Recognize the wealth that God has placed in others, and find more and better ways to draw that wealth out so they can make an impact, and your own will be multiplied many, many times over.
TRANSCRIPT
Please note: this transcript is auto-generated so forgive any (or many) errors 😲 – click the timestamps to play that section directly in the audio.
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You, my dear Christian creative friend, have an advantage. Thank you, Jesus. We, as children of the King have an advantage. I like to call it the 818 advantage. Deuteronomy 8:18 is such a powerful verse. And in just the short time that we’re together today, I just want to unpack this a little. You know, God has given you the power to get and to create wealth. This is a promise that was given to the children of God there in the wilderness, but it’s a promise that is still in effect today to those who follow the king.
00:00:47.670]
You know, it’s a promise, to be honest, that I discovered the reality of it in one of the most discouraging and desperate times of my life. Isn’t it funny sometimes how we we tend to like mentally ascend to many of the things that were taught, many of the truths that are there on the pages of scripture. We mentally assent to them in our times where we are self-sufficient. And then it’s in those desperate moments where they suddenly become like, man, this I need not just to know the chapter and verse for this.
00:01:31.560]
I need to know the reality of this, not on the page, but in my heart. And this is what Deuteronomy 8:18 was for me during a particular period of our life not so many years ago. To be honest, I really I realised that, you know, sometimes I greatest breakthroughs are preceded by our greatest breakings. You know, those breakings that take place where we realise our great need for God and our reliance upon his promises to propel us into the next season of life.
00:02:11.970]
Deuteronomy 8:18 says this. You shall remember the Lord, your God for it is he that gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant, which he swore on to your fathers as it is this day, you know, and then with this foundation laid to undergird it. Yeah, this promise is undergirded sorry by this foundation. You know, the preceding verse is read that God fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that he might humble you, that he might prove you to do you good in your latter end.
00:02:54.720]
And yet you say in your heart, my power. You know, if we if we’re not careful, we can say in our heart, my power and my might and my hand have gotten me this wealth. And so, you know, undergirding this promise of prosperity, undergirding this promise of influence and expansion, undergirding this promise of creating generating wealth is God’s God’s points out that, you know, look, you’ve been through some things. You’ve been through some hard times.
00:03:32.820]
You know what it is to be in one’s I think most of us can relate to that. I know. I certainly can. We certainly can. There have been times in our life when we’ve been believing for a bag of groceries to turn up on our doorstep. There have been times in our lives where we honestly thought we would not have the money to purchase Christmas presents for our children. Yeah, and so we know what it is to be in the wilderness being fed with manna.
00:04:03.150]
Yeah. That we might be humbled and he might prove us. But this this is the thing. This is the thing. Yeah. You know, times of divine provision, you in desperation as seasons that we really learn to comprehend our own incapacity. We recognise that man without God’s help. I’m in trouble. These times of proving allow our character to be chiselled by circumstance. But look at the beautiful look at what’s wrapped in this verse, the jewel of this verse, just these few lines here where it says, I did this with this in mind, this is God’s heart and mind concerning these straitened circumstances that sometimes we find ourselves in to do the good at dilator and God’s heart.
00:05:02.660]
And mind is always to do you good. Yeah, he and when we remember the Lord, our God, when we come through those circumstances with our heart intact and our faith refined, you know, we find that as we remember God, he gives us the power to get wealth, that he might establish his covenant now in establishing his covenant. What I love about this and this concept is really that God wants to release grace to you in a powerful way.
00:05:44.810]
God wants to release strength to you in a powerful way to establish his covenant with you. This isn’t just about the story of the gospel, although that is part of it. This isn’t just about sharing this that the the redemptive story and witnessing about Jesus. God has covenant purposes for you that span a great many, many areas of life. He’s got a purpose for your marriage, a purpose for your parenting, a purpose for your business, a purpose for your gifts and your anointing and for your hobbies and for the things that you love and for your experience.
00:06:34.880]
Everything that makes up you and God has a covenant purpose to utilise that, to establish his kingdom here on Earth. And that is why he wants to prosper you. That is why he wants to feed into that, undergird that, finance that so you can have the most impact you can possibly have during your few short years on this little planet spinning around the sun. And for me, what I think as I as I’ve worked this out in my own life, I realise that the power to create wealth really means three distinct things.
00:07:19.100]
And I believe that these things can help you, too, I hope. First, I had to recognise the wealth that I was already carrying, my expertise, my experience, my kind of unique leanings and gifts, my calling and my history really to a degree to accept and value who I am and recognise and understand that I’ve got something valuable to share with others. Many people never actually take a moment to realise just how incredible they are and what they have to bring, you know.
00:07:54.860]
And then secondly, I looked for ways to crystallise that inner wealth in ways that can benefit others. You know, the ability to digitise our value into publications, products and platforms is unprecedented in history. Never has it been easier to enter the knowledge marketplace and let your awesome shine now realise that for that, like the digital side of things is not for everybody. There are many, many other ways that you can crystallise your value into valuable things that you can share with other people.
00:08:31.250]
For me, it’s always been I love the digital space because it just means that I can reach further, touch more people. And actually I don’t have to have like a room full of boxes full of stuff. My value of my content out there in the aether for people to consume. I essentially sell ideas. Yeah. And you know, and then thirdly and there and this is just as important as the other two steps, looking for ways to monetise that in a wealth that you’ve now shaped for sharing, know your value, shape your value in ways that can be shared and exchange all of that inner wealth for outer rewards, create wealth in order to get wealth, be a value giver and a value bringer, and you will be rewarded.
00:09:35.000]
I honestly believe that. I love what my friend Dan Wahidi says when asked what he is here on the planet to do, he simply replies, I am here to help more people better. I can’t think of a more noble reason to pour out your passion and discover ways to live out this promise, this 818 advantage, his promise of wealth creation, then helping more people in better ways. Again, I love the the saying the motivational legend Zig Ziglar.
00:10:12.820]
He said you can get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want. How can you help others to get what they want? How can you aid them in their quest for significance? Recognise the wealth? How can you recognise the wealth that God has placed in others and find more and better ways to draw that wealth out so they can then make an impact and then your own impact will be multiplied many, many times over.
00:10:45.670]
Well, thanks for listening, hopefully. It’s been an encouragement to you today, if you want to connect any further, you can do so through my website at Davidleemartin.com. Have a great day.
