The Lived Experiences of Black Professional Women at Work

Shirleena Celestine is focused on ‘permanent change’.

Doing a PhD in Inclusion & Diversity, she is researching ‘The Lived Experiences of Black Professional Women at Work’.

Please complete and SHARE the below link so she can hear the voices of as many Black Professional Women as possible from the U.K. and USA. This anonymous survey should take 10 mins.

Over the following months she will be conducting anonymous interviews (you can also let her know if you would like to do an interview, in advance).

https://lincoln.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/bpww

Saturday Morning Scripture – James 1:16-27

Test Your Faith

16 Do not be misled, my beloved brothers and sisters.

17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of lights [the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens], in whom there is no variation [no rising or setting] or shadow [1]cast by His turning [for He is perfect and never changes].

18 It was of His own will that He gave us birth [as His children] by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits of His creatures [a prime example of what He created to be set apart to Himself—sanctified, made holy for His divine purposes].

19 Understand this, my beloved brothers and sisters. Let everyone be quick to hear [be a careful, thoughtful listener], slow to speak [a speaker of carefully chosen words and], slow to anger [patient, reflective, forgiving];

20 for the [resentful, deep-seated] anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God [that standard of behavior which He requires from us].

21 So get rid of all uncleanness and [2]all that remains of wickedness, and with a humble spirit receive the word [of God] which is implanted [actually rooted in your heart], which is able to save your souls.

22 But prove yourselves doers of the word [actively and continually obeying God’s precepts], and not merely listeners [who hear the word but fail to internalize its meaning], deluding yourselves [by unsound reasoning contrary to the truth].

23 For if anyone only listens to the word [3]without obeying it, he is like a man who looks very carefully at his natural face in a mirror;

24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he immediately forgets [4]what he looked like.

25 But he who looks carefully into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and faithfully abides by it, not having become a [careless] listener who forgets but [5]an active doer [who obeys], he will be blessed and favored by God in what he does [in his life of obedience].

26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious [scrupulously observant of the rituals of his faith], and does not control his tongue but deludes his own heart, this person’s religion is worthless (futile, barren).

27 Pure and unblemished religion [as it is expressed in outward acts] in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit and look after the fatherless and the widows in their distress, and to keep oneself uncontaminated by the [secular] world.

James 1:16-27 (AMP)

Footnotes

  1. James 1:17 Lit of turning.
  2. James 1:21 Lit surplus of.
  3. James 1:23 Lit and is not a doer.
  4. James 1:24 Lit what sort he was.
  5. James 1:25 Lit a doer of work.

Friday Morning Scripture – James 1:1-15

Testing Your Faith

1 [1]James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve [Hebrew] tribes [scattered abroad among the Gentiles] in the dispersion: Greetings (rejoice)!

2 Consider it nothing but joy, my [2]brothers and sisters, whenever you fall into various trials.

3 Be assured that the testing of your faith [through experience] produces endurance [leading to spiritual maturity, and inner peace].

4 And let endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfect and completely developed [in your faith], lacking in nothing.

5 If any of you lacks wisdom [to guide him through a decision or circumstance], he is to ask of [our benevolent] God, who gives to everyone generously and without rebuke or blame, and it will be given to him.

6 But he must ask [for wisdom] in faith, without doubting [God’s willingness to help], for the one who doubts is like a billowing surge of the sea that is blown about and tossed by the wind.

7 For such a person ought not to think or expect that he will receive anything [at all] from the Lord,

8 being a double-minded man, unstable and restless in all his ways [in everything he thinks, feels, or decides].

9 Let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high position [as a born-again believer, called to the true riches and to be an heir of God];

10 and the rich man is to glory in being humbled [by trials revealing human frailty, knowing true riches are found in the grace of God], for like the flower of the grass he will pass away.

11 For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; its flower falls off and [3]its beauty fades away; so too will the rich man, in the midst of his pursuits, fade away.

12 Blessed [happy, spiritually prosperous, favored by God] is the man who is steadfast under trial and perseveres when tempted; for when he has passed the test and been approved, he will receive the [victor’s] crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God” [for temptation does not originate from God, but from our own flaws]; for God cannot be tempted by [what is] evil, and He Himself tempts no one.

14 But each one is tempted when he is dragged away, enticed and baited [to commit sin] by his own [worldly] desire (lust, passion).

15 Then when the illicit desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin has run its course, it gives birth to death.

James 1:1-15 (AMP)

Footnotes

  1. James 1:1 James, the leader of the Jerusalem church, was the half brother of Jesus. He became a believer after the resurrection of Jesus and was later martyred for his faith.
  2. James 1:2 Lit brethren.
  3. James 1:11 Lit the beauty of its face perishes.

Lion Bites – Global Prophetic Alliance – Steady and Sure

To ride the coming storms of life, I am asking you to jettison unnecessary ballast, which will weigh you down and stop you from keeping your head above the waves. It is not my intention that you struggle to stay above the waves but that you manage to walk on them and rise above the circumstances surrounding you. I have made you to be one who walks in victory, in confidence.

To do this, I am asking you to throw off mindsets and habits that will jeopardise your capacity to stride with confidence through life. I am asking you to prepare. I am asking you not to wait until you are in a storm but like the wise sailor, to ready the ship ahead of the storm; to batten down the hatches, and to ensure your anchor is planted deep in solid ground so that you are not storm-tossed but steady and sure.

We have this certain hope like a strong unbreakable anchor holding our souls to God himself. Our anchor of hope is fastened to the mercy seat in the heavenly realm beyond the sacred threshold, and where Jesus, our forerunner, has gone in before us. He is now and forever our royal Priest like Melchizedek

Hebrews 6:19-20 (TPT)

But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

James 1:6-8 (NIV)

Activation

Take time to sit with Holy Spirit and ask him the mindsets, beliefs, thoughts and habits that undermine your ability to stand firm whatever the circumstances.
Ask him if there are any habits he would like you to establish that will help you prepare for the season to come.

#lionbites

Thursday Morning Scripture – Psalm 15:1-17

The Vine and the Branches

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.

2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[1] so that it will be even more fruitful.

3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.

10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

14 You are my friends if you do what I command.

15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.

17 This is my command: Love each other.

John 15:1-17 (NIV)

Footnotes

  1. John 15:2 The Greek for he prunes also means he cleans.

Lion Bites – Global Prophetic Alliance – I Call You Friend

I call you my friend, and I long for a deeper friendship with you. I have seen your heart to serve me, to honour me, to give all glory and praise. I know you see me rightly. I want to draw you closer to me and bring you into a revelation of our friendship with one another. It is not a small or weak thing, but in the place of friendship, we grow in depth and in intimacy. We grow in the knowledge of each other and in the understanding of each other’s hearts. Come and meet with me today as a friend meets with a friend and sit a little while and share the stories of life, the ups and the downs and find me with an open heart and a listening ear, my friend.

And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend.

James 2:23 (NIV)

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

John 15:15 (NIV)

Wednesday Morning Scripture – Psalm 42

1 As the deer pants [longingly] for the water brooks, so my [1]soul pants [longingly] for You, O God.

2 My soul (my life, my inner self) thirsts for God, for the living God. When will I come and see the face of God?

3 My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

4 These things I [vividly] remember as I pour out my soul; how I used to go along before the great crowd of people and lead them in procession to the house of God [like a choirmaster before his singers, timing the steps to the music and the chant of the song], With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a great crowd keeping a festival.

5 Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become restless and disturbed within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence.

6 O my God, my soul is in despair within me [the burden more than I can bear]; Therefore I will [fervently] remember You from the land of the Jordan and the peaks of [Mount] Hermon, from Mount Mizar.

7 Deep calls to deep at the [thundering] sound of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.

8 Yet the Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song will be with me, a prayer to the God of my life.

9 I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

10 As a crushing of my bones [with a sword], my adversaries taunt me, while they say continually to me, “Where is your God?”

11 Why are you in despair, O my soul? Why have you become restless and disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, The [2]help of my countenance and my God.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 42:1 The Hebrew word translated “soul” in this psalm and elsewhere in the book of Psalms is nephesh. This word usually refers to a person’s “life” or “self,” but can also mean “throat,” as perhaps in vv 1, 2.
  2. Psalm 42:11 Or saving acts of.