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I had a goal of having my first million dollar year by the age of 30. Then I changed it to 35. Then I changed it again. We entrepreneurs have goals in our businesses. Some of us it’s monetary. Others it’s launching a new product or service. Every year we don’t accomplish a goal, we suffer. The suffering eats at us. We see other people succeeding and it makes us jealous, almost paralyzing us from moving forward. But what if the suffering was part of the entrepreneurial process? I’ve suffered a lot in my business. It comes with being an Entrepreneur.  Why? Because Entrepreneurs have a tremendous responsibility and calling for God and He wants to make us the best possible steward of the money and blessings that come with success. In the bible, we read that Joseph was either a slave or in prison for the 20 years after his captivity. Imagine suffering for 20 years!!! Makes your problems seems smaller, right?. God could have released him at any point, but God’s plans for your business are much bigger than our perceived suffering. You won’t know God’s full reasoning immediately, and you may never know it until you’re face to face with Him.  Until then, we are called to know and understand that suffering is a path we must walk in the marketplace to get to the place God needs us for His will. My suffering has given me endurance. I can run further and faster! My faith is growing, I don’t despair as much anymore in my business. What’s your attitude during times of suffering? Are you angry that God hasn’t let you reach your goals and visions yet? #FindMyCalling #FindingMyPurpose #ShareYourTestimony

I recently read the book Living Forward by Michael Hyatt, and a certain part stuck out at me. An exercise in the book had me write down all the groups of people coming to my funeral. Then, I had to write down what each of those groups would say in my eulogy. Some of the groups I wrote down were family, friends, church, employees, contractors, clients, and partners. The common thread I wanted them all to say was that I cared deeply about everyone’s purpose in life and that I loved God and made him the center of it all, and Jesus was someone I strived to be like. As entrepreneurs, we all want people to say great things about us. Not just when we pass away, but also today. You might be someone people like. Awesome! I bet what I’m about to write; you will totally resonate with. You might be struggling because people don’t like you, you’ve made enemies along the way, clients think you’re a jerk, you’ve burned some bridges…you’re a mess. Will you believe me if I tell you that you need to make ONE adjustment, and everything will turn around? So how do we become the kind of entrepreneurs where people say amazing things at our eulogy? There’s an awesome verse in the Bible that speaks about the end of David’s life. “Now when David had served Godʼs purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep;" Acts 13:36 NIV King David did some messy things in his life, but no one could argue two things: God had a unique purpose for David. David chose to follow that purpose. King David changed the world. We still talk about him today, even with the ugly past he had. I don’t know about you, but I have made some past mistakes I sure wish I could undo. But instead of focusing on that, I focus instead on knowing that God has a big purpose, and I must choose to use my energy towards accomplishing it. Whether you have realized it or not, God has already created the plan for your life. You’re either living in your zone of genius or inauthentically creating your own plans. You’re either excited to be a washer machine, or you’re a washer machine trying to be a refrigerator. For those of you entrepreneurs that struggle to find your niche, could it be that you haven’t fully done what we saw exemplified in David – surrender to God’s will for your business life? When I totally have the CEO position to God, and I took on a managerial role in my company, I began to frame my mind to this notion that God has an amazing purpose for me and my business. I had to go to him daily for those instructions. The great news is that your eulogy still hasn’t been said yet! The same choice that David had, you and I have today: choosing to be under God’s will. Michael Hyatt’s exercise of writing my eulogy confirmed my desire to go after God’s heart and serve my purpose here. I am calling you Godpreneurs to the same. If we as a generation full of business leaders serve the purposes of God in our marketplaces, we could see our un-wasted lives move together and change eternity with our services and products. I wish I could say that everything will be easy going from the moment you make this decision…but it won’t. The business world is one disappointing lesson after the other, but it’s our pursuit of purpose that helps us pile through the necessary heartaches to get to the place where others can say he/she ran a business of purpose. Imagine if we all knew and understood God’s vision and purpose for our lives. It wouldn’t be a dream anymore; it would be a reality that we live day in and day out in our businesses. As we set out to rewrite our eulogies, I want to invite you on a journey of discovering what you were born to do and bringing that vision to life. But first, tell me: what’s holding you back from living out the business dreams God put on your heart? How would your business be different if you surrendered the CEO position to God? Godpreneur Rules Godpreneurs seek after God’s own heart in their businesses. Godpreneurs know they were born to do something and choose to do that. Godpreneurs resist anything that’s holding us back from living God’s dream for our businesses. When we die, Godpreneurs want people to say that we served God’s purpose in our business. #EnhanceFocus #BusinessBibleStudy

I had this contractor that frustrated the heck out of me, but she was so darn good at what she did! When I had her full attention, it was like magic.  But then she would disappear, not hearing from her for days or weeks, only to reappear ready to work harder than ever. Some of us entrepreneurs don’t have the patience for this.  We feel wronged when the very people we look to serve, turn around, and hurt us. This happens with clients, vendors, contractors…You name it.  It’s happening all around us in business. What do we do when we’re stabbed in the back, spit on, stepped over, or downright shamed by others in our business? What I’ve learned in this area of business has helped me propel forward in ways you wouldn’t imagine. When people wrong me, I love them more.  When people let me down, I raise them up and show grace. But how?  I’ll admit that it’s tough. The deal is this: business is not meant to be done alone and you’re dealing with imperfect people along the way.  You can have a rule that you don’t deal with people like this, but you’ll end up jaded and alone in your office, subject to only being able to do what’s within your capacity to do. Or….You can learn what I’ve learned from the bible about how to deal with imperfect people and situations. In the book of Genesis, we have the story of Joseph who was sold into slavery by his own brothers and served under the rule of Pharaoh in Egypt.  But 20 years later, Joseph negotiates with his captors the safe passage of his brothers back to their land. So let me get this straight.  He buddies up with his “slave master” and then helps us so-called traitorous “brothers”.  Am I missing something here?  The two very people he should hate…He’s negotiating with. If we’d admit, whenever we’re in a situation like this in business, most of us won’t really do anything.  Instead, we hope the problem or the person goes away.  We won’t put in the work that it takes to internally forgive and forget and move on. The bible says “Please, come closer,” he said to them. So they came closer. And he said again, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into slavery in Egypt. But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives. This famine that has ravaged the land for two years will last five more years, and there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. God has sent me ahead of you to keep you and your families alive and to preserve many survivors." (Genesis 45:4‭-‬7 NLT) Joseph couldn’t control people or his environment.  He could only control the way in which he showed patience, forgiveness, and grace. The alternative was to live with anger, resentment, bitterness, and revenge. Loving people takes making risks. It takes faith. It takes a commitment to fight through challenges when we really just want to flee the situation. Maybe you feel that way about certain employees or clients that have done something wrong in your book.  Despite the circumstances, you must choose to keep trusting and loving the people around you because you never know when and where you will meet and need each other. We should never waste an opportunity to serve – even those who have wronged us. These are the very people that God is using to propel your born to do identity.  It’s these very people that will reveal to us the reason we’ve suffered in business. Clients, prospects, mentors, and vendors – they all serve a purpose beyond what we can see right now. #HiringtheRightPeople

Purpose is one of those words that people have tossed around so much, especially in the business world.  It’s hard to know exactly what it means. Is it this one foundational meaning of existence for the business that will drive sales and profit through the stratosphere? Is it what my company is passionate about or what we’re really good at?  Is it doing work that makes me happy as an entrepreneur?  Does it mean I have to help others? Let’s peel back the onion of purpose. The purpose of a hammer is to stick this nail into that piece of wood.  But this means nothing to the poor, beaten hammer unless he knows that he’s part of a bigger architectural plans to create this amazing home that a family will live in and create great memories. If I focus on my business purpose (the service I offer), I miss my business identity (the reason my idea was born). My business identity is what is given to me by my creator.  I don’t come up with my identity.  When I went to the DMV to pick up my identification card to give me permission to drive, this was issued to me by the state agency and the right was bestowed upon me to drive. In the same way, identity is handed to me by authority.  The best part is that there are no exams to find out if I can perform a 3-point turn (precisely why I failed my first driver’s test).  My identity is free and God wants nothing more than for me to uncover, discover and recover it to be used in my business. I am bigger than my business purpose.  Therefore I must focus on my identity in Christ, and living in that space of rest knowing that as I align to the workmanship that God created me for, He will magnetically attract the exact clients that I’m destined to serve. The bible says “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5) Identity is about me doing not just meaningless or average things in my business, but good works, wonderful things that make a difference in the marketplace. This means that my business is important and significant. I matter.  What more could I dream of? When my business life gets tough, when deals fall apart, when employees upset me, when I can’t beat the work addiction, when my competitors talk behind my back, when I feel stuck in a boring routine, its important for me to come back to God’s love for me and the amazing purpose I have through my identity in Him. I know what my purpose is: I help people find and bring to life their identity. I know what my identity is: I’m grounded in God and I trust him to reveal to me the bigger picture and guide me to living out the wonderful masterpiece I was born to do. What’s your born to do identity? #FindingMyBrand #BuildMyPersonalBrand

As I reflect on terrible times in my business and marriage, I smile. I smile because I’ve been through business debt, near marital divorce, terrible clients, and losing all hope in my business and marriage…yet I’m standing here today having overcome all of this because of God’s grace and never giving up. Here’s the deal: I saw God rescue me from being a nightclub promoter into a church promoter. I saw God take me out of the muck of strip club marketing, to building church websites. I’ve seen God turn things around in my life, so that pushes me never to give up. If God did it once, He would do it again! I’ve seen it in my own life! But we entrepreneurs forget. We get so down on the terrible situations that we can’t remember who we were and who we’ve grown to become. We forget that the reason we’re entrepreneurs is that we left the corporate world to take on the risk and that giving up isn’t an option. We forget that we got married because we left our sexual sin behind and discovered that two is better than one, and that it sucks to be alone, and that we have a family, and giving up isn’t an option. We need to understand that our current situation is temporary and that it’s not always going to be this way. The bible says: And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9 ESV) Your business and marriage will not always be in the state; it’s in right now. As terrible as they may seem, if you only believe, I’m proof that it will not always be this way. The more you believe this, the less “sting” you feel when the punches come your way. The more faith you have in God, the faster you get up from the fall. And do you want even better news? It’s not that you need to attend five marriage seminars… It’s not that you need to keep releasing new products and services… It’s not more “work” that you have to put into your marriage and business… All you need is more of Jesus in your life. All you need is more faith and trust in God. That’s it! You focus on God, and He’ll do the work. How? Because it’s by His grace, not our works, that we will receive the promise. Haven’t you wondered why terrible people could have thriving businesses and seemingly successful marriages? There are people so far from God succeeding in their personal and work life! How? Because God’s grace is for every human on the planet. This means that “WORK” isn’t the solution because if that’s the case, then I’d be a Billionaire and my wife and I would be power couple of the century! I work my butt off!! The difference between a Godpreneur and a non-Christian entrepreneur is that when the going gets tough, we have a God we can turn our problems over to. A regular entrepreneur needs to keep the hustle and grind going because he/she is on their own. It’s why drug dealers don’t last forever…they are alone in their problems, and the weight and pressure eventually come down on them. We need never to give up. We need to keep hoping, keep staying positive, keep speaking life into our dead marriage and near bankrupt businesses. We need not worry and keep declaring victory! Could you imagine if we all had this kind of hope and faith? What would that do for the marketplace and our society? Imagine more families staying together and better products and services being released? Today, we all need to declare OUT LOUD what we are expecting God to do! Someone who never gives up is always putting positive words into the atmosphere. Stop telling friends that marriage sucks and start declaring that you have the best spouse ever! Godpreneur Rule – Godpreneurs meditate on how God has rescued us from hard times, and we know that He’ll do it again! #BusinessBibleStudy #MarriedEntrepreneurs 21 Days of Breakthroughs in Business and Marriage This course provides needed strength and faith, in the truth of God’s holy Word, for breakthroughs in both your business and marriage. Heard of the Godpreneur Academy? Grow Your Business, God’s Way! Bible-Based Video Courses for Entrepreneurs Putting God First In their Businesses Click here to create a Free Account

I’ve had areas of my business and marriage that didn’t line up with “God’s ways.” For example, my wife and I never kept a budget. We had been to all the Financial Peace University classes, we knew God wants us to be diligent in our finances, but we didn’t care to be “obedient” with that part of God’s word. Same thing in my business. I wasn’t keeping tight controls on my profits, not looking at my sales weekly, not keeping good financial records, and just being flat-out irresponsible with my spending. And both my business and marriage suffered for that. My wife and I were great Christians, love God, but not honoring God in all areas of our life. My Business was God-first all the way, but not in THIS area. We Godpreneurs all want to live right, run a business by the book, and love our wives the way the Bible directs us to, but we all have certain areas that don’t align with God’s Word. We have to ask God to show us both are known and unknown sins so that the visions we have for our marriage and business aren’t hindered in any way. Although we may lead a God-centered business and marriage, if we choose to obey God in some areas of our life without obeying Him in other areas, our company and relationship will flourish only partially. We all want the breakthrough in our business and marriage, but how do we clean up our known and unknown sins? How do we make sure we’re not missing out on God’s best for our business and marriage? The bible says: Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” (Haggai 1:5‭-‬6 NIV) There’s your way, and there are God’s ways. Consider that you might be putting too much emphasis on your ways and not God’s best for you. Your thoughts become more like God’s when you continue to draw closer to Him. Reading the Bible daily and surrounding yourself with like-minded people (like in the Godpreneur Academy) will help line your thoughts with God’s. His will and purpose for your business and marriage far supersede your own. His thoughts are higher. Once you get in alignment with your calling, you will have a strong desire to accomplish that purpose, which pleases God. Keep it simple with these three steps Seek God daily Keep His commandments Get to know his Word This is a major reason I created the Godpreneur Academy. I didn’t find anyone I could relate to and connect with until I found out other Christian entrepreneurs were going through the same personal and professional struggles I was dealing with. I wanted to be a positive place of God-Centered business development. You need this if you’re going to breakthrough! If not my academy, then you need something similar! Could it be that your lack of communication with and about God that’s causing you do not know where He wants you to be and what you should be doing in your business and marriage? Commit today to take the time to listen to what He wants you to do. Also, pray about a group to belong to where you can share your passions and desires. It’s never too late to start or re-start your relationship with God. Do we want to hit the wall at the end of the road, or do we want to acknowledge our sins NOW and begin driving our marriages and businesses in the right direction? Listen, God will do whatever it takes to get our attention, even if it means hiding Himself from us. The bible says: “Then I will return to my lair until they have borne their guilt and seek my face— in their misery they will earnestly seek me.” (Hosea 5:15 NIV) We sometimes are going through the biggest battles in our business and marriage, crying out to God for a breakthrough, and God’s simply waiting for us to confess, turn away from that sin (repent), and begin leading the life He designed us to live. If all of us Godpreneurs did this, God would hear our prayers, and we’d all experience the breakthrough! Godpreneur Rule: Godpreneurs are obedient in all areas so our business and personal life can flourish. #BusinessBibleStudy #MarriedEntrepreneurs #GodpreneurAcademy 21 Days of Breakthroughs in Business and Marriage This course provides needed strength and faith, in the truth of God’s holy Word, for breakthroughs in both your business and marriage. Heard of the Godpreneur Academy? Grow Your Business, God’s Way! Bible-Based Video Courses for Entrepreneurs Putting God First In their Businesses Click here to create a Free Account

I’m a glass-half-full kind of guy. I see the positive in everything. Why? I believe it’s partly a defense mechanism. I don’t like conflict, so I avoid it by seeing the good in people and situations. I also think it’s because I’ve developed a level of HOPE that allows me to keep on moving forward regardless of the situation. We have two choices when it comes to our challenges in business and marriage. We can see them as hopeless, over, finished, cursed, and unredeemable. Or, we can look into the same situation from God’s point of view and trust that He’s doing great work, He loves us, He won’t forsake us, and everything happening is there to make me STRONGER! But the challenge is waiting. It’s easy to hope in God, but hoping day in and day out is where the rubber meets the road. We can all wake up one morning and decide to run 1-mile to lose weight. But most of us won’t be able to get up and do it daily because we lose hope. How do we develop this positive mindset WHILE our bank accounts are empty and credit card debt is piling up? How can we put on this hope in God even in the face of divorce? The bible says: Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5 NIV) Keep your hope in the Lord So often, we want to move at our own pace but fail to move at God’s. God makes it clear that whatever you desire of Him if you keep your hope in Him, He will renew your strength. Sometimes waiting on God can be challenging. We are saying, “God when? God, why? God, what are you doing with me? God, I don’t quite understand it.” No good thing will be withheld from you It is not for us to know when, why or even to understand His plans for our lives. It is more relevant to understand He loves us so much He will not leave or forsake us, read Hebrews 13:5. He even loves us so much that He will not hurt us and He only desires the best for us. He will not withhold anything good from us, read Psalm 84:11. Isn’t that great to know? God is like a virus protector. He will make certain it does not come your way! There is hope If you find yourself waiting on God today, stand on His Word. He says there is hope in your future, read Jeremiah 31:17. Just hold on, knowing you will live a full life here on earth. Wait for Him and quietly place all your hope in the Lord, see Lamentations 3:26. In doing so, He will provide you with the strength to keep going and give you victory. Reflection: If there is something you have been waiting for from the Lord, begin to declare right now God is working it out for you, and it will come in God’s time! #BusinessBibleStudy #MarriedEntrepreneurs 21 Days of Breakthroughs in Business and Marriage This course provides needed strength and faith, in the truth of God’s holy Word, for breakthroughs in both your business and marriage. Heard of the Godpreneur Academy? Grow Your Business, God’s Way! Bible-Based Video Courses for Entrepreneurs Putting God First In their Businesses Click here to create a Free Account

Do you remember saying as a kid Sticks and stones can break my bones But words can never hurt me. It’s so catchy, it even rhymes. Very easy for any child to memorize. That’s by design. Teachers knew people would come up to us and tell us lies or mean things, so I was supposed to recite that OUT LOUD to combat the attack with my words instead of letting my emotions get the best of me and attack back. Since kids, we’ve been taught to fight lies with truth. We’ve been told to stand up against our problems by using statements of positive affirmations. But we’ve lost that. It’s as if we think that it’s childish to do that. We’re grown up now and we can handle things more aggressively. Right? Listen, the devil doesn’t want to see us make breakthroughs in our business and marriage. So he’ll get in our head to tempt us into thinking it’s over, the situation is lost, it will never change, you deserve better, you should be happy, you’re weak, you’re a terrible spouse, your business sucks, you’re not smart enough… Etc. This is when we need to recognize that a bully is doing whatever He can to stop us from the breakthrough God has for us. If the devil wasn’t scared of our potential future, he’d leave us alone! How do we combat the lies in our heads about our business and marriage? How do we stand up against the thoughts that keep us up all night? Reciting “sticks and stones” would be a bit childish. We’re grown up, and we have a lot of new phrases we can memorize. They’re not as catchy and will take some time to commit to memory. We fight lies and experience breakthroughs when we memorize bible verses to combat each lie. The bible says: For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12) When the voices are saying that your business and marriage are over, you need to have a Bible verse memorized to combat it. And you need to say it out loud. I have a list of Bible verses that relate to me and my business that I read every Monday. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 NIV Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9 NIV For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. 2 Chronicles 16:9 NIV You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Psalms 23:5 NIV For we live by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7 NIV The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Psalms 34:10 NIV See, God knows temptation from the devil would intensify the more you are honoring Him in your business and marriage. The enemy wants you to fail and get a divorce. But God made the Bible so that you could have a chance in this invisible fight happening in your mind. Your mind will either stop the breakthrough… Or Breakthrough the stop. It’s your choice because you choose what to combat the lies with. You’ll either agree with the lies and give in to the temptation to quit or you’ll combat the lies with God’s word – the truth about God’s calling of victory and favor over your situation. God has big plans for Godpreneurs. God wants our business and marriage to move forward to conquer new levels of purpose and passion. He knows our future and deems it will be successful! My business and life verse is Jeremiah 29:11 KJV. It states, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” This is the first verse that comes to mind when I’m being attacked. We all need a fundamental verse that declares victory when the poop hits the fan in our business and marriage. Pick one. Memorize it. Say it out loud when you see the storm coming. It will send the clouds in a different direction. Bible verses beat the devil 10 out of 10 times. Godpreneur Rule: Godpreneurs combat business and marriage lies by proclaiming the powerful Word of God. #BusinessBibleStudy #MarriedEntrepreneurs 21 Days of Breakthroughs in Business and Marriage This course provides needed strength and faith, in the truth of God’s holy Word, for breakthroughs in both your business and marriage. Heard of the Godpreneur Academy? Grow Your Business, God’s Way! Bible-Based Video Courses for Entrepreneurs Putting God First In their Businesses Click here to create a Free Account

I played chess growing up. My high school team took 5th place in the state of Florida. I was 32nd in the state. I still drive around with my chess set in my trunk ready for a game when I’m challenged. Chess is a combination of having strategies memorized from previous games so that you can move fast because you always have to play out 21 moves into the future for every turn. This means that before I make my next move, I had to play out the rest of the game in my head. Sometimes this didn’t work out so well because the clock is ticking and I’m losing valuable time playing all the variations and sequences out. If I didn’t move fast, I could lose on time. This happened to me several times. And when the clock is ticking at the end, I make mistakes because of the pressure of the clock winding down. I’ll admit that I get paralyzed sometimes in business too because I want to understand everything. I want to see the big picture. I play out all the moves in advance, and I get stuck sometimes. It’s probably due to all the chess I played that I developed the habit of thinking so many moves in advance. I want to UNDERSTAND because I want to WIN. I want to put myself in the best position to come out victorious. The problem is that I don’t know what the chess player will do on the next turn. He could do something different than I thought, and now I have to rethink the entire thing. When we entrepreneurs overthink things in our business and marriage, it can leave us stuck, paralyzed, and so much “in control” that we end up doing nothing well. We have no idea what tomorrow will bring, and this scares us. But that’s not how God designed things. If we want to experience breakthroughs in marriage, and we’re looking for God’s guidance along the way (which I’m assuming we all are), then we have to learn to give up this insatiable need to understand everything and trust God. The bible says: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; (Proverbs 3:5 NIV) When you face issues in your business and marriage, you have to trust that God is working in ways that you have no idea about. Even when you don’t “feel” He’s at work, He is. It’s not your job to understand exactly what He’s doing. It’s your job to stay positive and trust Him. You may EVENTUALLY be exposed to how He took you through the breakthrough. The holy spirit might reveal all the little signs along the way that got you through the storm. God does that AFTER the fact so that you can testify to others about the victory! But even that is not guaranteed. Sometimes it will remain a mystery forever. And you have to be cool with NOT understanding today, tomorrow, and forever. It’s been a personal struggle for me to let go of needing to know everything. I thought I had it all planned out for my marriage. I thought I had the perfect plan for growing my 7-figure business. But the more I tried to control it, the more frustrated I became. Maybe God’s already working, and we may not see it. All we need to know is that the victory is already there. How it comes about is not up to us. We need to do our part – be faithful, be hopeful, and let God do what He can only do. One thing is for certain – the breakthrough won’t come the way we expect it! Ask any successful person today if the way they got there is exactly how they planned it – 11 out of 10 of them will say NO WAY! God expects us to stay positive, be hopeful, keep driving, keep pushing, keep fighting for truth, keep persevering for justice, keep serving, keep leading, and remain focused on moving forward. Leave the HOW to God. We need to put our marriage and business in God’s hands and stand confident knowing we can both trust and depend on Him to bring the breakthroughs. We need to believe He’s working for our good. And when this is all over, He’s going to use our experiences to help so many others! God wants you to understand AFTER He’s done. Then we’ll hopefully never make those same moves in the past, and we’re ready for the next challenges that God wants us to overcome in our business and marriage. Remember how I told you chess is a game of knowing your past so you can make moves faster in the present time? Without knowing the past, it makes it harder to move in the present because we’re stuck trying to understand the future. That was my problem with chess. Similarly, the more we see how God’s worked in the past, the easier it becomes living, loving, and making moves in the present. Today, we need to let God know we trust Him, we thank Him for our past Victories, and we stay present and focused on moving how He wants us to move today and give Him control of the future. God knows all and sees all. He’s the best chess player in the world because He already knows how it will all end! God will be faithful to us when we put all our trust in Him. Godpreneur Rule: Godpreneurs trust God in our business and marriage and surrender every anxiety and worry to His will. #MarriedEntrepreneurs #BusinessBibleStudy #GodpreneurAcademy 21 Days of Breakthroughs in Business and Marriage This course provides needed strength and faith, in the truth of God’s holy Word, for breakthroughs in both your business and marriage. Heard of the Godpreneur Academy? Grow Your Business, God’s Way! Bible-Based Video Courses for Entrepreneurs Putting God First In their Businesses Click here to create a Free Account

I’ve had the pleasure of going through pain in business. I had a client include me in a multi-million dollar lawsuit, which propelled me in a new direction for my business. I had a client fire me and request money back, which led me to fundamentally change the way I do business and opened my eyes to a brand new opportunity. When faced with adversity, I know I choose one of two roads: either I internalize it and let it make me bitter, or I give the pain to God (my defender) and let the spirit process the emotions and feed my mind new positive thoughts that lead me to finding opportunities. Based on my own account, God uses pain I experience in my business to do one of 4 things for me: mold my character teach me something important grow me in some way make a difference in the lives of others How can I look at the list of benefits above and not thank God that I go though pains in business? Business is about solving problem after problem.  Nothing happens when you’re jumping from happiness to happiness.  Happiness come from problems being solved. The bible says "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 NIV The key for me is choosing to give the problem to God and not keeping it to myself.  God will never waste pain in your business that is offered to Him. When I offer my struggles in business to God, it removes it from contaminating my mind and opens me up to receive the solution.  In the torment of pain, I choose to spend my emotional energy and mental capacity on thinking logically. I need to pass this off in order of move on. #ShareYourTestimony #IncreaseEnergy #SharpenLeadership

We, entrepreneurs, have a battle between choosing God and choosing our business, and this often begins when we wake up in the morning. I've been waking up in the Word every morning for years. It's not easy. If I still struggle to set aside the 100 things I have to do that day for my business, I know others struggle. Today, I want to give you practicals steps; you can take first thing in the morning to help you choose God and make studying His Word your priority. My entire mission with Daily Godpreneur is to guide you to trust, follow, and serve the Lord in your business, DAILY. What's Consuming Your Thoughts in the Morning? Do you use an alarm of some sort? Do you hit snooze once, twice, seven times? Do you lie in bed to “thaw out” for a few minutes, or do you get right up? There are many ways to wake up, but most of us probably lie in bed for a moment to orient ourselves. As you start the process of orienting yourself, do you begin to think about your day and all that is before you? Where do your thoughts go as your mind becomes alert? We have a choice to make every day, every morning when we wake up. Will it be God, or will it be self? It is amazing how quickly we can make ourselves, our schedules, or our to-do lists first in our thoughts and priorities. How often do we think of ourselves first and then maybe later at some point give a passing thought to God whom we proclaim as Lord and Savior? What about you? What is foremost in your mind and heart when you wake up? Who comes first? How do you spend the start of your day? Over the next couple of days, we will look at a practical way we can choose each day to be less self-focused and more God-focused. Begin today by taking a moment to identify the things, the thoughts, the activities, or the emotions that can consume you and keep you from worshipping God and serving Him. Guided by a Plan As we seek to choose the Lord each day, it’s necessary to remember that we all have a desire to follow our flesh and think or do whatever “feels” right or seems easiest. As Paul argues in Romans 8, there is no choice for those outsides of Christ. Their sin entirely controls them. Believers, Paul says, have the Holy Spirit living within them. By the Spirit, we are becoming more and more like Jesus. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to overcome our flesh. As Joshua told the Israelites, we can choose. How might this choice play itself out, especially first thing in the morning? It seems that most people usually spend a few minutes gathering their thoughts for the day before they get out of bed in the morning. In these moments, it can be a temptation to choose to think first about our day, schedule, what we need to do, who needs to be where, etc. Before we know it, we can fall prey to the lies of the enemy, begin dreading our day or feeling overwhelmed by it, and then try to tackle it as soon as our feet hit the floor. What if, instead, we were to choose the Lord? What if, by God’s grace, we would choose to fight our sinful flesh, put it to death as God’s Word instructs us, and set our minds on His way instead of allowing our thoughts to run amok? Practically, how would this look? We would begin by thanking the Lord for the gift of a new day and acknowledge that He alone is sovereign, that He alone is in control—not us. And then, by His grace, we would put aside our thoughts, our concerns, and our agendas and draw near to God by spending time in His Word and prayer. No matter how much we think about our day or our agenda, the reality is that the day belongs to the Lord. If we start each day, intentionally acknowledging this and acknowledging who we are in Christ, this practice could easily transform how we think about and live out the rest of the day's moments. Creating Anchors of Reminders It might be a good idea to write Joshua 24:15 or a similar passage on a 3×5 card and place it next to your bed or on your bathroom mirror so you can be reminded first thing in the morning to choose God. You can even paste the verse in a reminder in your calendar or schedule it as an alarm on your phone. Seeing Scriptures such as these first thing in the morning or throughout the day can help you immediately see and think truth and be able to focus on it instead of the temporary things of your up-coming day. We need God’s grace, and this is a reminder that we can choose to set our mind on God, or we can choose to set our mind on ourselves. As soon as we awake, we allow our thoughts to be focused on ourselves or our circumstances. What would we feel in the end? We'll feel discouraged! By contrast, if we choose to pray and seek the Lord instead, there can be peace, hope, and renewal. Remember, you can choose each day whom you will serve. And though it will take a moment-by-moment reorienting of your mind throughout your day, this choice begins first thing in the morning. So as you enter into this daily choice, trust in the One who created the new day and you. He will provide the grace you need to make each of the days ahead, His. Take a moment now to pray and seek the Lord. Ask Him to help you choose Him first each day and moment-by-moment throughout the day. Write out Joshua 24:15 or copy and paste it as a reminder into your calendar. May God be your all in all! #BecomeDisciplined

I feel “called” to what I’m doing. Not the logo and website stuff that I do.  That’s my “vocational” calling – a strong feeling of suitability for my particular business. My calling is not merely my business plan or what I do as an entrepreneur or my set of skills or gifts. My calling is my identity. Who am I? My Primary Calling My primary calling as a Christian that I’m made in God’s image and I’m known by Jesus and called to be his faithful followers.  Regardless of my business doing good or bad, I’m in a transition between businesses, or I’m very satisfied with the meaningful work I’m doing – I’m called to be like Christ and show that to the world. Secondary Calling (My Business) Like a building is built on a strong foundation, the secondary calling is built upon the primary calling and it is through that calling in which the secondary one can exist. Yes, I do logos & websites.  But if I attach my primary calling to this, then it gets deeper.  I don’t just do logos & websites, I help people find their identity.  When I help someone find out what they are born to do, I develop a relationship with them where God can begin to use me to speak into their lives.  Now I can do my primary calling – be a light to my clients. The bible says "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy." I Peter 2:9-10 NKJV It’s in this dual-calling approach where I’m able to truly find my identity as an entrepreneur. When I can combine my primary calling and my vocational secondary calling, I’m more powerful both as a Christian and as a provider of my service to my clients. The two are not separate.  You don’t have two different callings.  You have one calling (vocation) built upon the first calling, your primary calling. Our calling is primarily about our identity. And that is not usually the answer people are looking for when they ask, “What is my calling?” Usually, people want to know, “What business should I do? What product or service should I offer? What skill, what capacity, what gift might be distinctly mine?” People come to me to help them with their secondary calling, but they are going to always get my primary calling because I’ve recognized one can’t exist without the other. I pray that God remind me of my identity in him as I meet with clients. I am a follower and a servant that’s being discipled to best serve my clients. I thank God for calling me to this service. No matter what task I am facing, I always remember my identity as a child of God by his mercy and grace. #BusinessBibleStudy #FindMyCalling #DifferentiatingMyself

I used to think running a church or non-profit was like the “ultimate Christian work” on the planet. I held these social entrepreneurs up in high esteem for the work they were doing. That being said, I would then look at my business as playing a lesser role in the grand scheme of things, but I wasn’t about to close up shop and start a church, so I’m kinda stuck with this. I’d put in extra volunteer hours and do web and graphic design work for the church so that I could feel I was contributing significantly like these pastors were. Many Christians entrepreneurs have the impression that church workers — especially evangelists, missionaries, pastors, priests, ministers and the like — have a higher calling than other businesses. There is little in the Bible to support this impression. Instead, because of priests and nuns given so much importance back in the middle ages, we’ve been conditioned to think those jobs are holier than non-spiritual work. This thinking is what causes us to think “how do I find significance in my industry?” In the Bible, God calls individuals both to church-related and non-church-related business. "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters." Colossians 3:23 NIV God’s guidance can occur just as strongly in non-church-related jobs and professions. Non-church business ownership is as much “full-time Christian service” as church work. All Godpreneurs are called (that is, commanded) to conduct everything they do, round the clock, as full-time service to Christ. The only businesses that do not have equal status in God’s eyes are those that require work forbidden by the Bible or are incompatible with its values. For example businesses requiring stealing, false witness or greed, usury, damage to health, or harm to the environment are incongruent with God’s heart for the world. This is not to say that people who own these types of businesses have lesser status in God’s eyes. Businesses of this sort might be the lesser of two evils in some situations. If your business is inconsistent with God’s values, you can seek to determine if it is necessary (and possible) to change businesses do your job differently or take action to correct injustice in your current industry or workplace While you should be thankful for all the people God has called to full time Christian work, you should also be thankful God has put you in your industry doing the business you’re in right now and has a reason. We need to continue to hear his call in our business life and learn from other Christian business owners on how to creatively partner with God in kingdom work. #NewEntrepreneurs #FindingMyPurpose #StrengthenIntegrity

I heard about a bus driver that was far from being your typical bus driver. He would pick up people in Manhattan and take them over to Queens.  Same route everyday for years. Before getting off the bus, his passengers would hear him say “Now before you get off the bus I want you to leave all of your problems from the day right here so you can go home whole and complete to your families.” He did this day after day, year after year. Here is a man whose identity is NOT in being a bus driver.  Instead, he has discovered the ultimate secret in finding your calling.  He has realized that his calling is really in being the salt and light to the world.  The bus was simply the vehicle (no pun  intended)) for enacting that calling. My clients want advice on how to hear God’s call for their business lives. I’ve heard people tell me that God may not have called them to the business they are doing every day. I’ve had friends worry that they have missed their entrepreneurial calling. I long for the same sense of purpose in my day-to-day business life. I have to be conscience of choosing to find my purpose and fulfillment in something more important than my role in my organization. I’ve chosen to make the distinction between calling and business. Our business has meaning, yes. God cares about our businesses. Our products and services can benefit the community around us. Owning a business certainly functions as a tool to refine us in God’s image. Through our entrepreneurship, we use specific skills and talents to serve others. But my company is first of all an opportunity to follow Jesus—to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love my neighbors as myself. That’s your calling as a Godpreneur: to love. The bible says "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Colossians 3:17 NIV God invites us to serve in the ordinary businesses we lead.  What makes a business extraordinary is when we’re able to love our clients like God loves us.  This is when we get to live our the gospel and hopefully share it with partners, vendors, contractors, employees and clients. Let God guide you to be the salt and the light in your niche. #BibleStudy #FindingMyCalling

Sometimes I fall into the trap of thinking that today my work isn’t significant, but  I’m still building towards that day. A friend asked me “Alex, is there anything troubling your heart?” The only thing that came to mind was that I want to be at a certain point of influence, but I’m not there yet.  Since I feel I’m not there yet, it makes today’s work…well….insignificant in my mind. I am WRONG in this thinking. The Holy Spirit is active and alive in me. From that point of view, I’m called to embody that intersection of heaven and earth. We often think of “significant work” in such grandiose terms that we have trouble imagining today’s work as having an impact. Godpreneurs, I want be absolutely clear what I’m talking about here. God says what I do in the present matters. I’m called to be active, working to change the way the world is through my business.  My brand should be confronting injustice, and building communities of peace and hope for a better way. "Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:58 NIV Paul writes a whole chapter on resurrection. How does he conclude? He doesn’t say, “Since there is a resurrection, look up and wait for this glorious future.” No, he says, “Therefore my beloved ones be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” Your business is “not in vain.” Why not? Because everything your business does in the present, in the power of the Spirit and in union with Christ, everything that flows out of love and hope and grace and goodness somehow will be part of God’s eventual Kingdom. This is your entrepreneurial calling!. Godpreneurs desperately want affirmation about the significance of our work and the choices we make in business. Now that my choices have significance because I’ve been called to a life of significance. Spirit brings God’s kingdom and his will into every part of my business, open and receptive to the Spirit, overflowing with love, hope, grace, and goodness. #FindingMyPurpose #FindMyCalling