David Lee Martin

I used to enamored by the idea of being a thought leader. A pioneering trailblazer carving the way to new fields of revelation, bringing swathes of thankful followers with me. But today I’m content instead to be a thoughtful follower. It’s often the best way to show the way…

A thoughtful follower? Sure!

Most of the words that I speak or the words I write are inspired or prompted by something I have heard or read. Observations on something I have seen. Not one original, uninitiated thought.

Even the ones that seem to spring from unadulterated genius are generally the fruit of a conversation with God in prayer. Not in a heavens-opened-up-and-angels-delivered-a-world-changing-message way, just a plain old conversation in prayer way, where I give myself the privilege of shutting up for five minutes to let Someone far more intelligent than me do the talking.

So today, I want to slap an objection to the ground that many would-be creative entrepreneurs pull out of their why-not-bag.

Originality. Or rather, un-originality.

Are not all the best ideas already taken?

The simple answer is yes, and no.

Even in the 9th century BC, we find Solomon pointing out this high tech truth:

“That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9 NKJV)

The reality is, humanity is wrestling with the same fundamental problems they always have. Seeking security, significance, and a sense of purpose.

The means of answering those questions may have evolved and morphed over the centuries, but the itch that they scratch has not changed.

As men and women of faith in the marketplace we’re not looking for new, never before seen problems to solve. We are simply coming with new eyes, informed by our history, experience, and learning to offer our own unique take on the answers we believe will help our fellow travelers.

That’s where the uniqueness comes into play. You are the magic ingredient that turns a plain old information-pie into a deliciously original meal.

Thoughtfully follow the desires that God has placed in your heart. Let your history inform your present. What are the threads that weave through the fabric of your journey so far? What are the things that others come to you for advice and help on? What are the incessant promptings in a particular direction telling you?

As I have said so many times, mine is an almost obsessive fascination with words. Not in a scholarly way, but in a common, very ordinary I love to dig into a subject and scratch below the surface way. A delightfully curious want to communicate way.

For sure there will be a host of other folks doing similar things to the ones you propose.

Don’t get caught up in trying to be original.

The fact that there will only ever be one of you in all of history and eternity takes care of that gnarly problem. The fact that it is you picking up the diamond and turning it your hand will always shine a new light on a facet of the subject you are tackling.

Billionaires may be jostling for their market share in above the stratosphere right now, but most folks would be more than happy to just figure out how to live their feet-on-the-ground existence better.

Whether it’s wealth, health, relationships, or spirituality, there will never be a day when answers and leaders are not sought by the masses. You can be a leader in any one of those multifaceted spaces, bringing great value to the table.

Thank God we don’t have to build a spaceship to discover ourselves and our destiny.

Extraterrestrial life already landed on the planet, in a stable in Bethlehem a little over 2000 years ago. He guaranteed your success and is shaping you for glory. He’s here now by His Spirit to help you step into your purpose on earth (and possibly even in space if you become a billionaire with little more to conquer below the clouds!).

Let faith not FOMO (fear of missing out) guide your steps. Even if your ideas seem unoriginal, and your intellectual merchandise somewhat unremarkable compared to the other stallholders in Vanity Fair, do not fear. Keep carving your way to your core, and you’ll discover that you are an original.

Seek only to share sincerely, whole-heartedly, and without such harsh self-criticism, and you’ll be surprised at how many seemingly never-before-seen-or-heard ideas spring from your open heart.

A common fear of creatives is that the well will run dry.

The terror of empty pipes has even been immortalised with the attribution, “writer’s block.” Doubtless, there is also “song block”, “brush block”, “product block”, and “vid block”.

I choose to block out any idea of blocks. I believe in a perpetual well of inspiration that flows from the inner man. It just needs to be tapped and called upon to produce. Some days more than others, but produce nevertheless.

The hair and slime that clogs the pipes (yuk! but you know exactly what I mean) is actually perfectionism.

We want every work of our hands to be absolutely magnificent. This is a sticking point for sure, because whether we like it or not, some days are simply more open to the flow than others.

“Today, I have nothing to say…”

In thinking about what to write today, I thought about starting my creative encouragement to you with the words, “Today, I have nothing to say…”

Some may breathe a sigh of relief! 😉

But who am I to lie? Even if I say I have nothing to say I’ve said something worthy of exploration.

So be encouraged, you’ll never run dry.

It is not a crime to say the same thing again, in a different way.

Pull an old word from the archives and send it for another spin.

Call on your pet subjects, the core message that you carry, and reiterate it for the umpteenth time. New eyes and ears may be experiencing it for the first time.

You don’t need to create something brand new every time you sit to create. Just turn the value diamond in your hand and highlight another facet of beauty and grace relating to your subject of choice.

What’s Your Diamond Subject?

I speak, write, and teach Christian creativity, mostly focussed on digital delivery of your message and value to the marketplace. I bring prayer and productivity under one roof, and could talk the legs off a horse if I’m let loose.

Some may say I harp on about it. So be it. It’s my song. What’s yours?

To encourage others to recognise and realise their value in tangible ways that can impact lives and generate income is a message I believe people need to hear.

What’s your message?

If it’s a heartfelt sincere message it won’t be a one-time article nested on your blog somewhere, it will be a diamond subject that fascinates your curiosity, and inwardly calls to be communicated time and time again. It will crop up in almost all of your communications in one way or another.

The gospel of course is the core message for every Christian, the golden thread that runs through all we say and do, but there are many facets to Christ’s wisdom that God calls His people to share with the world. Not all of them relate to Heaven. God wants us to end well, of course, but the journey there needs to be taken in fellowship with the Creator too.

The Bible, and the Holy Spirit who wrote it, has much to say about life, finances, diet, rest, wellness, anger, love and relationships, hope, faith, words, thoughts, business, ecology, creativity, parenting…

You name it, there’s a facet of wise counsel that can be shaped into a viable and worthy business, and deliver present value to the marketplace.

My passion and diamond subject is Christian Creativity, what’s yours?

Let me know in the comments…

In a hyper-active world how do we live like Christ? Is Jesus wearing Nike trainers and sprinting around the globe desperately building His brand, fearful that some other pretender will take His market share?

I think not.

The pace of grace is not breakneck. The only neck spoken of in relation to the way of Jesus is the one on which He longs to place an easy yoke.

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:29–30 KJV)

Vaynerchukianism may urge you to be everywhere all the time and become everything to everyone. All power to his disciples. It’s not for me.

Muskism may conquer the known universe, but if I were to follow his way, I think I’d lose my soul down the drain.

I’m not saying anyone else is wrong here. Just what’s wrong for me.

Peaceful obscurity seems a more life-affirming option.

This doesn’t mean skulking in insecure shadows and never speaking up. It simply means focusing on what really matters regardless of the noisy world outside the window, or screaming from the screens.

By nature, I’m an action taker. Passive resignation is not the way of peace, any more than rabid aspiration. It’s just that our actions must be tempered by truth.

I spend much of my day encouraging Christians to stand up, stand out, and share their worth and message with the world.

The problem arises when ambition steps in and begins to set the scoreboard.

More, bigger, faster, richer.

Metrics designed with cynical delight aimed to enhance your inadequacy.

Because in that world more is never enough, fast is too slow by far, and rich is a slippery scale.

You are enough!

Jesus did not just die for who you might become. He died and delighted to do so, for the scruffy unfinished product you already are. He wants to walk with you today, not just when you shape up.

The devil wants your eye on tomorrow. A tantalizingly out-of-reach tomorrow filled with all of the things you think you want and need.

And when you arrive and hold those things in your hand, the goalposts will move. I’ve seen it a thousand times in my life, and have decided it’s time to sack my ambitions and follow the call of Christ more closely.

His is the way of unhurried peace. I wonder where the path will lead?

Creating something from nothing is the speciality of our Creator. He speaks and things spring into existence! The same can be said of His people.

“God… calleth those things which be not as though they were.” (Romans 4:17 KJV)

Made in His image we are uniquely endowed with the gift of endless possibility!

The power to take an invisible thought and form it into something tangible is just one of the fingerprints of divinity displayed through humanity. In case you hadn’t noticed, human beings are amazing. And you are one of them.

The action of faith takes future hopes and dreams, tugs them into the present, and sculpts them into reality. The genius of God at work within us gives evidence to things that were previously unseen.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 KJV)

In the realm of business, this is known as ‘entrepreneurship’.

Christian artist and entrepreneur, Matt Tommey, points out:

“Truth be told, only about 1% of people are really called to vocational ministry within the local church. The rest of us are called to be in the marketplace, releasing the light and life of the Kingdom every day through our unique creative expression. So whether that’s business or art, family or finance you have the divine opportunity to align yourself today with the purposes of the Kingdom, see God start moving through you like never before and watch as the abundance of our Father overtakes you.”

Michael Holmes digs below the surface of the word, entrepreneur. The word “entrepreneur” is from the Old French word “entreprendre”, which means “undertake.” “Entrepreneur” is also derived from two Latin words: “Entre” meaning to “Swim out.” and “Prendes” to “Grasp or grab hold of.”

So, as entrepreneurs, we undertake, swim out to the unknown to grab hold of unseen opportunities.

Maybe you are still standing on the banks right now, ready to dive. Perhaps you are already in deep waters. Either way, the call to entrepreneurship is a high and holy one.

Deuteronomy 8:18 speaks about how God gives His people the power to get wealth. The verse is also qualified with a statement of intent, “that God might establish His covenant from generation to generation.”

Kingdom business and creativity are far more than just money-making schemes, they are God’s means of establishing His covenant promises in the earth. It seems that our Father believes that money in the right hands is a good thing!

The Amplified Bible unpacks the nature of faith further in its expansion of the original languages. Hebrews 11 is packed with nutrients for aspiring entrepreneurs.

In it we read that “faith perceives as real fact what is not yet revealed to the senses”.

The Faith-preneur sees something as absolutely real, and perceives genuine value, before the fact. The value we bring to the marketplace exists way before it hits the virtual shelves.

Furthermore, “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed (fashioned, put in order, and equipped for their intended purpose) by the word of God, so that what we see was not made out of things which are visible.” (Hebrews 11:3 AMP)

God frames worlds, galaxies, and universes.

Our faith-framing exists on a somewhat less majestic level, but its nevertheless still remarkable.

We frame products, publications, services, ideas and ideologies, revolutionary platforms, endlessly creative inventions.

Faith gives definition to ideas, and brings them into focus. Faith is like the hand that take the raw material and shapes it into value that previously did not exist.

Faith residues in the heart, and its exercise produces seemingly from nothing.

Look around you. All that you see was once no more than an idea, a vision living hidden in someone’s heart.

The entrepreneurial call is one that calls us to venture beyond the world of hopeful ideas, and take risks. Not risks as in gambling, but faith-filled endeavours designed to give definition to the dreams we carry that we believe will benefit other people.

You have hopes that you carry. Maybe it’s a book you are pregnant with? Maybe a new business aimed to aid people with their finances? It could be a screenplay or an online service for struggling families. It could be a revolutionary educational toy, a painting, or a poem.

Whatever the scope, the substance of these ideas will come into view when we exercise faith to make them real.

Skin and heart in the game moves a man from merely existing into the joy of fulfilment, flourishing in their chosen field of favor. Faith also provides the shield that will protect your heart against the resistance you will face when you choose to take the journey.

The life of faithful-preneurship is not a weak or easy option. It is one that requires full focus in one direction over a period of time. Setbacks and bumps in the road, sometimes even mountains, will present themselves mocking your audacious presumption. Failed ventures may even be the stones that pave the way to ultimate success.

But your God is faithful.

Like Abraham, you are “fully persuaded that, what God has promised, he is able also to perform.” (Romans 4:21 KJV)

In our generation, carrying Kingdom purpose, we are encouraged to “imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” (Hebrews 6:12 NKJV)

You carry promises, hopes, dreams, and entrepreneurial desires on the inside.

Faith will play a key role in your enterprise, closely coupled with the power twin, patience.

Success takes time. Entrepreneurial success is carried on honest shoulders of character, and character is often built through adversity. This is what patience is so essential.

Taken together, your ability to envision value and then patiently make it tangible, will be life-changing. Allow the Holy Ghost to lead you today toward your God-given goals.

One of the greatest ways you can serve the world is to believe in someone else.

Cheer them on. Speak positive affirmation of their worth over them.

Refuse to agree with any meagre esteem they plaster upon themselves.

Paul wrote to his friends in Philippi:

“There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.” (Philippians 1:6 MESSAGE)

You may not have arrived at your final destination yet. The people you are connected with may still be on the road, even stumbling along at times, but that does not mean they will stay there.

We all need encouraging voices to cheer us along the way. Even heaven itself lines the balconies with a “great cloud of witnesses”, the men and women who handed the baton from generation to generation until it graces our palm.

Run your race well, dear friends.

Regardless of the hardness of the way. Despite the setbacks. You can do this!

Your commitment to be all that you are called to be and willingness to take risks to fulfil your leg of the race is admirable and blessed.

The world may measure with wonky metrics. God’s measures in a different currency.

Faith, love, hope, joy, and peace fill the banks of Heaven, and faithful service ranks high in the stocks far more than mere sales.

God sees the treasure in others even when they don’t perceive it themselves. We can learn to look with His eyes.

When Gideon hid in the winepress, God called him mighty!

Jesus called flip-flip Simon, Petros, the rock!

Paul wrote to Timothy, who felt timid and ill-equipped for his call, naming him a man of power, love, and sound mind!

The greatest deposit you can make in your own future is to elevate someone else’s account of themselves.

In today’s fast-paced digital world it’s easy to get caught in a confusing vortex of options. Sure, the plethora of possibilities is one of the great blessings that our generation enjoys, but it can also lead to creative paralysis.

Like a nerve-drug victim, unsuspecting digital entrepreneurs can be sticken with opportunity overdose!

Should I be an author? What about TikTok (or whatever the latest craze happens to be)? Mini-offers, or flagship courses? Ecom or eCoach? How about Amazon merch? Should I follow the funnel guys, jump onto challenges, or leap on the go live bandwagon?

The list continues…

Youtube?

Mini sites?

Online workshops?

Kindle?

Etsy?

PLR or POD?

Podcast or premium coaching?

I’m pretty sure by the time you read this there’ll be several more choices hitched to the list.

How do you choose?

It’s a known fact that too many choices lead to no choice at all. It’s easier to choose not to choose, to put off the painful process of saying no to so many glistening possibilities.

What if I make the wrong one? Choose the wrong thing? Make a bad call? Say no when I should have said yes and miss out?

No call at all can parade itself as the wisest call to make.

And you stay stuck, frozen in the headlights, with a stream of fresh opportunities hurtling toward you. Month after month. Year after year.

Choose Yourself

Let me bring something obvious into the equation.

What is the one factor that runs throughout every and any opportunity to face? The golden thread that ties the whole thing together?

It’s actually simpler than you think.

YOU are the common factor in the enterprise equation.

The longevity of your enterprise, whatever it may be, will be determined by the investment of your heart in its fulfilment.

The Scriptures teach,

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23 KJV)

The word issues literally means ‘outgoings’ or ‘boundaries’. The outgoings, outworking, and boundaries of your life are determined by the heart. Your financial and creative destiny resides within your spirit, not out in the ether somewhere. No one else holds the wheel of your victory, you do. Tending carefully to the inner life will steer you to the right places, and to the right people, at the right time.

The result will be that the outgoings of your life will expand your boundaries, and bring you into your promised land.

I was an opportunity hog, gobbling up every new idea that crossed my burgeoning inbox. Dancing from one to the other and back again, my online business trajectory felt more like a whirling dervish than a steady climb to the top.

Until the Holy Ghost stopped me in my tracks.

He pointed me to the story of Mary and Martha. The record of Jesus’ visit to them is found in Luke 10.

We read:

“But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:” (Luke 10:40–41 KJV)

Martha was cumbered, full of care, and troubled about many things.

I could totally relate.

“David, David, you are cumbered with many things.”

Those were the words the Holy Ghost spoke that day as I sat in the corner chair in my tiny house office.

But, “There is need of only one or but a few things.” (Luke 10:42 AMP)

The entrepreneurial life is not meant to be one frazzled to a crisp by a million demands. The romanticized picture of the overworked ultra-dedicated marketplace genius sacrificing all for the sake of his startup is quite frankly farcical.

There is nothing romantic about sacrificing your family and your health in pursuit of money or fame.

Jesus has a pathway prepared for you, one which will be perfectly in pace with His will. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I have rarely found God in a rush.

I asked the Lord “what my one or but a few things” are, and seven years later I have made over $1,002,780 in Amazon royalties alone.

Focussing on what was fitted for my personality led to a radical turnaround.

That’s not to say that there have not been challenges. Sweat equity was poured in copious amounts into the affair. But my focus changed from everything and everyone to just one of but a few things that I have learned to do extremely well.

The choice of direction was determined by this question. Maybe it is one you can ask yourself.

“What do I want to be doing 5 or ten years from now?”

In my heart (remember the issues of life?) I wanted to be a writer.

I was already writing but also juggling several other opportunities like a circus clown, lacking confidence to shave off the ballast and bring my A-game to the table.

The decision to build from a place of pure desire, in my case the desire to be a writer, began a remarkable journey to where I am today.

I’m still working and walking with God, still in conversation with the Holy Ghost.

The difference is, I’m now in the business of being myself. No longer running here and there earnestly hoping for an answer. The answer was in me all the time, the outworking and outgoings were waiting on the inside.

We are told:

“Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” (Psalm 37:4 KJV)

Some may cynically read this and say, “awesome, I desire a Porsche!”, but this verse holds so much more we can live by.

God plants desires.

What is the deep, real, resonant, desire of your heart.

Although the source if this quote is unknown, it rings true:

“There are two great days in a person’s life—the day we are born and the day we discover why.”

Moving into the fields of entrepreneurship takes courage. The venture must be backed not primarily by money, often that is in scare supply in the early stages, but by heartfelt conviction and a sense of calling.

I believe that business is a calling. A call to be salt and light in the marketplace, and to generate wealth on many levels, not just financial.

Your “outgoings”, the creative crystallisations of your personal genius, will flow out to the world and bring blessing and grace to others. The results of those genuine, heartfelt creations will be abundant compensation.

It all begins with embracing who you are. Your uniqueness is the ingredient that adds a special flavor to everything you do.

Yes, dear friend, whatever you choose to do, you are ultimately in the business of being yourself. Build around that reality. Learn and grow in the things that sit well with your personality. Grow in confidence as you jettison the things that don’t.

Will it be easy? No.

Will it be worth it? 100%!