All posts tagged: Success

Abiding Fruitfulness: Summer Series Coming Next Week!

Published by

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 …

Learning To Relax: Abiding Fruitfulness

Published by

“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  The word of God instructs and comforts us in Isaiah 40:31, that they that wait on Him shall have their strength renewed. But most of us seem to struggle in our fast pace world to not only slow down but even to wait. We find the urge to rush ahead, to be hurried in not just the seemingly grand things in life but even the small and simple things. We rush to get dressed in the morning, rush through prayer, rush to get the kids fed and off to their activities, all so that we can achieve some goal, that even once we have met it we still don’t quite feel fulfilled. The truth is even though our Heavenly Father has called us to abundant life, abundant life, contrary to what today’s culture says, is not found in rushing and striving, but in resting and abiding. Christ knows …

Be Still & Be Successful: Faith for Creatives

Published by

“Be still and know that I Am God…”~PSALMS 46:10 Instead of trying, diving into the current trend of “hustle and grind” in order to achieve success, let us, as Children of God, the Ultimate Creator, set our hearts to seek His face. Proverbs 9:10 tells us the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. To ‘fear’ the Lord is not to tremble because you are scared but to be in awe and to hold Him in reverence. When we fear Him, when we set our hearts and minds upon Him, then we are able to see through the lens of truth, who He is, and who we are in Him. When we know who we are in Him, then we know our position. We know that we are righteous ( II COR. 5:21) so we are assured that we are destined for success (PSALM 1, ROMANS 5:17) in all the things He has called and created and purposed us to do. More than anything, when we set our minds to a task, we …

What It Takes: A Message For Success

Published by

“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

Power in the Process: Progressions from Seed to Success Intro

Published by

“The first step to being successful at anything is in taking the first steps.” ~Candice Coates What is success? What is success specifically for you? We as humans have a bad habit of measuring success or defining it by all of the wrong things. We think money, material gain, perishable things that cushion our lives somehow are the marks of success and ‘making it’. But this could not be further from the truth. Success is founded in “action” and that action is the response to Christ moving in your life and shepherding you from one level and dimension of faith and grace in Him, to another. Success is abiding in Him, His timing, His wisdom, His way, His action! Your action could be simply being still and trusting God to do the most amazing things in your life. Your action could be to research your next project. Your success could be simply getting out of the bed in the morning at a decent time. The point is when we push ourselves beyond the walls of …

Discovering that Less truly is More: Part 2

Published by

Planting seeds would be a mess if we dug one hole, threw in every seed we had and hoped for the best. Sometimes we think that the more we have the better off we will be., or the more we do the more successful we are. Fortunately, and I mean, fortunately, that isn’t the case. In most things in life, less truly is more. I am a person who does believe in the art of multi-tasking. If you provide childcare like I do at times, then this is a necessary art form. But in cases of being creative in general and pursuing your vision, doing one thing or very few things at a time will often reap better results and a heartier harvest. Some studies have shown in the case of online shops that ten is the magic number. When people are given too many items, they feel overwhelmed and will drift off to something else without actually buying anything even if they liked many things. ‘Less’ affords people the chance to be decisive without being …

Waiting Like Bamboo: Learning to Progress One Step at a Time

Published by

Over the years, I’ve been asked by several people I know, like I know you have been too, ‘what is your plan?’ They ask because they know my dreams. They ask because they have seen my struggle, and from their vantage point and sometimes even my own, it seems like nothing fruitful is happening. That seeming reality couldn’t be further from the truth. I once heard Joyce Meyer talking about growth and waiting on God. She talked about how she’d learned bamboo shoots, once planted, will spend up to five years growing deep roots before actually breaking through the surface. But once they break through they can grow a foot in a matter of hours. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” ~PSALM 119:105 That teaching was so encouraging but the reality is, nobody really wants to wait like bamboo. We want the deep roots TODAY and the foot-by-the-hour growth TODAY. All of this makes me think about the deceiving phrase of ‘overnight success.’ Again, one sees bamboo stretching …

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 …

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 …

The Measurer of Our Success: Faith-Filled Encouragment for Creatives

Published by

Colossians 3:23-24, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” Each day is a new opportunity to step out in faith and make strides toward your vision. Sometimes, the lens by which we rate our productive success, causes us to lose heart, and even drive, to continue with the work we’ve done or planned to do. Other times, we find that although we’ve planned to-do a list of specific things, our hearts and minds are driving us to do something totally unrelated, and we struggle to stay focused on the well-rounded plans we set for ourselves. We want to do our best, after all. We have plans for our future and that future can only be realized if we stick to the task. Let us remember, that as we walk out of one week, and prepare to enter another, that if we have submitted to the trusting faithfulness of the Lord Yeshua Jesus, that He is …