Where Do You Start?

You’ve probably noticed a slight theme across the last couple of months. I’ve shared some thoughts about your launch and then transitioned into building. You might have wondered, "if I’m going to do something that I believe God is calling me, where do I start?" That’s a unique question that we all have and should consider, as this will help to guide us where we need to go. I know in a previous post I mentioned how you should begin with the end in mind because this is what God did and it’s how you should think about things. However, there is one other aspect of this that I should present.

If you have ever noticed how God presents things to people in the Bible, He will often ask them something regarding their present state. You may recall in the Building God’s Way series, I shared how God approached people like Jeremiah and asked them what they saw. This had everything to do with vision. As a creative people, it takes vision to build something, especially in a place where something does not exist, or a place where something seems beyond valuable or purpose. However, God will often ask what do you have?

We can often have a desire to start something like a business, a ministry, an organization, or something along those lines. Yet, we can often overlook the things that we already possess that enable us the capacity to start. We hesitate or forsake our start because we believe that we need something big, something specific, or something that we just don’t have yet to do what we believe we should.

God looked to Moses to deliver the people of Israel from Egypt and the hand of Pharaoh. At the encounter of the burning bush, Moses presented God with so many things that he believed disqualified him from going and starting on the journey that God had in mind for him. In Exodus 4, God put a halt to Moses’ excuses and simply asked him, “What’s that in your hand (verse 2)?” Moses responded that it was a shepherd’s staff.

After this, God told him to throw the staff down and God transformed that staff before him. The transformation of the staff was for a sign to Moses that he was with him and that what he would be doing was for a sign to others that God was with him in the thing God was asking him to start; leading His people out and into their promise.

Elijah encountered a widow during a famine who, along with her son were prepared to eat one last meal and die. Elijah prophesied over her and sent her to do as she had planned, but requested that she also prepare part of the bread for him (see 1 Kings 17:8-16). As he did this, he declared that she would have more than enough resources because God was downloading a plan of salvation that would sustain her through the famine and beyond.

I’m pretty sure that she had no clue that her small sacrifice of the one thing she had would be the catalyst for the business venture that would carry her through that season. However, I’m also quite sure that she was very grateful to know that simply starting with such a small thing was an act of faith that was greatly rewarded.

If you believe that God is asking you to do something, rest in great assurance that He is also asking you to look at what you already have that will enable you to start. You have gifts, talents, abilities, a track record of previous experiences that are more than enough. You have friends and connections, tools, and wisdom that has been developed over time which has prepared you for now. Now, you simply have to have faith to start.