Proverbs 31 as a professional woman - Part 40

Dear loyal readers, I trust that you’re blessed and highly favoured.

Thank you for joining me on this journey as we unpack success principle ten for Proverbs 31 as a professional woman: “She’s strong, courageous and discerning.” Please read parts 36-39 for more context.

Often, we acknowledge God’s strength in blessing us with a job, but after the breakthrough, we sometimes undermine, reject or ignore God’s continuing role in our professional journey.

Why?

Because we desire to own the professional journey and to celebrate our own strength as the underlying reason for our future success.

When problems arise, then we seek God with a desire for His strength, power and heaven’s resources – after undermining, rejecting or ignoring Him in the first place.

Let us repent.

In writing this column, I have often shared my challenges in my journey with God and how I painfully learned to surrender myself to His will, His way and His timing – especially in the professional space, where it is easy to lean on my own understanding.

Through growth and transformation, I learned to humble myself before Him, on everything, especially my professional career, because I’m His vessel and it is His success expressed through me.

But before this, my journey looked a bit like this:

Exhibit A:

In the article titled 'A New Season' I shared that:

“I wasn’t trying to build a relationship with God, because, like the Israelites in Exodus, I considered God from a transactional perspective – more of what God could do for me. I needed His power, but I wasn’t interested in His presence. I engaged His ‘services’ like a client going to a lawyer, but the lawyer in me decided to give Him a list of my facts and I extracted the underlying spiritual issues, found the scriptures that solved those issues, and I concluded the matter for Him in prayer – using the FILAC method (Google it).

My amen wasn’t about His will being done, it was about getting my way – but with God’s power and heaven’s resources.

I’m not proud of who I was; I don’t condone such behaviour, nor do I seek to glorify that mindset, but that’s who I was and I’m sharing my ugly truth. I had to repent a lot for this wrong mindset to die.”

I lacked faith, I had no fear of God and I trusted myself more than I trusted God. In some areas of my life, I trusted Him a bit more than in other areas and I compartmentalised the parts that I was willing to surrender to Him.

My mindset was: “God, I think I have this work thing covered – You be God on something else – I got this.”

I paid dearly for this rebellion and for pridefully trusting in my own ability. Today I know that: “I don’t want to have anything covered because I trust that God’s got this on everything.”

Exhibit B

In part 32 I boldly shared that:

“Some of you want to be called children of God while having an executive mindset requiring God to solve your problems in the first quarter of this year because you have KPIs set for Him.

Repent.

Don’t let a controlling, prideful or rebellious spirit be the reason why God steps aside and lets you be the weapon formed against yourself – until you return to Him with regret because you didn’t apply the protocol of John 20:29, 2 Corinthians 5:7, Proverbs 3:5-7 and Matthew 17:20.”

I encourage us to repent to God for the ways that we pridefully rely on our own strength, either unknowingly – or knowingly.

Some people even rebelliously try to “show God” that they can do it – with or without Him.

Fear God and repent – He doesn’t need your strength, but you need His.

The premium strength we should draw on first is not our own, but the Lord’s – because He will strengthen us Himself.

Shalom.