Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
The Estherpreneur is a weekly chat about doing business and life God’s way. Join your host, Edna Harding as she offers biblical strategies and practical applications to improve your mind, business, spirit, relationships, and finances. Listen along as she talks with guests on how to thrive in all areas of life. Edna is a Wife, Mother, Growth Strategist, Author, Minister, Certified Maxwell Business Consultant and Executive Coach, an accredited Master Mindset Coach, and Speaker whose message of hope, truth, and wisdom reaches people all around the world. FavorandWealth.com Estherpreneur.com
Edna Harding [00:00:03]:
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 everyone.
Edna Harding [00:00:48]:
Thank you for tuning in for another episode of the Essence of Printer podcast. So excited, excited that you are joining me. This week and today's episode, we are going to talk about how to accelerate the wilderness season. Are you guys enticed yet? Are you guys ready to shorten that wilderness season? Now, I know a lot of you guys are like, but you're not God. You cannot dictate how long I'm in the storm. You cannot dictate how long I need to be in the pressing. Yes, to an extent. Because what people don't realize is this is we have some sort of say or some sort of control when it comes to the length of our wilderness season, believe it or not.
Edna Harding [00:01:43]:
And it boils down to surrender. It boils down to character development. It boils down to trust. It boils down to obedience. There's so many factors, but we're going to dig deep today. We're going to talk about all the different things that can help you speed up that season and step into your promised land. So let's first open up in prayer. Holy Spirit, take over.
Edna Harding [00:02:10]:
Take over, Lord, and show us what we need to show. See and lead us, Lord God, into the truth that's going to transform us from the inside out. May you be glorified. May you be honored today in the mighty name of Jesus. All right, 11 months. 11 months. This is what they say it should have taken them to get to the promised land. But actually, I don't think it was 11 months.
Edna Harding [00:02:47]:
I thought it was 11 days or 14 days, I'm not sure. But regardless, it shouldn't have taken them 40 years to reach the promised land. 40 years of wandering, 40 years of circling, 40 years of delaying. But why? Not because of God's timing, which a lot of religious people say it's about God's timing, but it has to do with choices, choices they're making. So if you're stuck in a wilderness season right now, maybe your business feels stuck, maybe your vision feels distant, maybe you're being challenged in your finances and your relationship and your marriage. Maybe you're being stuck being single. Your breakthrough seems to be very far off in a distance. My friends, this episode is for you.
Edna Harding [00:03:40]:
Because while God is sovereign, he's also very strategic. And today I'm going to show you how to accelerate that wilderness season without skipping the lesson. Because you will have to pass the test and learn the lesson. But what you can do is choose the mindset and actions that move you into your promised land faster than you thought possible. So how do I say this? Just because it took me 20 years or so to figure this out doesn't mean you have to take 20 years to figure this out too. Does that make sense? We should learn from the characters in the Bibles. We should learn from all the individuals, other people's testimonies. But are we learning from other people's experiences so that we could shorten our time in those seasons of testings? Or do we want to learn from our messes instead of our mentors? Right.
Edna Harding [00:04:41]:
Same exact thing. So let's kind of dive in. First, why do most people stay stuck in the wilderness? Here's what a lot of devotionals as far as business wise. Don't tell you, okay? And mind you, I'm just a messenger, okay? I'm. Don't. Don't hate me for what I'm about to say. The reason why you guys are stuck in a long wilderness season is not because God is slow, but actually because you are stubborn. I know.
Edna Harding [00:05:23]:
I'm one of them. I'm one of the stubborn ones. So join the club. Let me break down three myths. God wants me to suffer longer, to build character. How many of you guys have heard that? Or how about this? The longer the wilderness, the bigger the blessing. Oh Lord, help us. Or how about I just need to wait patiently and God will move? I know.
Edna Harding [00:05:57]:
I know. Because I myself have said a lot of these things and sometimes I'm wondering, am I just saying this to make me feel better? You know? But here's a reality check. And I learned this the hard way because I've been in a wilderness season. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Because I chose to be in a wilderness season. Not because he wanted me to be there. I chose to camp out in the wilderness, when in reality, he's been asking me to enter into my promised land many years ago. Yeah, I learned this recently.
Edna Harding [00:06:30]:
I learned this recently. And do you know how dumb I felt after I found out that through my time with the Lord that I was choosing to stay in my baca season, when in reality, I should have been in my promised land a long time ago. Sorry, guys, I didn't mean to yell. Here's the truth, my friends. God already moved. He's already moved. The fire, the fire. And this is it.
Edna Harding [00:07:02]:
The fire and the smoke or the fog has already lifted. Is no longer in the wilderness. Okay? It's already in the promised land. But you know what you're doing? You're just circling around. You're just circling and circling and circling and circling and circling, waiting on God when God has already moved and has already given you the green light. But you are choosing to stay there. Many of us are choosing to stay in a broken business model for years, thinking that you're just being faithful with a little. But the thing that I was avoiding was hard change.
Edna Harding [00:07:45]:
When I finally pivoted, when I finally did what God has been telling me all these years, that I have not really done because I was fearful of loss. I was fearful of scarcity. I was fearful of messing up, losing money again. I was delaying my own breakthrough. Promise, I didn't. I. There's so many things. I was delaying my own destiny.
Edna Harding [00:08:20]:
I was living so many things. I was delaying my own rest. Thank you, Jesus, for that. Let me give you guys an example. You know, for many years, I've been praying to expand. I've been praying, you know, I need to hire people. I need this, I need that, I need this. And.
Edna Harding [00:08:37]:
And all he's been asking me to do was build systems and so that I can train my people right? And I had all these excuses, and finally I built all these systems, and I was still doing everything myself. And the Holy Spirit is like, higher, expand. And I'm like, I, I, I can't right now. I, I don't have the money, Lord. I, I can't even, you know, support myself and my family. Imagine a whole, you know, a whole team of people. And I started just like, making all these excuses. And finally, over and over again, he is like, you're burnt out.
Edna Harding [00:09:13]:
You're exhausted. You need to expand. You need to hire people. And I think one day I kind of just gave in. I was like, lord, fine, I'll hire. And then, boom, boom, boom, boom. He provided team excellent help me rested. I actually enjoyed my vacation.
Edna Harding [00:09:31]:
For the first time in a long time, I did not work. Why do I say all this? Your wilderness season is only as long as it takes for you to learn what you need to learn and become who you're called to be. What that means is You've already learned the lesson. Like, for example, I learned pretty quickly that I couldn't do it myself, but yet I chose to still do it myself because of fear of lack in reality. I just had to activate my faith and believe God that He will provide when I expand my team. And I did it, and he did provide. So I don't know what that means to you, but reality is a lot of times you're, you're, you're asking God for the increase, but you're not willing to act in faith, move forward for the increase, even though the increase is not there. Because contrary to what people think, you're never going to be ready to expand.
Edna Harding [00:10:39]:
You're never going to be ready to scale. You're never going to be ready. You just have to move with what you got. Especially if you've been seeking God, especially if you've been doing what he's been telling you to do. There are times when we ourselves are the one stopping us from receiving, because we're too. We're stuck in that wilderness. Thank you, Holy Spirit. We're stuck in that Egypt mindset.
Edna Harding [00:11:03]:
We're stuck in the wilderness mindset. See, there is a. There is different mindsets I think, that we have to break off of. Okay, you have the religious mindset, then you have the wilderness mindset, that you have the Egypt mindset, right? Where we'd rather be in bondage than to be in the kingdom, or we'll rather be stuck in religion where we're just praising, worshiping, pray, you know, praying, sewing, giving. When reality. We're not taking actions to activate our faith, and we're. We'd rather be in a wilderness mindset where we're just so used to surviving that we don't know how to reign, we don't know how to thrive. Those are the three mindsets that I see over and over and over again.
Edna Harding [00:11:48]:
That is just making people stuck and we need to break off of that. Does that make sense? All right, now, in the wilderness, a whole community grumbled. In fact, it's found in Exodus 16. 2. It says they complained a lot, they murmured a lot. Here is the thing that a lot of people keep a stuck. Are you complaining? Are you murmuring? Are you like, oh, my gosh, my industry is so saturated, I don't have the right team. Nothing is working.
Edna Harding [00:12:29]:
You know, I keep losing. I mind you, I'm not saying this to make fun of you. I've done this over and over and over again, right? I don't have a social, like my social media Got hijacked. What else next excuse that I've used. I need to work, you know, 24 hours, 48 hours a day. Because I just don't have, you know, I don't have time. That mindset of murmuring, complaining, making all these excuses will keep you stuck. This is what I want you to do, okay? For the next 24 hours, I want you to.
Edna Harding [00:13:08]:
What do you think about all the things you're complaining about, all the things that is like coming out of your mouth, that's not speaking life into your situation, but death. I want you to. And let's say you already have. Let's say there's something that really bad that happened. Just give yourself 24 hours to think about it, to ponder it and then move on. Right? For every problem, think of two possible solutions. Every problem, list two possible solutions. Don't just focus on the problem, come up with two solutions.
Edna Harding [00:13:41]:
Okay? I want you to speak thankfulness. Be grateful all the time, even before the solution happens. This has really helped me move forward a lot in my wilderness season is I would just be grateful. I have a gratitude journal. In fact, every day I come up with at least 15 to 20 things I'm grateful for. It really is going to help you. And then also focus on speaking about your future rather than where you have come from or what you're stuck in. You have to track your words, you have to track your mind.
Edna Harding [00:14:17]:
You have to track your thinking, right? Are you speaking life? Are you thinking life? Are you speaking or thinking delay? This is huge. All right? And then you have despise strategy. Okay? Here, here's. Here's something that's going to help you. Okay? Remember when Joshua sent. Oh, no, actually Moses sent the 12 spies. I believe it was Moses. And 12 were sent.
Edna Harding [00:14:50]:
10 were bad and 2 were good. So meaning 10 of the spies said, there's giants in the land, we can't. And then the two of them. I think it was Joshua and Caleb. I don't know if that's a myth or if that's really what happened, but. And I believe that is the case. God's got us. Let's go.
Edna Harding [00:15:10]:
Fear looks like I see giants. Faith looks like I see grapes. Okay. Whenever you're seeing the giants in the land, whenever you're seeing the enemy, what you're doing is you're focusing on the wrong, wrong things. You have to focus on the God word, whatever God promised you. So. Because if. If you.
Edna Harding [00:15:34]:
All you see is the enemy. If all you see is the problems, all you see is challenges. This is when analysis paralysis comes. Happens. This is when you're waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. When God has been telling you, go, go, go. This is when you're obsessing over competition, when you're like, oh, my gosh, there's so many people in my field. This is when you're like, waiting for provision.
Edna Harding [00:15:55]:
I need more resources first. In reality, you could just use what you have, right? And when you see the grapes in the land and you see the honey and the look, the honey and the. And. And the grapes and this, the. The opportunity on the other side. This is when you move, even when it's messy. This is when you do the hard thing first. This is when you trust in partnership with the Holy Spirit.
Edna Harding [00:16:17]:
Trust in the partnership with your angels. Trust in the partnership with the word of God. This is when you stack wins. This is when you en. Progress over perfection. Little wins builds momentum, my friends, not big wins. It's little wins. And this is something that I always tell my clients to do.
Edna Harding [00:16:35]:
Pick one thing, just one thing, every week, move forward now. I pick one thing every day. That's what I do. I pick. Make sure that every single day, Monday through Sundays, I'm moving the needle forward. Okay, the giant that you're avoiding right now, the giant, whatever that may look like, okay, it could be false, limiting beliefs. It could be your senior competition. It could be lack of resources, whatever it is that is actually your door to your destiny.
Edna Harding [00:17:05]:
The sooner you face that Goliath, the sooner you face that giant, you will see that that wall and that barrier that you thought you had is actually nothing but a plane. Is nothing but a plane, like, flat. If you don't know what plane is a flat surface when it comes to the Lord Jesus Christ, then there's also the provision test, right? Exodus 16:21 says, each morning they gathered what they needed. God provided daily bread, not a Costco truckload. Do you like that one? I thought it was funny. Okay, why? He's teaching us how to trust, not hoard. Okay? Hoarding business. Hoarding in business.
Edna Harding [00:17:53]:
Looks like you're sitting on cash out of fear. You're refusing to share connections. You're keeping some of your darkest, or not your darkest, your deepest strategy secret, right? The ones that are actually going to make your customers successful. You're isolating from partnerships because if you like, you don't want them to teach you. Well, you don't want to be used. For example, trust. Trust God, that whoever God sends you is for you. And this was hard for Me, because especially if I've been bamboozled by people I trusted.
Edna Harding [00:18:33]:
Trusting people has been hard for me because I always felt like people are out to get me, because that's what I've experienced time and time again. But in reality, when you're really seeking the Lord, when you are, especially because during that time, I was. I wasn't focused on God. I was focused on my destiny versus the God of my destiny. And when I shifted recently, not recently, maybe the past five years, I look back and all those people that were God was sending to me sometimes, I didn't think they were God's son. I really thought they were the enemy, because I have that mindset of the wilderness where I was literally surviving. And so you start isolating yourself from potential divine connections because you think that, you know, you don't have enough or they're just using you. In reality, God is sending you your divine connection for that particular season, for that day, and we're missing it because we are afraid that we're being used.
Edna Harding [00:19:37]:
Okay? Remember that the kingdom accelerates through generosity. So I want you to use today's resources today. Don't be afraid to spend it, okay? Give before you get. Invest instead of just saving. And open your hand, not clench your fist, okay? And then also, one of the things that I want to talk about is rebellion, because this is going to stop you from entering in your promised land. Numbers 14:27 says, how long will this wicked community grumble? Okay? The rebellion wasn't against Moses. In fact, it was against God's direction. So in business, rebellion can look like this.
Edna Harding [00:20:22]:
It can look like ignoring what the market is telling you. When. When the market's telling you to shift, you're staying put. Oh, no. This is what God told me. When in reality, God's like, there are signs that that model is not working anymore, my friends. You need to shift. Okay? When you're resisting feedback from your mentor or coach, when you're refusing to adjust a broken strategy, when you're disregarding the Holy Spirit's nudge to move right now because he sees some things that maybe you can't see, remember that acceleration happens when you submit, okay? Submit to what your market actually wants, right? Maybe back then it worked, but maybe this time it doesn't.
Edna Harding [00:21:06]:
Okay? Maybe the mentors are not telling you what you want to hear, but guess what? They're challenging you because they see things from a different perspective. Maybe the Holy Spirit is telling you to pivot to something else, to a different way of doing things because he's telling you what you're doing right now isn't going to work for this particular season. You need to ask yourself this question that's going to really challenge your thinking. What am I resisting that I should be surrendering to? Okay, and then the other thing that I wanted to talk about is fresh thinking. Because fresh thinking will help you leave the wilderness season and get into your promised land sooner. Remember, only Jacob and Jacob, Joshua and Caleb combined. The two enter the promise. And why? Because they had fresh boat thinking.
Edna Harding [00:22:00]:
Okay. Are you feasting on old manna? Okay, because a lot of times, and mind you, I did this for a while. I feasted on prophetic words from many years ago, and I was stuck in those old prophetic words instead of asking the Lord for new direction, new instruction. And then I realized that, yes, those. Those old wisdom. And I don't say, like, old wineskin, right? Cannot hold new wineskins. So, yes, old, new wine. Thank you, Holy Spirit.
Edna Harding [00:22:29]:
The new wine that's flowing into the new you, because you have grown, because you have shifted, because you have matured in Christ. Your old wineskin cannot hold that anymore. So I could not feast on old manna. I had to ask for fresh bread. So I want you to start over. Yes, I heard it. I heard it. You heard me.
Edna Harding [00:22:53]:
You need to start over. Stop feasting on your past successes or your past failures. Like, just ask. Come to the chat, come to the father as a child and ask for a new thing. Like, lord, what do you want me to do today? Right? Look outside your industry. Look at what other people are doing in, like, maybe the gaming space. If you're a consultant, maybe you look at the theater. Like, look like.
Edna Harding [00:23:19]:
Stop limiting yourself to what you know, but be open to advice outside of the norm. And how about you try this? Do the opposite of what you've always done, right? Maybe your business doesn't need more effort. Maybe it might just need a new idea. So if you're listening to this and you're an unbeliever and you're just, like, curious what this thing is about, maybe you should try it God's way and see if it actually works. Maybe if you've been trying all of the world's methods and you're still stuck, maybe you joined Business Unlimited. Yes, I just put a plug in there and try doing things God's ways. Try getting your strategies from the Bible and see if it actually works. You have nothing to lose, right? Whatever you're doing is not working anyway, so you might as well try something new, right? Try One strategy that you've never done before.
Edna Harding [00:24:18]:
This month, I just want to challenge you. Just ask the Holy Spirit for an idea, and you do it for one month and see what happens. Right? And then I just want to close with this that the Jordan was crossed because they stepped on it. Okay? What? I mean, Joshua 3:13 says the water did not part until their feet hit it. Breakthrough doesn't happen when you wait. It happens when you move. Okay? They had to step into the water before the Jordan parted. Okay? So you need to lead with faith.
Edna Harding [00:25:02]:
You have to step before it makes sense. You have to gather your circle, count the cost, and move anyway. Meaning gather your tribe, right? Like whoever God needs to be part of your circle as you move into this next chapter of your life. Yes. Gather them all. Ask the Lord, who is sent to me to help me with this particular chapter, with this particular season. Count the cost. Know your budgets, know what you know, the time, know the resources you need.
Edna Harding [00:25:33]:
Know it all, okay? And move with what you got. Don't wait for the waters to part. Step in and watch God show up. All right, so let me kind of break it down again, okay? The six different steps to help you go from wilderness to promise. Okay? You need to renew your mind. Stop complaining. Start creating. You need to assess your giant.
Edna Harding [00:26:01]:
Face it head on. You need to identify that there is provision for today. Release and invest. Okay? You need to submit, adjust and obey to God's ways. You need to have fresh strategy. You need to try something radical. Try something that you've never done before. And you need to step in obedience.
Edna Harding [00:26:22]:
Move even when it's murky. Move even though you don't see exactly what it's going to lead to. Heaven, Jesus the Father, the Holy Spirit loves it when I take action. He enjoys it even though I mess up. I don't always get it right, but he knows my heart was. Because I was trying to. You know, a lot of times, you know children, when you're telling them to do something and they've never done before, like, thank you, Holy Spirit. Like a Leah.
Edna Harding [00:26:51]:
Like Mommy. Like today, this morning, she's like, mommy, I know how to tie my shoes. And she's showing me. And I'm just so excited. I didn't tell her to tie her shoe. She just did it. And I was so proud of her. Right? And that's what I feel like the Holy Spirit does.
Edna Harding [00:27:05]:
He's like, sometimes he just wants us to try new things out of growing, out of faith, out of obedience. And he loves. He's a proud parent like, wow, that's amazing. Now, sometimes I do just say just for the sake of saying it, but he really is proud of us when we do something we've never done before because we trust him that much. All right, remember, my friends, your wilderness is not a punishment. It's a preparation. But how long you stay there, that's your decision. The Israelites had a choice.
Edna Harding [00:27:36]:
And guess what, my friends, so do you. Will you complain or will you create? Will you fear the giants or grab the grapes? Will you wait for the waters to depart or will you step in first? Remember, my friends, your promised land is not a place. It's actually a decision. And your decision, My gosh, this is. I just. Thank you, Holy Spirit. I just sense that a lot of you guys are hearing the word of the Lord right now. You have a decision to make, and your decision can be made today.
Edna Harding [00:28:10]:
Today is the day that I enter into my promised land. This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. All right, my friends, I hope this blessed you. I hope this encouraged you, and I hope that you shine brighter for Jesus because I am rooting for you. I love you all and have a wonderful week ahead. Take care. Thanks for joining us this week on Estrepreneur.
Edna Harding [00:28:39]:
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.