The Solution: Discover a Win Partnership with God

God is My Success: Transforming Adversity into Your Destiny
by Larry S. Julian

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Jesus describes our partnership with God: "All I have is yours, and all you have is mine" (John 17:10). Instead of a business partnership based on performance and conditional love, we have a winwin- win, or win, partnership with God. What is win? A win partnership is a dynamic, growing relationship between you and the Lord. Undergirded in God's unconditional love, the partnership overflows with blessings for you, God, and others around you, or win.

Let's take a look at how this partnership works. First, God has provided you with the greatest gift of all, Himself, in the form of the Holy Spirit. God gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, so that He can live in you, teach you, guide you, and empower you to overcome any obstacle in your way. Further, God has given you the unique talents and gifts you need in order to succeed. Even at your weakest moments, when you think there's no way out, God is working powerfully to help you. God's grace is always there for you at your point of greatest need.

"Grace is God's measureless provision meeting us at our point of immeasurable need." (Monty Sholund, Founder, Village Schools of the Bible)

Second, your gift to God is simple: Accept His gifts. Utilize His gifts to become the success He designed you to be. Live a life of abundance, experiencing love, peace, and joy, regardless of the circumstances surrounding you. Did you know that you bring God pleasure? We were created for His pleasure, and God delights in lives lived for His purpose and glory.

I remember being at a retreat when I felt so blessed by God that I prayed, "Lord, how can I thank You for all Your blessings?" I sensed His response: "Quit worrying and boldly live the life I gave you!" What a profound revelation that was for me! We bring God pleasure when we gratefully accept and appreciate the gifts He's given us. Sadly, too many miss this great truth. I know many people who are "saved," yet live their lives by default, never fully experiencing an abundant life here on earth. By seeking and trusting God, we become the successful leaders He designed us to be.

Third, while you certainly benefit from your partnership with God, ultimately, life isn't only about you. You're called to make a difference in the world. Although the size of your "world" may vary from your next-door neighbor's, you're called to serve others, not out of obligation, but out of genuine love. When you live a life of significance, you affect others. As you naturally develop the fruit of the Spirit-love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control-they overflow to those around you. As you live in partnership with God, you make a difference in other people's lives at home, at work, and in your community. You leave a legacy. You make the world a better place.

Your Unique Call

"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit-fruit that will last." (John 15:16)

The least motivating statement I've ever heard came from my high school guidance counselor. She said, "Larry, you're a good, average student, and I'm sure you will fit into society very well." I don't fault her for her statement. She thought she was doing her job by heading me toward a career. However, her view reflected society's expectations: go to school, graduate from high school, go to college, pick a career, start a career, get married, have 2.5 kids, work your way up the ladder, become a contributing citizen, retire, play golf, then die. Maybe that's not so bad, but something is missing. This paradigm is only about fulfilling society's expectations of living, success, work, and family. It includes nothing about being uniquely called by God.

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart." (Jer. 1:5)

As a speaker and facilitator, I've met thousands of people from assembly line employees to CEOs, and I am amazed at their differences. Each one has unique strengths, weaknesses, talents, communication style, learning style, and background. Even so, society loves to put people in boxes with labels. We are black, white, Republicans, Democrats, educated, uneducated, employed, unemployed, underemployed, and so on.

God relates to each of us in an individual way. He knows how to best teach and prepare each person for His purpose. For those of us who are type A, highly driven, control-oriented people, He may teach us in a way that requires us to surrender our prerogatives. For those who are always "on the go," He may simply say, "Be still and know that I am God." For those cautious types who are good at surrender but have difficulty taking charge, He may say, "Arise, let's go!" God calls each of us in very unique and often unexpected ways. Rather than fitting God into our plans, we must learn to be open to understanding the role God wants each of us to play in His plan.

God at Work

"Work is not primarily a thing one does to live, but the thing one lives to do. It is or it should be, the full expression of the worker's faculties, the thing in which he finds spiritual, mental, and bodily satisfaction, and the medium in which he offers himself to God." Dorothy Sayers, Creed or Chaos

God is at work in you wherever you go. He is with you at work, at home, and in all of your endeavors. Your partnership with God is not a part-time pursuit; it is a full-time, 24/7 relationship. Your work should be a natural expression of your partnership with God, making you a better businessperson, parent, spouse, and friend.

If you follow God's guidance for your work and life, you will be successful God's way. Not only will you experience the fruit of the Spirit- love, peace, and joy-you will yield fruit by making a difference in others' lives. If you check God at the door of your business, you will succumb to the business rules that undermine the success God has planned for you. The bottom line will take precedence, you will be constantly battling the urgent demands that require attention, and it will never be enough. Equally, if you check God at the door when you come home, you will succumb to the pressures of home, falling into the busyness of family life but not nurturing the underlying love that makes a family grow. When you go it alone, the result is that you will succumb to the world's pressure to be a "success," and it will never be enough. You will become burned out and ineffective. When God is your partner, you follow a higher set of standards, providing excellence in all you do. It becomes a form of worship. Your workmanship will be worthy of God's signature, and the service you provide will be not only for the customer, but also for the pure love of serving others. God provides guidelines, not deadlines. He provides a way to enjoy your work and life rather than racing from task to task.

The Partnership: Roles, Responsibilities,
and Expectations

We often have trouble understanding and applying our partnership with God. Some of us are take-charge, in-control folks. We tend to run ahead of God, doing a lot of things, but often we aren't in alignment with God. Alternately, some of us believe we are helpless and powerless. We claim "the Lord will provide," then we sit idly waiting for God to get the job done. What is the right balance? When do we surrender control and when do we take charge?

Think about Apham's struggle when he heard God's prompting to take action. We're often asked to take a leap of faith, even when the decision or action goes against the grain of personal or business logic. Keith's situation, however, is an example of the times when life throws a curveball, when we're hit with something we can't handle on our own. Like Keith, we need to relinquish our control to God and allow Him to carry us.

You need to ask, "What role do I play in my partnership with God? What does God expect of me? What is God's role?" The balancing act is interesting. It comes down to the answers to these questions: What is my responsibility? What is God's? At the core of every relationship is dynamic tension that can lead to growth and maturity. Your relationship with God is like that, too. There's a rhythm and flow to it, elements of taking control and surrender. It is a process of discovering and following through on God's call. You need to die to your self-centered desires and surrender to God's will, and also take charge of God's call on your life, courageously overcoming the challenges before you and fulfilling your destiny.

There are two processes at work. One is a shedding, cleansing process (of self), and one is a building, growth process (of Christlikeness). The Surrender Posture and the Take-Charge Posture work hand in hand.

The Surrender Posture
God at Work

"In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be . . . prepared to do any good work." (2 Tim. 2:20-21)

We need to shed things-our power, ego, fears, and control- in order to be useful to God. The Surrender Posture is one of submission to God. Surrendering puts God in first place, His rightful position. It is a statement of honor, respect, and deference to God. Second, surrender prepares us to communicate with God. It's a shedding or cleansing process of worldly stuff that hinders our ability to hear His voice. Call it sin; call it self; call it idols. Call it what you want, but the bottom line is that to have open communication with God, you need to clear your mind, heart, and soul. The more you shed, the more you will be able to be used by God.

Surrender is also a posture of peace. It is the ultimate place of oneness with God, a perfect harmony in which God's will and your acceptance are united. It is a place of trust, assurance, and confidence that God is with you. Surrender isn't an event but a daily process. For some, it's the hardest thing they'll ever do. Often people in business find that taking charge is easy, but trusting in God is really tough.

Surrendering "your way" to God will be the most important thing you ever do. Rather than taking control of your life, sometimes you need to simply get out of the way and allow God to work through you. Relax. Quit wearing yourself out by trying to maneuver things beyond your control. Just be still-and know that God is at work in you.

The Take-Charge Posture

"You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did." (James 2:22)

The Take-Charge Posture is one of personal responsibility. God has given us the free will and the ability to make choices. Taking charge puts our faith into action. This is a posture of power, courage, personal initiative, leadership, integrity, accountability, discipline, perseverance, action, and followthrough.

It is in this posture that the partnership with God manifests itself in our work and lives. With the power, purpose, and love of Christ deeply inside your being, you overcome life's challenges to become the success He designed you to be. When Nehemiah was called by God to rebuild the wall in Jerusalem, he didn't ask God to build the wall for him.

He asked for the strength to build the wall. Nehemiah organized the manpower and used his leadership skills to build the wall. When Solomon was asked to lead Israel, he didn't ask God to do the job for him. He asked for the wisdom to do the job he was called to do.

"In my work with business executives, leaders have a tendency to control the things they should surrender to God and a tendency to relinquish control of the things they should take charge of."

Throughout the Bible, we find examples of leaders like these who had a posture of submission toward God and the Take-Charge Posture that allowed them to fulfill God's plan and get the job done. The Surrender Posture actually prompts the Take-Charge Posture. For example, when we allow ourselves to be comforted, we learn to comfort others. When we submit to the authority of God, we are able to resist the devil. (See James 4:7: "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.")

Your success in overcoming obstacles lies in both your postures of surrender and taking charge. The key is to understand when to surrender and when to take charge. In my work with business executives, leaders have a tendency to control the things they should surrender to God (e.g., business outcomes, economic conditions, stakeholder expectations) and a tendency to relinquish control of the things they should take charge of (e.g., confronting difficult issues, being fiscally responsible, doing the right thing regardless of consequences, putting people and purpose over profits). In your partnership with God, understanding your role-in particular when to submit to God and when to take responsibility- is critical.

Understanding Your Role

"Our Lord never takes measures to make me do what He wants. Sometimes I wish God would master and control me to make me do what He wants, but He will not. And at other times I wish He would leave me alone, and He does not." (Oswald Chambers)

Do you remember the "Serenity Prayer"? I believe it beautifully describes the Surrender and Take-Charge Postures of our partnership: "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

We tend to act first and think later. I've created the STOP Method to remind you to pause, or stop what you're doing, and seek God's guidance. The STOP Method will help you identify what to surrender and what to take control over. The first two letters, S and T, represent the Surrender Posture. The last two, O and P, represent the Take-Charge Posture.

Copyright © 2005 by Laurence S. Julian

About the Author

Larry Julian is a successful consultant and speaker and the author of the nationally acclaimed business book God Is My CEO: Following God's Principles in a Bottom-Line World. As a business coach, Larry's mission is to help people integrate their work and faith to be the successes God intended. He has trained thousands of business leaders, and his clients have included 3M, AT&T, General Mills, Honeywell, the Mayo Clinic, Qwest, and hundreds of other large and small organizations. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.