Fears

There are four types of fears: fear of loss, fear of failure, fear of rejection, and fear of the unknown. It is very likely that you are struggling with one or more of these fears. These fears can paralyze you and keep you from God's best. Remember what 2 Timothy 1 says in that God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.

Fear is having faith, but it's placing your faith in the wrong things. Fear is placing your faith in the "what ifs". So much of our fears are focused on things that may or may not happen. There is no reason to fear things that might not even happen. Even people in the Bible struggled in fearing their own "what ifs". You will read today about Moses' "what if" fear and how God gave him strength to overcome his fear.

Speak life giving words

Anytime you think something positive about someone else, you should tell them. We should all live by that rule, as it will help us become more comfortable speaking life-giving words.

“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.
Matthew 12:33 NIV
https://matthew.bible/matthew-12-33

Words

God's Word gives us a very important instruction that we must all take to heart and obey. That instruction is to speak life-giving words to others every chance we get.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
Ephesians 4:29 NIV
https://ephesians.bible/ephesians-4-29

Godliness

For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.
1 Timothy 4:8 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/1ti.4.8.NIV

Toxic thoughts

There are four common categories of toxic thoughts. These are negative, fearful, discontented, and critical. 

replace those thoughts with God's truth. The best place to find God's truth is in His Word.

Strive to block out and remove all of the toxic things polluting your life and instead fix your thoughts on Jesus. Fixing your thoughts on Him is critical in filtering out all of the toxins in your life.

Create with others

Like these creators before us, we need regular communion with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to renew our minds and refresh the lenses through which we view the world as we create.

If our work is to feel like a vocation—a true calling on our lives—we must be willing to follow the example of C. S. Lewis and reimagine our work as service to God and others. When we do, we will find the lordship of the True Aslan, Jesus Christ, changing our motivations for creating, the products we choose to create, and how we go about creating them, in community with others following the call to create.

Our faith through work

Like Lewis, our product ideas will likely not come from brainstorming sessions where we focus intensely on how we can create a product that reveals God’s character. But as we begin to create, and we “let the Word of Christ dwell in [us] richly,” (Colossians 3:16) we will undoubtedly see how we can use our creations to reveal the character of our Creator. If our work is to feel like a calling, we, like Lewis, must be willing to allow the True Aslan to come “bounding into” every aspect of our lives, including our work.