Are you a Christian businesswoman on a mission to achieve extraordinary success, but something seems to be holding you back? Well, get ready because we’ve got some divine insights coming your way!

In this episode, I am going to guide you through the process of discerning if God is putting obstacles in your way, why He might be doing it, and most importantly, how you can overcome those challenges if that’s indeed the case. Essentially, we are going to explore actionable steps to align your business ambitions with God’s purpose for your life.

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?

 WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:

• How to determine if God is blocking your business growth
• What to do if you feel like you are being blocked
• Ways to fully surrender your business to the Lord
• How to discern if God is calling you to STOP your business entirely

 Let’s do this.

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 the answer for yourself. I do recommend you write these down and journal about them later.

Although these journal prompts are geared toward businesswomen, you can apply them to any area of your life. In these prompts, you can change out the word business for something else like marriage, friendships, body image, etc. 

PROMPT: Are you relying solely on your own works to contribute to your business growth?

PROMPT: 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. And 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.

Now, don’t get me wrong…

Faithful, obedient action is needed, but I was obsessed with my works 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 work from a state of Holy Spirit overflow instead of a state of overwhelm, which is caused by self-inflicted pressure.

Your mind won’t be constantly dwelling on work. It will be dwelling on Him. 

The next prompts: 

PROMPT: Have you truly surrendered your business to the Lord? 

PROMPT: 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.”  

Now, for me, business was the first thing I had to surrender, but keeping it real with you, there are other areas of life that He is working with me on.

PROMPT: What if you surrendered what you wanted and committed to fulfilling the work that He wants? What would that look like? 

I have to constantly surrender what I want in my business. It is 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.

You can’t turn on this switch and all of a sudden surrender every area of life over to God for the rest of your life. Or maybe it is – I believe in miracles haha. If that’s the case for you, amazing, but I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that probably isn’t the case for most people and it’s not the case for me.

I am a human. I mess up, and I find myself working in my strength a lot and having to catch myself. 

So, if this is you, it’s okay.

Repent and put your eyes on Him. 

PROMPT: How has your flesh overtaken you in your business? How have you let your desires consume you?

There is nothing wrong with having desires. The problem comes in when you allow yourself to be consumed by them and put your desires above the Lord.

Psalm 73:26 says, “my flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Think of specific scenarios you have experienced where you know firsthand 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 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 can snap out of it faster. There have been multiple times when 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, and 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 there’s “too much to do that day,” or I just 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 another example of letting my flesh control me. 

I am letting my phone control my thoughts and my day. On days that I do this, it shows me that I am constantly searching for something more because no matter how many times I refresh those apps, I’m still not fully satisfied.

I keep going back for more just in hopes that it will fulfill me somehow. 

But, as I’m sure that you’re probably aware, that’s never going to work because the only thing that can fully satisfy us is Jesus. No app, no payment, no boyfriend, husband or child can even fully satisfy us. 

Only Jesus can. 

So, before we move on, 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 that He’s 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 wants to show you that His ways are better than your ways or that when you allow Him to work through you, miracles happen. 

Do you know what lesson He wants you to learn from this? Get really clear on that. 

PROMPT: What would it look like if you truly desired Him more than you desired your business? How would you 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 because that’s 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 stopping thinking about work and 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.

Psalm 90:17 says, “let the favor of the Lord, our God be upon us and to prosper the work of our hands.” 

Going back to the original question – “Is God blocking your business growth” because the truth is, you may be being blocked right now. 

If that’s the case, I want you to know that this is not a punishment. I don’t view the time I was being blocked as a punishment at all. I view it as part of my sanctification process. I needed to be blocked in that way 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 it was going to get my attention, and He used this situation to teach me to look at Him because He loves me. 

If this is happening to you, He loves you so much. Can we just marvel at how much He loves us and that He can use certain situations for our good and His purpose?

What Does It Mean for Me? If He is Blocking My Business Growth, How Do I Even 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 another direction.”  That means I shouldn’t be pursuing this business at all, but that’s not always the case. 

God was blocking me, but He was blocking me to teach me something about the calling and the mission I was pursuing.

So, how did I know He didn’t want me to quit? 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 intuitively knew that was the Holy Spirit speaking to me and anytime I had doubts or I was scared, I knew that that was the enemy.

I knew the enemy was whispering lies to me 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 will.

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 is going to reveal to you the next step. He may not give you all of the steps all 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 break through self-sabotage, activate a faith-fueled focus, and find a community of like minded Christian women who just get it.

That’s why I created the Called to CEO Collective–to help women like you finally get to the root of the problem and cultivate a thriving, Holy Spirit led business.

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 sell 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