Hey Called Creative!
Happy 2024! Are you as excited about this year as I am?
I can just smell the progress, growth, promotion, increase, breakthrough, and overflow in the air!
And it all will be the results of our hard work, strategic planning, consistency, discipline, obedience, and tenacity.
This is the year of BUILDING, Called Creative!
I want to pounce out of my skin from excitement as I type this.
Because you will not be building in vain nor will you toil with no fruit to show for it.
No no no!!!
Our testimonies will be like unto Nehemiah’s, the “constructive Called Creative” as I coin him in The Side Effects of The Called Creative.
The Lord is saying that as we partner with Him to build this year, the work of our hands will be established! He is blessing the work of our hands! (Psalm 90:17)
Here are ten tips and reminders to keep in our tool belt as we build successfully in 2024.
1. Make up your mind!
So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work
Nehemiah 4:6
If your mind is not made up to do what it takes then you won’t do it.
It’s that simple.
Mindsets of lack and poverty won’t produce desired results. An undisciplined mind won’t enjoy the fruits of the labor you didn’t make up your mind to do in the first place.
Decide that this is the year that you’re going to give it everything you’ve got! No matter if you’re tired, overwhelmed or disappointed; no matter the opinions of others, the amount of distractions, or how far the end goal seems, MAKE UP YOUR MIND that you are not only able to do it but that you will.
2. Partner with God.
Invite the Lord to lead you in your efforts. We want to work with purpose this year, not aimlessly toil producing no fruit. The Bible says “Unless it is the Lord who builds the house, the builders’ work is pointless.” (Psalm 127:1). Is what you are building and working towards the Lord’s or yours? Seek clarity and ask the Lord for strategy to build what is His.
3. Identify who you are to build alongside.
For many, the solitude that our hour of consecration needed is now over. God has allowed us to come into new relationships and connections for purpose and Kingdom advancement. Ask the Lord who is supposed to help you build as well as who you are supposed to help build.
Let us not be so consumed with ourselves and our own projects that we miss the opportunity to serve and pour into others as they build for the Kingdom.
4. Start planning further in the future.
Start thinking long term and not week to week or even month to month. Curate a strategy for this entire year. How will that serve as a foundation for next year’s plan and so forth? Allow Holy Spirit to expand your thinking and give you fresh vision.
5. You will build with supernatural speed.
I’ve been hearing this since the fall of 2022 during the Birth Well series. What it would naturally take a substantial amount of years to establish, the Lord will do so quickly for you and I, Called Creative! We will put our heads down to work and before long, look up to be surprised at the great strides in progress we've made by the Spirit of God.
The work Nehemiah and the builders had to do was “great and large”, yet they finished in 52 days. Without the fancy computerized tools and gadgets that we have today, it was normal in those times for building projects to take several years to complete; but because the constructive Called Creative was in alignment with the will of the Lord, completion was his portion in less than three months. So it will be with us!
6. Get Focused
Playtime is over! If you fail or delay to build it then it won’t be built (by you). Being focused this year will require the practicality of your renewed mindset. Your newly adopted mindset of discipline will require you to say no to yourself and to others. A renewed mind of wealth will be comfortable with delayed gratification for sake of the bigger vision. Distractions are not worth it for us to miss our window of divine opportunity.
7. Start with where you are with what you have…
because it is more than enough to do what He has called you to do right now. This is one of my life mantras and I scream it to the mountain tops because it’s so true. I’m currently reading a great book entitled The Top 10 Distinctions Between Millionaires and The Middle Class by Keith Cameron Smith (highly recommend) and he mentioned something profound: The poor think they need money to be successful and the wealthy know that all they need is an idea.
If the Lord has told you to start it, even if you don’t have everything you would like to have, you already possess what it takes to get it done. And while you’re starting small, have a disposition of rejoicing instead of despise. The Lord says
A little one shall become a thousand,
And a small one a strong nation.
I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time.”
Isaiah 60:22
8. Obedience is the key.
The Lord gave me a miraculous illustration of what the cause and effect of obedience will look like in this season via Luke 5:1-7.
I’m sure Simon Peter was dog tired after toiling all night long (laboring with no fruit). I can also bet that he probably was disappointed, frustrated and because Scripture tells us the fishermen were washing their nets, he already had the mind to quit. But because he obeyed the Living Word, his whole situation turned around suddenly and significantly.
As a Called Creative, I’m sure you’re not new to building and working towards anything, you’re true to it. You may have been building and working towards that longing divinely-imparted desire of your heart for a while now; and like Peter, you may haven’t seen the catch that you’ve been working all night for. But I encourage you to go deeper and try again. On the other side of your obedience is overflow and breakthrough in Jesus’ name.
9. Don’t make any announcements too soon.
Don’t speak too soon about what you are working on. It’s not everyone’s business. Only a fool would announce what is not yet completed. Make the announcement when the Lord releases you to do so and that will probably be when the work is finished. And by then, the work would probably speak for itself and no announcement from you would be necessary.
10. Expect opposition.
It’s common spiritual law. When you begin to do anything constructive, opposition will soon rear its head. Any wise person who has experienced a series of failure and success would second guess their efforts if they were never confronted with any resistance along the way. It’s expected. Factor that in as you plan with the Lord and ask Him to strengthen you. Know that any plans against you will fail and that the Lord fights for you because again, what you are building is His.
Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”
Nehemiah 4:20
I’m rooting for you, Called Creative! You got this in Jesus’ name!
Thank you for taking the time to read.
Remember, before you are a Creative you are called by God; answer the call to be one of the few that are chosen. (Matthew 22:14)
Have you read The Side Effects of The Called Creative?
Buy your copy now!