You may have noticed in recent months an increasing emphasis in my messages toward the subject of prayer. Even this week’s messages on love stem from a heightened focus in my own life on prayer and on listening to God.
I believe that now more than ever we must return to this posture if we are going to fulfill our God-given purpose and take territory for the Kingdom of God - particularly in the marketplace.
This has put a burden in my heart to share with you one of the books that God has used to impact me heavily on this subject. My staff has been working to produce an electronic edition of a classic that I believe will change your life. I urge you to check it out right away.
In addition, they dug through our archives and located a teaching series that has previously only been shared with a handful of people that participated in one of my private coaching groups some years ago.
In honor of our celebration of the resurrection of our Savior this weekend, I instructed my team to put together a special price on these two items for you. It’s been a long time since we’ve ever offered anything at this low price point (below $20), but it’s important enough to me that you get these materials in your hands that I wanted this to be accessible to everyone.
One of our most responded to blog entries was when I recently mentioned (Feb 12th) the need for soft skills. I am proud to say I began with a discussion on humility. (o-; Today I want to introduce a soft skill Paul calls the greatest of all. It’s an awkward one to bring up in a business environment but it has the most transformational power.
I am talking of course about “love.” Talking about it is far less important than actually demonstrating it and there are countless ways we can do that. For example, love lays down its life for another. That’s what service is… laying down your life for the benefit of another. If you do this particularly well in business, you will generate high customer satisfaction and an incredible reputation.
As an example, my friend Wes Cantrell, the former CEO of Harris 3M and Lanier Worldwide told me when he became the CEO of Harris 3M he was in the position of actually chartering the purpose and vision for that company. That’s when they decided to build their purpose and business around the Scripture that says, “A good name is rather to be chosen than riches….” They focused on customer satisfaction and as a byproduct of that quality decision had tremendous growth and tremendous profits. He assumed the reins of a $93 million company and retired leaving behind a $1.5 billion company built on loving your customers.
P.S. By the way, if you’d like to hear more from Wes Cantrell, ChristianBusinessDaily.com is holding a teleseminar featuring him this week called “Insider Information - A Retrospective.” It gets underway on Thursday at 1PM Eastern, and is a fascinating look into the world of a major CEO who integrated his faith into the world of publicly-traded companies. Learn more about this event here.
Have you ever noticed how we automatically and subconsciously put up our walls when a person comes across in a prideful or arrogant way? Just the opposite seems to be true when a powerful force comes across in a humble package.
I am beginning to think that this thing about being created in the image of God may also include carrying some of His preferences. I know we are fallen people, redeemed by Christ. I know we have a sinful nature, but I also think that we still have built in us, at least the potential to appreciate and value and be drawn to the virtues God values. Even if we don’t know the Lord. There is something in most, if not all of us, that wants the character of God. There’s a hunger for His authenticity. The video link I sent you last week of Paul Potts was a great picture of that truth as the audience was enthralled with an authenticity that lacked glitz but carried power.
As if you needed further evidence of the pure touching even the heart of the most calloused, take a look at this 6 year old hitting the national stage in Britain.
To me it speaks of how much people at some level want something pure, something good, something wholesome. It’s another picture of what happens when you combine talent with humility. Something wonderful happens. Let’s humble ourselves while mastering our gifts and watch where God takes us!
Important Note: This is the last day for you to get in on the Spring Training with David Johnson for marketing and growing your business. If you missed the teleseminar, you can listen online or download it here. Call 877-254-3047 or email appointment@sellingamongwolves.com with any questions.
A while back I wrote a blog on soft skills, chief among them humility. I well remember the time I went to hear a lineup of speakers at the 1993 Super Stars of Selling in Nashville, TN. The one speaker that stood out the most and the only one to receive a standing ovation was a man who, it seemed, was speaking before a large crowd for the first time. He was rather monotone, not at all flamboyant, cocky or arrogant and yet he held the audience in rapt attention. Sure, he had earned $3,000,000 in commissions and that was why he was invited, and sure, he had a good message about what he calls the five “F’s” of faith, family, friends, finance and fitness. But what carried the day was his profound humility. He was not boastful, arrogant or proud. His talk was the least exciting and lacked humor but it dripped humility. And the crowd was mesmerized.
There’s just something about humility that God seems to like and quite frankly, so do most people which is why when you combine humility with great talent, you get an overwhelming response. Consider Paul Potts, the cell phone salesman in England. He is not the picture of confidence, but as you will see if you watch this 4 minute video clip, he is immensely talented and genuinely humble. It’s his talent that got him on the program, but his humility that got the crowd to their feet.
What’s the lesson? Develop your gift. Follow your dream. Excel at it. And always, carry that gift with humility. Your gift will get you in the door. Humility will seal the deal. God resists the proud but exalts the humble. Don’t know about you, but I need all the help I can get, so I will choose humility while striving to always do my best and improve my gift.
Important Note: Our conference call for marketing and growing your business in the 21st century was one of our all time best attended. (If you missed it, you can listen online or download it here.) In that call we offered a 90-day mentoring program which begins this week. It has received our best response ever for this type of program. The door closes on that offer this week, so if you have a business that is in need of more business or a website that needs a lot more traffic, be sure to check it out. A lot of folks had some specific questions about the suitability of this program for their business and David Johnson agreed to extend his availability to discuss your unique situation through Wednesday of this week. You can either call Toll Free (877) 254-3047 or email him at appointment@sellingamongwolves.com to get your specific questions answered.
There are many identifiers of true humility, but one which is often overlooked is prayer. When we don’t pray, we are saying in effect, “I can handle this myself.” When we do pray, we are acknowledging our lack of ability and/or lack of trust in that ability and asking for God’s influence, help, and aid in the situation. The more capable you are, the more you better learn to depend on God, or you will set yourself up for a fall.
One way to do that is to always be stretching beyond your comfort zone, beyond your known abilities and into that area where fear rears its ugly head. If you are not facing down fear, you are probably not attempting very much. If fear is paralyzing you right now, you are quite close to deliverance. You are entering the faith zone, where you must walk by faith and not by sight.
Get up a little earlier just to spend time with the Father. Read His word and then just get a pen and paper and listen. Write down the thoughts He gives you and obey. This is called listening prayer. So much of our prayer time is us telling God stuff He already knows and asking Him for things or favor, etc. But what He wants to give us more than anything is Himself, His presence, His love. He wants us to cognitively experience Him. Train yourself to be quiet and wait upon the Lord. How long should you wait? Until you experience His mercy (favor, grace) (Psalm 123:2)
In the end, you will find new strength, mount up with wings like an eagle and soar. When you run, you will not be weary and when you walk, you will not faint. (Isa 40:31)
Humility carries with it the greatest of benefits… God promises to give grace to the humble. Grace is undeserved but yet freely given to the humble. Grace is more than unmerited favor. It is the divine influence upon the heart. As I understand it, grace is God’s Spirit coming upon us, affecting our desires and turning our heart.
Somehow His grace makes it possible to walk through any trial. It is God enabling us to do what we could never do on our own. It is God strengthening us in our innermost being to face what we would never wish to face. The test becomes a contest between the trial itself and God’s ability working through us. If we let him work through us and obey His instruction, it will confound the enemy and secure the victory.
Running scared today? Bring those fears to God. Lay them at His feet. Humble yourself by leaving the consequences in His hands. Acknowledge your insufficiency and rejoice in His all sufficiency. God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands. Purify your hearts. Cease from being double-minded. Admit with all candor your failings. Let your heart be broken, contrite and repentant. When you humble yourself in His sight, He will lift you up.
“LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble: You will prepare their heart, You will cause Your ear to hear.” (Psalm 10:17)
For quite some time now, I have needed a clear directive from God on something. I wanted His guidance to make a very difficult decision that I have been agonizing over for a very long time. Biblical verses lined up on both sides of the decision. Godly people faced with a similar decision have come down on both sides of this issue. Even principle seemed to be on both sides though pragmatism leaned more on one side. I didn’t know what to do and the decision carries significant, life altering ramifications. Ever been there?
I spent Monday afternoon walking in the woods, praying, but hearing nothing. My wife had ordered a book by Mary Geegh, a missionary to India most of her life, called God Guides, made available from PrayAmerica.org which we received in the mail Wednesday. The focus of the book is what she calls “listening prayer.” The premise being, “When man listens, God speaks; When man obeys, God acts; When God acts, men change.”
I realized that so much of my prayer time was me telling God stuff He already knew and there was very little deliberate effort to silence those things competing for my focus and simply wait in silence to hear from Him. There was no blog yesterday because when I set my heart to wait and listen, I began to hear. He brought to mind a story I had read in God Guides and I heard him say “Go and do likewise.”
That was truly an answer but I needed more so I asked Him to confirm this by telling me which verse that was. I heard a verse and indeed it was so. Because of the magnitude of this decision, I asked Him for another verse that dealt with this issue. Immediately He told me. Knowing what I had to do, I asked Him for one more, just to be double-dog sure. He gave it to me. Even though I had not wanted to make that choice, I obeyed right away… consuming the rest of my morning.
How this will unfold is unknown to me, but after years of struggling with this question, I had my answer. I would be foolish to disobey.
For the next while, I want to address the great need in the body of Christ and certainly in my own life for what I call the “soft skills.” Hard skills include things like workmanship, oratory ability, logistic ability, planning skills, and many, many more. But without soft skills, we are in great danger of a fall (Prov 16:18) and the loss of all we have worked so hard for. Worse yet… we may keep what we worked for and lose our family, our friends, our soul. (Mark 8:36)
Soft skills are so important that Solomon names two key soft skills (humility and the fear of the Lord) and claims they are the way to riches and honor and life. But then there are the fruit of the Spirit with love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and self control. These are exactly the kind of soft skills I am speaking of.
I think it best to begin with humility because when we succeed in business (or even sometimes in our efforts to succeed), we can easily become prideful, boastful, and self-important. I know that is something I must fight. I don’t like to admit that, but it is true and I fear the consequences of a proud or haughty spirit. So what are the signs of lack of humility or pridefulness? We shall examine a few. But today I ask you… Will you walk on this journey with me? Will you contribute to the discussion? Specifically, will you share your insights on the telltale signs of pridefulness in our own life? I look forward to your thoughts…
