prayer for work or business opportunities

I will tell you the truth. I'm feeling very conflicted at the moment. I was led to believe to take a step out in radical faith. Acknowledging I didn't have all the knowledge to do what it takes to succeed in my new business venture as an insurance agency owner after a 25 year career in commercial real estate.
I had several dreams over (15) which I "interpreted" to be from the Lord. In fact 3 times I asked the Lord if these dreams were from him and 3 times I believe he told me they were. However, our interpretations of dreams may or may not be correct, the bible and the word is final say on these type of matters. The bible says I need to work and to make money and to provide. I tell you the truth, sometimes it's just not easy to go "all in" when you have responsibilities, this path (maybe self inflicted), is 100x easier as single person, no worries about kids, families, obligations. You felt led to be a missionary in Africa... just go. Do it. Let go and let God, you hear this all the time. Horrible advice.

I finally got some good advice, and it came from an Orthodox priest online who quoted St. Agustine of Hippo.
"pray like everything depends on God, but WORK.. like everything depends on you."
I have to admit I have been passive, expecting some divine help from the Lord in opening doors I can't open, giving me wisdom I didn't have.
Take a bold step out, big step out in faith.. when I didn't know all the pieces.

Here is the thing, a little bit of knowledge of the word can be dangerous, very dangerous. We've all heard the story of Mary and Martha. Martha was busy working hard prepping for the party and Mary is chilling at Jesus feet the better portion, or so I thought. But actually, it's not the work that Jesus is correcting her but it's the complaining... I always thought the teaching was to seek God first and the rest would take care of itself.
God isnt a genie...my mistake is that I relied too much on God, leaned in too hard on faith, I did too little on diligence and planning.
Now I'm course correcting, and looking back and apply for work in my old career and also trying to build my insurance agency until I can find work.

I prayed fervently to the Lord asking why I'm going on this goose chase and I had a dream of an episode of fight to survive where the guy or preacher got his foot stuck in a rock on a hike and died. A faithful servant who make a mistake an honest mistake and paid for his life (he really needed a sat phone) when hiking alone. I don't know if this was God telling me, I know what I'm doing even when it means death, but I took it to mean a couple of things. 1) free will and consequences 2) God will bail you out or he may not ; up to his will which we never know.

In summary, unbridled all out faith can be dangerous, it needs to be balanced or you will burn out quick and lose faith.

Please pray for me and my families provision.
Thank you

Philippians 4:19

Wonderful prayer.

Jacko,

I’ve been reflecting on your recent words and actions, and I feel compelled to share some thoughts with you.
The foot that is stuck symbolizes the cares of this world. The phone represents your prayers-and God not being able to hear because you don’t truly know my Lord Jesus or our Father God Almighty. God is your friend if you know Him. But if you have unforgiven sins that you have not repented for, God only sees your sins. For instance, if your sin is adultery, God sees you as an adulterer-not by the name your parents gave you, but by your sin.

The Bible says that everything a born-again Christian does will prosper: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own understanding.” When we started the salon, it took three years to build a clientele. I worked every day for three years, ten-hour days. Jacko, you’ve only been in business for less then a year.

How dare you speak of my Lord God that way-saying you asked Him five times, and He replied five times to you to go into the insurance business, even though you hardly knew anything about it? Any born-again Christian knows they must be diligent and studious like Daniel. If I were you, I would have learned everything I could about the business I planned to start, and you can still be learning until you know everything about the insurance business while working.

You remind me of the way Job’s friends spoke wrongly of God. I could not let your post go unanswered, considering how you spoke about my Lord and His Father. And how were you planning to edify God through your business? Or did you think starting the company was for your own vain glory? You should be grateful that God is not a genie-genies are evil, and when a person asks anything of them, they always intend harm. God, on the other hand, is so loving that if you ask Him to forgive your sins and truly repent-that is, you will no longer sin willfully and will do your best to avoid sin-He will forgive you.
Go to church, learn to pray, and become a new person in Christ born-again Christian. Seek the Lord Jesus with all your heart and soul, and He will save your business or employ you in some other way. Either way, you will gain tremendously, because you will receive the precious gift of eternal salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. I put all my hope and trust in Jesus and His great goodness.
Jacko, ask Jesus to come into your heart today and surrender your life to Him, and He will help you. Did you know that if you were the only person in the world to save, Jesus would have gone to the cross just for you? That’s how much our Lord Jesus Christ loves you. You wouldn’t believe how much Jesus loves you. Turn to Him today, repent, and be saved. God bless you and forgive you. Amen.

Branch

My fault is that I didn't balance diligence with exuburence. When my wife said to me, you pray and pray and money isn't going to fall from the sky, I tell you I was really upset. In my heart, I said you don't know my God, which is also her God. The God that made the sun stand still, part the Red Sea, move mountains, etc. How simple to make money rain... that's nothing I thought in my mind. For the Lord returned to Issac 100x on his crops, during a drought. The Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever. Why wouldn't he do this for me?

Now I understand my wife was asking me to take action to try and make it happen. The Lord works with us, not for us.

What I learned and what the Lord showed me is that "waiting on the Lord" or "surrendering" isn't passive.
It's an active faith. Most people preach let go and let God handle it. I tried that but with bad theology, praying, fasting, not working, not planning, waiting for wisdom guidance that never came. Everything needs to be balanced, I fasted soo much I lacked energy to study, do work, etc. etc.

20250526_LAX - why v4

similar thoughts to this but not quite, but can relate.

You are new here... search some of my prior post and learn the story before you jump to conclusions.

Did I not read your letter? I read all the words you wrote and your complaints about how God let you down. God never lets us down, and we let him down. Did you know we are supposed to be vessels of the Holy Spirit? I don't need to learn about your whole history or hear about it in Christian chat to understand what your letter says. Do you know that a man can be good, and then the man falls into evil? The Bible says that all man's good deeds are forgotten, and in the end, the evil he did in his last days will be held against him, and God will judge him by his evil deeds. I ask you to repent of all your evil ways, turn to the Lord, our God, with your whole heart, be saved, and become a new person in Christ. No longer will you seek vain glory, which is sin, but you will want to live for others and lift others as the Lord came to serve us, not to be served.

1. "Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." (Galatians 5:13)
2. "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace." (1 Peter 4:10)
3. "For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." (Mark 10:45)

All I want to hear is that you have repented and turned your whole heart to the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazereth. If you were a saved person, you would have no problem repenting; we do it all the time. Amen and Amen. Have a nice day, and God bless you, brother. Amen.

Welcome to CC, Daisy's mother.

What things do you regularly repent from?

We are all sinners, but there is a difference: the born-again Christian does not wilfully sin.

What unwillful sins do you personally struggle with?

The Bible tells us to test the spirits. You are giving a spirit of correction and call to repentance.

Give us enough to test that spirit.

What sins do you personally struggle with and have to be corrected over for repentance?

Can you explain this more fully?

This is humility: to have the courage to accept humiliation and receive God’s forgiveness. Our souls should be like a transparent crystal through which God can be perceived.
Our crystal is sometimes covered with dirt and dust. To remove this dust we carry out an examination of our conscience in order to obtain a clean heart. God will help us to remove that dust, as long as we allow Him to; if that is our will, His will comes about.
Perhaps this is what we have lacked. Our examination of our conscience is the mirror we focus toward nature: a human test, no doubt, but one that needs a mirror in order to faithfully reflect its faults. If we undertake this task with greater faithfulness, perhaps we will realize that what we sometimes consider a stumbling block is rather a rock we can step on. The knowledge of our sin helps us to rise.

Photograph by 8kka ame
Knowledge of self is very necessary for confession. That is why the saints could say they were wicked criminals. They saw God and then saw themselves, and they saw the difference. We become hurt because we do not know ourselves, and our eyes are not fixed on God alone; so we do not have real knowledge of God. When the saints looked upon themselves with such horror, they really meant it. They were not pretending.
Knowledge of ourselves will help us to rise up, whereas sin and weakness will lead to despondency. Deep confidence and trust will come through self-knowledge. Then you will turn to Jesus to support you in your weakness, whereas if you think you are strong, you will not need our Lord.
Confession is a beautiful act of great love. Only in confession can we go as sinners with sin and come out as sinners without sin.
Confession is nothing but humility in action. We used to call it penance, but really it is a sacrament of love, a sacrament of forgiveness. When there is a gap between me and Christ, when my love is divided, anything can come to fill the gap. Confession is a place where I allow Jesus to take away from me everything that divides, that destroys.
The reality of my sins must come first. For most of us there is the danger of forgetting that we are sinners and must go to confession as sinners. We must go to God to tell Him we are sorry for all we have done that may have hurt Him.
The confessional is not a place for useless conversation or gossip. The topic should be my sins, my sorrow, my forgiveness; how to overcome my temptations, how to practice virtue, how to increase in the love of God.
Penance is absolutely necessary. Nothing is of greater force in restraining the disordered passions of the soul and in subjecting the natural appetites to right reason. Through penance we come to possess those heavenly joys and delights that surpass the pleasures of earth as much as the soul does the body, and heaven the earth.
Our penance is an act of perfect love of God, man, and the whole universe. It is for us a joyful identification with Christ crucified; it is a hunger to be lost in Him, so that nothing remains of us but He alone in His radiant glory drawing all men to the Father.

Jacko,

I truly feel for your situation and will pray for the Lord's discernment in your life. All of us need this and have a responsibility to prepare and then step out in faith. This can be easier said than done of course. I'm currently in a similar situation that will have long lasting effects in my life. He's putting on my heart something I haven't felt in a very long time. It's overwhelming at times and obviously it involves blessing others in a way that will definitely bless me too. It's so unfamiliar, it's a little concerning. But at the same time, and like you said, the urge to move forward in this direction seems inevitable. Thank you for sharing this, not only so we can pray for you and hear more of how the Lord will work this out for you. But also, so others can be reminded there will be difficulties when we choose to blindly follow Him.

We have some very passionate members here. And sometimes we all can come across a little strong. Some more than others. But I want to encourage you to ask the Lord to reveal exactly what's holding these plans back. I know we all get very busy trying our best to succeed that we often unintentionally look past something that can cause a rift in our relationship with the One who can do anything. And loves us so much that He's just waiting for this one thing to get resolved. It very well could be the Lord allowed this unprepared mentality to overcome you. Ask Him to show you this.

Dear Heavenly Father, please reveal whatever there may be in jacko's life that needs to be corrected. Whether he knows about it or not, please bring it to the forefront to be dealt with immediately. I know You've not allowed me to move forward at times in my life with something You're going to bless me with. Because I was doing or ignoring something that had to be dealt with. You're just not going to allow this thing, whatever it is, to be apart of Your blessing moving forward. Give jacko better discernment and not only reveal this to him but give him the strength to confess to You and the knowledge to properly handle whatever it may be to Your glory Father. In Jesus' Name, Amen!

Love you brother

Dear Cameron, the Bible teaches that born-again Christians are free of sin. This concept is rooted in the idea of spiritual rebirth and transformation through faith in Jesus Christ. The scripture emphasizes that those who are born again are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, leading to a new life and a relationship with God. This transformation is not just a physical change but a profound spiritual renewal that results in a life characterised by holiness and obedience. The New Testament, particularly in 1 John 3:9, affirms that "whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in Him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God." This verse is often cited to teach that genuine believers will not practice habitual sin. However, interpretations of this verse can vary, with some suggesting an absolute understanding that believers never sin at all.

Dear Cameron,
WALKING IN THE LIGHT MEANS TAKING SIN SERIOUSLY

I. 8, 10) BY NOT DENYING SIN

A. 8) In Principle — “If we say that we have no sin (nature)” — Intrinsic Sin

self-deception; divorced from the truth

“We are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

B. 10) In Practice — “If we say that we have not sinned” — Manifested Sin

blasphemy; divorced from God’s Word

“We make Him a liar, and His word is not in us”

II. 9) BY CONFESSING SIN

A. In Accordance With God’s Perspective — Def. of “confess.”

“If we confess our sins.”

I am not talking about the need to confess to a human priest but to our great High Priest in the Heavenlies.

B. In Dependence Upon God’s Character

1. Faithful — God keeps His Word

“He is faithful.”

2. — God honours the Atonement

“and righteous.”

C. In Reliance Upon God’s Blessing

1. Forgiveness of Known Sin

“to forgive us our sins”

2. Cleansing from all Unrighteousness — known or unknown

“and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”

Ryrie: “Forgiveness is absolution from sin’s punishment, and cleansing is absolution from sin’s pollution.”

What is the relationship between repentance and confessing sin?

Prov. 28:13: “He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.”

Repentance = Confession + Forsaking — these 2 should always go together

Confession = to say the same thing about our sins as God says

Legal background of the word: confessing a guilty plea in a court of law as you submit to the court’s judgment

To say that there can be Confession and repentance apart from spiritual submission to God makes God a condoner of sin. Much more than merely admitting that we did the wrong action — we could do that boastfully — cf. a terrorist setting off a bomb and then calling the local media to claim responsibility — he is not really confessing to the crime — there is no submission there — no agreeing that what was done was wrong and despicable — no desire to be cleansed and changed.

In the context of 1 John, we are not talking about initial repentance, not the initial Confession of sin as a condition for salvation. Look at the Present tense of the verb — coordinate with the Present tense of “walking in the light” — if we are characterized by taking sin seriously in terms of confessing sin on an ongoing basis as the Holy Spirit convicts us in our Christian walk, that Practice of Confession marks us as a true believer. God is faithful (He keeps His Word) and righteous (He honors the atonement) to forgive us our sins (not just in a legal sense in terms of justification but in a practical sense in terms of not letting anything come between and interrupt our relationship) and to cleanse us from all Unrighteousness.

This Confession of sins (like John Bunyon in Pilgrim’s Progress, who walks along the path towards heaven and needs to recover from the pitfalls of life) is a fruit of initial repentance and proof of our fellowship with God, whose standard of holiness provides the basis for our Confession.

In the Psalms, David often spoke about the opposite of Confession of sin—describing his spiritual torment when he tried to hide his sins or rationalize or explain away his behaviour.

John is not talking about continually confessing the same sin — that should not be our experience. When this is the case, the Holy Spirit reminds us that our confession must be coupled with forsaking the sin and burning the bridge on whatever habit of life is causing us problems. We need to work at putting to death the deeds of the flesh.

How seriously do we take sin in our lives? Do we remember that it was our sin that caused Christ to shed His blood on the cross and suffer in our place to provide us with forgiveness and cleansing? You can be sure that Christ recognizes and has experienced the seriousness of sin.

Are you suggesting that believers do not commit sin?
A simple yes or no is all I require?