Pastor Enyi Igbokwe Encourages The Spirit of Entrepreneurship

THE HARVESTERS HOUSE
The Spirit of Entrepreneurship:A Look at Abraham By: Pastor Enyi Igbokwe

 I am of firm belief in the fact that God’s word is relevant to the times in which we live. The stories of the time past, if mediated on long enough would provide rich nuggets of truth thaht woul serve as reliable guides on the journey of life. Our lives spring from god and through faithe, we further understand that the worlds in which we live were framed by God’s word so that the things which we see were NOT MADE by the things which do appear. In other words, the raves of the age that we are “crazy” about find their roots in God

One of such raves is the passion for entrepreneurship. The current understanding is that entrepreunueurship occurs when one steps out to start a business venture and become his own employer. Nice definition. However, that would be a limited definition of the word as it fails to embrace other aspects of our lives. 

 We will be taking a closer look at the life of Abraham to understand how he embodied the spirit of entrepreneurship. Before we go further, we need to understand that Abraham was an entrepreneur in every sense of the word. The book of Joshua Chapter 24 records that Abraham worshipped idols with his fathers on the other side of the river. From this, we understand that Abraham had no prior knowledge of God. All of a sudden, God bursts into the scene in Genesis 12 and tells Abraham to get out of a lifestyle he had always known. Abraham had no reference point to know who God was. He may have heard about Enoch and Noah but those were generations apart-so they were not close to home to convince him to step out of the familiar. 

Entrepreneurship is a journey of faith. It is a journey that may not have all the facts and statistics together and yet it moves on notwithstanding the inadequacies. It is literally driven. It is not a wish. It is a call

God told him to move to a place “which he would show” him. The writer of Hebrews in retrospect captured it thus: By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out not knowing whether he went.
Now that’s what I call the spirit of entrepreneurship for even in our lives, there are a number of steps we may need to take without knowing the full details. Life is full of plenty stabs in the dark that would demand that if we must recognize our Lord on the water, we must step out of the boat and walk towards him notwithstanding the raging storms about us. In detail, we would tear apart the scripture quote above in order to glean a few things that may jumpstart our things on entrepreneurship. By no means is this exhaustive but these thoughts will help to create a framework for our embodiment of the spirit of entrepreneurship.

This is what our lives as Christians are.
 By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go-one of the basic things that we need to learn about entrepreneurship is timing. If Microsoft windows had been introduced in the 10^th century, it would have probably died a natural death because the first printing press was invented in the 14^th century which laid the foundation for the computer age many years later. In fact, it was important that the typewriter fully lived out its usefulness as we may never have fully appreciated the need for the desktop computer which is making this write up of mine a delight-as I’m busy working away on my laptop on a Sunday afternoon. This underscores the importance of God’s timing as to the things he wants to accomplish in and through us. It is important to understand that a lot of us have inventions locked up in our spirits awaiting their time and hour. How do I know that?

Rev 9:15 “….and the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay a third part of men.”  Now these angels were prepared for a specific mission which was to slay a third part of men. However, not the specificity of their preparedness for an hour, day, month and year! When their time came they were loosed(released). Even so, we are being prepared for a time in our day too.

When that day comes, there will be a literal release that will usher us into our predestined purpose. The catch here is that timing is critical to these events. If we must embody the spirit of entrepreneurship, we must have this in mind.
By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go was a married man(though childless) and had a nephew he was taking care of. He also had a father and siblings that he was accountable for but when God’s call came, it was to Abraham alone. “The vision on our insides is usually bigger than it is in other people.” (Mike Murdock) Most times, the entrepreneurial music is a call to dance alone. Even the people close to you(in Abraham’s case-Sarah) may not hear it so it would be foolhardy to convene a committee to try and fulfill what is on your inside. Vox Populi is not necessary Vox Dei. On this basis we would have to look to God alone in order to flesh out the details of our individual commissions, be it banking, catering, soldering, public service, academia, media and church.

Even though, Abraham was called alone, his call would affect the people around him-Sarah, his wife and Lot, his cousin. They may not have necessarily understood the details but they saw the fruit. Even so, in our lives,
 By faith, Abraham, when he was CALLED to go, gained a greater sense of understanding of the spirit of entrepreneurship, there is a need to understand the element of God’s call. What are you called to do? It is not just a case that everyone is involved in the sale of clothes that will cause you to dabble into it. What are you called to?

A call may not necessarily involve a burning bush experience, it could be a nudging, an inclination to a particular activity. Someone may find out that she finds herself enjoying the company of little children-could it be that you may be headed towards establishing a daycare nursery? Sometimes the call may not be naturally what you want to do. In fact, that is why it is a call. It is a command. It is an instruction to move closer to something and away from where you are(the familiar, your turf) or from other things. A call would entail a measure of consecration moving closer to something and away from other things which may be good in themselves but are not convenient and expedient to you.

In other words, the spirit of entrepreneurship entails a specific call. Your are not called to everything. You will only thin out. NO mater how much you may admire the likes of Christopher Kolade, Emeka Anyaoku, Frank Sinatra, Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela, you are not called to be them so you will end up making a mess of trying to be like them. What are you being DRAWN to? That would be the call.

More about the call, Terah, Abraham’s father tried to lead the party that Ur of the Chaldees. However, Genesis II records that when he got to the land of Haran, he dwelt there and later died. That teaches us two things. You die early when you take up a call that is not yours. In fact you will run on your stream alone and gas out along the way. In this case God did not call Terah, but Abram. However, Terah may have taken up the journey with his natural zeal which could not sustain the tenor of the call. Secondly, you delay yourself unduly when you try to get everyone’s vote in accompanying you to fulfill the call. In the case of Abraham, his father, Terah, took charge of the ship to Canaan and when they got to Haran, they dwelt there. Only God knows what could have made them well there, but along that same passage-we understand that they had gotten some souls in Haran.

 In other words, they were getting some measure of fruit.
 “By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out in A PLACE WHICH HE SHOULD AFTER RECEIVE FOR AN INHERITANCE, obeyed; and he went out not knowing wither he went.”
The emboldened portion of the statement above state clearly two things:- There is a reward for entrepreneurship. The reward of entrepreneurship is not immediate. The writer of Hebrews states that it is a place which he (Abraham) should AFTER receive for an inheritance. The question would be: After what? After Abraham would have fulfilled the first instruction of going out into the place that was not immediately visible to his human eye. One of the things we must understand in the call of entrepreneurship is that the rewards may not come immediately. They take a while but they must surely come.During those times of waiting, our faith, obedience(to both the divine natural and national laws), and faithfulness(the spirit of stick-to-it-ive-ness) are being tested and when we pass, we move to the harvest stage. If we fail, we keep writing till we pass. It is pathetic that a lot of entrepreneurs don’t move beyond this stage.

“By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, OBEYED; AND HE WENT OUT KNOWING WITHER HE WENT.”  Someone once said that when God calls you he does not go into details. Let me clearly state that the call of God does not always mean you should become a pastor with a church. It includes many other things. It may mean a William Wilberforce becoming a member of the British Parliament and fulfilling his calling of moving for the abolishment of slave trade. It could be a George Friedrik Handel composing the “Hallelujah” that still gets all England standing whenever it is sung in a public arena. Some are called into banking, politics, music, entertainment, media etc.

If we must become entrepreneurs at heart, we must learn that the picture of the future is expansive. The vision is progressive and the scope is elastic. It does not all become immediately manifest initially but over time, in phases it becomes increasingly visible. We do not need to possess the full details of the direction, but we must move for that is the story of the entrepreneur. Otherwise, some of us may cop out if at this point, we fully grasp the enormity of the task ahead of us. The sheer size of it all may cause us to sing to
God-”Here I am, send someone else.”

By faith, Abraham, when he was called on GO. Every call of entrepreneurship involves an action on our part. It usually starts with a call to GO. The word evokes a lot of fear in us. The word go involves leaving where we are and what we are used to (the familiar) and taking a leap in the dark. The word “Go” is the difference between the dreamer and the doer. One wishes while the other acts. The only difference that wil happen to that lifelong dream will occur when we begin to act on it. It is a word that is full of life and action. This is a critical element of entrepreneurship. When this is in place, it is only a matter of time before the fruit of the call becomes manifest.

Beware of small successes that could detract from God’s purpose. Notwithstanding dwelling in Haran delayed God’s call which was only renewed on the death of Terah. we may need to work out the details of the call ALONE!We are spiritual entrepreneurs. Everyone that is born of the spirit is like the wind which blows where it listeth, you cannot tell where it is coming and where it is going.God never gave him a tangible token to enhance his faith, he only gave him promises.It might interest us to know that entrepreneurship occurs even in paid employment.