Being Honorable in Business

Touching story from Kenneth Copeland

Being honourable in business 

The importance of being honourable in business

FaithSuccess wishes us all a Happy New Month. Here is a touching story from Kenneth Copeland which shows the importance of being honourable in business. Christians should never forget the Word of God in whatever they do.

Opening

There is a man I would like to tell you about. His story will help you see just how important it is to have honor in business—important in ways you may not have imagined.

This fellow was about 20 years old and had a good job. He was the youngest child in a family that had a lot of difficulty and very little money. He worked his regular job all day, and at night fixed cars to sell. Gradually, he began making money and he finally saved enough so he could buy a better type of car to restore and sell. He was good at his work, a gifted businessman.

God’s Grace - 2 Cor 6:2, Eph 2:8-9

Meanwhile, there was a meeting at a Baptist church in Fort Worth where his folks attended and he decided to go. At the end of the service when the invitation was given, the conviction of the Holy Ghost came on him. He had a tight grip on the seat in front of him, trying to resist responding to the wooing of the Lord. The Spirit of God was all over him. A man in the church came over, put his arm around the young man and told him he loved him. He encouraged him to go forward and receive Jesus as his Savior and Lord. In fact, that man walked with him down the aisle.

The Unpleasant - Romans 2:24

Before that week was up, the same man who had led him to the altar to accept Jesus beat him out of all of his profit on a car. It wasn't a mistake. He just skinned that young man in a deal-on purpose! The older man should have known better-any Christian ought to know that you don't get a man saved on Saturday night, then cheat him on Tuesday. That's wrong.

The young man had a temper. He was angry, so he rebelled against the Lord. He said he never would go back to church again. And he didn't.

He became very successful and eventually had a national car business. Then he went into the airplane business, and I started flying for him and we became close friends.

God’s Grace Continuing

My mother and father lived two doors down from him. He liked my parents and would sometimes eat with us. Mama would feed him and preach to him and just love him. She would say, "I'm telling you right now, I'm going to pray you into the kingdom of God." He would just smile.

She prayed for him just as she prayed for me—all the time. She treated him as if he were her own son, and he ate it up. But she could not get him inside the church door. Why? Because of a dishonorable Christian businessman.

Years later after I had entered the ministry I had the opportunity to pray with him, but there was no visible change in his lifestyle. He stayed on my mind and heart a lot. I was praying for him once while I was in a meeting and I thought, I'm going to call him as soon as I get back to town.

But when I called him, a lady answered and said, "He died the day before yesterday."

You can imagine how I felt when I heard that.

I went to the funeral, and the man's son asked me to say a few words about his father. So I did. I told the people exactly what had happened in this man's life, what had caused him to be the way he was.

After the funeral, a woman walked up to me and said, "Kenneth, I need to tell you something." And what she told me and I'm sharing with you, shows God's faithfulness and honor in the man's situation.

God's Honor Came Through - Mal 3:6

"A few nights ago I absolutely could not sleep," she said. "I tossed and turned, and finally got up to pray. 'God, what is this?'"

Get dressed, He answered. I've got somewhere I would like you to go.

"It was the middle of the night. I usually don't do things like that, but I obeyed the Lord and got dressed."

God then led her to a hospital where she didn't know anyone so she just started praying in the spirit, listening for the Lord as she walked down each hall. Suddenly she tripped right in front of one room and the Lord said, Go in there.

She went in and saw that the man in the bed wasn't asleep. She walked up to him and said, "Sir, I don't know you, and you don't know me. But the Lord wouldn't let me sleep tonight. God sent me down here to you. Do you know Jesus as Lord?"

He said, "You sound like Vinita and Kenneth Copeland."

"Vinita Copeland is a close personal friend of mine," she said.

"I've been trying to call Kenneth for two days," he answered. "He's out of town, and I was lying here praying, 'God give me somebody. I'm dying. Send me somebody. I can't die in this shape. I can't die like this. Send me somebody, Lord. Send me somebody.'"

Can you see what was happening in that situation?

God's honor was at work. God was honoring the decision that man made back in the Baptist church nearly 40 years before. He was honoring my mother's prayers and my prayers and our love for that man. God was honoring all these things.

Thank God for that woman who honored God's direction to go to that hospital in the middle of the night, not even knowing why. She prayed with him, and he came back to Jesus, praying and rejoicing in Him.

Then he died.

Actually, he didn't die. He just stepped out of that old cancerous body and went on to be with the Lord.

In the last minute of the last hour this man finally recognized the honor of God. Thank God for that!

But think about the consequences of just one act by a dishonorable Christian. A man spent his entire life out of fellowship with Jesus, his brothers and sisters in the Lord, and with the Father Himself because one man dealt shamefully with his brother.

How important is it to be honorable in business? Important in ways you may not have imagined.

Prayer:

Thank you Lord for your word that has come to me today, I promise to abide by your word in all I do, to be honourable and not bring reproach to your Holy name.  In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

Scriptures to Note - Christianity

Eph 2:8-9
For by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, (it is) the gift of God;
 not of works, that no man should glory. ASV

2 Cor 6:2
2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)

Romans 2:24
For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.
(See 2 Sam 12:14; Isa 52:5; Ezek 36:20,23.)


Mal 3:6
6 For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
KJV

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