by Kim Avery
I often think that running this coaching business would be much easier if Jesus just appeared before me in the flesh and told me exactly what to do. How about you? Yet strangely, Scripture shows that even that wouldn’t be enough.
Think back to the Gospels when the disciples were literally walking with Jesus, the God-man. They had him by their side, day and night, teaching, instructing, encouraging, modeling, and the disciples tried their hardest to get it right. They wrestled to understand. They went to great lengths to be on top. They did their best to make God’s Kingdom come in their way with their plan in their timing.
At the greatest redemptive moment in human history, they were still clueless, faithless, and powerless in every area of their lives.
Pretty discouraging, isn’t it? It’s an important reminder that human results brought about by human efforts are like building your business on the sand. It looks really good until the next wave crashes in. Alone, it’s hopeless.
Ah, but with God, all things suddenly become possible. I love reading the pages of Scripture, seeing a hopeless situation, and then, a few pages later, watching God step in.
Everything changes.
Although at the end of the Gospels, we find the disciples cowardly and doubting, when we flip a few pages forward to the book of Acts, they are preaching in the town square, standing tall against their enemies, remaining firm in persecution, and singing in jail.
What changed?
These untrained, unlearned, undereducated, insecure tax collectors and fishermen hadn’t affirmed themselves, patted themselves on the back, psyched themselves up, or convinced themselves that in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, they were enough.
The difference was that they were filled with God’s Holy Spirit.
These “not good enough” men—who months before had been impulsive, competitive, bickering, cowering, and actually deserting their Lord—were transformed by God’s Holy Spirit on the inside.
Being radically different on the inside changed how they acted on the outside.
God will use every circumstance, every conversation, every challenge to train us to be:
- Prayer-Empowered
- Christ-Saturated
- Grace-Infused
- Joy-Fueled
- Spirit-Filled, and
- Peace-Permeated
Like these early disciples, you and I want our lives and businesses to make a difference, but on our own, we just aren’t enough.
That’s okay!
For that, we have prayer.
Let’s stop living the lie. Let’s stop pretending that we can do this on our own. Instead, let’s ask God to fill us with his Spirit, remembering that all things are possible with him.
Today I would like to give you a prayer starter:
Lord, I admit that on my own I am not enough for this life and this business to which you have called me. With you all things are possible. Today, fill me to overflowing with your Spirit so that I may . . . (now finish with your own words).
Congratulations! You have just taken the first step in becoming a prayer-powered coach and entrepreneur.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kim Avery is a Professional Certified Coach, Business Coach, and Spiritual Director for Coaches & Entrepreneurs. She is the author of the best-selling book, The Prayer Powered Entrepreneur: 31 Days to Building Your Business with Less Stress and More Joy.
