is very possible that this could be explained scientifically (after all we were all amazed that acupuncture is a science)
2. The influence of the supernatural in a business is not an unwelcome development! We need help, don’t we? But the supernatural showed up to help his diligence (God has never been in support of Lazy folks, never.)

More on Work

Work is force multiplied by distance in the direction of force. Force is directional, don’t deceive yourself you need to focus and we must allow God to provide that direction. The greatest tragedy is to be successful at the wrong assignment (work could have a negative sign!), but thank God everyone that is born of God has the seed of God in him/her. Except if you have not been born again there is a seed of God in all of us crying for expression, even those outside God’s kingdom are about His work (in God’s kingdom there are sons and hired workers) consciously or unconsciously. For sons the job description is definite and it is personal, that is why we should judge God faithful at every circumstance (series 2) because most times the seed you must interact with is not too far away and the environment is just there.

An understanding of Work allows you to assess the “Job,” any job that doesn’t make room for work is slavery (except you are not for enterprise development).
Work requires time and work is scheduled, God worked for 6 days and rested. He could have finished creation in a day, He didn’t and we should be glad for that. There are stages in creation and each stage is vital and should be appreciated, that is why I insist that for every area of your Life try and understand your position in the scheme of things and progress from there confidently and at your pace.
Remember God didn’t rest because He was tired, He rested because He has finished His Work! So don’t nap off on me!

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Okwonna Nelson