All posts tagged: encouragement

Pre-Equipped for Success

Published by

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago…I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.” ~JEREMIAH 1:5 NLT, EPHESIANS 2:10 NLT The Lord sanctified and appointed you to the call and purpose, vision, dream already inside you. To be sanctified is to be set apart for a specific purpose. His Word ensures us that He is our Shepherd and that we lack nothing. This means that you have all you need to succeed and become all that He has called you to (Psalm 23). (See Creatively Established) Consider the work of a potter (Jeremiah 18:1-5). When he takes a lump of clay, he has already decided what he is going to create. Let’s imagine that this potter has decided to make a mug to drink coffee from. When he puts his hands to the clay to fashion the mug, he …

It’s Worth the Mess: 3 Reasons to Keep Creating

Published by

Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly . . . until you can learn to do it well.” ~Zig Ziglar I have always been a believer that anything worth having is definitely worth fighting for. Having healthy relationships? Worth fighting for. Having security? Worth fighting for. Having victory in maintaining faith? Worth fighting for. I could go on and I am sure that you could add several things to the ‘worth fighting for’ list. But one thing I have often lost the fight in (because I didn’t show up) was in learning new avenues of creating. Why? Because more times than not I was afraid of failure. I wonder if you can relate. The thing about being a creative person–the thing about being human–is that the beginnings of all of our successes begin in a mess. We don’t begin walking with elegant or confident gaits. We fall and we scuff our hands and knees. The same is true for each and every creative venture that we embark upon. Our first drafts will likely be, well, garbage …

Guard Your Future: Creative Motivation

Published by

Stop cheating on your Future with your Past” ~Pastor Kenny, Associate Pastor of Covenant Church The phrase sounds simple enough, but it is often the simple things in life that cause people to stumble the most. We all know that it is true. But then, maybe the quote isn’t that simple. What does it really mean? To not cheat on your Future with your Past, is to not allow the “baggage” and the “failures” of yesterday-be they your own failures or those of someone else-to keep you from embracing the goodness that is ahead. “Holding on to yesterday becomes nothing short of a robbing bondage. We lose everything if we don’t let go. We have to divorce yesterday.”   We have all heard the saying (and I paraphrase) “You can’t drive your car through the rear view mirror.” Well trying to do so is the equivalent of allowing your eye to wander back toward the past instead of being committed to the opportunity of the present future. If we take this attitude into a romantic …

Made Wonder Full: Faith Filled Encouragment for Creatives

Published by

For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. ~PSALM 139:13-14 NKJV You are fearfully and wonderfully made! Some translations of verse 13 say, not that God ‘covered us in our mother’s wombs’ but that He knit us together in our mother’s wombs. When scripture uses the word ‘fearful,’ it doesn’t mean to be afraid, for what exactly did our Heavenly Father have to fear when He created you? What the word ‘fearful’ means here is that He created you with awe, care, and absolute reverence. Not only did the God of all Creation create you fearfully, but He knit you together, which means He got personal when He formed you! You mean so much that He made you from scratch with His own hands. Christ wouldn’t have created you if He had plans to erase your unique qualities and individual voice. On the contrary, He has plans to plant and cultivate you, to multiply the ‘wonder‘ that He …

Creatives in Action Coming Soon!!!

Published by

What is the first word that comes to mind when you hear the word, ‘creative’? Do you, like many people, think of a person who spends hours slinging paint on canvas or sewing stories on elaborate quilts? Maybe a singer, like Celine Dion comes to mind, and you, like me think, Wow, she is so whimsical. “…being a Creative goes beyond, but certainly encompasses, the creative passions of the visional, musical, and written arts, but it does not exclude other forms of creativity.”   The most important question to ask here, is do you picture yourself when you hear the word creative? If not, let this be the day that this changes. What does it even mean to be creative anyway? First, let’s define what it means to create. Create: transitive verb 1: to bring into existence … God created the heaven and the earth.  —Genesis 1:1 (King James Version) 2a : to invest with a new form, office, or rank  She was created a lieutenant. b : to produce or bring about by a course of action or behavior  Her arrival created a terrible fuss.  …

This One Thing: Faith for Creatives

Published by

I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind…The end of the matter, all having been heard: fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole man.”~ECCLESIASTES 1:14;12:13 The book of Ecclesiastes was inspired by the Living Spirit of God and written by not only the wisest man to ever live, besides our Savior, Jesus Christ, but the wealthiest man of all creation; King Solomon. In his lifetime, he had tasted of every indulgence he could, wealth was in abundance, of women he did not lack. There was nothing under the sun that was denied him. And yet, after running around the mountain of indulgence and want, whether of Godly pursuit or in the attempt to appease the longings of his own flesh and desires; he came to the simple and yet profound conclusion, that nothing, NOTHING else was of true value, all was as chasing the wind, except loving God. The word “fear” used in the scripture in regard to …

Dreams Don’t Expire: Creative Motivation

Published by

Dreams don’t have an expiration date.” ~ Jesse Duplantis As long as there is still breath in your lungs and life in your heart, there is still time for you to achieve your dream. Dreams are seeds, and with all things born of seeds, they have their season to grow. The word of God says it like this, To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” ~ECCLESIASTES 3:1 KJV (See vs 1-8) Maybe your dream has not yet come into its season. DON’T. GIVE. UP! There is still time. Maybe you are someone who has invested many years, along with tears, into a vision that seems to remain fruitless or blurred. Again I say, don’t give up. If you know in the center of your being that what you are aiming to do is from God, and screams to be birthed, no matter the obstacles or the detours, keep holding out in faith and keep cultivating what is inside of you. Joseph had many dreams to become a …

Success is in Your Hands: Faith for Creatives

Published by

And they overcame him [the evil one] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony…” ~Revelation 12:11 *Bracets added The scripture says we overcome by the word of our testimony. When it comes to being successful when it comes to victory, one of the greatest ways to secure this is to tell it, not only for the encouragement of others but to remind yourself when you begin to face other trials. Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. ~PSALM 37:4-5 Success and victory go hand and hand. Both are a mark of triumphing over an obstacle or challenge or in the case of this scripture the enemy of our very lives and souls, Satan. Here is my testimony that I share as a seed of faith for you. In 2015 I was laden with change; change in calling, change in career path, change in vision, change in relationships. Every …

Team Up! :How to Achieve Your Dream Pt 3

Published by

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 the cultivation of 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 …

The Rooted & Grounded: Faith For Creatives

Published by

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. 16 I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, 19 and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us— 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. ~EPHESIANS 3:14-21 CSB Paul’s prayer for the Body of Christ to be rooted and grounded in the love our Savior has for us is so powerful. Many times we make light of, not only the Grace of God but His …