God Gives The Increase

Herein lays the mystery… what may be thought of as the supernatural aspect of selling. It’s the realm of the unseen. It’s the Spirit of God interfacing with the mind and heart of man.

Too often in sales and business, we ignore what I call the “GOD Factor”. We work as though God was a curious onlooker or maybe the Great Judge in the sky who will give us either a pass or fail grade based on the quality of our efforts.

The truth is, that He wants to give His kids a big advantage in the marketplace (Matthew 13:11), and He does that in amazing ways. Consider God’s admonition in Proverbs 3:3-4 where we’re told to bind mercy and truth around our neck and write them on the tablet of our heart. If we do, we’re promised favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

I understand how showing mercy and truthfulness would gain favor from man, but how does God show His favor in the process? What does that look like? You know you want His favor, but when it comes, will you recognize it?

I believe His favor in the marketplace looks like good timing, happy “coincidence” and perhaps finding the folks you approach to be favorably disposed to what you have to say.

The good timing or happy coincidence is actually part of the mystery of the Aleph Tav, recorded nearly 10,000 times in the Old Testament, but translated only around 200 times.

The Aleph & Tav are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet and do not form a word. It’s similar to the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, which is how Jesus identified Himself in the book of Revelation.

They’re more like an insignia indicating God’s direct, but unseen involvement – similar in one sense to the wind. You can’t see the wind, but you can certainly see and feel its effects.

This brings me back to 1 Corinthians 3:6 where Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase”. It was God that made His vineyard (the emerging church) grow.

God was at work in the hearts and minds of those that heard the gospel and they found themselves wanting to respond. Paul and Apollos labored in that vineyard, but God caused it to grow.

It was God arranging the timing, and blowing on the circumstances with the wind of His Spirit. He ignited the Word planted in the hearts of those who heard the preaching, and it grew on the inside of folks, perhaps unseen for awhile, but nonetheless it was growing.

Consider what Martin Luther said on March 10^th, 1522… “I simply taught, preached, wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philip and Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything.”

I want to submit something for your consideration… When you share the message of your product or service with the marketplace, the level of reception will generally depend on the quality of that message. And the quality of that message is generally related to the quality of what is being offered. No mystery there.

But if you don’t do your part to put the message out there, be that cold calls, radio ads, social media, etc., you shouldn’t expect much of a result. The more you put out, the more God can bring increase to. And He will bring that increase in unseen ways that produce visible results – just like the wind does.

What happens in business most of the time, is that we take pride in the quantity and quality of our planting and the consistency of our watering the business seeds we planted and then take credit for the result.

It was our brilliant strategy, hard work and dedication that brought about the amazing haul of new customers. Paul could have done that, but instead he recognized that he merely planted, Apollos merely watered and it was God that brought the increase.

Did Paul work hard and do the right things? Did Apollos? A resounding YES. Had they not, God would have raised up others in their place. But it was still God who made the planting of the Lord grow and increase.

Do you remember the story in the Bible where the disciples had been fishing all night and caught nothing? In Luke 5 Jesus said, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon (later named Peter) protested saying, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless, at Your word I will let down the net.”

They caught so many fish that it filled two boats to the point of sinking. Would that miracle have happened if they had not thrown the net back in the water? Of course not.

It’s a classic case of we do our part and God will do His. This same miracle was repeated after the resurrection as you can read in John 21. What do you think was the catalyst for that miracle?

I submit it was Peter trusting the word of Jesus and acting upon it. After all, Jesus said, “Let down your nets for a catch”. He didn’t say, “Why don’t you try it again… I know there’s fish in that lake.” Jesus was declaring that if Peter would trust Him, he would bring in a “catch” (literally “a haul” of fish).

There was no “maybe” in His words. It was a promise dependent upon Peter trusting the words of Jesus, then doing the manual part (going back out into deep water and letting down the nets again), something he had probably done thousands of times before.

Peter just did the physical activity, but he combined it with trusting in the words of Jesus, most likely because nothing else had worked so far (so why not?), and God gave the increase.

I believe I know what that must have felt like. It was the day I learned what trusting God was really all about. What happened on August 31^st, 1979 reverberates in me till this day. And it still challenges me.

It was the day I set the unofficial world record for the most number of individual copier sales to different companies ever done in a single day on planet Earth by anyone, since the beginning of time. I can’t verify that, but it’s what I believe.😀 It truly was a day like no other!

Recently Os Hillman asked me to make a five minute video to tell that story which I did, but when Judy watched it, she said that due to the time restriction, I had to leave out significant details. So, here is the longer uncut version. I pray it helps you like it continues to help me.

After watching the video, I would love to hear your comments and any similar story you may have. I would also appreciate it if you would share this blog post on your social media and subscribe to the YouTube channel if you want more content like this.

One more thing, my previous blog make the stock prices of Kleenex go up due to sudden increased demand after watching the three very short inspirational videos on it. (Just kidding) But if you missed that blog, go here right after the video on this blog… You’ll thank me later.

Until next time, be fruitful and multiply!