Business, Battlefields, and Breakthroughs

LaTricia Morris

   Abundant TV Faith in the Workplace Team

If you don’t read another word of what I’m about to say, I need you to hear this:

Heaven has your back.

I’m not saying heaven backs those moments where you get hit with the stupid stick and start trying to force your will your way.

I’m talking to those of you who understand your place in business isn’t just a job but is an integral part of your life mission.

Setting the Context

But, let’s back things up to set this all in proper context.

Over my years in entrepreneurship, I’ve learned A LOT about business but also very little compared to what the journey has taught me in terms of life, identity, communication, relationships and all the things that would seem to be the peripheral stuff. I could probably wallpaper the White House (inside and out) with the extensive lessons learned and personal revelations that have come as part of my journey as a business owner – the majority of which I’ve learned the hard way.

The last year in particular was exceptionally hard.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve walked through some very painful things in my lifetime but the last year has been brutal in ways that are hard to explain. As I say that, know that I’m sitting in the posture of not being a victim in all of it and not whining about all that’s transpired. What I think made it among the hardest I’ve walked through is the massive discrepancy between the vision and the world around me.

Never have I walked through such an extremely contrasting dichotomy of blessings and challenges.

• How is it possible to simultaneously sit with what appears to be two conflicting truths?

• Better question: how the heck do we get out of it?

Okay, the last question isn’t even the right question but it’s an honest one we all ask when we’re going through the things we don’t understand or simply don’t like.

What is even happening right now?

Forged in the Furnace

On a dreary day this past Spring, I sat in a coffee shop with my husband, feeling like a shell of a woman as I told him I felt like something broke in me that I didn’t have words for. I felt so weary, depleted, and outright exhausted with it all. Repeatedly, I’d look at what felt like chaos and calamity around me, asking “God, what is even happening right now?”

Now, imagine how strange it was to catch myself thanking God for all of it then shifting to a place of saying:

“God, keep me in this furnace as long as you need to in order to forge me into a weapon fit for your work. …but let the enemy keep me here no longer.”

Never in my life did I think I’d sit there thanking God for all the things that didn’t work out, for what looked like me falling apart; for the trials and temptations that surfaced the ugly things in me that I thought were long gone.

I’m NOT at all new to the battles of the mind or spiritual warfare. What God was doing was allowing me to see Him at work at a whole new level.

Now Back to Business

Among the many things I was reminded of this season is that my business – and your business – is about WAY more than making money.

We are in a very interesting time. This is all aside from the rapid evolution of tech and the implications of that in how we run our businesses. I’m talking more about what I see happening with two uprisings:

• An uprising of a generation of highly entrepreneurial youth and young adults

• An uprising of a hungry generation that wants more connection – with God and the people around them

I think days consumed with business planning, execution, lead gen, sales calls, and P&Ls to the point of making our eyeballs bleed can cause us to lose sight of that. We overlook the fact that business is a key area of influence and that marketplace ministry can be among the highest callings the Lord may set your hands to.

Too many approach work as, well, work – the thing you have to do to make the money you need to feed your family and hopefully do some fun things in the part of your life you’re not selling to a company, client or customer.

Some have a little bit bigger of a vision, seeing it as a place that they can be the hands and feet of Jesus as they interact with the world around us. Don’t get me wrong. This is great. But, could there be more?

Then there are those that straight blow the doors off of everything we thought business was about. These are those that recognize the business God has given them as not just a way to make money but a call to take territory.

The Hebrew Mandate

Now, I’m going to nerd out a bit but only so far as I believe it’s going to radically shift things for many of you as you really take a hold of this.

Genesis 1:28a says: “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.'”

Considering how often this term is gravely misinterpreted, it serves us well to look to the original Hebrew for a better understanding of what’s really being said.

• וְכִבְשֻׁ֑הָ (wə·ḵiḇ·šu·hā) – “and subdue it” The Hebrew word kabash translates to “subdue” or “bring into subjection.” Unlike what we might expect, kabash is not about subjugation in a domineering or forceful way. Rather, it carries an overtone of taming or ordering chaos for the good of creation and humanity. Kabash, used primarily of Yahweh subduing the land, suggests bringing something into alignment with its nature for its benefit and the benefit of others—more like a parent guiding a child than a tyrant enforcing submission.

• וּרְד֞וּ (ū·rə·ḏū) – “and have dominion” The word radah is often interpreted as “to rule over” or “to subjugate.” However, some scholars argue that the original text might refer to the term yarad, meaning “to come down” or “to lower oneself.” Both translations highlight different aspects of dominion that reflect God’s character—radah as a loving authority that helps others flourish, and yarad as a self-lowering act of service.

Nerd glasses off and back to the point.

When we look at God’s original instruction, we see a mandate to bring the world around us back into alignment with His will for it.

Much of the world we see today is in travail. There’s corruption and chaos, people being brutally mistreated, people being starved and hunted while we sit here in the states whining because the barista used regular milk instead of skim.

Some of us really are also going through hard things and I will not dare dismiss that but I want to challenge us to see what’s beyond our immediate view because I believe it’s going to help us see more of how God may be looking to elevate and activate you through the work you’ve been called to do.

When we look at a lot of the crappy things going on in the world, we can argue that they’re largely still a thing because they’re profitable and because they make broken people feel powerful.

What kind of impact could you have if you allowed yourself to redefine leadership as they leverage you have to make the difference you’re being called to make. To bring the portion of the world you get to touch back into alignment with the beautiful vision our loving God has for it?

Now what could happen as more of the body of Christ started doing the same?

I believe more Christians are being called to take up their seats in places of authority and spheres of influence – media, politics, and the marketplace. You alone can’t fix it all. You’re not being called to. You’re being invited into the most remarkable partnership you could ever say yes. to.

As God calls you to that, you’re not just being called to make money and do good things but to take territory for the kingdom; to use your blood-bought authority to change the world around you.

Facing Resistance on the Battlefield

But, here’s the funny thing about territory – it’s seldom sitting empty and dormant.

As you move to take hold of that for which God has taken hold of you, you’re going to encounter resistance. You cannot claim to read your Bible and be disillusioned to this point. How many times do we see God calling His people into the battle with the instructions to be strong and courageous; with the reminders to put on our armor and take up our true weapons of warfare; and to know that Jesus Himself is praying for us – that in it all, our faith would not fail.

Going through hard things is hard – no duh.

But, if you’re among those who’ve been walking through all of that, can I prompt you to pause for a moment and thank God that He chose you for such a high calling?

He could pick anybody.

He chose you.

And, as that truth stands, I can only wonder what He sees in you that you need to see inside of yourself.

Entering Your “Suddenly” Season

“Did she go around the bend?”

Of all that I’ve walked through and as HOT as that furnace got, I truly believe I’m hitting my “suddenly” season and am excited to see those of you stepping into yours too. I can’t say that I’ve ever felt the type of distinct shift that I felt this past Sunday in worship when it hit me.

I came in early and started praying. I was still carrying a lot of heaviness and knew I just needed to pray. There was a point in worship where the switch flipped as I started pondering all the things the enemy has hurled at me, all the times he’s tried to take me out, all the times I felt caught in a barrage of fiery darts, explosives, and bombs going off around me – and it’s all failed. I’m still here. You’re still here. The church, after centuries on centuries of persecution – still here. Our brothers and sisters in places like Nigeria where they know warfare like few of us ever will and they’re still singing.

I’m not even kidding when I say I was sitting there in the wildest mix of tears and laughter. Seriously, I don’t recall ever experiencing that in my life.

I don’t say any of that to diminish what so many have gone or are going through but to point to the power of God through it all. The extent of the battle only showcases His might in ways we wouldn’t understand otherwise.

As important as your mission is, I need you to not be surprised or dismayed when it gets hard.

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, ³ for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. ⁴ And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” — James 1:2-4

I pray you see your suddenly season come to pass quickly.

I pray you’re blessed beyond measure.

I pray that you see many amazing victories and that as you step into today, you do so with the confidence of knowing – Heaven has your back.

LaTricia Morris is The Brand Revivalist® and owner of Ox & Iron, a full-service brand agency for marketplace leaders who are done playing small and ready to show up clear, bold, and impossible to ignore. Learn more at thebrandrevivalist.com.