Equipping young women professionals with young families to find fulfillment, contentment and joy as mothers and home makers without losing sight of who they are as women.

Volume 06, Issue 08: A Rich and Powerful Life

One of my inspirational characters in the Bible is Lydia. She mastered the art of balancing success and prosperity in the secular marketplace with a profound devotion to maintain her spiritual beliefs and ethics.

Lydia was a wealthy woman in Greek society with access to all the trappings a woman could want. Yet she found all of them insufficient to fulfill her completely. Her life gives us some profound principles for living a rich and powerful life, a balanced life filled with riches and power on every level.

Though she had everything materially, Lydia still sought more. She sought God, knowing that what she truly craved could only be found in him.

From Lydia, we learn one of the quiet basics, prayer. Prayer and meditation is the prerequisite for victorious living. They are at the seat of power from which all sound decisions are made that fill one’s life with all the soul longs for.

Pursue a quiet life of prayer to nurture intimacy with God and build a deep and passionate relationship. Out of that relationship would come all the trimmings we could possibly desire because that’s what lovers do. They give gifts to the beloved.

In spite of Lydia’s financial stature, accomplishments, and standing in the community, she took the time to pray; consistently and regularly. It was her lifeblood. She made the time for it, had the place for it. And she did not swerve from this discipline, seeking the face of God and his daily refreshing that enabled her to complete her demanding tasks.

Make prayer a central object in your life. Begin every day spending time alone with God. Cultivate a life of prayer and consistent spiritual devotion.

We don’t pray to center ourselves, for there’s nothing at our center if God is not there. Prayer centers God in us. With him firmly in place as the axis at our core, things happen. Revelation happens that empower us to acquire the desires of our heart, from inner peace to external success.

Seek to know where your source of power and influence truly lies and plug into it. Make God your divine partner personally and professionally. May we strive to seek God early and to seek Him late, at all times seek Him. To become passionate and disciplined in our pursuit of Him and all that He has to offer.

The other quiet basic we glean from Lydia is having a hunger for the truth of God’s Word and the ability to live it out. Not just a craving, but an insatiable hunger. Lydia longed to know more about God. She wanted to know his ways and what he expected of her. God answered her by sending Paul and other disciples to teach her and her friends.

Cultivate a hunger and thirst for God’s Word and a desire to be instructed in His ways. Make time to meditate on God’s Word regularly despite the various things competing for your attention. God’s Word is key to our success and prosperity.

In spite of all her material possessions, Lydia’s spiritual life was her dearest asset and she nurtured it with passion.

Pursue a healthy spirit before a bulging bank account. Pursue peace above all the drama wheeling and dealing can bring. Seek spiritual understanding and the knowledge you need will come into clear focus. Lydia prioritized her life in a way that made her fruitful in all her endeavours. As we recalibrate our spirits and align our minds with God’s way of doing things, the power and success we seek will overwhelm us.

Though her needs were met with an abundance with more than enough left over to contribute to the needs of others, at the end of the day, Lydia’s ultimate fulfilment came from the things that were not tied to her career. The legacy she established came from her intimate relationship with God and the works she did beyond her business.

May God help us to keep Him first in the midst of all that we strive to do and achieve. May we be ever mindful of His voice and leading. And when the affairs of the world beckon too loudly, may He lead us back to the quiet place where we can hear His voice again.

Lillian Chebosi