Grow into the image of God living by the 4 C's cycle

Hi Soul 🌻

If you find yourself in a place of complacency or confusion, the four C’s cycle will surely help you bloom beyond it.

How everybody, everywhere grows:

1. Commitment

2. Courage

3. Capability

4. Confidence

Jesus is the best example of how to apply the four C’s cycle for growth. He used it for the Kingdom. He knew that commitment, came before courage, that capability came before confidence. He also knew that if you want to start something new, you’ll have to commit anew too, and you won’t have the confidence to begin. This is how the four C’s cycle is an everlasting cycle for continued growth. If we trust this cycle, we also grow more and more into God’s image.

Nothing starts until you commit. After you’ve made the commitment, courage is required because you have to take action before you’ve acquired the capability to achieve the result. Capability is actually created because of your commitment and courage. And, finally, confidence is the result of these first three stages.

Remember:

1. Commitment creates courage

2. Courage creates capability

3. Capability creates confidence

4. Confidence creates (more) commitment

1. Commitment creates courage

Commitment is the important first stage of The 4 C’s cycle because without a strong, specific commitment, you might not have the motivation to even begin. In the commitment stage of the 4 C’s process, you’re stating a particular result.

Commitment requires you to improve communication about what you’re about and what you do. The moment you commit, you might recognize that there is a large amount of the dream you cannot pull off yourself. That immediately puts you in the courage stage, but you simply have to get as much assistance as you possibly can.

Jesus committed to the cross for us to live in freedom. What do you commit to?

2. Courage creates capability

When you commit to making a breakthrough, that commitment triggers the courage to go into unknown territory. Courage suddenly puts you in a position of feeling vulnerable, and it can be scary because you’re risking what you have already been, done, and achieved. You’re taking yourself out of your existing comfort zone and into the wilderness, letting go of your existing confidence to create a higher level of confidence. This puts your brain on high alert that it now has to create an entirely new capability.

Often when we think of making a big commitment, we think of facing fear and uncertainty. Courage is your response to all those worries and fears, but the important thing is to keep going forward despite the temptation to procrastinate or to turn away from the commitment. The procrastinator feels the fear and stops, while the courages person feels the fear and moves forward. Courage is the willingness to go forward in spite of not feeling confident.

Jesus practiced courage when He spoke the Truth despite facing rejection. How are you practicing courage?

3. Capability creates confidence

The activity of going through a period of courage - with a clear breakthrough commitment in mind - produces the energy to create a new, more powerful capability. And the moment you acquire this capability, your confidence takes a big jump.

Confidence is the by-product of gaining new capability. When you’re looking for a bigger and better future, it’s really that you’re looking to gain capability of doing something better and producing bigger results. There are an endless amount of capabilities, but often we’re talking about personal and inter-personal capabilities that you acquire to get something done in the future that you can’t get done with your current capabilities.

New capability creates confidence ahead of it, but it also rearranges everything behind it. Any jump in capability automatically transforms both the past and the future. Every new breakthrough in your capabilities and confidence also immediately changes the meaning and usefulness of your past experiences.

Jesus was humble in admitting his humanness, yet He knew His capabilities came from saying yes to the calling from God. What capabilities are you called to grow?

4. Confidence creates (more) commitment

Confidence is how you feel as a result of acquiring the capability. That confidence, in turn, creates the capability to make a bigger commitment. Over and over again.

Now, here’s the thing. Confidence can also create complacency. Because confidence feels so good, there’s a temptation to stay in this stage. You might have persistent thoughts like, “But, I like it here,” or “It’s so comfortable,” or “Why can’t it last?”

The only way to solidify the present level of confidence that you’ve grown through the 4 C’s process is by making a bigger commitment that puts this confidence at risk.

Once the reward period of your confidence is over, then you get to choose to get back into the 4 C’s cycle, to make a new and higher commitment. This is how you grow in God’s image.

Jesus had confidence in Himself being the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Having confidence in Christ, how can that inspire you to have confidence in your life right now?

I pray that this was encouraging to you, and that this tangible four C’s framework can be applied to your life, ultimately growing your faith even stronger that God is with you through it all.

Glory to God,

🌻 Martine | Bloom Beyond