Dear creative, if you stay with the journey, through resistance, discouragement, valleys, and changes, God will eventually bring you a broad place of influence.

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So far in our entrepreneurial journey that we’ve been taking together with Isaac from Genesis chapter 26, we’ve faced famine, strife, rejection, dry valley, alleys, jealousy, contention, hatred. Is it any wonder that many people who set out on this creative pilgrimage end up giving up? But we’re not going to give up. And as unglamorous as this journey may be, at times as challenging as it may be, creative life really is in many respects, if you are called to it, the only life we can live. The Bible talks about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all three were what are described as tent dwellers.

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They understood that they were pilgrims passing through, that they were not meant even despite the blessing that they enjoyed, despite the riches and the prosperity that God was pleased to bestow upon them, they continued to understand that they are not of this world, just as you are not of this world that created dream, that creative anointing, that’s living in you has been planted from another world, from another realm, from a realm that is so much more enduring, so much more magnificent than this one could ever dream or hope of being in its present state. But there is coming a day, my dear brother, my sister, when there will be a new heaven and a new Earth, and all of our labours and everything that we have walked through and been through will find its reward. So whatever happens, do not give up. Do not be discouraged. And that’s why the Scriptures speak so much about and I believe that this chapter also kind of exemplifies the need for perseverance.

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The trying pathway that we often have to walk to a prosperous outcome is littered with the footsteps of the patient. And the persevering scripture encourages us over and over again to keep on keeping on. Galatians 6:9 just as one example, let us not grow weary in doing good for end season. You will reap if we do not give up. James.

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Many of us are familiar with the book of James. James, chapter 1:2 through 4, says, Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, you feel like turning around to James and saying, yeah, right. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. It builds patience, it builds character. Let that steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

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And again, two, Thessalonians 3:13. As for you, brothers, as for you, sister, do not grow weary in well doing. And that’s what Isaac did until he arrived. Finally, after all of these kind of digging Wells and the Wells being filled up and the Wells being stolen and being thrown out and all sorts of different challenges that he faced, he comes to a place and digs another well, and this well, no one strives for it. He’s got beyond that place of strife and contention.

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And I think that we can go through that same thing. And when we come through with our heart, right when we do not allow bitterness or strife or unforgiveness to take a hold of our heart and we don’t grow weary in well doing, God can then bring us into a place where he is pleased and confident to prosper us, because he knows that our heart and our character will be able to carry it without it becoming, without his blessing, becoming the very thing that leads to us being cursed. And I’ve seen that so many times. We’ve seen it very publicly at times where a Ministry or an individual prospers and suddenly they begin to act and think differently. We do not want to be like that.

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We want to be those whose hearts and minds are so rooted in eternity that whether we have little or whether we have much during our passing through on our way there, we know what it is to live in contentment. And so here we read Genesis chapter 26, our favourite chapter right now, he removed from fence. So here he goes again, we go again, Hallelujah. And he digs another well. And for that they strove.

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Not no one strove for this. He found a place where he could really, if you like, and if he chose to put down some roots and he called the name of it Rehoboth. And he said, for now the Lord has made room for us and we shall be fruitful in the land. How many of you, my creative brothers and sisters, sometimes feel very constricted there’s that challenge and that pressing and that pressure, that need to make enough money to pay the bills or whatever else it may be, that compulsion on the inside to want more time to create, and yet you’re bound to have to do other things to provide for your family or your home. There is no shame in any of that.

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And oftentimes it’s such a necessary part of the journey. But bless God, there is a place here we find it Rehoboth, where all of that striving came to an end. And he found a place where he felt able to breathe, where he felt able to think and to create and to consider and to think freely and openly. I believe and I pray that God would bring us to that same place, too, that the pressures that are pushing against you right now will give way and you too will be brought into a wide place, into a place where you feel as though the Lord has made room for you and a place from which you know you can be fruitful in the land. And the interesting thing is, in the scriptures, there is nothing there by mistake.

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Every word Jesus said, not one cross of the T or dot of the I will pass away. Everything is inspired. And so these names that we find in the scriptures are definitely worth just digging a little deeper into see what they mean. And Interestingly, when I looked up Rehoboth in the Zondovan NIV Naves Topical Bible, it says that it means it means broad, wide places or markets. It literally means a broad marketplace.

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And so in respect to what I was discussing and conversing with the Holy Ghost as I went through this chapter, that was just like, wow, that’s so amazing. God in our entrepreneurial efforts can bring us, after much testing at times, to our own rare booth, a place where God has made room for us, where we will be fruitful in the land, a broad and wide market, where we are reaching and influencing and blessing and building and making a difference in many lives. And again, the word room, he has made room for us. It literally means broad, wide or spacious. If you stay with the journey through the resistance, through the discouragement, through the Valley, down into the Valley, and then through the changes and then go up from dense, you’ll come to your rare birth.

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God will eventually bring you to a wide place and potentially a level of influence that you’d never before dreamed was possible. There’s a great verse, again, where this word room is used in the book of Proverbs, and here it’s talking about, again, this coming into a place of influence. It says, a man’s gift maketh room for him and brings him before great man, a man’s gift makes room for him. Again, this is so interesting. As you begin to dig into this, you find that the word room, there is one that doesn’t have just a single English equivalent.

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And as one commentator describes, he says it may best be translated in all of its colloquial uses as made greater the effect of mouth, heart, et cetera. Just again, for me, as a communicator, for you, as a communicator, how powerful is this that God can make greater the effect of your heart and your mouth? This friend is rehabbing. The journey to Rehoboth surely has been a hard one and at times a very long one, or seemingly long. But the lessons learned and the resilience that’s been formed, the way in which your message has been proven and honed through all of those experiences, the sharpening and shaping of your character, the sifting of your audience, all that we’ve been through in these past sessions and past episodes this month, Hallelujah, man, we’ve come through them and all of them have led to this place where the effect of your heart and mouth are evident to all.

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He is making greater the effect of your heart and mouth out there in the marketplace to a broad and a wide number of people really making an impact. And that doesn’t mean that a small audience is not something that we should cherish and that we should pour our hearts and minds into it’s, not just about numbers and size, because all of that is relative. And ultimately, let us not get caught up in vanity metrics. Let us understand that those to whom God has called us, we will be rewarded according to our obedience. Ultimately, Jesus said, Those whom you have given me out of the world, I have kept.

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How many did the Lord, who was he referring to? Twelve men. Twelve men, not 12,000 not 12,000,000. 12 men. He was faithful to walk with them and to instill into them that which God had put in his heart. And so I believe in Jesus name, it does not matter.

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Yeah, when we’re talking about Rehoboth, we’re not just talking about, like, all of the metrics that the world wants to stack up. There is so much more here, so much that we can draw from it. But let’s not just stamp the ways of the world upon it. However big, however small your audience may be right now, and wherever the Lord is leading you, do it faithfully. Do it as unto the Lord.

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Now, Paul encouraged Timothy. He said, do not neglect the gift that is in you. Give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all one. Timothy, chapter 4:12 through 15. There’s a bit more in there.

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In some respects, I’ve taken it a little out of context. But what I wanted to bring out here is that as Timothy chose not to neglect the gifts that God had placed within him, as he gave himself fully to them, his progress became evident to all. And I believe as you give yourself and continue to give yourself, don’t neglect the gifts and the callings that God has placed upon your life, ultimately your progress will become evident to all you’ve given yourself. Often times I don’t know about you, but I certainly have given yourself. Often in obscurity and against the odds.

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You’ve put your work out there, and it felt like you were an audience of one. There were four people listening. You, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. But as you’ve continued to do it, as you’ve continued to step out here at Rehoboth, your progress is evident. Now.

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Instead of you looking out for people, people come to you. People seek you out. Your words are embraced. Your heart is fully convinced by the journey you have undertaken, that there is nothing that is not a product of God’s Grace at work in your life. And I believe that that is one of the reasons God allows us to go through testing, that we won’t fall into the trap of thinking that it’s all of us, it’s all of our own wisdom, all of our own strength.

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And because we are really something. Ha, ha shikaraka.

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No, that man is dead on the cross. He’s pinned there with Jesus, that old man. And there is now a new man created in the image of Christ. That’s the dude that we want to be turning up and making himself known out in the marketplace. So whatever worth you bring you know it’s from the wealth of his presence working through you and it does seem doesn’t it, when we come here finally to rare herb off that all of the testing that you’ve endured is now paying off.

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Thanks for listening today. I would also love to encourage you if you’ve enjoyed this episode, make sure you leave a rating and a review on whatever your favourite platform to listen to on is. And also just to let you know about my most recent book, I published a book just very recently called Wanted Ferocious Men of Prayer. I know it’s an unusual and perhaps provocative title but it is such a great read. If you are a man and you know that God is calling you to the prayer closet, pick up a copy jump over to Amazon wanted ferocious men of prayer and if you’re a woman who knows a man make sure you pick up a copy and put it in that man’s hand hey God bless you have a great day and I will see you tomorrow you.