All posts tagged: Yeshua

Plan BIG!: A Word on Vision Casting

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“When God is your partner, make your plans big!” ~ D.L MOODY Plan BIG! You’d think that that exhortation would make every person who heard it celebrate with a motivated fire for action when in reality it makes a lot of people shrink back in fear and hide under the heavy blankets of safety and mediocrity. Dreaming is not so much of an issue for most of us. But dreaming big . . . well, that has the power to not only knock the wind out of many of our sails but sink our boats completely. Like me, I suppose you are wondering why that is. If we are honest with ourselves we would have to admit that insecurity and the scrutiny of others are what holds us back. The old ‘what will people think?’ phrase acts as the perfect glitch in our plans of action. The very thought of failing in front of others, especially those who’ve minimalized our former dreams with the constant song of ‘you can’t,’ strikes us immobile. Them witnessing our …

Planning Your Future With Godly Direction

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“I had big plans for the future, but the future had bigger plans for me.” ~CANDICE COATES The book of Proverbs tells us that man makes plans but God’s purpose is what stands (PROVERBS 19:21). In the book of Jeremiah, the Lord states that He knows the thoughts and plans He has for our future, thoughts to prosper us and give us hope and a good end (JEREMIAH 29:11). Knowing these things it’s easy to take your stance on one of two sides of a coin; either to plan without including God or to make no plan at all and expect Him to do all the work. What Proverbs and Jeremiah are saying together is that yes, we should make plans but we have to leave room for God to do His thing in us too. We have to let Him lead and edit our steps for the best results. Isaiah even says that His Spirit will instruct us in the way to walk in (ISAIAH 30:21). Ephesians agrees with this notion, that when we share our plans …

Get Out Of The Box!: A Challenge To Be Creative

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“You’ll never think outside the box if you are constantly looking inside someone else’s…Sometimes the most incredible imagination sparks from nothing.” ~CANDICE COATES We are all inspired by something or someone. This is the chain of life and it is a good thing. As King Solomon put it, “There is nothing new under the sun.” (ECCLESIASTES 1:9) The beauty of life is that with each passing of generation to generation, what was once ‘usual’ to the person stepping into eternity, becomes something ‘unique’ for the person who experiences it for the first time. The old and forgotten becomes new again. It is a beautiful thing to glean from the creative wisdom of others, but when we no longer allow our own imaginations to spark with new creative fire, because of the shackles of fear which tell us to play it safe, we are doing nothing more than regurgitating ideas. Our Lord Jesus spoke and created from nothing (HEBREWS 11:3) and in His goodness, He gave us the DNA to do the same. Creativity takes chances. Imagination …

He Holds It All Together: A Scripture & Song

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*Revised from September 2, 2016 “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the Head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy.  For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.” ~Colossians 1:15-20 It is my pleasure to speak of Messiah Yeshua, Christ Jesus, the God of Creation, the Beloved King and lover of my soul. When it seems my world is falling apart or even just shaking so much that my vision is …

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 …

Inevitable Change: Encouragement in Transition

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Revised from August 18, 2015 “Change is inevitable, Growth is optional.”~JOHN C. MAXWELL Change. The only time that most people search out change and willingly run with it is when unsavory circumstances have begun to dim the light and joy form their life and they are desperate to get it back. Otherwise, change is seen as the unwelcome guest who showed up at your perfectly numbered dinner party, uninvited. Change requires sacrifice, which generally goes hand and hand with discomfort and for some of us, discombobulation. But change is necessary. It is going to happen whether we like it or not, whether we are prepared or not. Think about an infant in their mother’s womb. Change comes and is without a doubt a straining shock to everything within the infant and around them. But what awaits them at the end of their travailing journey is something far greater. Consider the caterpillar who crawls through life, knowing in the core of their being that they are meant for greater heights. They must burn with the urge to …

This One Thing: Faith for Creatives

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“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, nor did he lack the company of women. 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 …

Pausing in the Moment: Faith for Creatives

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*Revised from May 25, 2018 “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He (Jesus) went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.” ~MARK 1:35 Our Savior and God, Jesus Christ, did not just come to the world to save us from our sins, but He also came to give us life to the fullest, and in so doing, be our example for how to live our best life. As our example, He shows us how to be in the ‘moment’ with others, to be available to their needs, to do our work in delight, but He also shows us when to pause…and to surrender our hearts to Him in quiet seclusion, just as He did with the Father. Whenever our Savior did this, even with great multitudes at His heels, He was able to return to them empowered, enriched, and able to give of Himself. Being Creatives, we often struggle with the idea of being still especially when we want to keep going. But we have to realize that ‘burnout’ …

Learning To Relax: Abiding Fruitfulness

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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  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 …

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 …