Such a partnership with God is what I call "an unlimited partnership." Today, God is calling men and women into just such a partnership.
In fact, there is as much of a calling into business as there is into a pulpit ministry. Both are of equal importance in God's overall plan. In the Old Testament, Moses told his people that it was God who gave them the ability to create wealth to establish His covenant (Deut. 8:18).
God has not changed in the New Testament. He still gives talents and spiritual power to generate wealth in this fallen world. The purpose of wealth in the New Testament remains the same as in the Old: "...to establish His covenant...."
A businessman or woman is called by God to financially support those who preach the gospel.
So if God has called you into business, don't quit to go into mission work or evangelism because somebody makes you feel inferior to those in the full-time pulpit ministry.
The businessman who tries to be a preacher is as bad as the preacher who tries to be a businessman! Businessmen or women should stay with their divine call to make a profit, expand their business, and finance the gospel.
A Spiritual Army
In these last days, the Lord is raising up a mighty, spiritual army of missionaries, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. There must be funds to support them.
Soldiers have always been supported by public funds. David, speaking prophetically, said the men who went into battle would be rewarded equally with those who remained behind to "stay by the stuff" (1 Sam. 30:24).
In God's eyes, too, those who "stay by the stuff" are equally important as those who go to battle. At the judgment seat of Christ, the business owners and employees in the congregation who remained in everyday life and generated capital to support the gospel will be given equal rewards with those who stood behind the pulpits in this country and around the world. Like David, God rewards equally.
God Loves Business
It may come as a surprise to you, but it's true: God loves business. It is His means of producing wealth in the earth. Governments cannot produce wealth and neither can churches. They can only distribute it.
Business is the only place where wealth can be created. When a government understands this and frees business to operate with only minimal restraint, great amounts of wealth and prosperity come into a nation.
Likewise, when the Church sees God's purpose for business and does not condemn its members for possessing great wealth or owning powerful businesses, it, too, can see large amounts of wealth and prosperity brought in.
To bless businesses and honor those in business is to honor God and His divine will. His plan for taking the gospel to the ends of the earth has business at its core.
Business did not begin with Wall Street or Dow Jones. Henry Ford and J.Paul Getty might have taken business to new heights, but they weren't the first businessmen in history.
When only one man occupied the earth, there was business. Adam was the first businessman, but even he did not create business: God did. God and Adam formed the first business partnership.
Even after Satan tempted Eve in the Garden and man fell, God was still Adam's business partner. God never left His original intention: Business was to be a vehicle for the message of redemption to be taken into the world.
When men and women, Old Testament and New, put the Lord and His plan first in their lives, God prospered them financially. He blessed all that they set their hand to (Deut. 28:8).
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