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You prayed—but did you pause?
You gave God your plans—but did you ever give Him permission?
Your business problem may not be a business problem.
The Estherpreneur Podcast examines what most business conversations miss: the condition of the builder behind the business.
Hosted by Edna Harding, Christ-Centered Business Architect and CEO of Favor & Wealth, this show helps founders identify what is actually limiting growth—strategy, structure, sales, leadership, capacity, identity, stewardship, or spiritual misalignment.
We question business advice that produces growth without wisdom, visibility without capacity, revenue without stewardship, and success at the expense of the person carrying it.
Expect biblical truth, practical business strategy, uncomfortable questions, and conversations about sales, money, leadership, spiritual warfare, emotional maturity, and building in obedience to God.
Because sometimes you don't need another strategy.
You need to identify what is actually out of order.
“By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established.” — Proverbs 24:3
Estherpreneur.com | FavorandWealth.com | EsthersOil.org
Edna [00:00:00]:
Welcome to Estrepreneur, a podcast for entrepreneurs and leaders doing business and life God's way. Each week we discuss biblical and practical tips to improve your mind, business, spirit, relationships, and finances. Listen along as I speak with special guests on how to thrive in all aspects of life. Hi, I'm Edna. Like many of you, I wear many hats. I'm a military wife, mother, author, certified John Maxwell business and executive coach, trainer, and founder of Favor and wealth, where we help the good guys win. So tune in as we bring on the light. Well, hello, guys.
Edna [00:00:41]:
Thank you for tuning in for another episode of the estherpreneur podcast. My name is Edna Harding, and I'm nothing but a messenger of life. In this podcast, we talk about business and life, God's ways. That includes your mind, your business, your spirit, your relationship, and your finances. So if these are areas that you want to learn about, and I know there's a lot of great resources out there, but what I love to do with this particular podcast is bring the kingdom concepts into practical terms. So you decree, decree and decree, and we say the Lord is going to establish it. But throughout the scriptures, a lot of times the Lord wants us to move. There are times when the Lord wants us to rest.
Edna [00:01:25]:
But if you haven't even put your hands to the plow yet, he cannot add the soul super to the natural. Does that make sense? And so in this podcast, I love to bring heavenly concepts back to earth utilizing timeless wisdom and timely methods. So if this is something you're interested in, you're in the right podcast and you're in the right channel. So for those of you guys who are new here, welcome, welcome, welcome. And for those of you guys who've been listening to me all these years, thank you, thank you, thank you for your support. I truly appreciate it. Um, I have been in and out of media, I guess, since 2016, due through life circumstance, life seasons. But God is faithful.
Edna [00:02:09]:
I'm in a place now because I built the systems for my business. Now I can start getting back here on media and interacting with you all. So if you haven't already, don't forget to connect with me on LinkedIn or you connect with me through my app, ednaharding.com and there is a group that you could join there for specifically for a podcast community where we can interact with one another. And I just have to remind myself to check it out one of these days because I haven't had yet. But on LinkedIn, I know some of you guys who are listening have connected with me on LinkedIn that is probably the platform that I'm the most active in because I'm in there pretty much regularly for my business. So before we open up, let's go ahead and pray. Father God, I just thank you for this day. I thank you, Lord, that you are holy and that you are wise.
Edna [00:02:53]:
We thank you, God, that you have given us secret things or things that will help us succeed in the earth. Lord God, according to your perfect word, Lord, we love you, we honor you, bless this time in Jesus name. Amen. All right, so in this episode I'm going to call it. Wave it, Heave it, Burn it. Wave it, heave it, burn it. Now, you probably like, what in the world does that mean? Things. But you know, this morning when I prayed, I was like, lord, just show me something.
Edna [00:03:23]:
Help me make numbers applicable to my life today. And so when I, when the Lord revealed this to me, this revelation to me, I was like, oh, my gosh, this is awesome. If I think this is awesome, I'm sure my listeners will also think this is awesome. And. All right, so let me just start with this. And you know, God doesn't curse things, but there's a reason why you're not seeing the fruits from your business. There's a reason why sometimes we're not seeing the fruits from our prayers and the fruits from our hands. Right? And part of it sometimes, and not always the case, yes, there's opposition, yes, there are things that, you know, that happens outside of control.
Edna [00:04:09]:
But part of it is because we keep offering God the leftovers. We keep offering. Thank you, Holy Spirit. So it's like we go with our business. We do everything we can and we, we like, we try to strategize, to come up with ways, and we do everything we can. And then when we have nothing left, when our business about is dying, then we come to God. And that's not of God. Okay.
Edna [00:04:31]:
First and foremost, we should have came to God in the first place with all our decision making. Because what I found is a lot of believers, and I think I've mentioned this time and time again, we tend to build our businesses and expect God to bless it because God called us to business. We build our businesses and expect God to bless it, but we never come to God for the blueprint. Now, there are a lot of different blueprints out there as far as I'm sure God gave specific strategies and blueprints to specific consultants, specific coaches, and how to build Kingdom businesses. Specifically, I'm called to people who have experienced battle after battle after battle. In their lives and because of the trauma, because of the pain, because of the things that had. They had to overcome and persevere. There's a lot of wounds still in her soul that needs to be healed in order for them to build the vision God gave them.
Edna [00:05:25]:
So if you've had an easy life, you've never had any struggles, you've always got what you want. This is. I'm probably not the coach for you. I love to work. Not that I love to work. I'm called. Thank you, Holy Spirit. I don't love it because it's harder to work with people who've gone through traumatic things.
Edna [00:05:42]:
It's very difficult. And it's only by the grace of God and the anointing of God upon my life that I'm able to do so. Because it requires a lot of patience, a lot of grace, a lot of mercy and a lot of understanding. Right. And if I think if I didn't go through what I went through, I probably wouldn't have that, which is kind of like you're talking to someone who's not just talking to talk. You know, a lot of people, you know, you have a lot of coaches and consultants out there, gurus out there that said, you know, I did this, you know, built this from nothing, when in reality they didn't have nothing. They had connections, they had this. They had a pretty, you know, easy life.
Edna [00:06:14]:
It was pretty much handed to them. They had resources, they had relationships, they had a solid background. I came from an average family. My father was an engineer, my mother was a teacher. We actually, a little bit about myself, we actually came from Hawaii and I remember my mom had like side businesses here and there. My father was an engineer, became a project manager, director and so forth. But he's always believed in working for corporate. My mom always had like a little knack for entrepreneurship, but just never seen the fruits of it.
Edna [00:06:48]:
So when I built something, when God told me to call me into business and I built something, I didn't really have a good role model. Although my parents, my mom told me that my grandfather, who's already passed, is in heaven. He actually was a very well known businessman in the Philippines. In fact, I have uncles that are multimillionaires in the Philippines that built businesses. So running businesses and starting businesses has been in my blood almost. And even from my husband's side, he has a couple people that have their own businesses too. So it's not. But it's just personally either the.
Edna [00:07:20]:
I don't have any person outside of my mom, which by the way, she's an incredible salesperson. That's probably where I learned a lot of my relationship building skills and my sales skills, which is from watching her sell from, I'm talking about like Tupperware selling. What do you call it? What's the other thing for your face? I forgot what it's called. I think it's a L, Y, C. Am I, am I dating her? The other stuff was like, what's that Town craft, you know, those pots. I mean if you could jewelry. I mean she sold all kinds of stuff and so did very, very well. So you know, I, I, I don't think it's a coincidence.
Edna [00:07:54]:
I don't think it's an accident that I came from that background. And then my father on the other hand, he's very systems driven. You know, being an engineer, he's very structured, very operational, very logistical, if that makes sense. Like there's, I think I got that aspect from my father. So I'm like a good mix of both of them, which is why I'm a little bit of a hybrid because you have the creatives who are really good at idea and selling and building relationship, but then they don't have any structure. And I have that structure component like my father, but he does not very creative. And so I get the best of both worlds. I think the way God created me was specifically for, specifically like you, where I can help you take those beautiful, amazing, extravagant ideas and put systems in place to actually build the thing.
Edna [00:08:41]:
Okay, now why am I saying this? There is a process, there is a blueprint. And if you're looking for a blueprint and how to build and establish your business the way God intended, you're in the right spot. Okay, again, you're in the right spot. I don't have to tell you this again, but I feel like the Holy Spirit wanted me to tell you you are in the right spot. The answer you're looking for isn't something that's going to be handed to you and it's through wisdom, scriptures and proverbs. If you read, I want you to read proverbs, I don't just read proverbs in general. Wisdom. It tells you that you have to seek for wisdom.
Edna [00:09:15]:
And wisdom is what you need to build the riches. Okay. To build the, the, the, the foundation for the vision God gave you. Right? Because let's say, face it, remember one of the things I mentioned is that the, how do you know if it's, if it's a calling or if it's a A mission? Or is it. How do you know if it's God's assignment? I forgot what it. What the question was. Someone asked me a question. But basically the difference is if, if.
Edna [00:09:42]:
If you can do it by yourself. That's not, that's not God's assignment. Because God's assignment or God's calling, it takes a group of people. It takes a team. You can't do it on your own, okay? And you can't do it by yourself. You need God right now. If you could do it by yourself, that's probably just like a gift, right? Something that you could. Thank you, Holy Spirit.
Edna [00:10:01]:
That's what the question was. What's the difference between a gift and a calling? A gift is something that you naturally can do by yourself, that God gave you. That's very easy. You don't really need God because it's like, natural for you. It's easy for you. A calling is something huge that you definitely need a team, and you definitely need the Lord to help you with it. So that's what I'm doing right now. I am pursuing the call of my life, which is to transform the marketplace one mind at a time.
Edna [00:10:30]:
I remember I was in Texas at that time. I was single. I think this is like in 2014 or something like that. I think so. And I was speaking at these, this woman council group. I was the guest speaker. And, and I remember I said this, and, you know, people looked at me like I was nuts. I could transform the marketplace one man at a time.
Edna [00:10:48]:
Like, what does that even mean? And so forth. And I remember I said, you know, the, the very people who, who says that they're going to change the world are the very people that actually did who are crazy. That change was that Steve Jobs said that. And I truly believe that the Lord is going to use me to shift the marketplace, right, to change our thinking. And not just. Necessarily, not necessarily everyone will follow it, but they'll be able to be open to another way of thinking, which is to incorporate strategies from the Bible into your business. Now, let me tell you what it's not and what it is, okay? It is not just like, okay, you got to have integrity. You got to have, you know, you can't lie, you can't steal, you can't cheat, you can't pray.
Edna [00:11:29]:
This is bigger than that, okay? I'm not talking about, like, surface level stuff. I'm talking about deep step secrets from the Bible and how to establish your business, okay? The different blueprints and how you grow it and how to Scale it, how to start it, how to multiply it. Okay. All right. That was the longest introduction, Holy Spirit. But that's okay. Apparently, I needed to go there. So first, let's talk about something believers don't want to admit out loud.
Edna [00:11:55]:
And it's that some of us don't have a marketing problem, but we actually have an altar problem. Okay? So I'm not saying you don't love God. I'm not saying you're building your business out of pride. I'm saying that you're building your business like Saul, but you're expecting God to bless you like David. You are offering God your business results, but you're not offering God business control. So you want God to bless your business, but you're not allowing God to control your business. Proverbs 3, 5 and 6, and Proverbs 6 and 3, read it yourself. But God isn't obligated to bless what he wasn't invited to govern.
Edna [00:12:41]:
Okay? If you have not invited God into your business at all, in any of your decision making, in any of your idea generation, any of that, don't expect God to bless it. So even though, for me, and this is why it's a hit or miss, I'm not gonna lie, because sometimes I'm like, oh, God, what I do. Like, what am I doing? Because I invite God in every aspect of my business, from the marketing, what I try to my marketing, to my offers, to my, you know, my clients, to my flyers, to my copy, to my sales tactics, to my programs itself, to the solutions. I don't put a lot of pressure on myself because it's like, God, you told me to price it this way. You told me to target these people. You told me to bring this. And if I'm not seeing the FRU yet, because I surrendered everything to God, I don't feel bad. Because I'm like, well, technically, this is not my idea.
Edna [00:13:36]:
This is your idea. So if it's not happening, there must be a reason. And it will happen in due season. Because, God, you cannot fail. Does that make sense? So that assurance and that confidence, that because I built it on the foundation of the rock, God has no other option but to bless it. Because it's him. It's his. His name was on the line.
Edna [00:13:55]:
Not Edna Harding, not favor and wealth, not Entrepreneur, not all the other names I forgot. Like, for examp. But then my Etsy shop, my books, my app, like, all of that stuff came from God. He told me to build those things. And so it's his responsibility for the Outcome. Am I preaching to y' all yet? Okay, I'm preaching to myself. Because sometimes, I'm not gonna lie, guys, there are days that I'm like, oh my goodness, I built all these things, but I haven't had time to promote it. And it's crazy because I was like, okay, like I'm going against the grain, cuz I know what to do, right? I teach people the same thing.
Edna [00:14:28]:
Like, I was like, okay, pick one, offer a whole lot of that and go to the next offer. So a whole lot of that. And like, what, what's been happening with me? I'll sell a few of this and a few of that and a few of this and a few of that, and then he'll tell me to build something else. I'm like, okay, a few of this, a few of that, a few of this. And. And which. Which again, comes to how comes to what I teach my clients, which is before you move on to the next product, make sure you at least get three sales. So every single one of my product that I offer, with exception on my book, I think actually I haven't really promoted my two last books, but my ugly side of sales, for sure, I've sold more than three books.
Edna [00:15:02]:
I know for sure. And my Business Unlimited book, I've sold more than three books. So. So my other books, I don't wish I had it. The Flourish Daily, my journal planner, and then the other one, this is War, which is my devotional, I haven't promoted yet, but it is available on Amazon, by the way. Guys, you can get that. So that is something I haven't promoted yet. But every other program I have not.
Edna [00:15:27]:
I have sold multiple times. Like my training, I've sold my one on ones. Obviously I have a higher ticket one on ones which I haven't sold yet. My estrepreneur, I have, I've had five clients with that. And so my speaking engagement, I've had multiple clients that if I really look back at it, I've done. I've sold every single one of my products that I have available on my website at least three times. Okay? But I believe that the reason why God does that, like proof of concept is because it was his idea. Okay? Now the other two that I have there, the higher ticket things, that's what I gotta get clarification on.
Edna [00:16:04]:
Like, is that from God or was that from my coaches? So that's something that I do have to pray on. So this is like real life, like reflection. But what I'm saying is if you want God to bless the outcome, you have to involve him in the creation of the program. Okay? So you don't need more faith. What you actually need is more surrender. Okay? There's a lot of faith talk out there. I'm all about surrender talk. Okay? Trust talk.
Edna [00:16:31]:
Right? Submission talk. Okay, that is not a sexy word. No one likes the word submission and surrender and dying to yourself. No one likes those words. But these are the very things that Jesus did throughout the Bible. These are the very things that a lot of people in the word of God, our heroes of faith, have done. Maybe they might not have said it, but they surrendered their plans to God and then God blessed them. It wasn't like, let me just do whatever I want and God blessed me.
Edna [00:17:00]:
No, I will submit to your instructions. I hope you guys hear me by way of the Spirit. Psalms 127:1 says, Unless the Lord builds the house, those who labor in it will be in vain. Not that they will build slow, not that they'll build stress. It says, in vain. So which means even if you build this thing and even though you think it's so great and so awesome and you put a lot of marketing in it and you, you spend a lot of money and everyone's like applauding you and congratulating you and you win all these awards, it's in vain. It's in vain because that is not what God told you to build. So you're building something that God never told you to build.
Edna [00:17:37]:
How much time, investment money? How many resources have you invested in something that when you go to heaven, I was going to say ear. When you go to heaven, he'll say you didn't do well done. I don't know if he's going to say not well done. I honestly, Lord, what would you say? Like, nice try. Anyway, so today I am going to show you how three offerings in numbers 8 exposes how you're building. That's the wave offering, the heave offering, and the burnt offering. Now I challenge you guys, even if you guys are don't really like numbers like I do, I challenge you to read numbers 8. There's a reason why I didn't read.
Edna [00:18:16]:
Put the verses in here. I want you to actually read it for yourself. You're probably gonna need it multiple times. I, I read it like three times. Honestly, cuz I was like, what does this mean? Try to understand, Lord. Okay. Oh, let's talk about the first offering for time's sake. I'm just gonna go quick here.
Edna [00:18:31]:
It's the wave offering. Wave offering Leviticus, chapter 7, verse 30 to 34, wave offerings were presented before the Lord. Waved, right? Waved As a public acknowledgment, okay? But the numbers 8, if you read numbers 8, verse 11, the Levites themselves were waived not as a product, not as a service, but as people. In Numbers 8, Verse 16, the last part of Numbers, Verse 16, it says, I have taken the Levites for myself. So basically, he consecrated them the Levites for himself. Okay? He said in verse 17c to 18, I consecrated them and set them apart for myself, and I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the Israelites. Okay? So they were offering God themselves. Now, here's the question I want to ask you, and I want you to be real with yourself.
Edna [00:19:30]:
Are you offering God your business, or are you offering God you? And that will sting you like a bee. Are you offering God your business? Or are you. Are you offering God you? Because you can pray over strategy and still be an adult idolater. You can still be God. You can still include God, not be God, include God and still be a controller. You can say, lord, lead me and only obey him if the number makes sense. You see, if you are led by the business or the outcome of the business, like you surrender your business, but you don't surrender yourself, there is going to be a tug of war between what makes sense in the Numbers as far as profitability and what makes sense with the Father's heart. Two different things.
Edna [00:20:20]:
Because think, oh, Jesus, help me. Because just because you're profitable, meaning you are on the green and you're not negative, you could still be a negative in God's eyes. You could still be failing God's test. You see, he's not after the fruits of your tree. He's after the roots of your tree. Oh, come on, Jesus, that came from heaven. Guys, that's not for me. That's not even in my notes.
Edna [00:20:45]:
He's not after the fruits of your tree. He's after the roots. What are the roots? What are the foundation of your tree? So if your heart is not right before God, if your soul isn't surrendered to God, it doesn't matter how successful your business is, it's still a failure to God. There's a scripture in Matthew, chapter 15, verse 8, that says, these people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. These are not for atheists. Let me just make it clear. It's, these are for believers who learned how to sound spiritual while staying sovereign.
Edna [00:21:27]:
Are you guys hearing what I'm saying? Like, this is dangerous because I can say, and I don't know everybody's heart. I'm not here to judge, but based on just the outlook of society and the things that are going on in the world and the things going on society and the things that are going on in our nation and just anywhere. There are a lot of surface level Christians out there where they talk a spiritual jargon, but their hearts, they definitely do not know the heart of God because the things that are coming out of the mouth is going against God's word. And the scripture says that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And so if you are not speaking truth, we need to ask ourselves, what is the roots? What is the ground that our heart is? What is. Is it fertile ground? Is it rocky ground? Is it. What is it? Fleshly ground? Right. Thorny ground? Like, there is an issue when the words that are mouth are not aligning with God's character and his heart.
Edna [00:22:24]:
Remember, the world's success is different from God's success. So first and foremost, he's after you. The wave offering is you. I want you first before your business. I want you, you, Edna Harding, I want you, Roger Duck, I want you, Daffy Duck, I want you, whatever your name is. Right. You are what I want. So a wave offering in business sounds like this.
Edna [00:22:49]:
Lord, before I post it, correct it. Lord, before I price it, check it, Lord, before I launch it, govern it, not God bless this after you have already decided but have not asked God what his opinion is. Or better yet, what ChatGPT's opinion is. Come on. Or better yet, what your counselor, your advisors, or the guru you follow on YouTube's opinion is. Because let me tell you this, I have followed godly counsel and I have followed, you know, counsel of the world. And sometimes they miss it. They're not always right.
Edna [00:23:23]:
Absolutely not. And oftentimes my counsel sucks. Like me. Like I myself have led me the wrong path. But you know who doesn't make a mistake? God. God never makes a mistake. So if you want to see fruits in your life, check the roots and make sure that roots is solid and is built on what the foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ, meaning that you are. So you're rooted in the right place, that the place you're rooted in is in the heart of the Father, is in the word of God, is in truth.
Edna [00:23:54]:
Okay. Okay. There's a scripture in James 4. Three that says, Ask and do not receive because you Ask wrongly to spend it on your passions. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions. So what if God has already answered you and you just don't like the answer? So you're praying for God to bless something and he's not blessing it. Could that be his answer? Like, no, not. That's not it.
Edna [00:24:20]:
And yet we're, like, persevering. Let's keep praying and fasting until we receive breakthrough, until we receive answers. Like, I've gotten to a point, and sometimes it's still a work in progress. I've gotten to a point where I'm like, okay, Lord, if. If this is. If this is a waste of time, just tell me. Just rip the band aid off and just tell me so I could just move on. And sometimes that's what we need to do.
Edna [00:24:41]:
So the wave offering number one is he's after your heart, okay? So he wants you first, before your business. The heave offering is the offering that reveals what you worship in numbers 18, 8 to 19. I don't have time to go over that in Proverbs 3. 9. The heave offering was a contribution, lifted up, honor, intangible form. It's their first fruits. Okay? But let's move past. Let's give it to God because you can tithe and still worship money.
Edna [00:25:08]:
Okay, so let me just put it. Let me put it this way. The heave offering isn't about what you give. Let me just. Let me just go ahead and help you out, okay? It's about what you refuse to give up. Oh, gosh. Just hurt so bad. Yeah, I know.
Edna [00:25:23]:
Are you willing to give up friendships? Are you willing to give up your sleep? Are you willing to give up your body from the sacrifice of lack of sleep? Are you willing to give up up your time? What are you willing to give up? He is not just after your money, my friends. He is after control. He is after you letting go. What he tells you to let go. Like, things that you're holding on to. That's the very thing he wants to let go. So when I pursue. When I said yes to the Lord, I had no idea I was gonna be a military wife.
Edna [00:25:56]:
I was gonna travel all the time, and I have to make new friends all the time. I'm a homebody. I love to stay put. I love to belong. I establish relationships and pursuing God's call while moving every year, almost like that is tough for me. That is not an easy thing because I get lonely. But I had to let go of my comfort Zone or my community to pursue God the way. And mind you, my husband's like, hey, do you want to just stay wherever your thing is? Like, and while we move, I was like, no, I'm going to follow you wherever we go.
Edna [00:26:28]:
But the point is, that's not easy. Or it could also be giving up your sleep or giving up your freedom. You know, there's so many things that the Lord wants you to give up. So again, it's not so much about what you give financially. It's what you're not willing to give for God's call for you. And this applies to business and life, by the way. Okay, so what? A lot of times what I find is believers ask God for increase, but then they start acting like Pharaoh when it shows up, right? So they pray for abundance, but then hoard like orphans. Okay? The kingdom doesn't move through fear.
Edna [00:27:06]:
And so if you're building from fear, you're not building from faith, even if you're quoting scriptures while doing it. People say that just because you talk the faith talk doesn't mean. It means people think that that means you have faith. No, because God sees the heart. You know, I could say something like, for example. Let me give an example. I could say the sky is green. The sky is green.
Edna [00:27:32]:
The sky is green even though in my heart I know the sky is blue. And so even if I say the same thing, but my heart knows it's not it. God knows. Like, if I'm full of baloney, if I feel. If I truly feel inside that the sky is blue, and I'm saying the sky is green, it doesn't matter what I say, because really, I know the sky, like, in my heart, the sky is blue. And he sees past our words, he sees our hearts. Does that make sense? So when it comes to offering a heave. Offering, right.
Edna [00:28:02]:
It's an honor. Like, what do you honor him with? Okay, so an example of this is you tell the truth, even if it costs you a sale. You. You don't manipulate people into buying. You know, I can't tell you how many times I've heard, and mind you, I've been manipulated. Even though I'm in sales myself, I know the tactics, and I fall for it all the time because I genuinely feel like, okay, they're not doing the right thing. They sound right, but they're really, really good manipulators and getting you to buy, which is why I don't believe in that. I, if, if anyone's been working with me before, really, I keep telling myself Each and every day.
Edna [00:28:37]:
My source is God. My source is not these people. So that I know how to sell really good. Like, this is, like, what I'm known for. But I purposely do not turn on that switch because I don't want manip. I don't want to manipulate people in buying my products and my service and my program. I want them to follow God's leading, okay? And not my influence. Which is why I purposely don't sell myself as hard as I should sell, even though everyone around me.
Edna [00:29:07]:
It's so funny. So there's this gentleman on LinkedIn. I'm part of his group, and he's like, edna, you're really good at what you do. You're doing this, you're doing that. You know, you have a lot of experience. You work with a lot of credential. Like, why aren't you selling? You're not selling yourself. And in my mind, it's like, why am I not selling? And.
Edna [00:29:24]:
And. And part of it, you know, you could do, like. And there's a balance, right? There's a whole false humility thing where God wants you to shine, but also at the same time, because the clients I work with come are struggling. I don't want to manipulate their emotions because I know they're not in a. Thank you, Holy Spirit. There were times in my life when I was such. Like, I was so desperate that I bought everything that was sold to me because I was so desperate. I don't want that from my people.
Edna [00:29:49]:
I want them to buy from me, knowing that this is what God wants them to do. Does that make sense? Now, if the people I was working with had money, I probably could easily do that. But most of the people I work with, when I say have money, I mean they have money. I'm saying, like, if. If they weren't struggling, okay, with some sort of limiting circumstances, whether if it's external or internal, like personally, emotionally, mentally, or physically, it would. It would be. It would be easier for me to sell as a. But.
Edna [00:30:17]:
But that. That is. I. Thank you, Holy Spirit. I don't sell based on what I see on the outside. The Lord gives me discernments, helps me see the inside, the root inside. And until that is healed, I do not want to sell them something that they're. Even if I sold it, it's not going to help them.
Edna [00:30:32]:
Does that make sense? I'm hoping this makes sense. So the question I want to ask you is, what if the reason God hasn't trusted you with more is because you've been Faithful with the money, but unfaithful with the motive. I'm going to say that one more time. What if the reason God hasn't trusted you with more is because you've been faithful with the money but unfaithful with the motive, right? So that is the heave offering, okay? The third offering and the last offering is called the burnt offering. And this is the offering that kills your need to be seen, okay? Because the burnt offering, if you look at numbers 8, that's the offering where everything is consumed. So there's no leftover, no negation, no negotiation, no I'll obey if, right? This was a complete surrender, okay? Leviticus 1 and Romans 12:1. So basically all the fat, all the stuff, the best part, like, it's all gone. Like nothing is left over.
Edna [00:31:26]:
So this is where the Lord presses hard on CEOs, and this is not just for struggling businesses, for successful CEOs. I see it time and time again, even though with those established businesses already, okay, Burnt offerings, builders don't just surrender their schedule, they surrender their identity. So you're not saying, lord, I'll do what you say. You're saying, lord, I'll be who you created me to be, even if it costs me my popularity. And this is very Rare because most CEOs have egos, most CEOs have pride. Most CEOs care about the accolades and all those things they do, okay? They wanna. They always wanna look like they're awesome, right? You see it on LinkedIn every single day. You see how awesome they are and how smart they are and how intellectual they are and so forth.
Edna [00:32:11]:
And. And even if they start sharing their weaknesses as manipulative, right? Because they do it because they know that's part of a marketing tactic. But in reality, when you read it, well, some of. There are some good ones. I have seen some good ones, thank you, Jesus. Or some authentic ones, but there are a lot of them that is just very surface level, not real. I mean, there was. I remember there was a person that I know of that.
Edna [00:32:32]:
All the stories that they had about their clients, I say they as a person, but I don't want to say what he or she is, okay? Are all fictional. They're not even real, okay? So it's just performance, right? And that's not what God wants. God wants all of us, the good, the bad and the ugly, right? Surrendering everything, okay? That we're not pretending to be something that we're not. He's not after performance. He wants our body, our mind, our whole soul. Our spirit, our actions, our fruits, everything that concerns us. Nothing missing, nothing broken, like meaning, like we're not holding back anything. Galatians 2:20 said, I've been crucified with Christ.
Edna [00:33:14]:
It's no longer I who lives. So it's not just your you, it's not just your business, it's everything that concerns you, including your relationships, including your family life, including your thought life, your hobbies, like all those things. That's what it means to be set apart for God. That's what it means to be consecrated unto him. Okay, so if you're still addicted to approval, whether if it's by your parents, your children, your spouse, right? If you rather please them than your God, that is a problem. You're still addicted to approval and you're still not free. Now, mind you, there are scriptures about submitting to your husband. I'm not saying like, you know, don't be like Jezebel, where you like being controlled.
Edna [00:33:57]:
But obviously, if they're saying something that's going against the word of God, you best believe you need to stand firm on that, right? You do it nicely, truthfully, with love, but you still have to speak truth. Okay? If you're still needing people to clap and show you attention and give you rewards for all the good that you're doing, like that is still not of God. You're doing it for the approval of man and not God. Okay? If you need results, and this was a hard one for me, and I think this is a hard one for a lot of people. If you still need the results to prove God spoke to you, you're not surrendered. I'm going to say that one more time. If you still need the results to prove God spoke to you, you're not surrendered. Okay, so burnt offering in business sounds like, even if they don't buy, I obey.
Edna [00:34:46]:
Even if it's slower, I stay clean. Even if I misunderstood, I won't modify my assignment. Faith doesn't require control. Faith requires trust and complete surrender. Not my will, but yours be done. So I'm going to ask you this question, and I asked my question to myself earlier. What if the real reason you're exhausted is because you're trying to receive God's promises while still protecting your preferences? What if the real reason why you're exhausted is because you're trying to receive God's promises while still protecting your preferences? So let's get practical. Okay, let's get practical.
Edna [00:35:31]:
The three questions you need to ask, what do you need to waive? Meaning, what have you decided without presenting to God first. Number two, what do I have to heave? What are you honoring God with besides words? Besides finances? Okay, number three, what do you need to burn? What outcome are you holding hostage that God asked you to release? Okay, and this is all Scriptural. The wave one is Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, Numbers 8, 11. The heave one is Proverbs 3, 9, Second Corinthians 4:2. The burned one is Romans 12:1 and Luke 22:42. Please read it. My friends, remember, we don't need to be striving. We just need a cleaner altar.
Edna [00:36:15]:
And our altar is our lives. If we present ourselves and our business as an altar, as a living sacrifice to God and honor him with that, he will be the one to honor us. He will be the one to bless us. He will be the one to command the blessing to overtake us. First Samuel 2:30 says, I will honor those who honor me. So let me ask you, my friends, are you honoring God in words only or in truth? Because there is a difference. You could be honoring God with your money, but if you're not honoring God with your character and your life, it still doesn't count either, right? So let's go ahead and pray. Father God, I thank youk for this time.
Edna [00:36:58]:
I thank youk for this discipline, as a Father loves to discipline his children. Father, I pray that you just expose those things within our hearts that are stumbling blocks for us to receive the full manifestation of your word and your promises for our lives. May you be glorified and honored for the rest of our days. And I pray, oh God, that as we seek your face, that you reveal those things, oh God, those little foxes in the vine. Help us through it, oh God, to surrender it all to you and to allow you, our potter, to mold us like clay in Jesus name. Amen. Well, friends, I hope this blessed you, and I hope this encouraged you to go after the things of God even more. Blessings, my friends, and I'll talk to you all soon.
Edna [00:37:38]:
Take care. Thanks for joining us this week on Estrepreneur. Make sure to Visit our website favorandwealth.com for more information on our services. While you're at it, if you found value in this show, we'd appreciate a rating on itunes. Or if you simply tell a friend about the show, that would help me out, too. Also, check out my book, the Ugly side of Sales, available on Amazon, where I share seven of my secrets on how to win and grow business the right way. Until next time, keep shining.