I like to think of the creative life as the gradual unveiling of God’s glory, His outshining, in a person’s life.

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Okay. I’m going to call this episode five more slow down and smell the roses. Reasons to create from a place of rest. There’s a tendency to think that everything depends on us. I mean, I don’t know if you fall into that trap, but I know I certainly do.

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As a capable human being, it’s very easy for us to lean on our own strength and understanding and fail to realise that there is actually a far greater source that we can draw from. The production and fruitfulness of our lives somehow leans entirely on our efforts. I do believe that there’s a better way, a more peaceful way to live and contribute to others. The way of Jesus is not burdensome. His creative nature is not something that we have to grasp for earn or deserve.

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It is something that is granted to us by virtue of being created in his image. The idea that just the sheer absurdity of the idea and concept that human beings could have come about as a result of, like, millions of years of odd genetic weirdness, like really beyond the joke, we are made in the image of the Creator. He is the creator of all things. He made the universe. He made the planet.

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He made the stars. He made the sun, he made the moon, he made the Hills, he made the grass, he made the sea. He made the insects. He made the birds. He made the animals.

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You name it. If it’s a made thing, there is a maker behind it, a designer behind it. The Creator did it full stop. End of conversation. There is no other answer.

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There is no other explanation that is even vaguely reasonable for the wonder that we enjoy and that we inhabit right now. But here are five more thoughts from the creation narrative about creativity and working from a place of rest. Number one seed time and harvest. Genesis one verse twelve says the seed was in itself. God places seeds inside everything that is living that’s capable of production.

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The created world was not searching for something outside of itself to fulfil its nature and destiny. When in the creation narrative we find God saying, I made the trees and the fruits and the herbs and the grasses and their seed was in themselves. Well, I believe that the seed of greatness is in you. You are not looking for something outside of yourself to fulfil your nature and destiny. The world wants you chasing after things.

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The world wants you running from one thing to another, thinking that if you obtain this, if you purchase something else, if you look this way, think this way, do this way, then somehow you will become the person that you are designed to be. But the reality is you’re actually already in the process of becoming who you already are on the inside. It’s more an unveiling that’s taking place. You are God’s workmanship. We are told in Ephesians created in Christ Jesus for good works that he has already prepared for you to walk in.

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The seed of your greatness and contribution to the world. Your fruit, if you like, is already in you. Now. The beauty of the creative life is in the discovery of who you already are and the beauty that God has already planted within you. It may be a small seed in the first instance, but tended and nourished, it will grow out and then reach and stretch out branches that touch many, many lives.

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I wholeheartedly believe that there is a unique contribution that each one of us has to bring a creative aspect that needs to be brought to the table that we alone can bring to the party in a push button world, the idea of patiently tending a seed until it’s grown and flourishing is kind of unpopular. But the way of faith is really not about the speed with which we can genetically modify our own growth. It just is not going to happen. The pictures in scripture are agricultural, not mechanical or digital.

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I love this verse from Luke eight, verse 15.

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It says, but that speaking of seed on the good ground, speaking of the heart, that on the good ground a day which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it. And here it is. Here it comes. Get ready and bring forth fruit with patience. Number two, Genesis One, verse 29.

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And God said, Behold, I have given, behold, I have given he gave all of the trees and the fruits and the herbs, et cetera, to the animals and to man to eat. Behold, I have given what really strikes me here is God gives first. He is the first instance in every endeavour. He is the prime mover, the prime directive, and the prime director. The beauty here is that this releases us from this incessant need to be original.

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Nothing we make has not already been thought of. Jesus has been there first and we simply follow. What do I mean by this? Well, the creative life is one where we tap the genius of heaven. I honestly believe it.

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He is for you. He is with you and he wants to create through you. There’s a joy in discovery. What you bring to the world will be as much a delight and a surprise to you as it is to others. This is the wonder of creative life.

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I like to think of creative life as the gradual unveiling of God’s glory is outshining in a person’s life. God has given abundantly and because of that, we can now generously give as well of ourselves and of the gifts that he has entrusted to us. Number three, rest upon completion, the heavens and the Earth were finished and all the host of them. And on the 7th day, God ended his work, which he had made. He rested on the 7th day from all his work, which he had made.

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Now there’s great delight and satisfaction in completion. I believe that you are a finisher just like your father. And when you finish, I urge you to stop and to appreciate what you’ve made. There’s a crowning of your work with Thanksgiving and gratitude that will add a whole new dimension to the creative process when you apply it consistently. The Creative cycle.

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I see the picture from a good number of years ago now, but that picture of the water cycle where the water comes down and then goes back up. And there’s this cycle that God put in place in creation in the natural world. And I think the creative cycle is one similar to that. It’s one of flow from and to God in constant Communion and celebration and appreciation. I think complete the cycle and allow the clouds to form again, ready for a new reign of ideas and blessings to fall into your heart and mind.

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So you can continue the creative process. It’s very easy in today’s world to run from one thing to the next. But instead of kind of that hasty sprint, take the time to slow down. When you complete pause, to appreciate and recognise the source of your power and production. Don’t be in such a hurry to run to the next thing on the list.

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Take a moment to look and see how far you’ve come and to enjoy what you’ve made. Number four, four of these five rest is blessed. God bless the 7th day in Sanctified. It Genesis two, verse three. You know, two things are specifically blessed in these early chapters of Genesis People and a day.

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God blessed a day. And it was a day of rest. Sometimes we think that the blessed day is the one where we’ve done so much and completed so much and produced so much and gone so many places or whatever else it may be. But like God is just so just not us. He looks and he says, Well, I’ve got these six days.

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All of those other days were good, very good. But this 7th day, oh, man, I’m going to bless this one. And it was a day of rest is blessed. And the people whom he blessed, they blessed a day. And then the people whom he blessed only just moments prior stepped directly into that blessing.

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There’s a pace of Grace that we’re invited to enjoy. And I believe that this should be the starting point of our every endeavour. If we hear God and we move according to His direction, there’ll be a rest and a peace that we enjoy even in the midst of, like, a lot of activity. And it’s interesting to note that mankind’s first experience of life with God was restful rejoicing in his rich provision. There remains arrest.

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We are told in Hebrews four, verse nine, there remains a rest for the people of God. If only we will choose to believe him and step into it. And then from that blessed place of rest, we then work. Hallelujah. Oh, Jesus, Jesus.

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First everything else follows. Hallelujah number five formation. The Lord God formed man. Genesis two, verse seven, formation by the hand of God. I believe that God still forms men and women inwardly.

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You’re not just a cookie cutter copy of the next person in line. You are uniquely formed for purpose by a personal hand. God is carefully shaping your life and preparing you for eternity and eternal stewardship. The formation of our hearts begins when we stop fighting against God and recognise that he knows best what will make us into the people we need to be to walk fully in His Grace.

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We’ve all faced this, and I’m not in any way saying that this is easy, but even the hard circumstances and testing can act as tools to cut away the pride and self reliance. So we throw ourselves more fully on the provider. And I mean to it to a very small degree. I have experienced that over these past months. And, oh, my Jesus, thank you so much because it’s brought me into a place of fresh dedication, but just a fresh dependence on Him.

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I tell you something, man, it is a great deal more enjoyable being dependent on God than dependent on my own genius and whatever I can bring and do and be there’s not words only.

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Yes, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, there’s a rest when we cease from our own works and trust God for the outcomes in our lives. Hebrews four verse ten. He who is entered into His rest. He has also ceased from his own works. I mean, like, wow, you could camp out there for a long time and dig a very deep well drinking from that one verse.

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This is not talking about passivity, by the way. I really don’t believe that it’s an active striving to enter into the mystery of faith, God and man working together in close Communion, one in which God Thankfully does the heavy lifting. Hebrews four verse eleven says, Let us Labour, therefore to enter into that rest, to strive to enter. But seriously, once you’re inside, don’t be in a hurry to return to the frantic pace of this self obsessed world. There is a greater, richer, Fuller contribution that you will bring when you relinquish control and allow God to fill and flow through your willing frame.

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He wants to speak in you and through you. He wants to do in you and through you. It’s not easy to discover this. And I think that that’s why we’re told Labour, therefore to enter that rest. It’s going to take some work to disentangle ourselves from the common wisdom.

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And they are like the multitasking madness that we find all around us. It’s not easy to discover this rest in a culture so bent on speed and consumption. But it is possible. Just listen to this beautiful verse. Hebrews four verse nine.

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There remaineth, therefore arrest to the people of God. It’s ready and waiting. Well, thanks for listening. Hopefully. It’s been an encouragement to you today.

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If you want to connect any further, you can do so through my website. Davidleemartin.com have a great day.