All posts tagged: Motivation

Renewing Your Vision

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*Revised from April 15, 2016 “Worse than being blind is to see and have no vision” ~HELEN KELLER Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no VISION the people PERISH…” (Emphasis mine) To be able to see is one thing, to have a vision is another. Vision is the driving force that calls us to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Vision is the crown that causes us to press even in the face of repeated failure because it’s given you hope for the future. To be a person who has lived and not simply existed, you must have a vision–a goal. Although vision and sight are different, they are not mutually exclusive. To maintain your vision you must keep it ever before you (Habakkuk 2:2) Put it down in the simplest of words as a reminder of what you are aiming for. It is very easy to allow the challenges of life to stifle our vision. In faith, in Christ Jesus, we are called to ‘renew’ or minds, that we not be conformed to the …

My Favorite Read by Briana Lassiter: Encouraged in the Wait

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This weeks summer favorite is an article from 2016, titled, ENCOURAGED IN THE WAIT by Candice Coates. I (Briana) had just met Candice and when I saw this post of hers on Facebook, I was in a deep waiting/suffering period and it resonated deeply as I sat and cried over the reminders of the truth about God that my tired heart desperately needed. As I read it over today, I find myself in a waiting period again, and the truths about God are still true, and His comfort is still as powerful as it was the first time I read it. And as Candice wrote, “Our Heavenly Father loves us beyond measure so much so that He would never forget us nor forsake us, especially not when we are distressed. Just as a parent is moved by the cries of their child so too is our Heavenly Father moved by ours.” I hope you are blessed with the encouragement you need today for your own wait as you read this summer favorite! By Briana Lassiter …

Abiding Fruitfulness: Summer Series Coming Next Week!

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On Tuesday, July 9th ICFTS will be kicking off a Free 40-Day Community Teaching called Abiding Fruitfulness-Resting into Success, and we want you to join us! WHAT IS ABIDING FRUITFULNESS: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” ~JOHN 15:1-5 In the Book of John chapter 15, the Lord Jesus tells us that He is the Vine and we are His branches and that if we abide in Him we will bear much fruit, that apart from Him we can do nothing at all. For the hustlers and …

Today is a Good Day: Being Grateful for Those Around Us

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*Revised from November 18, 2016 “Today is a good day! Why? Because you’re in it, I’m in it, and we’re in it together! Praise Jesus for making this day!” ~CANDICE COATES The Psalmist said it best Psalm 118: 24 when they said, “This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.” What a blessing it is to not only know that the Word of the Lord is the truth, but to also choose to live it out. The glory of this life is that the Lord did not design it or us to do it alone (GENESIS 2:18). He created us as communal creatures, beings destined for relationship. When we take the time to celebrate those who the Lord has blessed us to do life with, whether that is for a season or for many years to come, we find it hard to not walk in joy. My prayer for each of us this week is to allow the Lord to shift our focus and to enable us …

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 …

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. …

Praying with Accuracy, not Accusation: Turbulence in Transition

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Change can be such a beautiful thing. Moving from one season of life into another, leaving one position at the workplace in order to lay claim to a more rewarding position, stepping out of the realm of singlehood to embrace that of a family, is glorious change. And the list goes on. Unfortunately, many times when we are offered the chance to embrace life redefining change brought on by accepting transition through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we inevitably run into the turbulence that shakes our current relationships to their very core. The truth is with the turbulence of transition and change comes the bitterness of pain in some of our existing relationships, be they familial, friendship, or romantic. Sometimes these are growing pains that draw us closer to our loved ones. Other times they are pains that push us away with the sharp barbs of rejection and disapproval. What do we do when we face such shaking when the wounds caused by a loved one’s rejection cut us deeper than our marrow? What …

When the Going Gets Tough, You Have a Helper

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“Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is with those who uphold my life.” ~PSALM 54:4 The Lord Who called you with purpose, dream, and vision, will help and sustain you especially when the going and growing gets tough (PSALM 23). Remember when He told the disciples He required or had a need to go to the other side of the sea of Galilea (MARK 4:35-41)? He let it be known to them that He had business there, instructed them to row in that direction, and then with Him, on the boat with them fast asleep…an ugly storm came. STORMS DON’T CANCEL HIS WORD The storm that hit in the midst of transition did not cancel the word, desire, or direction that Christ had spoken and put in motion. The best part about it was that not only was His plan and purpose not hindered by the storm but He was also in the midst of the storm during the transition with those He had commissioned to go forward. And as He was with the disciples during their storm, so too …

Turbulence in Transition: Relationship Wisdom for Faith Moves

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Turbulence. It is what happens most often when a plan takes flight and encounters unruly pockets of wind while in motion. The plane shakes, rattles, and by the grace of God, refuses to roll even if your belly does, as a result of the sudden ‘speed bumps’ that drive as a force against the craft, nearly knocking it off course. The sudden jarring punches of the wind from outside cause many passengers to grip their armrests with white-knuckled fear as if that will keep the plane in the air. Others simply buckle up, having decided not to be bothered by the jostling forces from outside, and continue to look forward to the journey ahead, fully confident that this moment will pass and the plane and the passengers will reach their destination intact. Have you been there before, not just as an experience of an actual flight, but within a relationship with someone close to you as you took off on your journey of transition from dream to manifestation? The Lord God, Jesus Christ, places a …

Strategic Power: Power in the Process pt 4

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“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax.” ~Abraham Lincoln In the book of Acts, we find the disciples waiting in Jerusalem, along with many others for the green light from Heaven to go out and spread the goodness about the Lord and Messiah, Jesus Christ. They’ve witnessed His miracles, they’ve heard His words, they watched Him die a gruesome death on a rugged cross only to see Him risen on the third day. They believe. They believe in what He has said, they believe in what He has done, they believe in Who He is. They believe in what He has commissioned them to do…however… However, He, considering all of their belief instructs them to…wait. “Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.  But you shall receive power when the Holy …