All posts tagged: faith

Viewing Sin God’s Way by Bri Lassiter

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I‘m keenly aware that any time I have ever had victory over sin, it has been because of how kindly and patiently the Lord treated me as I struggled. We are so obsessed with behavior modification in our church culture, that it can be difficult to accept or acknowledge the Lord’s lack of judgment towards us. I hear the phrase ALL the time, “The Lord never told us not to judge, He just said judge with righteous judgment”, which is, of course, is just an excuse to continue cherishing our own judgemental thoughts towards ourselves and others. The righteous judgment the Lord exercised the most seemed to be kindness, and getting people to drop their rocks they were about to throw at each other. The righteousness judgment I see Jesus exercise when a woman was caught in sin, was to ask questions that led to self-examination so that inner healing could take place. Who is accusing you? Jesus asked. No one has a right to, but me, and I’m not going to. The rock and …

The Rewards of Resting & Waiting

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“God never hurries. There are no deadlines against which He must work. Only to know this is to quiet our spirits and relax our nerves.” ~A.W Tozer (PSALM 23) Take a moment and read Psalm 23.  I know that most of us reading this article have been blessed to have already read, time and again, the wisdom and prophetic prayer of King David, the Shepherd after God’s own heart. But have you taken the time to read it in the context of struggle? Have you read it through the perspective of process, or transition? Here is David, a man dedicated to the perfect will, way, and call of God upon His life being bounced from one injustice and battle to another, beginning his prayer and praise to the Lord with these very words, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” You may think, well that’s beautiful, especially when you continue to read the next few verses: “He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me …

The God of All Comfort: Faith for Creatives

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“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” ~II CORINTHIANS 3-4 I am so grateful for the Word of God that not only encourages us to keep the faith but encourages us with purpose as we continue forward in faith. The Lord Jesus Christ assured us of His great and many blessings to and for us, but in that, He also assured us that alongside the blessings there would be troubles and tribulations. Suffering, unfortunately, is a part of all of our faith walks varying from person to person and calling to calling. But one of the glorious things found in this is that through our own personal trials we are able to strengthen and encourage others who are walking alongside us as our Shepherd, Lord, and King, carries us. What better encouragement in a trial is …

The Right Time: A Word on Seizing Our Moments

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“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven…” ~Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 There is indeed a time and a season to all things, but how many times have we used this “truth” out of context, and as a means to hide behind our fear, allowing great opportunities to pass us by? God does indeed have a plan for all of us. He has the perfect time set up for each and every one of us. I am not a believer in “coincidences” but “God-incidences,” however even with a beautifully orchestrated God-incidence if we are insistent upon finding every reason for why we shouldn’t make a move, we will miss our moment. Some moments don’t come around twice. They are truly once-in-a-lifetime events. So I encourage you to, yes, pray without ceasing. Seek the face of God and allow the wisdom of Christ Jesus to guide you in His perfect way and will in all that you do, but don’t let fear of waiting for the “perfect moment” to rob you of …

Pray for Rain: Faith for Creatives

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“Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.” ~JAMES 5:17-18 He prayed, and the land was dry. He prayed again and the heavens were opened and the earth saturated. This is the story of Elijah. If you are familiar with the great Prophet, then you know how he stood alone against a multitude and those who served a false god and their queen, Jezebel, armed only with his faith and the authority of the True and Living God. You know that when it was time for him to pass the baton of faith that he was called up to heaven in a chariot of fire and swept away into eternity without ever being touched by death even though at one point in time, death was indeed his prayer. You know then that he was a man of great power and …

Cari Burns: Creative in Action

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Interview by Bri Lassiter I am so happy to introduce this month’s Creative In Action, Cari Burns! I personally have been blessed by Cari’s ministry and as I read her story, I’m reminded of the truth that when you obey, you will always be blessed. Caris story, (like all of ours,) is not done yet. And while I’m excited we get to read about the chapter she is in, I am even more excited that as she is prophesying with her life of the goodness and favor of the Lord and proving that when you step out in faith you will be blessed and multiplied greatly. Like many of us who have sown for a long time, she is about to step out into yet more of the abundance that God designed for her ministry. And just like Cari, as we work with the Lord in the plans He has for our future, He takes us to an end that is better than anything we could imagine for ourselves as He dumps on us the …

When Jesus Waits to Save You: by Bri Lassiter

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I relate so much to the story of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. There are so many explosive feelings and questions in it. It’s just real life and I feel like I’ve lived this story many times in one way or another. Just put yourself in the story and you’ll probably be able to relate too. Can you imagine being besties with Jesus and having Him chill at your house? You would think that nothing bad could happen to you when the Savior of the world is your homie. You’re definitely not gonna die or anything right? Wrong! Imagine you’re Mary and Martha. Your brother gets sick and so if you’re buds with someone who heals sick people obviously you’re going to call Him first, He’ll do His healing thing and it’ll be great. But you call Him and He doesn’t come. And you wait and wait and your loved one gets sicker and sicker. And then there’s the dying part. Dying sucks you know. Everyone pretty much hates that. Your brother Lazarus dies because Jesus …

Gaining Status: Faith for Creatives

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“If you are always seeking a certain status to validate who you are, you’re never going to have peace. You can’t climb up to find yourself. You have to find yourself so (that) you can climb up! You have to know who you are so you can climb to status.” ~ Bishop T.D Jakes In all that we do, in every attempt to succeed, we are inherently challenged with the idea of “Status.” Even with something as simple as social media postings, we find ourselves judging our positions, condemning ourselves for not having X amount of followers or X amount of likes or views. “The proof is in the pudding, the validation is in the numbers“, we tell ourselves. We allow this wrong mindset to convince us that we are not worthy of what we are doing. This becomes our sad gospel when in reality these things are not completely relevant. Consider King David. He was a youth between the ages of twelve and fifteen when he was anointed by the Prophet Samuel as King of Israel (I Samuel 16). …

Growing in Grace & Favor: Faith for Creatives

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“…but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.” II PETER 3:18 NKJV We are told in the Word to grow in favor/grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. It seems simple enough, and even obvious, really, which only begs the question, why the instruction. The answer? All of us at some point in time has struggled or will struggle with our position in Christ and the truly awesome, and completely free gift of unmerited favor. Knowing that in many things we will fail and fall short even as we walk with Him but yet are never disqualified from His grace is just mindblowing (ROMANS 5:20). The even bigger mind-blow is that when we fail and fall short, no matter how great our intentions to do good, it is His GRACE pouring out to us that brings us into deeper repentance (ROMANS 2:4). When we walk in unperfected love, and we all have, which is a fear of punishment, we don’t …

The Kindling Spark: Musings on Love & Romance

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The look on his face The taste of his lips Was nothing short of sublime The honey-sweet savor encompassed my soul The instant his lips touched mine The first of that moment The kindling spark Birthed fire within our dance The flavor of passion In an innocent kiss Spoke whispers of Romance THE POWER OF THE KISS Kiss– If my memory serves me correctly the Hebrew word, ‘Nashaq’ used for ‘kiss’ also means ‘to kindle or ignite.’  In Syriac, ‘to smell.’ An Arabic translation for the word means, ‘to fasten together.’** Basically “To kiss is to kindle or ignite with the scent of fastening together”. (On what it means to “fasten together,” I’m going to encourage you to use your blessed imagination.) In short, WOW! Adhering to this truth, one that is not widely shared among the young in love or even those who are seasoned, I am only made to view the act of kissing as something far more sacred and special than our modern world has made it out to be. Where some …