Brian Davenport was broke and facing foreclosure when he surrendered completely to God. Within hours, his phone rang with a $40,000 sale that would change everything. For this Texas jeweler and businessman, that moment crystallized a business philosophy that has guided him for decades: when ordinary people partner with an extraordinary God, miracles become routine.

“The minute you ask the Holy Spirit to help, he can’t say no,” Davenport told Rabbi Rami Goldberg on Biblical Money, the podcast exploring faith-based business principles. “He can’t say ‘I don’t know how to help Brian’ because he is the helper.”

From Small-Town Dealer to Israeli Diamond Partner

Davenport’s extraordinary journey began with childhood friendships that seemed orchestrated from above. His best friend at age five was Jewish, and throughout his life, he noticed a pattern: “If I got on an airplane, a boat, a train, a bus, God would always sit me with the Jewish people.”

This divine positioning led to a relationship that would transform his modest diamond business. When an Israeli diamond cutter—president of the diamond cutting association and one of the world’s largest dealers—came to America, Davenport’s Jewish friends laughed at the suggestion of a meeting. “Brian, he’s not coming to see you,” they said. “You’re probably the smallest diamond dealer in the world.”

But the meeting happened anyway. The Israeli, impressed by something intangible about the young American dealer, offered to fly him to Israel, pay for hotels, and cover all expenses just to see their operation. When Davenport insisted on buying his own ticket to avoid obligation, his new partner simply said, “Come on.”

What happened next defied business logic. In 1970s dollars, when “a million was like a hundred million today,” Davenport selected $1.2 million worth of diamonds with no money to pay for them. When the bookkeeper discovered this, he screamed at the Israeli partner. The response was prophetic: “No, no, this young man—I’ve got a good feeling about him. We’re going to trust him with the diamonds.”

The agreement was simple: return in six months with payment or unsold merchandise. Davenport sold everything within six weeks, launching a decade of trips to Israel every eight to ten weeks. “All of a sudden I went from being a very small diamond dealer to being connected to one of the largest diamond outfits in the world, which were Israeli Jews.”

The Business Theology of Giving

Davenport’s success wasn’t built on market savvy alone but on what he calls “kingdom-minded” business practices. Central to his philosophy is tithing—giving away a portion of income even when it seems financially impossible.

“No one is going to outgive God,” he explained. “If we help the widows and we feed the orphans, we really haven’t done anything but what we should have done. Giving is the biggest part of any business because if you learn to give, you’ll find out very quick in life you cannot outgive God.”

His accountant initially panicked at Davenport’s giving habits, warning he would go bankrupt. But after five years of doing the books, the accountant’s wife made a startling observation: “The more y’all give, the more you make. Every year you get bigger and your business is growing. My wife and I are going to start giving because of doing your books—we’re seeing how God is blessing you.”

This principle became the foundation of Davenport’s approach. “It’s scriptural to give, and the giver will find out that it is more blessed to give than receive,” he said. “It’s the only place in the Bible I know he says ‘Test me, test me and see.’ Who ever thought about giving God a test? But yet here he says ‘Test me, go ahead and try it out.'”

When Surrender Meets Opportunity

Davenport’s most compelling stories involve what he calls “divine appointments”—business opportunities that unfold with supernatural timing. During his worst financial crisis, when he couldn’t make house payments and was “pacing across the floor hollering out at God to help,” something shifted when he completely surrendered.

“I started telling the Holy Spirit there’s nothing left for me to do but to serve you. I failed miserably in business. I haven’t been able to sell a diamond,” he recalled. “And the Holy Spirit said to me that day, ‘Good Brian, I’ve been waiting on you to surrender. I’ve been waiting on you to give up so I could show you what I can do.'”

Within hours, the phone rang. A Jewish man from California called about an 8-carat diamond. Minutes later, another call came from Arkansas—a man he’d never met asking for exactly that size stone. The Arkansas buyer never asked the price, bought the diamond sight unseen, then commissioned a mounting and purchased additional pieces for family members.

“When God gets involved in your business, all changes,” Davenport reflected. “The things that you were trying to climb uphill, all of a sudden you’re sliding downhill to them.”

Divine Appointments at 30,000 Feet

Another miracle unfolded during a last-minute airport encounter. After weeks of failed sales in El Paso, Davenport was down to counting pennies for taxi fare. Standing in a slow-moving airport line, he struck up a conversation with a frustrated fellow passenger. When asked about his profession, Davenport normally claimed real estate to avoid robbery concerns, but this time felt compelled to say diamonds.

“The hell you are,” the man responded, then immediately invited him home to show his wife. That impromptu house call resulted in a $40,000 cash sale—enough to cover all his overdue bills.

Years later, this same customer became a close friend who visited for Christmas. During one visit, Davenport helped the man forgive his abusive father through prayer. Two weeks after that emotional breakthrough, the man died peacefully.

“That day I had a divine appointment with you,” Davenport told him. “This day you’re having a divine appointment with the Holy Spirit to set you free.”

The Holy Spirit as CEO

At 74, Davenport’s message to fellow entrepreneurs is radical in its simplicity: make the Holy Spirit your CEO. “When you put him in that place in your business, then all of a sudden he is looking after your business while you’re looking after his business.”

This approach transforms the entrepreneur’s mindset from striving to stewardship. “Once you become kingdom-minded, then your choices change, your heart begins to change. Everything in you wants to give because when you begin to give and you begin to tithe, God begins to multiply it back in your hands.”

The key, according to Davenport, is recognizing that “all our businesses are tent-making businesses”—referring to the apostle Paul’s trade that supported his ministry. “The minute you become kingdom-minded, God starts looking after your business. All of a sudden your business is really secondary, and what comes first to you is kingdom business.”

For Davenport, the distinction between secular and sacred business is artificial. When ordinary people align with an extraordinary God, he argues, the mundane becomes miraculous—one divine appointment at a time.

The full interview with Brian Davenport is available on Biblical Money, hosted by Rabbi Rami Goldberg.