Want to know if God is blocking your business growth? Then you DEFINITELY want to tune into Episode 9 of the Reclaimed to Reign Podcast! In this episode, I am walking you through how God was blocking my business growth and how to determine if He is blocking yours (OR if the enemy is blocking you). This can be applied to ANY area of your life (not just business).You will learn how to find out if He is blocking you, why He is blocking you AND what to do about it if that’s the case.

To keep it simple, we’re going to answer these questions together: Is God blocking my business growth? And if so, why? What does that mean for you? And ultimately, how do you move forward if this is the case? This is a core topic we are going to be focusing on inside of the Reclaimed to Reign membership kicking off this year (SO excited). It’s been in the works for so long now. If you want details on the membership, head to www.hannahbrindley.com/membership. But in the meantime, you already know the drill. Grab your beverage of choice and let’s dive in.

In this episode, we’re going to answer this question together: is God blocking my business growth? And if so, why? What does that mean for you? And ultimately, how do you move forward if this is the case?

This is a core topic we are going to be focusing on inside of the Reclaimed to Reign Membership when we kick off. It’s been in the works for so long now. If you want details on the membership, head to this link: www.hannahbrindley.com/membership. 

With that being said, here’s the tea.

About 9 months into coaching, I hired a 1:1 business coach with the intention of helping me scale to $10k months.

At the time, I was bringing about $2k in monthly revenue from my coaching business. Which was fantastic, but if I’m being totally honest, with all the debt I had accrued like student loans and credit cards I racked up in college and the business expenses I had I knew I needed to be bringing in more. Especially if I wanted to move out because at this time, I was living with my parents. So, I hired a coach and about halfway through, I started having mental breakdowns. I was literally doing all the work, like to a T, and I wasn’t really reaping the benefits. So, I was in a really big financial bind as you can probably imagine.

Something you need to know is that during this time, I was so obsessed with doing everything to a T. I was obsessed with hitting my goals, and I was obsessed with chasing the money because I needed it or I wouldn’t be able to pay my bills. That’s just the situation I was in at that time. And the truth is that it really consumed me. I was convinced that that wasn’t what was happening, but the truth is that it consumed me whole. For those of you who maybe aren’t familiar with my story, this season in my life was absolutely pivotal for my spiritual growth as well as my business growth. Because what happened next changed everything.

One day I was bawling my eyes out in the backyard, panicking about my financial situation and not making much headway in my coaching contract. I fell to my knees and something came over me. Words I didn’t intend to say. I intended to beg Him to bring some money, but what I actually said surprised me. I said, “Please God, please take away this obsession I have with success and replace it with an obsession for you.” I immediately felt peace. I stopped crying.

A few minutes later, I was calm and I asked the Lord that if I take the steps He wants me to take without obsessing and letting it consume me to please open up some doors if it is His will. The next day I took action without obsessing and somehow managed to book two sales calls and signed them both on as clients that same day. Payments in and everything. I was in shock.

I knew at that moment I was being blocked. I was so obsessed with my works and my glory that I was taking my eyes off of Him. He had to quite literally show me that my business is nothing without Him–in fact, it is His business, not mine. And this need I had to force things and control things would lead to destruction.

I share this story again and again because I cannot share it enough. Honestly, if you have not listened to episode 1 where I share the entirety of this story, I highly recommend going back and listening because this topic is so important. I see people relying solely on their works every single day. And here’s the thing–you absolutely need to take action. Faith without works is dead, right? It is so important to obey Him. But don’t let it consume you to the point where you unknowingly begin relying on yourself instead of Him.

So, let’s answer these questions together.

Is God blocking my business growth? If so, why?

From this question there are a few subsequent questions I believe will help you get to this answer for yourself. I do recommend you write these down and journal on these later. These journal prompts are obviously geared for business women but you can apply them to any area of life. In these prompts you can change out the word business for something else like marriage, friendships, body image, etc.

Are you relying solely on your works to contribute to your business growth? How have you been trying to control or force the situation? Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;  in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” As you’re probably aware by now, this was me. I was so focused on doing all the things and thinking I had to do them as much as humanly possible, or it wasn’t going to work. Now don’t get me wrong, faithful action is needed. But I was obsessed to the point of being in a constant state of anxiety and working through my flesh instead of allowing Him to work through me. When you let the Holy Spirit work through you, you will not be anxious. Your mind won’t be constantly dwelling on work; it will be dwelling on Him.

Have you truly surrendered your business to the Lord? What in your life have you not fully surrendered to Him? John 4:34 says, “Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” For me, business was the first thing I had to surrender. But keeping it real with you, there is more that He is working with me on. Other areas of life.

What if you surrendered what you wanted and committed to fulfilling the work He wants? What would that actually look like? I have to constantly surrender what I want in my business. It’s a process and something I like to compare this to is that I truly believe that faith and surrender are like muscles. The more you use them, the stronger they get. But you have to keep using them or the strength will fade away. It’s not like you can just turn on a switch and totally surrender every area of life over to God for the rest of your life. Or maybe it is for you–I believe in miracles, so if that’s the case for you, amazing! But I’m going to go out on a limb and say that probably isn’t the case for most people listening and it’s definitely not the case for me. I am human. I mess up. I find myself working in my own strength almost every day, and I have to catch myself. So, if this is you, it is okay. Repent and put your eyes on Him.

How has your flesh overtaken you in your business? How have you let your desire consume you? Psalm 73:26 says, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” I want you to get specific with this question–think of specific scenarios that you have experienced where you know first hand that your flesh has overtaken you. Journal about what it was like when you let your worldly desire consume you. What were the instances? What were the scenarios? The more you can think of here, the better. Because once you identify the problem, you can then begin to recognize when it happens again and it will be far more likely that you are able to snap out of it faster.

There have been multiple times where I have let my flesh overtake me and I’m going to share a couple of them with you so it gets your brain juices flowing. One major example is that there have been many days (more than I would like to admit) when I put my quiet time with Jesus on the back burner because “I don’t have time,” or I have “too much to do” that day, or I let myself get behind on things. The fact that this is the first thing I decide to put on the back burner is a very big indicator that in those moments I’m living in my flesh.

Another big one for me is that there are days when I feel like I am constantly checking my notifications. I have my notifications turned off, but I tend to want to check all of my apps obsessively regardless if I’m getting notifications or not. This right here is an example of letting my phone control my thoughts and my day, but more than that, on days that I do this, it is showing me that I am constantly searching for something. I’m searching for something more. Because no matter how many times I refresh those apps, I’m still not fully satisfied. So, I keep going back and going back and going back in hopes that it will fulfill me. But as I’m sure you’re aware, that will never work because the only thing that can fully satisfy us is Jesus.

So, I’ll ask again – how has your flesh overtaken you in your business? How have you let your desire consume you? What lesson is He wanting you to learn from this? Perhaps He wants to show you He is the only thing that can sustain you. Perhaps He wants to show you that He wants you to desire Him more than you desire your business. Perhaps He’s wanting to show you that His ways are better than your ways. Or perhaps He’s wanting to show you that when you allow Him to work through you, miracles happen. What lesson is He wanting you to learn from this?

What would it look like if you truly desired Him more than you desired your business? How would you actually live your life? Maybe this looks like spending an extra hour with Him in the morning instead of trying to decide on your brand colors because you just wanted to. Maybe this looks like going on an additional walk listening to Scripture being read to you because that is the only thing that truly fills your cup. Maybe this looks like taking the steps He has told you to do for the day and then stop thinking about work. Stop letting it consume your every thought. Maybe it looks like praying for Him to overtake you with the Holy Spirit and get every remaining piece of flesh out of you. Maybe you pray Psalm 90:17 over your life. It says, “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and to prosper the work of our hands.”

Going back to our original question – is God blocking your business growth? The truth is, you may be being blocked right now. If this is the case, I want you to know this is not a punishment. I do not view the time I was blocked as a punishment at all. I view it as part of my sanctification process. I needed to be blocked to get my eyes on Jesus. I needed that detour desperately. I didn’t know I did at the time. But when I look back now, I know that’s what was happening. Romans 8:28 says, “All things work together for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” I was being blocked and the Lord knew that the way to get my attention was to block my business growth. He did that because He loves me. And if this is happening for you, I want you to know that He is blocking you because he loves you so much.

What does it mean for me if He is blocking my business growth? How do I move forward if that’s the case?

One thing I think is important to share here is that I think it’s easy for us to think, “God is blocking me, so that means I need to go in the other direction.” That means that I shouldn’t be pursuing this business at all. But that’s not always the case. Like I shared with you in my story earlier, God was blocking me, but He was blocking me to teach me something about the calling and the mission I was pursuing. How did I know He didn’t just want me to quit?

Honestly, I didn’t know for sure at first. But I always had this knowing after I entered entrepreneurship that I wasn’t supposed to turn away. I just intuitively knew, and that was the Holy Spirit speaking to me. And any time I had doubts or was scared, I knew that was the enemy. I knew the enemy was whispering lies to me. I knew this because if things were going exactly how I wanted them to or thought they should be, there was no way I would be thinking about quitting or going to get a full time job. The enemy uses fear, guilt, and shame to try and manipulate us to do his will instead of God’s.

Isaiah 54:4 says, “Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.” Is fear, guilt, or shame causing you to back down or turn away? Or do you feel in your Spirit the Lord giving you peace about a door closing? Because that is how the Lord will tell you to get off the path you’re on. He won’t use fear. He will gently nudge you and you will feel at peace. He won’t use fear, guilt, or shame to try and manipulate your decision.

I would encourage you to spend time with the Holy Spirit. Ask him to show you how to proceed, and then trust Him with whatever He reveals to you. Because only He will reveal to you the next step. He may not give you all of the steps at once, but whatever He reveals to you, trust that. And let everything else fall away.

Next Steps

Now that you know how to determine if your business growth is being blocked, it’s time to get to the root of that, keep your eyes on Jesus, break through self-sabotage and spiritual warfare, and find a community of like minded Christian women who just get it.

That’s why I created the Reclaimed to Reign Membership–to help women like you finally get to the root of the problem, let the Holy Spirit fully guide you in your life and business, and stop listening to the lies the enemy continues to whisper in your ear.

If you would like to get a feel for how I teach and are desiring to dive deeper into your relationship with Jesus as you are growing your faith-based business, check out my FREE 3 Day Devotional Series for Faith-Fueled Female Entrepreneurs called ROOTED.