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How would you like to uncover your limitations and throw them to the lions? Discover your awesome, and recover your sense of creative purpose?

You are called by God to bring something unique and special to the world. Something that no one else can bring. Your worth is not measured by the world’s wonky gauge, but by the estimate of the One who made you.

So precious, so powerful, so magnificent is your contribution that the King of the universe stepped down from glory into the dusty confusion of this world, and lived and died so you can become all He intended and designed you to be.

It begins in the heart, where the wonder of discovery opens your eyes to all that the Creator wrought when He formed you in the womb. Not an accident, not an orphan wandering lonely paths looking for a home. You are a child of the house, a son or daughter of the King.

Then it flows, issuing out in a crystallisation of all that Christ has planted in you. Words and worth shaped into something the world can consume. Something that builds, benefits, and blesses other people.

Psalm 90 verse 12 reads:

“So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

Hiding and playing small is not wise. Burying your talent is the worst strategy any child can adopt.

Your creative giftings are designed to fly.

The internet has given wings to our ideas and opened channels of blessing for your value to flow to others in ways previous generations could only dream of.

My suggestion is that this can happen through products, publications, and online platforms. These will be flavoured by your own uniqueness, not cut from the same cloth, but shaped by Heaven to reach specific people.

But you have to begin.

And if your foot is already on the road you have to continue. Keep moving, keep exploring, keep testing and training. Don’t give up. The arrow from your heart that hits the bullseye may be your first, tenth or seven-hundredth, but hitting the target is inevitable if you keep pulling back the bow.

The biggest loss is not the one you might experience if you step out and mess up, it’s the tragedy of a life unlived, a gift undiscovered, an idea unexplored.

Every day that passes is one more opportunity hurtling by. You can pour value on the table and believe God for the outcome, or batten down the hatches and wait tight-lipped for the rapture. The choice is always yours.

As for me and my house, we’re all in, and ready to play all out. If God be for you who can be against you?

“The Lord is on my side”

Psalm 118:6

Can it be any clearer than that?

I realise that motivation is cheap, and application painful, but how much greater the pain of regret that you did not have a go. That you didn’t step up to the plate, swing the bat and try.

In this life, each one of us is in the business of being ourself. Be it today with 100% commitment, and let God take care of outcomes.

You don’t learn to ride a bike by reading a manual.

You learn by getting in the saddle, scuffing your knees, and climbing back on board again and again until it’s second nature.

All of the diagrams, videos on Youtube and courses and resources you can consume will never add up to the value of actually setting yourself in the saddle and pushing some pedal.

Learn by doing is the absolute number one way to grasp what you need to know to make bold strides forward in your business and content creation goals.

Truth be told, we don’t even know the questions we need to ask until we stumble upon them through trial and error. In the doing you’ll face some challenges that demand solutions. Then, and only then, you’ll know what you need to know.

One of the main tactics of master procrastinators is to use the excuse that they do not know everything they need to know to move forward. The key word in that sentence that justifies their lack of action is “everything”.

Paul the apostle spoke about those who are “ever learning but never coming to a knowledge of the truth”. This principle plays out in so many situations.

Folks who would dearly love to ride a bike, who say they want to ride a bike, who pay for the expert advice of others who are already riding bikes, who read all the latest books about bike trends and techniques, and who are regular attendees at every on site and virtual “How to ride a bike” conference, but who never actually roll up their trouser legs and climb into the saddle and start pushing some pedals themselves, will sadly most likely never ride a bike.

They will be an expert in theory, but remain stationary in reality.

We do not want to be stationary experts in our craft.

Whatever your creative endeavour, falling over numerous times in the pursuit of mastery through application, is far more valuable and useful than unscathed perfection and idealism.

It’s the dirty, bloodied knees that change the world.

Push some pedals today, friends.

Climb in the saddle of your craft and make something. Let your everyday evolve into a habit that revolves around your art and relationship with the Creator.

Then keep the pressure on and keep the wheels revolving through routine, one daily cycle at time.

This, in a very real sense, is how revolutions begin!

The well travelled path is sometimes the most dangerous one to take.

The ground there has been hardened by footfall, so progress is easy, but the end is determined. It’s the road that others have trampled many times before and is the way of least resistance.

As with most things, this thought has been inspired by the Master Himself, and especially the story He told of a farmer sowing seeds. You’ll find it in Luke chapter 8. I’m reading the Amplified.

The sower was clearly desiring to be a grower or he would not have sown in the first place. Each of the soils on the parable stage have something to teach us.

I’m assuming you too, want to grow? In influence, in your income, in your ability to communicate value?

This for me was the standout today:

“A sower went out to sow seed: and as he sowed, some fell on the well traveled path and was trodden underfoot, and the birds of the air ate it up.”

Luke 8:5

How tempting it is to stay safe and just “sow where we know”, stay within the bounds of our current experience and follow the crowd.

Sometimes on that pathway the revolutionaries who crave to chart a different route are shunned and shamed. How dare you challenge the status quo? How arrogant to think that you could rise above the norm and have explosive impact beyond your current circle!

But let’s face it, if something’s going to change something has to change.

The change begins when you step off the common path, when you grit your teeth and let the world know that you refuse to trample common ground.

Apologies for doubling up on parables, but the talents (Matthew 25) and the seeds have something in common.

Business in the Kingdom is a risk.

To please the King, you don’t bury your talents, you put them to dangerous use and multiply them.

To grow a harvest you throw your seeds from the bag. Some will not yield as you hope, others may be swallowed up in mixed motives, some may be scorched as you test and train and fail forward, but some will find their roots and begin to bear glorious fruit that far outstrips the effort.

You have something precious to sow into the field of the world, and today is the day to begin.

It may require stepping outside your comforts, but what do you have to lose? One day each of us will stand before the Master and give account of our stewardship.

More and more I look through this frame and see every reason to step out and have a go. I don’t want to be the dude with his head bowed holding the talent I buried in a hole under under the trodden road.

I long to hear the words, “Good and faithful”. Faithful sometimes gets confused with “safe and predictable.”

The “faithful” servants were not the ones who took the path of least resistance. They did not choose the safe way.

It may be better to split the world into its respective parts to clarify the lifestyle we are called to as Christian creatives.

Faith full.

Ask yourself today, if I am full of faith how will I act today. What will I do?

God is on your side, and He delights to prosper His people. Give Him something to work with, invite Him into your ideas, and miracles can happen!

I even had a knitting badge.

Now there’s a sign of a true modern man!

Recently my mom was clearing out for the new year and lo and behold, 40 years in storage, she produced my Cub Scout jumper. On the tiny arms were numerous badges of accomplishment. Gardening, cooking, campfires, drama (plenty of that over the years). There was even a knitting badge!

Accomplishments.

Roll through the years and I added other marks of mastery to the list.

Youth leader. Church planter and pastor. Businessman. Author. The arms of the jumper get longer and longer the more years I stack.

The Lord showed me several years ago an insight that keeps everything in perspective though.

Praying one day I had a vision.

I stepped into Heaven after a long and fruitful stay on earth and proudly approached the arrival gate.

Before I got there I had to pass through customs. A burly angel stood as I strode to step through the detector into glory, but the angel stopped me.

He looked at the clothes I was wearing, and calmly informed me that I could not take certain things through. Looking down I saw numerous badges and labels of honor on my outfit; “Church pastor”, “small group leader”, “administrator”, “artist”, “intercessor” and several others. I could add a few more now. “Christian businessman”, “coach and mentor”…

“You’ll have to remove the badges, sir. They don’t belong to you.”

But these were the badges I had worn all my life. These were the accomplishments I pointed to to assert my authority and scale my measure.

The angel continued. “They belong to Jesus, He gave you stewardship of His gifts for a while, but now you have to return them to Source before you can step through.”

A steward of His gifts

One by one I placed the badges of my earthly stewardship in the tray.

By the time we were finished I was nothing more than myself. No labels or titles, no badges or certificates, no letters after my name or accolades to carry. Just me.

I would not stand before Jesus with anything but gratitude. That was all I was allowed to carry because that’s what I had in my heart, not my arm.

“Do you have anything to declare?” asked the angel before I proceeded.

“Only the blood of Jesus,” I replied as I stepped forward. “I declare the blood of Jesus!”

“Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches. But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the LORD.”

Jeremiah 9:23-24 NKJV

Here’s a key that will open whatever door you are pushing.

Jesus first – everything else follows.

Jesus first – everything else follows.

Jesus first – everything else follows.

Of course I felt like an imposter!

“Breaking through” felt more like “breaking in” when I was first starting out. 

You don’t become an authority in an arena by staying quiet and taking no risks. You never pass the Jordan without wetting your pants. Pun intended, stepping out is scary!

Believe me, you are in good company.

• Stuttering Moses protested when God said he’d be His mouthpiece.
• Gideon couldn’t relate to God’s estimation that he was a “mighty man of valour”.
• How did murderous Paul really feel when God sent him in to the world as His perfect ambassador?
• Did flip-flop Peter really feel qualified to become a foundation stone of the early church?

Leadership is often just the willingness to do it sacred, until it’s not scary any more.

Then the Holy Ghost will push you on a little further.

Faith will always keep you one step ahead of capable.

Once we are capable and comfortable the Holy Ghost calls us forward one more step back into a place of required trust.

As soon as we think something is possible, impossible ushers us into the next phase of adventure.

You have to learn to “be” as you “be-come”.

Live your tomorrow today.

Stretch and serve.

Stepping into new things will always feel uncomfortable. That’s a good thing, because you’ll always be thrown on mercy, always be goaded to grow in relationship with God by your own sense of need. 

A declaration of dependence is far more powerful than self-reliance, when your trust is in the One who threw the universe into existence.

The world is waiting for leaders

The world is waiting for leaders. Waiting for those who will impose themselves where others will not. The online space is no different. There’s a piece of pioneer territory just waiting for your stake.

For me it’s right here among my people. 

The renegade faith brigade, seeking to make a difference.

For you it may be single mums, painters or musicians. It could be tea drinkers or coffee quoffers, podcasters or estate planners. It might be wholefooders or fiction readers.

Whoever you serve…

There’s a tribe waiting to hear your voice, and your voice will be found in the territory just beyond your comfortable reach. As you place your foot in the water the waves will part for you to walk through unscathed. 

The real imposter is the one who says you can’t. His nefarious tactics have never changed, and his favourite question remains, “Did God really say?” (Genesis 3:1)

But Papa says you CAN!

You can do all things through Christ, the anointed One and His anointing, who strengthens you.

Your pioneer spirit demands that you impose – to “establish by authority.”
To impress and inspire in your sphere of influence.
To step into your kingdom role of dominion.

We are now wading into deep waters.

Man’s first blessing was to lovingly rule and serve creation, distorted through sin, but restored in Christ when He commissioned His people to go into all the world carrying a gospel mandate. This is more than just a message, it’s a manifestation – an embodiment of the Kingdom we now represent.

Your anointed imposition within your sphere of influence is a divine calling.

You are an evangelist for the Kingdom, and an authority in your industry.

Next time the devil accuses you of imposing, thank him for reminding you of your divinely stamped authority and calling to dominate and become the go-to man or woman for your tribe.