David Lee Martin

Faith provides the foundation for vibrant Christian living. By faith we are saved, sanctified, and set in place. It is also by faith that we flow in the unique anointing our Father has placed upon us.

Faith and creativity go hand in hand.

Creativity and Christianity are connected.

Faith & Creativity – Power Twins

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Faith is the foundation of every part of Christian life by faith was saved. That’s how we came into this incredible family by faith, was sanctified by faith, was set in our place. And it’s also by faith that we flow in the unique anointing and gifting that the father has placed within us. And so faith and creativity go very much hand in hand in hand. Creativity and Christianity are absolutely connected in the most vital way. And and that’s why I believe that this coupling of Christ and creativity is such a supernaturally powerful Twyning.

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Christians really should be. And we would expect them to be the most creative people on the planet. You know, Hebrews 11 verses one to three such beautiful verses as say now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen and continue through faith. We understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which were seen were not made of things which appear. So we’re taught here that faith sees the invisible and makes it visible.

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What creativity does exactly that faith turns intangibles of hope into concrete results. Creativity does the same. We see something on the inside and we and then by by faith, we bring it to the table. Entrepreneurship works in the same way faith calls things that do not yet exist as though they already did. It conceives and reaches for them before the fact. So and creativity does the same. Romans, for 17 says God gives life to the dead and calls those things which are not as though they were.

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You know, those ideas that are hidden in your heart, the entrepreneurial hopes that you harbour faith and creative action will bring them to the table in ways that are beyond your wildest dreams. It really does. And it takes faith to dream. It takes faith and courage to step up, to step out and let your voice be heard. But as soon as you do, wild possibilities open up the exercise of faith, the exercise of creativity and taking creative action is just such a door opener.

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You know, Jesus is a partner in your creative projects, and thankfully he he has a rather extensive experience in both faith and creativity. And, you know, for me, this is one of the stones that we put in our sling. In fact, it’s the first stone, you know, the scripture says to us, seek first the kingdom of God, align your life with him and everything else will follow. Matthew six, verse 33. And when we step onto the field, you know, we want our identity to be shaped by the words of God, not by the words of man, not by our history and not by whatever doubt or insecurity might say.

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We want to we want to close all of those other mouths and allow our father to declare identity over us, you know? And so when he says you are his workmanship, you say amen. When he declares that he’s prepared these wonderfully fruitful works for you to walk in, when he declares that you will prosper in all you’re put in, all that you put your hand to, you say, yes, yes, Lord, a man and a man.

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You know, I think that humility is not denying God’s high word over your life and shuffling around on the planet. Playing small humility is accepting God at his word and acting and speaking accordingly. And so when we accept that we are covenant men and women created to create and bring Kingdom life to the earth, we will be able to staunchly look down in the eye, will be able to look that giant in the eye and ask why is the rest of the crowd so cowered by this uncircumcised philistine of fear and insecurity?

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Truly with faith as your first stone in the sling, no giant can stand in your way. You, my dear brother, my sister, are destined to win. 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.

But sometimes more is not better, and simple systems and processes can be the most liberating adjustments to your creative endeavors you will ever make.

Simplify To Multiply – Growing Your Creative Business The Minimalist Way

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So today, I want to talk about simplifying in order that you might multiply, really growing your creative business in a minimalist way. You know, creative projects, I think sometimes have a tendency to balloon. We can very easily over complicate and accumulate rather than slim down and simplify and creative nature. Really is resplendent with ideas. And projects can sometimes take on a pretty wild life all of their own. And this happens in life and family. It happens in business.

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And things do tend to kind of run astray if energy is not applied to keep them very, very slim and streamlined. Yeah, and sometimes more is not always the better avenue to take. Sometimes we think more content, more of this, more of the other. But really I found that less. And this is kind of a phrase that’s a little tired now, but less often is more. And by applying simple systems and processes, you can enjoy some of the most liberating adjustments to your creative Devers endeavours that you’ll ever really experience.

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And, you know, although something like systems and processes may seem like it may sound like an expletive to many creatives who prefer the language of spontaneity, I’ve actually discovered and I’m a spontaneous, spontaneous, spontaneous, loving, creative myself. So, you know, I’m in that company. But I found that systems lead to freedoms and that fortuitous accidents never did. Yeah, that actually applying myself to understand the processes through which my creative output actually is delivered to the audience that I’m seeking to benefit and bless him has been so helpful.

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You know, rather than remaining a mystery, really paring the whole thing back and looking what exactly is taking place here. And there’s a reason to do that. You know, often as creatives, I’m a writer. So certainly as a writer, I actually enjoy my own company. You know, I find, you know, the solitude that we crave is often necessary for us to produce our best work. But the problem is when that when that individuality, when that solitude crosses over into the other side of what we do as creatives, it can really hamper us.

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You know, maybe there are certain things in your creative business that only you can do. You know, it’s this is your this is where your unique contribution to the world is manifest. But when we want to couple our art with business, when we want to take our passion and turn it into profit, it’s important that we kind of are able to extricate those two things, the art side of things and the business side of things. And really, when I talk about systems and processes, I’m very much talking about how our work gets out to the world.

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And again, I can only really give examples most clearly from my own life as a writer. But, you know, there was one time when there was like the clear and present danger of me being the writer, the editor, the cover creator, the the the one who sorted all the advertising out, the one he posted to all of the social platforms, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. And all of that can so deplete your energy and so kind of spread your focus.

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And I’m not saying that we should not learn the ways of those things, but we should learn the ways in them in a manner that gives us an understanding of the processes involved so we can then hand those processes on to someone else to take care of for us. Certainly as our business grows and set to grow often we need to let go and to let go. Oftentimes we have to simplify, you know, one of the one of the most productive things I ever did in my business, my creative.

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This was to press the pause button on production and just take some time to consider my process is getting really granular with the kind of the profit producing activities in my business and my life and my creativity and in documenting those really carefully and really clearly. And I did this with a view to discovering ways in which they could be done by someone else and in a way that that someone else didn’t need all of the kind of particular skills that I have, you know.

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How do you get someone to do some of the tasks that you’re so used to doing? If those tasks involve, like years of training in some special kind of software, how can you simplify that? How can you use kind of the bog standard every day, software, platforms, etc, to produce an equally good result? But have someone else produced that result for you? And in the development of it, it and in the scrutiny of what I was doing, I actually found myself discovering new ways to do the same thing in a much easier, much less complex manner, you know, and it’s really wiping away all of those complicated frills and making a pathway that can be duplicated.

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Yeah. So it can move from just your heart and head to the hands of another person who can then take on some of those tasks and those responsibilities, thus freeing you up to really engage more fully with just the creativity side of things, the things that only you can bring to the table for your particular creative business, whatever it is, whatever it may be. And so these these quicker, more intuitive paths often require less effort to fulfil some of the core components in in the process of you getting your work out to the world.

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And and so it’s really moving away from the me factor, you know, really looking for ways to extract yourself from the business side of things. So you yourself are then free to concentrate more fully on creating unhindered from all of the frustrations that come with the machinery that go along with balancing art and business, passion and profit. And so today, I just want to you know, if you’re a fellow Christian creative and you’ve got a business that is working, you know, and there’s machinery involved in that and there are processes and systems that you are currently taking care of yourself, it may be time to just hit that pause button, even for a short time, and look at ways in which you might be able to simplify and look at ways in which you can make them as seamless as they can possibly be.

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And once you’ve determined what they are, document them and look for ways in maybe that maybe you can outsource that work to someone else to take care of for you. Now, some things can be automated, but others really will need to be delegated. But, you know, between between eliminated elimination, getting rid of things that are unnecessary automation, allowing software and services, online services to take care of some of the items for you automatically and then delegation, it really does serve it right down.

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So the things that drop into your palm that you need to do far less than maybe they presently are right now. And so, yeah, at the outset, this kind of process can seem a little burdensome. You know, it takes time to do this. It takes a lot of energy and concentration and focus to really make this work. So you don’t just slip back into the kind of me, myself and I doing all of the various tasks within your business.

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But the fruits of it, you know, if you will apply yourself diligently to this, really will just lead to a just a greater liberation to pursue your practice, to pursue your passions and to live the liberated creative life that you always dreamed was possible. So simplify to multiply. It’s as simple as that. 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.

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Have a great day.

You have a clear channel to an infinite reserve of creativity.

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So in creative circles, there’s often talk of writer’s block or creative block or I guess the singing block or whatever painting block, you know, these blocks that prevent us from producing our best work. OK, but really, honestly, with regard to writer’s block, and this may be I may be speaking from just a place of providence or pride, but I really do not pay any homage to the muse. I don’t like looking outside for some kind of divine infusion.

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Yeah. Or for the planets to align over your keyboard. Yeah. That will suddenly produce this magnificent work for the world to enjoy. I just don’t believe in that. You know, it really just leads to a passive acceptance of like inactivity in our creative lives. You know, instead, what I what I moved towards and what I lean towards is the idea that we are able to tap this endless reserve that resides in our heart. You know, the scriptures tell us that in the heart resides an eternal spring.

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When we’ve connected to Christ, when we have connected to the vine, there is no lack of life. There is no lack of divine juice that will flow through our branches and out to the world. John 4:14, says that whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him, speaking of Jesus, that Jesus shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give him shall be like a well of water springing up onto everlasting life, this everlasting spring of life that bubbles up within us.

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And in this in this well, I believe in this well. And what comes up from it is a story of stories and abounding overflow of encouraging words, songs without. No all of the wonderful creative expressions that we can share with the world, whatever form they take in Proverbs, chapter eight, verse four in The Passion translation, it says, Words of wisdom are like a fresh flowing brook, like deep waters that spring forth from within, bubbling up inside the one with understanding these deep waters that spring forth from within us, bubbling up inside and overflowing in whatever kind of creative capacity we choose to give them access to.

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In a I think the thing is that it does take time to dig that well deep enough and open up the flow, you know. But once you’re there, there’s really no limit to the life you can pour out in your generous service, creative service to the world. But we don’t just dig by thinking, yeah, we don’t excavate by just hoping or even praying. And I believe in all of those things. I think we should be setting time aside to think.

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I believe that we should be digging deep. I believe that we should have deep roots that are and be rooted in hope and faith. And I believe that we should be praying. But it has two things, particularly in the creative life. We have to move from prayer to practise. Yeah, well, we’ve got to we will exercise all of these things in our efforts to serve. But there’s only really one way to hit the gusher and open up the fountain, and that is to pull out your spade and start digging.

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Now, I like looking at the original meanings of the word dig. You know, I’m always amazed to discover that it’s multifaceted. The Hebrew word for dig when I read it means right. If I want to dig deep enough and open up that creative well said keeps flowing. I as a writer need to write what a revelation. And for you, the root. The root meaning behind this wonderful word dig. You might be surprised to find out that it might mean paint if you’re a painter or something, if you’re a singer or play if you’re a guitarist or build if you’re a builder or shoot if you’re a photographer or mix or stir or craft.

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It’s amazing how a. Third, as small as dig can be so multifaceted, and of course, I’m only joking. I have no clue what the root Hebrew verb is that that is translated dig. All I want to say is you dig by doing. Yeah. You got to unlock the well and really to open up a clear channel to that infinite reserve that dwells in you. I’m reminded of the story of Isaac in the Old Testament and it says that, you know, his forefathers had dug these deep wells and the Philistines had come and filled them up and he kind of really dug those wells.

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And, you know, you may find that the Philistines have come in, you know, insecurity, fears, procrastination, perfectionism. And they’ve just shovelled all that junk into the mineshaft. Yeah, they’ve shovelled all of that dirt into the well. But honestly, with faith and action, faith coupled with action, you can unblock those ancient waterways and become both the recipient and the conduit for a glorious gushing river of creative life. Sir. And you just got to step over all of your self judgements and just begin doing it.

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Of course, we start imperfectly. Of course, we stumble on the way. You know, I’ve made a habit now of writing every day, and I. I no longer ask myself if I feel like it or if inspiration is present. As long as I present my iPad on my laptop and my keyboard, you know, and the Holy Ghost. And he lives in me. So he’s always present. He’s always ready. He is. He is ready.

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Ready, ready. Yeah. Inspiration will hit the moment you hit the keys. And that’s just for writers. If it’s a paintbrush or a or a guitar string or a trumpet mouthpiece, whatever it may be. Yeah, it’s actually in the doing, you know, God in you makes for very favourable odds that something will spring up if you just let the bucket down. You know, once your creative habit is established, you’ve really done the hard part.

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Now it’s really just a matter of come into the wellspring every day and keeping those conduits clear. And you do that just by drawing water. You got to just keep the fluid moving. You know, we talk about creative flow. You know, once that flow is underway, it takes a great deal less energy to keep it flowing then it certainly does if you just wait for it to strike every five years. Yeah. And then secondly, and I think that this is a real key to kind of endless production is to make your work public.

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You know, that way you hold yourself accountable to ship something of value each day and really the hunger of the world for quality content. It does remain unabated, even though we’re overwhelmed with the amount of content that’s thrust upon us, quality, content, content that really speaks to the heart, that delivers to a specific audience. There is a vacuum that exists. And, you know, if for all that you bring and that vacuum will suck some great stuff from your heart, if you allow it to, you know, just put yourself in its way, put yourself before that audience and allow their heart and their hunger to draw the very best from what is planted inside of you already.

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Put yourself in the gravitational demand for passion. Filled quality work and marvellous work will be drawn up from this this deep well that the scriptures talk about within. You find someone to serve a company of people you can build and encourage and commit your creativity to produce something of value for them as often as you’re able. Now, for me, it’s daily, but, you know, make it daily, weekly or some other schedule, but just keep it regular and commit to deliver on time.

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And, you know, just on a regular basis, you know, might be podcasting. It could be creating a film and uploading to YouTube. It could be a Facebook live. It just just putting quality content out there for others to benefit from, you know, taken together. Creative habit plus commitment to go public makes for a muse tapping well, drawing machine that will never fail to deliver something refreshing and new. And then and of course, just like on a fine.

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We’ll need some days are going to be more awesome than others, you know. But Don is always better than perfect, so don’t get too hung up on every shot, you know, flying out of the ball park when you swing, just keep swinging. There is always a good word, song or image that you can share. 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.

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Have a great day.

As Christians, we have a secret weapon. It is not our education or history, nor our prowess or personality, although at times all of these may come into play. The real differentiator is the presence of One greater than ourselves, one who is rooting for our breakthrough, and planning for our prosperity.

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The scriptures really are the richest treasure that we have on this Earth. So just replete with wisdom and endless in what they can teach us, endless in the depths that we can plumb and draw life from. I mean, really, the it’s just I’m never cease to be amazed at how this book can continue to deliver year after year, decade after decade, century after century, and people never exhaust what can be discovered there. It really is so much like the character of God himself in that, you know, like four centuries and millennial, there are creatures around the throne of God who are continually awakened to the glory and the majesty of the one that they serve like day and night.

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They they cry, holy, holy, holy. Other than beyond any description, beyond any conception, this being that we call father, this being that we call God is way beyond anything that we can ever begin to conceive. And yet he is here with us. He is in our hearts. He is in our life. We are in connect, connected to him, related to him. And he has given us his words. And I think that this is the secret weapon that we have.

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You know, it’s not necessarily our education or our history prowess or our personality, although all of these come into play, God did not violate the men and the women that he used to record his words in the book. He worked with them. He inspired and filled them and guided them in what they did. And he inspires, fills and guides us in what we do as well. And this is the differentiator. It really is the presence of God, the presence of the greater one who lives in us.

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And he is rooting for your breakthrough. He is absolutely planning and has planned for your prosperity. You know, Proverbs teaches that we shouldn’t lean on our own understanding, but commit our works to the Lord that our thoughts might be established. I like the passion translation of the verse. It says, before you do anything, put your trust in God and not in yourself. And every plan you make will succeed. And then kind of a marginal rendering of this is literally commit your business to the Lord.

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And I say instead of hustling, we start hearing Jesus. Jesus said that he did nothing that he didn’t first see the father doing. And through that vital connexion he had with heaven, you know, he didn’t take one step apart from the blessing of God because of that, his steps were established, confident and unfaltering. Now, I wish I could say the same thing about myself, but, you know, despite my fumbling efforts at times, I am still learning to pry myself away from this stubborn self-reliance.

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You know, it’s really clinging habit that I need to break. And I’m sure many of you would relate to that. You know, this addiction to do it myself, you know, it really deserves its own 12 step programme. But, you know, but at the same time as kind of my some of my less successful efforts in that direction, I have been learning to lean more fully on God. And the results of that, leaning on him, leaning on his wisdom and leaning on his direction are evident in our lives and essay in partnership with Jesus.

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We’ve really built a tremendously fulfilling, satisfying lifestyle business from the ground up, and it’s really furnished us financially in ways that were previously unheard of for us. And to be honest, if you’d known me back in the day and my aversion to business, you would absolutely recognise that it’s. Totally a miracle of God’s grace work in our lives, and so I think there are two things that committing our business to the Lord means for us. It means No.

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One, that we recognise that our business ultimately belongs to him and no to that we accept that he is the senior partner and that he is passionately committed to our success. And so from this place of confidence in God’s commitment to us, in this place of confidence, in God’s commitment to you, it becomes a great deal easier to commit to him. You know, we’re not a holding on to things in the same way because we trust that his hand, these things in his hand will be much better administrated than if they are merely and as you know, carrying on reading there in Proverbs 16, again, from the Pashtun translation, verse 26, a person who is skilled in business discovers prosperity, which is great news.

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But the verse isn’t complete. It goes on to say, but the one he trusts in God will be blessed beyond belief. Like there’s like over and above, you know, God plans to give you a future and a hope to prosper everything that you do. And this is intimately tied to your intimacy with him. You know that verse that from Jeremiah 29:11, very popular verse for some like that’s the promise box, one that they reach for, you know, for.

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I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. But then the verse actually continues. The context of this is this vital connexion that we’ve been talking about. Then you will call upon me as like it continues in verse twelve. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart in a seeking God is isn’t is not a diversion from our business activities.

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It is business activity. You know, he is a great business man. He’s a great he is in the business of supplying the entire world. Yeah. He is in the business of raising people up to raise people up. He’s in the business of building people. He’s in the building business of building you. He can make the darkest and most hopeless situations turn around and become hopeful. You know, he was able to turn the cross into the instrument of victory as opposed to the instrument of death.

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There is nothing that God cannot do. And with him on our side who honestly can be against us and spending time in consultation with him and not, you know, it doesn’t slice precious hours from our productivity. It really is the source and the fount of all of our future success. And a spiritual commitment really forms a foundation upon which we can then confidently build our business for many years to come. And thankfully, you know, our father’s activity isn’t confined behind church walls.

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His presence and counsel have been woven in to the very fabric of our lives. I love the Hebrew meeting meeting. I love the Hebrew meanings of this word. Commit. If you if you look them up in the kind of theological word book or strongs, there are a number of different facets to this word commit. And one of them is to wallow, to wallow. And I just got this picture of like wallowing in the wisdom of God, you know, in the same way as you might, like, get Clive in a hot tub and sit back and like, let the warmth feel your body and just relax and just let the concerns of the day drift away.

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We can wallow in the wisdom of God. It’s not something we’re not us. We don’t just want to take a quick shower. Yeah. We don’t just want to dip our toe. We want to climb in and we want to fully commit and fully immerse myself in the wonder of God’s word. And another one is to roll together, you know, like this this idea of like rolling together with God, you know, committing ourselves one to another and allowing.

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Allowing him to take us on an adventure, you know. What are your plans for today? What hopes do you hold for your growth and your prosperity? You know, and if if, like me, you still have like that the vestiges of that addiction to do it myself? You know, we want to make sure that we don’t get robbed of these beyond belief blessings that the scriptures talk about, you know, as a result of wholehearted commitment to building God’s kingdom.

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Yeah. And building our business, building our lives, building our families in conjunction and in connexion and friendship and partnership with the king. 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.