If you’ve been following this week’s blogs, you’ll see that we’ve been talking about knowledge as it relates to negotiating and whether it’s best to go first or second.
The thing about rules, is that they rarely work in all situations. Hence the need for a third element.
It’s what I call the God Factor.
Paul says in Romans 8:14, that “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” This is where you walk with God in the marketplace. You actively and deliberately cultivate hearing from God.
Jesus promised in John 14:17 that the Holy Spirit would be in His followers, that He would send the Holy Spirit to us (John 16:7) who would guide us into all truth and show us things to come (John 16:13).
Practice “listening prayer” where you ask God a simple question and wait for Him to speak. Many years ago, I was asking the Lord how I was going to make that month’s financial commitments.
I sat there in the living room and waited on Him. He then showed me a picture of a check from the US Treasury. That was very strange to me because I was not expecting a tax refund. (It wasn’t that.) To my knowledge the U.S. Treasury owed me nothing.
The Holy Spirit told me to go into the kitchen where I would find an envelope with a substantial check. It seemed utterly fanciful, but I got up, and sure enough, there was an unopened envelope from the U.S. Treasury with a check for several thousand dollars on the floor! I had no idea there was unopened mail there!
It was in response to an inquiry from the previous year that I had long forgotten about, but they hadn’t, and they sent me the funds that they felt were owed to me.
When I was negotiating the sale of my publishing company years ago, I turned down the first five offers from a major publisher before having God’s release to accept the sixth offer. He actually showed me how things were going to work out, in a dream.
Walking with God and being led by the Spirit is a most excellent adventure. One time Judy and I were on vacation in Ontario and decided to take a long drive to some small towns along Highway 7, well north of Kingston.
It was nothing more than exploration and enjoyment. We pulled into the small picturesque town of Perth, Ontario and I saw a man walking across the parking lot and I called out to him, and said something to him about being an actor.
You should have seen the look of surprise on his face. How did an American randomly driving through a small town in Ontario, know that he was in fact an actor, very active in the town’s theatre? It was a great conversation starter for sure!
The Holy Spirit will speak and lead and inspire and direct you in a myriad of ways if you’re willing to listen and follow His leading. It may be in negotiations, but it could be in simply ministering the gospel to a stranger on the beach and praying with them to receive Christ, as we have also done while vacationing in Victoria, B.C.
The first company I ever sold was back in 1982 and the buyer told me in no uncertain terms that he would never pay the six figure sum I was asking.
That’s okay.
The Holy Spirit gave me the wisdom and the strategy, and I sold it to him in pieces such as inventory, employees, furniture, marketing collateral, my contract with my supplier, some major accounts, etc.
His company was very well established and much bigger than mine, and when he handed me a check for the last piece he realized that he had in fact paid me exactly what I had asked for – only in a series of checks as I turned the pieces over to him, one at a time.
I hadn’t followed a negotiating scheme taught in schools. I followed the Holy Spirit. The next company I sold a couple years later was an entirely different strategy, but one the Lord also gave me.
So, how do you know you’re hearing from God?
Well for me, it was learning over time to discern His voice, by stepping out and following it. Jesus said that "wisdom is justified by all her children" (Luke 7:35), so I quickly learned how to distinguish my thoughts from His.
Secondly, I marinate my mind and heart in the Word of God. That acquaints me with His voice and HIs manner of speaking, as He never speaks contrary to His Word. And thirdly, as my wife Judy has shared many times, His voice is something you hear from inside your heart, not your head. It rises up from deep inside and gives you peace that surpasses understanding.
Well, I hope this week’s blog posts on knowledge as it applies to negotiating has been helpful to you. If you would like to have a constant flow of great teaching to help you in business or life, consider joining our Jesus School of Business where we meet LIVE on a monthly zoom call and I not only teach what I have learned from the Lord but also field questions from you so I can give you my best insight into whatever you’re walking through.
And if a more intimate gathering is your preference and you’d like to be part of a small mastermind group that meets weekly, consider joining our weekly coaching program which you can learn about here.
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BIBLICAL WISDOM and NATURAL LAW for SUCCEEDING IN BUSINESS, MULTIPLYING YOUR SALES And Being a WITNESS TO THE NATIONS!
Wow! I love what you shared about the Holy Spirit in The God Factor! You’ve got some great testimonies of the Holy Spirit’s leading you! Testimonies of God’s wonderful works are my favourite; The Holy Spirit has the most creative ways to do things that we would’ve never thought of doing ourselves! Thank you for sharing this wisdom and knowledge with us all! What a blessing!
Thank you Karen for taking the time to comment! That is a blessing to us!
I love how God has so many avenues of speaking to us, and how the Bible is the absolute divider of truth and lie. The Holy Spirit helps us to develop spiritually to discern whatever comes to us on a daily basis.
Yes the Bible is the absolute truth and divides out the lies.