My background is a business background. Even though I was licensed and ordained as a Southern Baptist minister as a young man, in the decades since I have been involved in many business ventures.

Everything from retail stores, marinas, manufacturing, banking, and even oil wells have played a part in my business life. Currently everything is going very well.

Even though my life is consumed completely with ministry, I still have my thumb on the pulse of the business world.

Isaiah 48:17 says that God teaches His people to profit and He leads them in the proper direction. I have always believed this verse, but during my days in the business world many times I would pray the procedure instead of the promise. Here's what I mean.

Many years ago I found myself in a devastating business situation. My back was against the wall and it looked like there was no way out. In fact, things looked so bad that I couldn't even see how God could deliver me.

I felt like I was locked in a room that didn't even have a door. When it looked like all was lost, seemingly out of nowhere a Christian businessman came along and offered a business deal that would completely bring me out of the financial pit I was in.

The deal sounded good, it looked good, it felt good and I needed it. It was my only hope!

As a Christian I knew I needed to pray and I prayed daily that this business deal would go through because I saw it as my only way out. So I prayed day and night.

Then, all of a sudden the entire business deal collapsed. I cried out to God, "Why did you let this happen to me? I needed this business transaction." In the silence, I finally listened to God. He spoke to my heart and said, "I didn't block your deliverance. I saved you from destruction."

Later the right deal came along and I was not only delivered from destruction, but also put into a better position financially than ever before.

A few years later, I learned that the Christian businessman, who I thought was my salvation, was actually a crook who preyed on innocent Christians in their time of peril. God had blocked the destruction and made a way of deliverance.

We must pray God's promises without telling Him how to fulfill them. He makes the promises and provides the process. Our responsibility is to believe in Him. Our trust must be in His promise without yielding to the fear and temptation to tell Him how to do His work.

For we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7).

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