Make Me Available: Trusting God with Your Business and Your First Fruits

Why trusting God with your first fruits is the ultimate business strategy

By Dr. Lee C. Cordell

Want to listen to the full interview?

• Tune into the Full Podcast Episode on your favorite Podcast App HERE
• Watch the Full Episode on YouTube HERE

Y'all, I have to be honest with you. Sometimes the conversations I have on this podcast give me chills because of how divinely timed the conversation ends up being.

My conversation with Bill Nienhuis, President of Childcare Worldwide, was one of those times.

Bill has spent over two decades leading an organization that is literally changing the world—but his journey didn't start in the nonprofit sector. It started in radio, moved through the early days of Logos Bible Software, and eventually led him to a place where he had to ask himself one fundamental question:

Do I trust God enough to make myself completely available to Him?

If you are an entrepreneur, a founder, or a leader trying to build a business God's way, this is the question that changes everything.

The "Make Me Available" Prayer

One of the most powerful things Bill shared was a prayer he prays regularly: "God, thank you for saving me. Make me available."

Notice what's missing from that prayer? CONDITIONS.

It doesn't say, "Make me available between 9 AM and 5 PM," or "Make me available as long as it aligns with my 5-year business plan."

As Bill put it, "There are no guardrails around that, there's no fence around it. You either trust or you don't."

When we pray that prayer as business owners, we are giving God permission to interrupt our plans. We are saying that our calendar, our resources, and our expertise belong to Him.

And when we do that, God will surprise us in the ways He brings us to something (or someone) at exactly the right time.

Stewarding Your First Fruits

We also got into a conversation about tithing and stewardship that I know is going to challenge some of you (it challenged me!).

In Romans 12, Paul talks about the 7 spiritual/motivational gifts, and one of those gifts is the Steward. The Steward is the person who can identify assets and allocate them in a divinely directed way.

As entrepreneurs, we are called to be stewards of the businesses God has entrusted to us.

But here is where the rubber meets the road: Are you giving God your first fruits?

Not what's left over after taxes, payroll, and expenses. The first fruits.

I see so many taskmaster entrepreneurs who are working themselves to the bone, trying to control every outcome, but they aren't tithing- which means they aren't trusting God with the very first part of their harvest.

There are many warnings in the Bible against testing the Lord, but there is one place where God explicitly says, "Test me in this."

He says, "bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven" (Malachi 3:10).

Giving your first fruits is the ultimate act of obedience and surrender.

It is looking at your business and saying, "God, none of this is mine. I trust You."

Joining Team Great Commission

You don't have to fly across the world to be part of what God is doing globally.

In fact, what Bill calls "joining Team Great Commission" you can do right where you are, right now.

It may look like talking to your lonely or grumpy neighbor, rather than speaking to millions on social media.
It may mean being the person who resources the people on the front lines, not fighting the battle yourself.

And if you feel called to create a profitable business, your role on Team Great Commission might be to generate the wealth that funds the Kingdom work happening across the globe.

That is just as valuable a team membership as the people standing on the front lines.

Do You Trust Him?

For the entire day before I hopped on the call with Bill, I was low-key crashing out about some ideas I had for the business.

I was worrying, thinking, I've tried this so many times, it can't be it.

And as I was getting out of my car, I heard God ask me a very simple question:"Do you trust me?"

I forgot about it until the very end of my conversation with Bill, when he brought it all back to that exact same question.

Hearing Bill say out loud what the Holy Spirit had whispered to me in my heart, it reminded me of how there are so many worldly reasons to doubt, so many voices telling you how you should be building your business.

But it ALWAYS gets to come back to that central question- Do I trust Him?

And now I'll ask you - do YOU trust Him?

If in your answer, you realize you haven't been trusting Him lately- that's okay.

Go tell Him.

Because he forgives immediately, and you can ask him for help to start trusting Him again today.

Always Rooting for You,

Dr. Lee

P.S. I invite you to check out the work Bill is doing at Childcare Worldwide and consider supporting his incredible mission today!

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