Have you ever considered if you are worshiping success, or Jesus?

This is SO JUICY because I share a bit about my story about how I was UNKNOWINGLY worshiping success, how I navigated that, and ultimately 3 solid steps that you can implement today that will help you keep your eyes focused on Jesus & step away from idolizing the things in this world.

If you are a Christian entrepreneur (or even if you’re not an entrepreneur), I’m sure that you have come face to face with hustle culture and this ultimate STRIVING mentality, which is this urge to constantly do MORE and to be MORE.

I’ll be the first to tell you that it’s a good thing to want to better yourself, and to learn from past mistakes, but a big problem comes in when we become so OBSESSED with success and goals that we start IDOLIZING and WORSHIPING this concept of becoming “better” and so we can be the “best version of ourselves.”

While I am an advocate for learning and growing, the self-development world can actually become a trap. Because the truth is, if you’re not careful, we can unknowingly begin to worship doing more, which leads to ultimately worshiping ourselves, as opposed to worshiping the one true God.

We then start to think that all we have to do is become better and start “manifesting” our desires.

This is a topic very near and dear to my heart because I experienced this firsthand.

Looking back, I had no idea I was worshiping success. I had NO idea I was seeking validation from the world. And I definitely didn’t think I was trying to seek glory from my works, so of course I had no idea I made myself an idol.

But like I said, there is absolutely nothing wrong with learning from our mistakes and making better choices, but it’s when we convince ourselves that WE are the answer, and that WE are the key to change, abundance, happiness, or freedom…

THAT is when we begin idolizing ourselves.

Because WE are not the answer.

Jesus is.

And we have to constantly CHOOSE to look at Him, because the world truly makes it so easy to look at ourselves.

Without further ado, let’s dive in.

The End of Hustle Culture

If you are an entrepreneur (or even if you’re not), I’m sure that you have come face to face with hustle culture and the striving mentality, which is the urge to constantly do more and be more. 

I will be the first to tell you that it’s a good thing to want to better yourself and to learn from mistakes, but the problem comes in when we become so obsessed with success and goals that we ultimately start idolizing and worshiping this concept of becoming “better.”

While I’m an advocate for learning and growing, the self-development world can actually become a trap. The truth is, if you’re not careful, we can unknowingly begin to worship doing more, which leads to ultimately worshiping ourselves as opposed to worshiping the one true God. 

Looking back, I had no idea I was worshiping success and seeking validation from the world. I definitely didn’t think I was trying to seek glory from my work and had made myself an idol. 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with learning from our mistakes and making better choices but when we convince ourselves that we are the answer and key to change, abundance, happiness or freedom, we begin idolizing ourselves.

We are not the answer – Jesus is. 

We have to constantly choose to look at Him because the world truly makes it so easy to look at ourselves.

My first two and a half years of entrepreneurship I was so obsessed with hitting my goals. There is nothing wrong with having intentions in your business because businesses need those, but your goals should focus on doing as opposed to being.

I haven’t set goals in my business in months because I have always had a tendency to focus on what I’m doing or not doing. 

I will probably record an episode regarding goal setting versus intention setting and how that developed but in the meantime, there is a book I want to recommend that actually mentions this concept. It’s not what the entire book is about, but there is a section in this book that talks about not setting goals and what to do instead. The book is called To Hell with the Hustle by Jefferson Bethke. 

I was so obsessed with hitting my goals that I truly felt like I was working 24/7. The reason is because I wanted to move out of my parent’s house. I had just moved back in with my parents after I experienced a deep season of depression and ended up quitting my job and moving home. My big goal was to make enough money as an entrepreneur to move out of my parent’s house as quickly as possible – if you want to hear the entirety of my story, go back and listen to Episode 1 of this podcast. I share in great detail how I got started, my spiritual breakthrough, my entrepreneurial journey, and the mission of this show. 

I was really deep into network marketing at the time, and I found I experienced this “high” every time I would rank advance, be featured on a leaderboard or be validated and recognized in any way. The truth is, I was very motivated by money and being validated and recognized. It controlled me. 

When you dig deeper and discover the root of wanting to make more money, moving out of my parents’ house and wanting to be recognized and validated –  it all came back to pride. 

The thing is, pride doesn’t always look like being narcissistic, having a huge ego or arrogance that deter people away from you. Worshiping or idolizing ourselves doesn’t necessarily look like we’re praying and worshiping ourselves.

It can look like having so much pride that we become so driven by our fleshly wants and desires that we unknowingly put ourselves and our wants above God and His wants and desires. 1 John 2:15 -16 says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the less of the flesh, the less of the eyes, and the pride of life, it is not of the Father, but is of the world.” 

We are called to be in this world, but not of it. 

Step #1: Repent

It’s so important to totally purge ourselves of our sins and transgressions every day. You cannot produce fruits of the Spirit if you are holding on to sin. The truth is that we all fall into sin every single day. Circumstances can happen daily that can tempt us to fall back into it and the world can suck us in so fast. 

One minute your eyes are totally on the Lord, and then the next the world sucks you back in and you didn’t even realize it. But that being said, it’s also important to keep in mind that this is an ongoing layering process. This means that as we are growing and evolving with the Lord.

We will continue to be sanctified. 

There are multiple layers to the flesh, fueled feelings, and thoughts. Think of it like an onion. For example, you may find for a while that you have remained steadfast in your faith and don’t really have doubts anymore, but an entirely new circumstance or scenario happens that triggers you again. This may not be happening because you have failed. It may be happening because you’re progressing and you’re ready to peel back the next layer just like you would an onion.

It’s important to remember that this is something to address daily and you may have to address the same temptations and sins several times. But please don’t hold on to shame when you do this. It is so important to also release the shame and guilt as you surrender the sin

That is literally why Jesus died for us. You do not have to stay chained anymore. 

It is so crucial to humble yourself before God and repent before moving forward. This is where you may literally just fall on your knees and cry out to Him for forgiveness. This is where you apologize and open your heart to Him because you truly want to please Him. 

As you repent, it’s important to go to God in prayer. 

Step #2: Intentionally Seek Him Daily

This probably comes as no surprise, but a way to tangibly do this is to develop your own Queen Routine. I have an entire lesson dedicated to this inside of the membership, but I wanted to share a little bit about what that is because I found this to be the foundation for everything.
The Queen Routine consists of the seven P’s. There is praise, propel, presence, pursue, proclaim, prayer, and prepare. Now, this lesson inside the membership is 30 minutes long but I’m going to give you the cliff notes version of it now.
The Queen Routine is something I recommend implementing on a daily basis to get your eyes focused on Jesus.
The first P in the Queen Routine is praise. We must praise Him. We must humble ourselves and go to Him with a pure heart, delighting and being in awe of Him and His love. It is so important to take your eyes off of yourself and put your eyes on Jesus and go to Him in adoration. Praise can consist of worshiping, listening to worship music and showcasing gratitude and thanksgiving.

The second P is propel. This part of the Queen Routine consists of purging by repenting of sins and transgressions and also propelling through problems. You see, the truth is, it’s important to not shut down when we are faced with problems or hard circumstances in our lives. It’s important to reframe your perception and to see the good. Romans 8:28 says, “All things work together for the good of those who love him and who are called according to his purpose.” All things, even if it’s hard. The Queen Routine goes way deeper into this. But remember, this is the Cliff Notes version.

The third P is presence. Presence is all about being still and meditating on Him and His Word. When was the last time you stopped, stilled your thoughts, and just listened? We live in a world that promotes hustle culture where we fill our to-do list to the brim. We get into the habit of manifesting our desires and then asking God to bless us but when was the last time you actually stopped and you just listened to Him? That is what presence is all about.

The fourth P is pursue. Pursue is all about pursuing the truth by diving deep into His word. Studying scripture is critical. The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word, is the only offensive weapon against the enemy, along with prayer. Without it, we cannot fight our spiritual battles. Not only does the Word aid us in battle, but it prepares us for the Holy Spirit to reveal things to us.

The fifth P is Proclaim. It is so important to proclaim His Word, promises, and prophecy over your life. Proclaiming it is essentially declaring God’s world plan, which ultimately is Jesus’ first and second coming. God used His breath and voice to create the world. It’s the same concept for us. Our breath and our voice are vital. Proclaiming the scripture over God’s promises is the process of Jesus gathering His church. In order to proclaim daily, I recommend putting together what I call Proclamation Declarations. Proclamation Declarations are essentially declarations of proclamations. It is proclaiming His scripture and His promises out loud.

The sixth P is prayer. There are so many reasons for prayer, but it ultimately builds a relationship between you and Father God, King Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Now, keep in mind that Jesus does teach His disciples how to pray in Matthew 6:9-13, which is the Lord’s prayer. In your prayer time, it’s also crucial to be praying for others, which is also known as intercessory praying. If you listened to Episode 10, then you already know how important intercessory praying is. But in addition to standard prayer time, it is so important to be praying without ceasing, which is where you continuously pray throughout your day.

The seventh P is prepare. Preparing is all about preparing for our daily spiritual battle. I want to tell you a little story with this one. There was one day I was calling out to God and I was asking Him to reveal to me my next steps. I undoubtedly heard the Holy Spirit say to me, “Prepare for My return.” I got chills that day.
I share this because it’s so funny how we can get so wrapped up in our own world that we forget this isn’t our world at all. It’s His.

That leads me to the question, how do we prepare for His return?

First, we have to prepare for battle. But how do we prepare for battle?

The truth is, the physical world prepares for battle by sharpening weapons and training our physical bodies. But Scripture tells us that the word, aka the sword of the Spirit and prayer are our offensive weapons. I highly encourage you, if you haven’t read it, to head to Ephesians 6:10-20, because this shares the armor of God and the offensive weapons with the sword of the Spirit and prayer.
To go back and answer the question, how do we prepare for His return? We prepare for His return by strategically using scripture and prayer to fight our battles.

Step #3: Learn to Take Your Thoughts Captive 

The thing is, the enemy uses our thoughts against us. He is constantly twisting the truth. And he wants us to believe the thoughts we have about ourselves are real.

Thoughts like, “I must hit the next rank in my network marketing team to be worthy, and validated,” or, “I must hit a six-figure business to keep up and be an expert in my industry.”

The enemy is sneaky like that.

Our thoughts do control our actions. If we actually start believing these lies, we can easily become consumed by them, which can then lead us to take action on those beliefs, which then leads to looking away from Jesus and focusing on ourselves.

With our thoughts, we must realize what lies the enemy is feeding us and then replace them with the truth.

Replace them with what Jesus says.

Replace them with what He says about you and with what He says about the world.
I break down exactly how to do this inside of the Armory lesson, inside of the membership because it is so important to speak the truth, not the lies the enemy keeps feeding you.

Next Steps

If you loved this blog post and you know you are being called to CEO by God, and you want to make sure you’re getting the support you need, you’re being held accountable to live out the call He’s placed on your heart, AND you want to do it fueled by your faith and not by your flesh…

Then I want to invite you to just join us inside of the Called to CEO Collective.

The Called to CEO Collective is a community-driven membership for Christian entrepreneurs who believe in the power of claiming their authority in the secret place AND in the marketplace, and are ready to stand out and $ell out online.

You and your business, brand or ministry will be SO supported when you immerse yourself in the live coaching, curriculum and community.

YES, I said live coaching.

And YES, this is at a low ticket price point.

That said, if you want to learn all the nitty gritty details or go ahead and join us at the current rate, you can do so by heading to www.hannahbrindley.com/membership