All posts filed under: Creative Motivations

Where Are Your Weapons by Briana Lassiter

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Before every successful battle in the Old Testament, the people of God always began by enquiring of the Lord. “Lord, what do YOU say about this battle? What should I expect, and how should I proceed?” When given, and acting upon the Lord’s direction, they were always victorious. By man’s standards, many of the Old Testament battles seem to be fodder for unbelief and proof that the Bible is a fairytale because their feats were so preposterous and impossible. Many times they would go into battle without the weapons that we would think were necessary, like in the defeat of the city Jericho, where the Lord told them to walk around silently for 7 days…and be armed with…trumpets… Let that sink in…trumpets. The Lord told them to go fight an entire city with trumpets, and oddly specific, silent walking. You know what happened? The people listened to what God said would happen, they believed Him, and they did exactly what He said. Total victory ensues. Believe it or not, the Lord is still working in …

What It Takes: A Message For Success

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“It takes time to be a success, but time is all it takes.” ~UNKNOWN What we desire in this life, what we aim to achieve if it is truly a worthy and honest endeavor it is worth the time it will take to make it manifest. Don’t allow the progress of others to discourage you in your journey. You are in a race against only one person; yourself. The prize at the end of this race is having achieved your highest potential. This crown only fits your head. The choice is yours. Time is in your hands. Determine to take one step at a time. *Revised from November 6, 2015 *Photo by Leon Macapagal on Unsplash

Team Up! :How to Achieve Your Dream Pt 3

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“Teamwork makes the dream work.” ~John C. Maxwell Everything God created was created to be most fruitful when it is connected with another. Why? Because there is such beauty and satisfaction to be had when triumph and victory are born from cooperation. When a man takes a wife, children are born. When a bee meets a flower, more flowers, bees, and honey are born as well as food for the world. When seed meets soil and is saturated with rain, new life is produced. Joy and appreciation from the works and gifts of others bless us with gratitude and cultivate a culture of encouragement. When we, dreamers and visionaries becoming creators, have taken the steps to: 1. Believe: Believe that we can achieve the dream that is inside of us. (See Believe You Can). 2. Simplify: Take your processes one step at a time without over-complicating each move you make. (See Keep it Simple). … we are on the path to productively multiplying our success which is found in our ability to properly align ourselves to achieve our …

Vision in the Gap: The Crushing pt 2

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The theme of ‘gaps’ has been swirling around my spirit for a few months now. At first, facing the gaps, acknowledging that they are indeed there and that there is a palpable distance in between myself and Christ is, at first, staggering, then confusing, and then later tempting. The temptation is not one of a negative sense, but it is one that drives my spirit into a desire for more, a thirst for more of Him; more closeness, more revelation, more outpouring. JUST. MORE! EXPLORING THE GAP Taking the first steps of faith to question the Lord about the gap, I found that the distance was and is an invitation for the more, the teaser reel to the grand adventure that awaits me, and all of us, if we will step forward in faith. The gap is created as a call to lay claim to what is already ours, to realize that we have victory over every fear, worry, circumstances, spirit, and mountain. But gap by stretching gap, the Lord calls us into communion and …

Keep it Simple: How to Achieve Your Dream Part 2

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“Everything in life should be as simple as possible, but not simpler.” ~ALBERT EINSTEIN When it comes to doing anything, especially taking a dream and birthing it into the tangible, keeping things simple is a very crucial admonition to keep in mind. For most of us, our knee-jerk reaction to anything new is to overthink it. We begin to compare our ‘pearl’ with oyster farms of others who have similar dreams already up and running. We begin to add extra bells and whistles to our end products and we haven’t even actually ‘made’ them yet. We take precious ideas, born in a moment of genius, and think it from the mustard seed it began as, and transform it into craggy, dark mountains that we feel ill-equipped to climb. Yes, most dreams, especially those that will involve creative income, do come with seeming miles of information that needs to be learned. All of it is important, but none of it is necessary at the very beginning of the dream. What is important is to take the first step. …

The Wisdom of Resting

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“And He (Jesus) said to them, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.” ~MARK 6:31 Sometimes we confuse rest with being lazy which to think this way about rest is the antithesis of what we are called to do in Hebrews 4. We are actually told to fear not entering the Lord’s rest. We often think that if we are in the midst of pursuing our dreams and passion that if we pause to rest it is akin to giving up which is born from taking the verses in Isaiah out of context that says we won’t get weary…I have been guilty of this faulty mindset as well. But there is a wisdom in resting, especially when our roads of pursuit reach a point of intermission, quite like being in-between several floors while on an elevator. While in the midst of that transition, you wait and you rest and only walk once the door to your destination …

Doing Your Part: The Art of What You Can

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“You can’t do it all. But you can do your part.” ~Candice Coates I saw a collection of photos the other day on social media. It was a brilliant article about a couple who reforested land, shared on Bored Panda. The images showed the twenty-year difference that was made when a couple decided to reforest a deforested area. They planted 20 million trees and in the span of two decades what was nothing but a wasteland turned into a green oasis where even the wildlife began to return. This is victory. This is joy. This is doing ones part. This couple did not set out to rebuild all the damaged land but they did restore the land that was in front of them and they are now reaping the fruits of their labors just like the animals that returned, as well as future generations that will come. This couple can sit back and rejoice for a job well done because that is what they have done. They saw a need, they counted the cost, and …

Believe You Can: How to Achieve Your Dream Part 1

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Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” ~Theodre Roosevelt One of the most glorious things about life is that even though it can be considered a canvas, it certainly is not a ‘paint by numbers.’ Life is not a one-size-fits-all even if certain ideas and concepts may mirror that of another’s. There still, and always, remains the glory of uniqueness in each person’s life and creation. I believe that Christ Jesus has a plan for each of us, a perfect design that He wants us to be co-workers with Him upon. He gives us dreams for a reason. Some dreams we take hold of and bring to manifestation, while sadly, others, we leave to float away like feathers in the wind. Many times, the dreams that get away from us are the dreams that we can’t seem to muster the faith for or we allow our faith to be choked out of us in the struggle. BUT HOW DO WE CEASE TO DO THIS? We have to make a connection with faith and hold on …

It All Started With A Cake: How to Achieve Your Dream Intro

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Imagine you are a thirty-something with a college degree. You have been working in your field of study since you took off your cap and gown and gained your credentials. Your student loans are just about paid off. Life is good. But something else burns in your core, something that seems so little but at the same time fills you with more joy than you could ever imagine. Cake. Whenever there is a potluck at work, you bake a cake. Birthdays? Folks request your cakes. From baby showers to bar mitzvahs those who know you want you to bake them a cake! What’s more, is you love to do so. But what about your 9 to 5 job? The same fulfillment you had there is waning and the drive and dream to bake consume your thoughts. You’ve prayed and prayed for the Lord to give you direction and all you keep seeing is more cake; more designs, more recipes, and ideas to build your own cake company. But it’s just cake, you think to yourself. …

Turbulence of the Tongue: The Dangers of telling the Right Things to the Wrong People & 3 Ways to Preserve Your Dream

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Relationships can be funny things especially when it comes to transition and vision. There is nothing more exhilarating than having a God-given vision, or be in the midst of transition and find that those closest to you are undergirding you with prayer and celebrating your transformation in faith and position. But sometimes we face those who are not so excited about our dreams and have the propensity to try to minimize our vision from beyond-the-moon status to smaller than a posted note. It hurts. But the truth is sometimes we, as the dreamers who accept the invitation of the Lord to walk with Him on the water, set ourselves and others up for failure when we share with them secrets and truths that we were never meant to share with them. EVERYONE WHO IS WITH YOU IS NOT MEANT TO GO “IN” WITH YOU Remember that whenever our Lord showed some of His most intimate and vulnerable displays of power, He did not bring along the 72, nor the 12 who followed Him. He only …