podcast

Continuing this series on slowing down, simplifying, and finding creative grace to produce without sweat, I offer you five more insights from the first chapter of Genesis.

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I’m going to continue today sharing some slow thoughts to sew into your creative soil. Yesterday on the podcast, I shared the first six today I’m going to share another five, all drawn from those first beautiful chapters of Genesis in Genesis. The words in those chapters, those early chapters are like the garden that God planted that he talks of in those chapters. They are so full, so diverse, so rich with revelation, so much that we can find and dig up in there. Really, the seeds of the entire Bible are found just in these first chapters.

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And I’m kind of coming at this with a very clear purpose in mind. I’ve been reminded recently that God is not in a hurry. God is not in a hurry. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, and I believe that if we are going to walk with him, we will not be in a hurry either. I really do.

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And so continuing this series of slowing down simplifying and finding creative Grace to produce without sweat in the sense that when Adam was told be fruitful and multiply, it was a result of the blessing that God had placed upon Him and Eve upon mankind. And then following the curse, it was told man, anything that you produce from here on in is going to be produced by the sweat of your brow, by your hard work and effort. But in Jesus name we have been redeemed from the curse, not for laziness, not for inaction, but for empowered Grace, empowered activity that is rooted in the creative presence of God in our lives.

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Do feel free to jump over to the blog. Just take a look, find the post that is called Five Slow Thoughts to sew into your creative soil and share your thoughts on there.

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If you want to, I would love to hear what you have to say around this subject of slowing down simplifying and rediscovering creative Grace in looking at these things. As I say, we shared six thoughts yesterday and I’m going to share another five today. Number one, God said, Let the Earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, the fruit yielding tree after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the Earth. And it was so after his kind. The plan of God is that all that he created that’s capable of reproduction produced after its kind, to live a prosperous, peaceful life of gracious contribution.

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We can’t spend our efforts trying to be something or someone that we are not. How often have we fallen into that trap? We are one of a kind. You are one of a kind. And yet here you are trying to be someone else.

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If God made you to bear apples bear the best apples you can produce, don’t envy the Orange tree person because their fruits are more colourful or juicy than the ones you’re producing. Honestly, I am lacking in so many departments glaringly so. But I’m learning just by the Grace and goodness of God and by a process of elimination and by elimination, I mean, I’m eliminating the things that deplete my energies, eliminating the things that diminish my sense of self worth and actually magnifying in God and magnifying through Christ, the things that God has placed in my hand.

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I may not be some big dude. I may not be kind of the poster boy.

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I may not be the one who’s making all of the ripples in the marketplace. Whatever else, whatever other things I might aspire to like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. The tiresome pursuit of something that is unattainable. And in this case, I mean, being someone that God never designed you to be is such a deep rooted discontent that many people chase and spend that waste their lives actually chasing instead of looking inwardly and spending our efforts to discover who we really are, what kind God has created me to be.

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It’s very easy to expand all of that energy that could otherwise be spent creating, looking outwardly at all of the other trees in the forest, all of the other herbs and the bushes and the grasses and lamenting why you are not like them.

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I want to tell you, precious beloved child of the living God, the King’s kid, you are one of a kind. No one else can take your place. And if you don’t become unashamedly yourself, no one else can. The best thing that you can bring to the table. And the greatest gift you can give to the world is yourself your authentic self.

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Number two, Genesis 1:14 God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night. Let them be for signs and for seasons, for days and years. And what stood out to me here was seasons. Now, life is seasonal, like the rhythms that God put in motion when he made the world. Knowing what season we are in really helps us to navigate that season with Grace and humility, because let’s face it, man, some seasons are more difficult than others.

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Yeah, they’re more strenuous than others. But when we yield to the hand of God and His shaping and his sharpening of our character through each one will be very well prepared for the next. Fighting against the flow in any given season will really tire you out and finding Grace and proper pace with God’s purpose in whatever season you’re in can help to remove the friction that so often tires us out through the process. We don’t want to be tired out. We don’t want to be expended exhausted.

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And in every season, right down to moment by moment seasons, God can accomplish in an instant certain things other times it may take days, months, or even years, but in everyone, there is something magnificent to discover in Him being aware of His immediate presence and what he wants to do right now as well as his greater plans that often span decades. It gives Grace to our heart to walk in a peaceful pace with Him in both the small things of life and the bigger aspirations and the bigger dreams that we carry.

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Now, don’t be quick to judge His methods. God sees the end from the beginning, and what sometimes seems contrary right now may well be the very circumstances that he uses to form your future success. I know for me I’m in a season right now of quite a reflective season after a number of different disappointments is just personal disappointments, misplaced expectations that were unrealized or whatever you want to.

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You know, we’ve all got our own bag of troubles that we can pull out and spill the laundry out for everyone else to travel through. But honestly, sometimes the hard seasons, sometimes the things that God doesn’t give us just as much a blessing as the ones that he does. And it’s good to remember that and recognise that there is no rush or hurry. If we trust in God’s provision for the season that we’re in, learn your lessons well, be ready to let go graciously when one season comes to an end and a new one begins because each season has its very own special riches and harvest to bestow in your character in your life.

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Sometimes, maybe even in your bank account, in your relationships.

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Each season actually is generally pregnant with something very specific for a very clear defined area of our lives. And if we will allow the master craftsman to do his work well, we will always come out of whatever season we are in a much better person. And with a deeper, closer walk with that craftsman that I’m speaking of, the wonderful Holy Spirit, number three greater and lesser lights. God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, the lesser light to rule the night. And he made the stars also, I love that just as an aside, like, oh yeah.

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And I made the stars as well. By the way, greater lights, lesser lights and the stars also. And God set them to give light upon the Earth to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. What this brought up to me was that comparison is not a great way to peaceful living.

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Greater lights, lesser lights, stars, also some big, some small. But we’re all with the same glorious Commission to give light to the Earth and divide light from dark. I just want to encourage you to shine your light unashamedly in the very best way that you know how. Don’t allow your sense of worth to be eclipsed by the sun of someone else’s genius. One of the ways in which I’m letting my litter light shine is doing this podcast.

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Here I am shining my little light and getting brighter every day in Jesus name. God has commissioned you to fulfil his mandate and assignment, and it is good you’re not going to be judged on the light that he commanded someone else to shine. He’ll require an account for only your stewardship, stewardship of the gifts that he chose to entrust into your keeping, not those that he entrusted to someone else. Don’t compare yourself. Don’t feel lesser.

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Don’t consider yourself greater. The sun doesn’t shine with self conscious rays. It just simply fulfils its nature. The moon doesn’t reflect with a straining jealousy that it’s not the sun. It rejoices in the sky and shows forth unparalleled beauty.

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There’s nothing like it. Be who you are and settle into your orbit around the purposes of God with wholehearted commitment. Don’t judge and measure yourself by all of the faulty metrics that the world is judging and measuring by. Honestly, it does not lead to peace. It does not lead to a place of rest and fulfilment and completion.

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You think that you want this or that you want this amount of followers or this amount of money or whatever else it may be. You name it. Tick the boxes. Once you get it, you’ll discover that actually, that didn’t quite satisfy the deep longing and ache of my heart. Because the Scriptures tell us that God has planted eternity in men’s hearts that he and he alone can satisfy that aching longing desire that resides within you, looking for significance, looking for whatever it is you’re after.

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I tell you something, there’s a place you will find satisfaction and delight and the fulfilment that you seek. But it’s not going to be out there running around trying to find it. You’re going to find that it already resides within you, the enthronement of Jesus in your life and heart. If I can give you any advice whatsoever, and this counts for personal advice, business advice, health advice. You name it advice.

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Learn the gentle, beautiful art and skill of waiting on the presence of God. Anyways, I digress number four, blessed Genesis 1:22 and God bless them, saying, Be fruitful, multiply. Fill the waters in the seas and let foul multiply in the Earth. This is what God commanded the all of nature to do fruitfulness and multiplication flow from blessing. God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply.

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Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all the things that the world is seeking by sweat will be added to your account by Grace. No greater love or beauty exists. Then the wonderful presence of God in our lives. Don’t multiply your efforts and then ask for His blessing on your own makings. Oftentimes that’s what we do, isn’t it?

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We make something and then try. All right. And by the way, God could you bless this? I’m going to seek His blessing. First, the blessing came first, be fruitful multiply.

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And then the fruitfulness followed. Seek His blessing. First the blessing of divine counsel, wisdom from His heart, compassion for others, and from that place of Grace and fullness, go forth and multiply. And then finally man. I’m enjoying this.

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I’m enjoying this this time in the Book of Genesis. Actually, I’ve not gone and dug this garden for quite a long time for probably a number of years. Certainly not with any kind of keen intent. And I am just amazed at what I’m finding in there so many rich things that the Lord wants to give us in his image. God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness.

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Genesis 1:26 Let me say this again. I’ve said it before. God is not in a hurry. God is not nervous, anxious, fearful, or insecure. I’ve had times in my life and seasons in my life, but that would have been a perfect description of the man that I was looking at in the mirror.

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God help me. I need to always come back to this remembrance. God is creative, playful, Holy and whole in himself, fully immersed in his perfect plan for humanity. And he pours himself out in endless abundance for the betterment of his creation. And you, I will like our maker in his image after his likeness, a miracle made to make just as he brought forth wonders from his heart.

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So will you. It’s your nature to produce the invisible is made visible through your intervention. You’re a conduit and through the faith that’s alive in your heart hopes become substance and are then shared with the world. Such my dear brother sister, my creative Christian friends, is your DNA. Creative fruitfulness is your default greatness and beauty flow from your inner man with effortless intention because you live from who you are, a child of the great Creator himself.

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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. Davidleemartin.com.

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Have a great day.

Here are some slow thoughts about an unhurried life of worship and creativity from the first verses of Genesis…

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Today I want to share six thoughts on slowing down simplifying and the creative life. Christian creative life, particularly looking only really got as far as the first few verses of Genesis. But the Holy Ghost has been instructing me in the pace of life that leads to fruitful living and fruitful living as much as the world may try and Con you into thinking is not just a matter of production. It’s a matter of peace. It’s a matter of living in the way that is fullest and the way that best represents the one whom we have been sent as ambassadors for.

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That would have been a day when I would most certainly have said I would rather burn out than rust out. But having been through a few episodes of virtual burnout, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be really. I would much prefer to live with the long view to live a life of rich, rooted fruitfulness. And despite what I’ve just said, I’ve got no monumental story to tell, no big brag about a previous breakneck, life of speed and greed, no mega churches, no like endless meetings or anything like that to talk about.

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No dramatic turnaround that transformed a crazy speedaholic success into an unhurried worshipper.

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I’m just a believer with a deep desire to know God who is quickly, even though I’m talking about slow and maybe I am slow. Maybe it’s taken me 50 years to get here almost, but I am quickly realising that fast does not work. Certainly not for me anyways, I can’t be prescriptive in that, but I think there’s something to be said about walking with God, not jogging or running or sprinting with him. Now there may be seasons for that, but boy, oh boy, I think more often than not it is a walk in the garden that he desires in the cool of the day.

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And I think in those places of quietness, in those places of a pace that allows the noise of the world to simmer down and for the voice of God to be strongly heard, we step into a different way of living, a countercultural way of living.

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And so here are some slow thoughts about an unhurried life of worship. And presently I’m just as I say in the first few verses of Genesis, who knows where this will lead? I may end up. I’ve got six thoughts here. From these first few verses I may end up with about 600 if I work my way through the Bible, so brace yourself.

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It will be a slow journey. Don’t worry, number one in the beginning. In the beginning, Genesis, one verse one in the beginning, God, everything begins and ends with God. He comprehends all things in himself and nothing is outside his knowledge and control. Everything in time has a beginning and an end.

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But God does not. He lives outside of time. And I think an unhurried life sits very securely in this reality when we step into the place of prayer, and we sense His presence in reality. We are stepping outside of time and all of that time pressure that tries to force itself in upon us dissipates. And we realise that there is a far bigger picture at work, something far bigger than us, something far bigger than the madness outside our doors that’s taking place in the world.

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And we can rest in that reality. The Scriptures say he will keep the man whose mind is stayed on him on God. He will keep in perfect peace. And I think that the place of prayer is where we can best put that promise to effect. Now prayer is where we meet the one who inhabits eternity and where we get a perspective that’s just less pressured by the passing moment slipping through our fingers.

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Isaiah 57:15 for thus safe the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy. I dwell in the high and Holy place with him. Also, that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contract ones. There is a place of humility when we slow down, stop all of our efforts and our striving, and recognise this wonderful, awesome, generous, faithful God that we serve, whose name is Holy. Number two.

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In the beginning, God in the beginning, God God created. We know that. But the who came before the do before there was any action before there was any other thing. He is. The same is true for you.

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Who before do you’re not measured by your production or usefulness, even though the world would try and convince you otherwise? And the impactful contribution that you’re called to bring to the world is going to flow from who you are on the inside issues of life flow from the heart and the more connected you become to your accepted and dearly loved identity in Christ. The more freely and wonderfully that value that you produce will flow out and change lives. Number three, in the beginning, God created God’s first introduction to us is as a creator, he is a maker and wonderfully inventive in every way, like beyond description.

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And I think a creative life is very natural and normal for children of God.

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It’s not something that we have to work up or strain to become. You are creative by nature. You are made in the beautiful image and likeness of the one who created you. Living a creatively fruitful life is the overflow of the connection that you have with Him. A tree doesn’t strain to produce the fruit it was designed to bless the world with.

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And I think there’s a place where we don’t have to either. There’s a big difference between a machine churning out whatever widget it’s designed to spew out and a tree that actually draws its nutrients from deep roots and quite naturally then produces fruit. And I think that our deep rooted relationship with God is the very source and essence of our life as creative Christians. So let your heart root deep into God’s faithfulness and his personality and the vibrant, untamed wonder will flow from your inner man in the most surprising ways.

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Number four, the Earth was without form and void.

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We’ve got all the way to verse two. Hallelujah. The Earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Genesis one, verse two.

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And in a society that is hellbent on, faster, bigger, cheaper. The idea that something is not shiny and slick is very frowned upon. And sometimes I don’t know about you. I can only speak for myself, but I feel less than slick. Here I am in my office, scraps of paper lying around.

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I’ve got an appointment at eleven and because I’m so bad at remembering appointments, I’ve got it written on like a bright little sticky note with it scribbled on. So it’s right in my face. I feel less than slick. I don’t know how I come across, but I can promise you it’s a lot more kind of frayed at the edges when you get behind the scenes. And here in verse two, we find out that there is a place where we often feel very much without form and void.

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And it’s a dark place. If we fail to remember that God moves even when the lights are off, don’t be in a hurry to run from those searching seasons where our life feels without form hidden inside what looks like a formless lump of clay to an untrained eye. The sculptor sees a masterpiece and God uses every season. God uses everything in our lives to mould and shape us for eternity. You truly are, as the Scriptures say in Ephesians, his masterpiece, his workmanship, and even through dark seasons of soul searching, the Holy Spirit is moving.

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Number five, the Earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters. The word used for spirit here in the first verses of this epic adventure into the mind and heart of God is Rua. It’s translated in some instances as breath. The breath of God moved on the face of the waters.

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God breathed into the darkness. God’s breath is life giving and creative by nature. And maybe I think if we take his lead and breathe a little more, we would see better results than for all our breathless striving. Take a breath and remember that God is with you and in you. And maybe this will help you keep your mind stayed on this truth, that nothing is impossible with Him.

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Even in the midst of seeming chaos, he is moving. He is breathing. And so can you slow down, take a breath and remember who it is that you’re working with. Number six in the evening and the morning and the evening and the morning were the first day jumping right to Genesis one verse five and the evening and the morning were the first day. I actually really love this.

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The creation song that we read right there in the very first chapter of Genesis is just so incredibly beautiful and so insightful and revealing on, like, it could be a lifetime that we spend there. And here we find that there was a rhythm to our father’s creative work. There’s no sense of rush in this beautiful account we have over his creative work. Really. The question isn’t like, wow, six days.

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That’s so short. Don’t we need billions of yours? The question really is, why did it take him so long? Seriously, this is the Almighty God. He could have just in an instant created everything.

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But he decided to Institute a perfect rhythm. The evening and the evening and the morning. We begin our work in the morning, after an evening of rest, we work from rest. And like I say, there’s no sense of rush. Evening, morning, the first day, evening, morning, the second day.

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And then he adds a second beat to this rhythm to this song. And God saw that it was good. I mean, if I was a beatboxer or like in musical or in any way, I would probably try and might be a slower beat than that. But he adds this second string to the song. And God saw that it was good.

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Genesis one verse twelve, evening, morning, the third day, and God saw that it was good. Genesis one eight, evening, morning, the fourth day, and God saw that it was good and right the way through this wonderful chapter to this Crown in chorus. And God saw everything that he had made. And behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning was the 6th day, an unhurried rhythm of creation, followed by and punctuated by appreciation.

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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.

What is it about human nature that tends so heavily to discontent and fails to appreciate the real riches that no money can buy?

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I’m going to step into the confessional this morning and ask the question, Why do I really need another donkey?

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What we’re going to be looking at at is really tackling the green eyed beast of envy. So last week, Larna was kind enough to recognise that I was getting a bit stir crazy and encouraged me to look, just go out, carry your work elsewhere, get into a different environment. So I went down to the local pub. We’ve got a lovely pub in the village that we live in here. I went down there, took my laptop down, bought myself a drink and was working on a book that I’ve been writing over the past weeks about prayer and the presence of God and commitment to God’s purpose and to prayer.

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And as I’m sat there in walk of these shiny looking individuals, young, vibrant and by young, I mean like my kind of young kids here.

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It’s funny, isn’t it, how our estimation of what’s young tends to extend as we pile on the ears and they come in and they order bottles of wine and a slap up lunch. And then some friends spontaneously join them and the mirth ensues. And I’m sat there and I notice a creeping discontent crawl over my soul and really a disconnect from this rich life that I’m learning to live in Christ. And by rich life, I mean inward, that inward life that we are seeking. It’s like this siren call back down to Earth can so often interrupt, like living in fullness.

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And that doesn’t mean that our outer life and our inner life are not connected in any way, etcetera. I’m not in any way suggesting that there is a call to some kind of poverty stricken monkish existence. But it’s amazing how the Ballaster bags of envy can have this horrible habit of dragging us back down and dragging us along the ground when we see the seeming prosperity of other people, the ease with which they seem to conduct their existence on the planet. It’s really odd and can catch us unaware.

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And I say us because most of us are like the rest of us.

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I can only speak for myself, really, but I think that this is something that many people really wrestle with. It’s like jealousy is the stock in trade of the world that we now inhabit. The bright and the brilliant are paraded as the Mark to shoot for. But then there’s this grim rubbing of normal noses in the apparent mediocrity of their own existence, and it can drive us to do things, buy things, go places, think in different ways, speak in different ways that we wouldn’t otherwise consider. The environment of consumerism that we exist in today in the Western culture is so finely tuned that it is designed to leverage that fleshy desire for comfort, that fleshy desire for more, that fleshy desire to size up and to outstrip the Joneses in ways that really Rob us of the wonder of gratitude that we otherwise would live in.

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Now I’m thinking about how the father laid out only ten explicit Commandments that he deemed worthy of etching into stone, and one of them slammed this tendency head on. And it kind of made me smile. When I was thinking about this odd situation that I found myself in when I was in the pub last week, it says, you shall not cover your neighbor’s house. You shall not cover your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant, nor his Ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbours.

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Exodus 20:17.

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I got to thinking, Dude, why would I even want another donkey? I have so many donkeys piled up in my own life already. So many blessings to thank God for. It’s almost criminal when I contrast it with the terrors that some on the Earth today are facing every single day the lives that we live as top percenters. And the problem is because the media tries to downplay just how abundantly we live in just our regular existence.

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We get to thinking that even when we are drowning under the prosperity that we enjoy as people in the Western Nations, we can get to think that somehow more is going to satisfy the deep craving of our lives. And it’s just not true. It is just not true.

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It’s this human nature that tends so heavily to discontent and fails to appreciate the real riches that ultimately no money can buy. I’m learning to be real thankful. And I guess this is one reason why I’m not too worried to confess these things. I’m learning to be thankful that the Holy Ghost would shine a spotlight on the cracks in my character and pull the pus to the surface. It sounds horrible.

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I know, and it is that’s the whole point. But as my mum so sagely says, better out than in pondering this comparison game that I found myself caught in the pub there, I brought it to the table of prayer. I was talking with the Holy Ghost, really looking for a remedy, like asking him, Why do I still find myself caught in this game? And he showed me a picture of a man like a glass man, a transparent man being filled with water. And there was all this sediment that had settled in his stationary life.

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And as he was filled with water, all of the sediment was pushed up and out, the Fuller he became. The more of this kind of grimy sediment was pushed up and out. So it was no longer clouding the vision being able to see through. And the Holy Ghost explained, he said, My love casts out fear and really the envy and jealousy and all of these different things that can cause us to chase after things that will never really satisfy us. The root of that is fear, fear of lack fear, that God will not provide fear that we will miss out whatever else it may be.

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And as we know, the online life is absolutely stock full of that kind of mindset. The answer really is not to perform an internal witch Hunt for all of those less than sanctified areas that drag what otherwise would be a buoyant spirits down it’s to be filled to overflowing with the presence of the real treasure. God’s presence, how beautiful to rise above the froth and bubble and swirling confusions of this lower life and sit to get perspective in the presence of the one who is truly high and lifted up.

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Worship lifts us above the fray and clears our vision to see. Now one of my favourite Psalms is Asaph’s wonderfully vulnerable petition in Psalm 73.

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We read there, and I’m just reading a few excerpts from the verses. But the whole Psalm of 73 is so worth just taking a moment to read through and he says, Truly, God is good to Israel, even to such as who are of a clean heart. But as for me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had well, nice slipped. I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked until I went into the sanctuary of God.

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Then I understood the end. Now, no way do I want to imply that prosperity is for the wicked alone. I mean, he kind of talks about the prosperity of the wicked. It doesn’t need to be the wicked. It can be anyone.

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We can look at our brothers and sisters with narrow eyes, can’t we? It seems to be the human condition apart from Christ, God prospers his people and takes great delight in doing so. But those narrow eyes of envy can afflict even those who are part of the few percenters on the planet who have such an overabundance. I dare say that includes both you and I. So the point I want to make is this.

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And it’s really just one word from that Psalm 73 until I went into the sanctuary. How profound are those words? Perspective changes when we step into the sanctuary eye Salve is copiously dispensed in the sacred place. Instead of looking with envious eyes, craving another ass, another donkey to add to our crowded stable, we get caught by the beauty of the King. Listen to these words from Isaiah 33, verse 17.

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Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty. They shall behold the land that is very far off. There’s a land that’s very close, stuffed and pushed into our eyes and ears begging for our attention every day. It’s a land so immediate and it’s full of empty glamour and passing riches. And then there’s a land that is very far off, a land flowing with milk and honey whose trees heal the nations and whose sidewalks are paved with the finest gold.

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All of the false glamour of this present age cannot shake a stick at the riches that Christ so freely offers. But we need, I think, to make continual and regular visits to the sanctuary, to keep the pipes clean, to keep ourselves full and overflowing, and to make sure our eyes are fixed on eternity. Really? Honestly, you can keep your donkey. I’ll pray that you can get another donkey if you want one.

00:11:49.890]
But a donkey is not going to satisfy the deepest craving of your heart. There’s something far, far greater. God will prosper you and prosper the work of your hand in this life. But, boy, oh, boy. There is something far greater that he also wants to offer you.

00:12:11.790]
And it’s found only in the sanctuary. Well, thanks for listening. Hopefully. Hopefully, it’s been an encouragement to you today. If you want to connect any further, you can do so through my website.

00:12:24.270]
Davidleemartin.com have a great day.

Pregnant with a book? These 5 keys will help the contractions and finally birth that amazing baby!

Book Writing Courses mentioned…

https://www.davidleemartin.net/courses/non-fiction-book-writing-roadmap

https://www.davidleemartin.net/heros-journey-bootcamp

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00:00:02.270]
I want to get real practical with you today and encourage you to write your book already. If you got a book on the inside of you, an idea for a story or an idea for some kind of helpful nonfiction book, I want to just share with you five keys to get you striking the keys and finally finish your book. There really are very few things that are as satisfying as reaching the end and then taking what you previously had hidden on the inside and making it public for other people to be blessed by to learn from to benefit from writing a book really is a great way to build and develop a very rich, creative legacy.

00:00:56.630]
I was just reading yesterday about one of my favourite writers, E M Bounds. He wrote some of the most influential books on fervent prayer ever in all of history.

00:01:09.230]
His books are like, honestly, they are incendiary, but I read yesterday that only two of his books actually got published while he was alive. And it was after his death that the rest of the library of amazing writing that he had actually was gathered together and made available to the world. That guy is making an impact today in hundreds of thousands of lives because he put the words that were in his heart on the paper. And I encourage you to do the same. I also encourage you to do it now because we have opportunities that Mr.

00:01:55.790]
E m Bounds did not have and like, do it before you die. Come on, write your book already. And what I want to share with you are just a few keys that I have found helpful. It’s how I work. I’ve written many books and published even more.

00:02:14.690]
So I would love to just share with you some things that I believe might be helpful to kick the wheels into gear and get your book written and out to the world where it belongs. And the first thing I want to encourage you is don’t come to your book thinking. I’ve got to write this huge long book and see it like a mountain that you’ve got to scale way off in the distance. You can see the peak. Don’t write your book.

00:02:43.670]
Build your book. That’s my advice. Whether it’s a story you’re weaving or a nonfiction book, you’re conceiving, kiss your reader and kill your excuses. And by kiss. I mean, not keep it simple, stupid, because this is not the stupid way to approach this.

00:03:03.770]
This is actually a way that will take you from once upon a time to happily ever after without any kind of big roadblocks in the way. And this is it. Keep it short and simple. Many people have a book rumbling around in their belly. They’re pregnant with something that they want to bring to the world and bring to life.

00:03:30.410]
But it feels more like indigestion.

00:03:34.370]
It’s just like this thing that you think, oh, I should write a book or one day I will write a book. Honestly, a perpetual pregnancy would be a nightmare. There comes a point where what you have there growing on the inside really does need to come out and let me give you some keys to help you do that. I want to encourage you today that the idea that you have in the womb of your imagination is not some big monster to be feared, but it’s a little embryo.

00:04:08.630]
It’s an idea that will grow naturally and find its way into the world.

00:04:14.030]
If you only give some time, attention and nourishment to it, just tend it. Well, here are five simple steps. Okay. And I realised that we’re just going to skim the surface here. I do have some recommendations of courses that you can jump into if you want to take this a step further and really make it a reality.

00:04:41.330]
But even what I share here, I believe, is going to be helpful to you. Number one, don’t try to write an epic. Now you are obviously welcome to go all Tolkien on me and create an entire world and write 3000 pages of epic. Amazing, awesome fantasy. And if that’s your thing, I don’t want to dissuade you.

00:05:09.110]
But for most of us, the idea of like 100,000 words is a horrifying mountain to climb. And I found that as I’ve already mentioned, I like short. I like sweet. I like simple, because short, sweet and simple does tend to get written and also get read. The way that people consume content nowadays is very different.

00:05:36.350]
Short is the new long. Short. Books are easier to write and easier to read and they actually get finished both by the writer and by the reader. What I would suggest is if you’re going to scale this book writing mountain, just chop it down to size, break it up into rocks that you can hold in your hand. A decent book or a story can be as little as 10,000 words and still make a massive difference in people’s lives.

00:06:07.130]
So carve that 100,000 word tone into ten and create 10,000 word books instead. I mean, that’s just one Avenue to go down. And then if you want to, you can gather those books into a box set of some kind and put it out and repurpose and publish again. You’re going to be able to knock over those pins a lot easier if you do them one by one. And as I say, people do consume in a very different way.

00:06:40.190]
Today, they are more open to short form content than ever before. And the way that a lot of books now are consumed digitally make that even more of a kind of present truth, because there’s something about reading on a device. It’s different than reading on paper. Of course, when you publish a book, you can do both digital and print. But yeah, just the general way in which people consume content has changed.

00:07:15.950]
So don’t be fearful to write short. Now for a fiction writer, why not create a series of short stories? 10,000 words, maybe even less. For a nonfiction writer, stick to one big idea, and don’t stray from that path. Don’t stray from that idea.

00:07:36.050]
And that leads me to the next point. Number two, your one big idea. I think a mistake a lot of people make is to try and stuff everything into one tome into one book. Instead of concentrating their efforts to shoot just one arrow and really hit the Mark, they shoot in all directions and try and tell everything that they know in one book. This may be good if you want to create some kind of market leading never equaled classic.

00:08:05.810]
But in all honesty, those are few and far between. I encourage writers that I work with and especially ones who are stalled or caught in the headlights wondering what to do to just choose one big idea? Consider this idea a bit like a cut diamond. Every chapter you write will highlight one facet of your big idea. One diamond with many facets, not many diamonds, if you know what I mean.

00:08:34.130]
You come at your subject and you’ve got your one big idea. Let’s say it’s prayer, and I choose prayer because that’s what I largely write about. And then you take the facets of that beautiful jewel and you hit each one of them one by one. You highlight each one of them one by one.

00:08:57.650]
Each chapter, as I say, will highlight one facet of your big idea. One diamond with many facets in fiction. Obviously, that may be a little different, but not completely. Fiction is story essentially, and story has a purpose. The purpose is to carry the reader to a satisfying ending.

00:09:19.730]
That’s what a fiction reader is looking for. And so you got to ask yourself, when you’re writing the story and plotting out the story, does this idea or plot point further the story? Does it move the story forward, or is it irrelevant and not required jumping down? A lot of Uber descriptive rabbit holes can really work against you. What you want to do is just keep that story real tight and make every single point and facet of your writing move the story forward, especially if you’re writing short stories for nonfiction in a drill down into your chosen subject.

00:10:04.790]
Every chapter should highlight a specific aspect of your big idea, but at the same time, clearly connect to the whole look at it like the reader as they go from chapter to chapter is turning the diamond in their hand as they read, and by the time they turn the last page, they should have a Fuller appreciation of the beauty of the complete jewel that you’ve shared with them. The one big idea really is the foundation upon which you build. Think of a foundation in a house. This is the big idea that’s the slab in the floor that is actually going to hold the house in place.

00:10:46.250]
That’s what’s going to keep everything in its proper place.

00:10:49.850]
And so sitting at the desk with a keyboard shaming you for the 20,000 or 50,000 words you haven’t yet written is not a great way to stay motivated. And so instead of looking at your book like a mountain to scale, carve it down to small 500 word rocks and knock those 500 words out each and every day, some days, maybe more. But always your 500. I’ve got a great friend, Marcus Arden, who is exercising this very principle and has been exercising it over the past months. And it’s just been so inspiring to see him jumping into the Christian Creative Academy Facebook group, saying he’s knocked down another pin.

00:11:36.470]
He’s knocked out another article. He’s knocked out another chapter. This kind of creative habit really is very pivotal and very powerful to take you to that finished tape in 30 days. If you do 500 words a day, you’ll have 15,000 words. That’s a book.

00:12:00.290]
That’s a book. You could do one of those every single month if you really gave yourself to it in a build the book, chapter by chapter, plot point by plot point. Don’t excuse yourself because you don’t feel inspired. Now I love this quote by William Faulkner. At least that’s who it’s often attributed to.

00:12:19.610]
And he said, I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately, it strikes at nine every morning. Just keep placing one brick on top of the other until the whole book is built. Number four. Do not edit while you write the editor in you is a critic, not a creative he or she is going to.

00:12:45.290]
I’m talking about the inner critic. I’m talking about self editing. This is not a comment on Editors, if you like. I work with Editors all the time, and I’m hugely thankful for the skill that they bring to my table. But if you are sitting down to write a book, don’t wear both caps at once.

00:13:06.290]
That inner critic, that inner editor is going to cramp your style and cripple your voice. Just lock the temptation to edit as you write in a dark room, somewhere in another room in the house, and if possible, way down at the end of the garden, somewhere out of sight, out of mind, out of hearing range. Yeah, and that way you’ll be free to write from your heart without worrying about whether the words are perfectly constructed or spelled or whatever. My number one writing skill is typos, you just ask anyone who has worked with me.

00:13:49.370]
I’m like the fumbling keyboard hero, but I can’t afford to worry about that while I’m actually getting the words on the page.

00:13:59.990]
Now, when the right time comes, you let the editor out of their kennel. That inner editor like. Again, I’m talking about that inner critic and come back to your work afterwards and go through with a critical eye. But not when you’re first putting the words on the page, and it’s really difficult to allow a painterly word. Smith and a pinikety inner critic is pinnickety a word.

00:14:27.950]
I think it is. It certainly kind of sums up how the inner editor will work. It’s going to pick up on every little thing. And you don’t want that. As you’re kind of working and looking to step into flow.

00:14:44.330]
Don’t let them loose on the page at the same time. Give them their allotted turn at the right time. Write first edit afterwards. And as you’re writing, don’t judge your writing. Don’t second guess.

00:15:00.230]
Don’t return and spin every sentence to perfection. Get real and raw and punch the keys with heart and soul. The Bible says that life issues from the heart and you really want your words to be filled with vitality. Then bring your head to the game. You put your heart on the page, then bring your head to the game and shape that raw material into something more pithy by pithy.

00:15:29.210]
I mean, get rid of the flab, get rid of anything that is not necessary, not needed to make it really punchy and really hits the Mark. Working together in tandem at their allotted time, never together. The writer in you and the critical editor in you are a very formidable team. And then, of course, you can then take that to someone else to cast an expert eye over it on your behalf and do an edit outside of that self production. And then number five.

00:16:10.790]
And this kind of sums things up. But it’s an important one because there are lots of books that have been written and never finished or never published in a thorough edit. When you finish, here we go. When you finish finish, I should put an exclamation Mark there in our thorough edit is important. Absolutely.

00:16:35.930]
But left alone for too long. That inner critic is going to Whittle your book down to just a few sentences. Perfected sentences. Your 10,000 words short story is going to become like a 2000 word castrated cat. It just doesn’t work.

00:16:59.030]
You don’t want to Whittle your thing down to just a matchstick. Don’t be too violent in your critical appraisal of the work that you produce. I recommend that you do your edit in three phases.

00:17:18.050]
Number one, high touch and the high touch edit is really just asking, does this flow? Does the book cover the one big idea? Well, or does it tell the story? Well, does it leave the reader satisfied that the promise on the cover has been fulfilled? Is there any glaring omissions that must be added?

00:17:39.410]
And are there any kind of Frankenstein limbs growing that need to be locked off? And by that, I mean, all the flabby stuff that’s really not needed, just get rid of it. It’s a great thing to just chop off things that are not required if they don’t move the story forward or don’t add value, or if they don’t relate directly to the big idea that you are opening up for your readers in a nonfiction book. And then the mid touch edit is where you move through the manuscript to tidy the sentences, clear ideas so that they really sparkle.

00:18:20.630]
Add finishing touches to the pros that you’ve written.

00:18:23.990]
Now in this it’s really with the mid touch edit you’re coming in and doing a more broad stroke edit, you’re getting more detailed, but you’re just looking and thinking. Have I made this point really clear? Are there ways in which I can either expand or contract the way I’ve said it to make it hit the Mark more powerfully? And then, of course, what I call a low touch edit. And this is when you go down into the thick grass of grammar and typos and tidy the details on a very practical level to make the book the best it can be.

00:19:03.890]
A lot of that work can be done just with a simple spell cheque believe it or not. And there are software like Pro, Writing Aid and Grammarly and other softwares that can do a lot of that work on your behalf, even prompt you how your writing can be improved. And believe me, even after all of these kind of layers of editing, your book is never going to be perfect. It really is not. You’re going to find that some mistakes are going to slip even the finest net.

00:19:40.070]
So you’ve got to come to a point where you’re happy and content with good enough is good enough and getting better every day and actually just allow that book to sprout wings and fly out into the world in all of its glorious imperfection if necessary. And I would recommend this. Get someone else to do an edit for you after you have completed your round of editing, get a qualified friend or jump on Fiverr dot com or Upwork dot com and hire some talent to give your tidy the manuscript of once over book writing is really for me anyways.

00:20:20.390]
And again, I can only talk from my experience and my perspective. But book writing for me is journey sharing it’s really creative legacy building.

00:20:32.690]
Just know that this book that you’re writing now may well and I hope not, is not going to be the last book that you write that way. You’ll see it as a stepping stone to the best you can bring and be actually willing to release it into the wide world so that it can actually do some good as long as you’re waiting for it to be perfect. As long as you’re thinking that I can’t put this out yet because it’s not yet fully completed, fully perfect in every aspect you may end up like most books, I would fear to say, just stuck on a hard drive somewhere, never actually finding the very thing it was created for, which is someone’s eyeballs reading it better off to put something out there that is going to potentially help and bless and build and benefit and entertain someone else than keep it hidden on your hard drive.

00:21:36.770]
Waiting for some kind of elusive day of perfection.

00:21:44.690]
If you need some help writing your book, I’ve got a couple of courses that I think can help you if you’re struggling to get your book written. One of them is for nonfiction. The other covers building a book based on the famous Heroes Journey framework for fiction. I’ve got the nonfiction book Writing Roadmap. Okay, which walks you through the whole process of the big idea of building your book concept in great detail.

00:22:15.410]
And I know that this has helped a lot of people kind of get over all of those roadblocks that have stood in their way and take them from kind of blank page to published and selling in the Amazon store for their nonfiction book. And then I’ve got another course that I worked with a tremendous book coach called Bonnie Johnston called The Inspirational Fiction Heroes Journey Boot Camp. You can find both the links to both of these. If you go to my website davidleymartin. Com, click on the link to the blog.

00:22:55.430]
Okay, so that’s davidleemartin.com/latest you’ll see my latest post and there’ll be one there called Write Your Book already. Five keys to get you striking the keys and finally finish your book. If you do that, if you go there and click through to that article, you’ll find some links to the nonfiction book Writing Roadmap and the Heroes Journey course.

00:23:25.410]
The nonfiction book Writing Roadmap is davidleemartin.net. Okay, if you want to go there directly after this podcast, davidleemartin.net/courses/non-fiction-book-writing-roadmap. Oh, that’s so horrible.

00:23:47.410]
Okay, it’s Davidleemartin.net/heroes-journey-bootcamp. Hey, God bless you. Hopefully these have been some helpful pointers and yeah, go write your book already.

00:24:05.470]
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. Davidleemartin.Com have a great day.

Thomas is a passionate Christian and an award-winning speaker. Online and on stage he teaches audiences all over the world. His friendly speaking style blends multimedia and audience participation. He offers audiences a unique perspective to help them use the web in a whole new way.

As a podcaster, he hosts the Novel Marketing Podcast, and the Christian Publishing Show. 

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00:00:04.850]
Well, today I have the great joy and privilege of talking with a great friend of mine, Thomas Umstattd, who is the founder of Author Media and the host of the Novel Market Marketing Podcast, which is the longest running book marketing podcast in the world, which you would never know because Thomas still looks so young, but he helps authors build their platforms, sell more books and change the world with writing worth talking about. And Thomas and I have grown to kind of know and respect one another over a couple of years now.

00:00:48.110]
I actually connected with Thomas originally through some WordPress plugins that he had developed for authors. That’s where I was first introduced and then discovering that he was also a passionate Christian brother in the creative space in the book space in the digital entrepreneurial world was just so exciting. And then off the back of that, discovering what I’ve just told you that actually that pioneer spirit that rests upon Thomas is something certainly that’s inspired me, and I believe, is going to inspire you. Just as we dig in to look to encourage you in your own kind of creative endeavours and moving potentially, you might be looking to move into the digital space.

00:01:50.210]
You’ve got some ideas that you believe could become entrepreneurial successes. I think Thomas has got something so incredibly precious and not just precious, but actually time tested. And I’m so looking forward to just hearing as we take some time to talk together. Thomas, maybe you could introduce yourself, say Hello to the listeners, and then we’ll begin to kind of open this up.

00:02:22.550]
Yeah. Thank you, David. It’s an honour to be here. And I do hope that we’re able to encourage creative people to better serve the Lord by better serving their neighbour. It’s a great commandment expressed through creativity. Love the Lord, your God and love your neighbour as yourself. And you can do that with the work of your hands. You can do that with the work of your mind.

00:02:43.130]
That’s right. And you’ve been doing it for a long time, Thomas. I mean, to be able to say that you’ve got the longest running book marketing podcast in the world is quite an accolade. Tell us, how did you get started in all of this? What was the lead in to actually begin building out your platform online like this?

00:03:08.630]
So I started my first podcast in 2007 and it was about video game addiction because I was writing a book about video game addiction at the time, and I wanted the podcast to help me develop a platform. Podcasting was really different in those days. Just creating the podcast was enough to get an audience because there are so few podcasts in the world, but they’re also a real hassle to record the software, wasn’t there? The hardware, wasn’t there? The microphones weren’t very good. Back when I was a kid, it was a lot harder, but I learned a lot and I had to learn the technical bits because there wasn’t newer tools that do a lot of that for you.

00:03:49.430]
So it was a really good education on how MP3s work and how RSS feeds work and how podcasts work.

00:03:59.010]
Have you always been an early adopter?

00:04:03.330]
I was more of an early adopter when I was younger. I spent my high school years on a Linux forum and troubleshooting Linux issues as an admin for the Linux forum. It was Lindos, if any of you remember it’s a predecessor to Ubuntu. It was Debian based Linux distribution designed for kind of regular people was the idea you’re like get your mom Windows instead of Windows. The joke is when I’m in a room full of nerds, they all look at me and say Nerd because I’m the biggest geek in the room.

00:04:38.250]
So that’s definitely true. I was building websites in high school and even middle school and fiddling around with HTML. Really blessed to grow up in a town. There’s a very high tech town. So in the United States, Silicon Valley’s most famous kind of tech area, but where the actual Silicon is made is not in Silicon Valley. That’s not where the fabs are. They actually do their manufacturing in Austin for many of the things that’s where Dell computers are built and a lot of the chips are fabricated here.

00:05:08.850]
And so I was blessed to grow up with all of my friends. Dads working in high tech, right? This guy works at intel or his dad works at Intel’s. Dad works at AMD. This guy’s dad works at IBM, and I would talk with my friends and talk with my dads. And when we had technical questions, it was easy to get an answer. It was easy to find help. And so we were encouraged in our nerdiness at an early age. Yeah.

00:05:34.290]
I think off the back of that you were in a position at that time and also kind of gutsy enough to step in and begin to express your creativity in a space that wasn’t so full and wasn’t so saturated. I think a lot of people coming in today, Thomas, whether it be into the book writing space or the podcasting space or pretty much anything online, to be honest, even course creation things like that. I think a lot of people who are listening may feel as though, well, I’m too late to the game.

00:06:21.570]
If I start a podcast, it’s going to get lost in this ocean. If I try and step up and step out and try and express myself, aren’t I too late? What would you say to those people who’ve got ideas but maybe fearful to just step out and express themselves?

00:06:43.410]
The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. And if I could have a conversation with my 2007 self, we’d both be selling to the other one. Now is the time to start a podcast because the 2007 would see all the gear that I have this amazing mixer that plugs in via USB to my computer and all of the gear that I could get. You can get a really good sounding microphone for $60. That sounds incredible and plugs directly into your computer. So you don’t even need a mixer.

00:07:13.830]
2007 self would have been astounded at that. Why isn’t everyone podcasting? There’s a joke that we tell here in the state, said Thomas Jefferson. Right. This great luminary created a Library of Congress and somebody goes back in time and tells them about smartphones. It’s like this device has access to all the books that have ever been written in the world. You can listen to any of the music that’s played in the world. He’s like, oh, my goodness. You must be a nation of scholars. He’s like, Well, we mostly just use it to look at pictures of cats.

00:07:48.070]
Thomas Jefferson would not be impressed with our user smartphone, but you don’t have to use your phone just to look at pictures of cats and funny videos on Facebook. You can use it to create. You can use it to read the great works of literature and listen to great music. And there’s nothing stopping you. And a lot of people are like, Well, you must have a lot of free time. It’s like, Well, it’s all about what you choose to spend your time on. So there you will reap and taking some of your time.

00:08:18.550]
Your relaxation time and using it to create actually can be, in some cases more rejuvenating than using it to consume and balancing our consumption and our production, I think is really important.

00:08:31.510]
Right.

00:08:31.750]
You’ve got the Sea of Galilee, which is this healthy sea we call a Lake in the United States. It’s got fresh water flowing in, fresh water flowing out. And then you have the Dead Sea that only consumes. It’s the lowest point on Earth, so full of salt you can almost walk across it. It’s so dense. And we want to be more like the Sea of Galilee, where we’re both bringing in but also giving out and not like the Dead Sea that only takes in.

00:08:56.770]
That is such a powerful picture, because I think there’s so much there literally is so much out there now, and so many of the algorithms try and just push content on us all the time that you’ve got to be very intentional to choose to kind of step away from that and become a creator.

00:09:21.470]
That’s right. Because creation doesn’t happen by accident. If you are not careful, you just consume, consume, consume. And you’ve done nothing but consume your whole day. And part of what helps to be creators to surround yourself with tools of creation. So that phone is not a tool of creation. It can be, but it’s primarily a tool of consumption, whereas a laptop is primarily a tool of consumption. Sorry, creation. It’s got this keyboard that just begs you to type on it.

00:09:53.870]
Right.

00:09:54.110]
And it’s not very fun for consuming, right? It’s a long been a long day. You don’t want to sit back on your couch with your laptop. Laptop is a working device, right? The very design of it invites you to work. And a lot of people don’t realise that when they choose to say, got some money and I can upgrade my laptop or I can upgrade and get the new phone. They don’t realise that when they choose to upgrade the phone and get the new phone rather than upgrade the laptop, they’re making a decision for the next several years that they’re going to be more of a consumer than a creator.

00:10:26.450]
And if you choose instead of getting the new phone, I’m going to get the new laptop and I’m going to start creating things with it. The consumption is going to be the less enjoyable experience where it’s broke down and it’s slow and the battery is always dying. You’re going to use the phone less and you can use the laptop more. And you’ll find that you may very well may have created more during that season.

00:10:49.130]
I think consumption tends to promise a great deal, but doesn’t quite deliver on its promise oftentimes if it’s kind of over balanced.

00:11:01.550]
But.

00:11:03.350]
In the Scriptures, when I’m talking with the folks in the Christian Creek Academy and other places, there are a couple of scriptures. One of the scriptures is how God rejoices in the small beginnings. And we’ve spoken a little bit about that that sometimes people feel as a man. I’m like this tiny little fish in this vast ocean. Who am I? How will my voice ever be heard? And yet the scriptures tell us that. And even when the temple was being rebuilt there and Zerbabel was kind of undertaking and some of the old school were saying, oh, man, look at this little thing compared to the glory that once was.

00:11:51.350]
And yet we find that God says it says he actually rejoiced to see the work begin. And I think that that’s something to bring to people. But then elsewhere in the scriptures, it says the end of a thing is better than the beginning. And certainly one of the things. And we’ve spoken about this a little bit just in our personal conversations is I’ve certainly been impressed with both your longevity, that you’ve stuck with what you’ve committed to Thomas and your consistency in it, that you’ve actually just been there and you’ve continued to bring value where many other people.

00:12:41.270]
I often joke that most podcasts have three episodes, and then it’s just tumbleweed for the next ten years. But you’ve been in this game for a long time. Just tell us a little bit about how you kind of manage yourself, manage your expectations, manage your energy to remain consistent like that, because I just think that that is such a key part of the creative life. I would certainly kind of be guilty of this on many occasions. We are great at starting new things. We love the excitement of kind of that pioneer moment like, yeah, let’s do this.

00:13:33.530]
But actually, then once you get into the grind, maybe the grind is the wrong word, but sometimes it can feel like that maintaining and taking things really to the next level and bringing things to maturity takes a bit of a different mindset, doesn’t it? Yeah.

00:13:53.390]
For me, it hasn’t really been a story of consistency as much as it’s been a story of persistence because we’ll miss weeks or we used to miss weeks. And there was a time I think we missed two or three months of a podcast or in a two or three month podcast window. We only did one or two episodes, but we refused to quit. And I think that for continuing to go, I think refusing to quit is really key. And there’s this concept of destination fever, where you get so focused on the destination that you don’t enjoy the journey.

00:14:31.430]
And for me, for podcasting anyway, I enjoy doing it. I’ve always enjoyed radio. I remember I was a kid and I came rushing into the room to tell my dad I was seven years old. I came rushing. I’m like dad, dad, it’s open line Friday because there’s a radio host named Rush Limbaugh, and he would have Open Line Friday, and he’d play this applause sound effect. And I, as a seven year old, thought that that was real. And I got all hyped up. And I was excited because I was listening to Russian bars.

00:14:57.710]
A seven year old. I’ve always enjoyed it and enjoying it helps it feel less like a grind. But, yeah, it’s a lot of work, and it’s become more work over time as the show has grown. And as the audience has grown and as the audience’s expectations have grown, the amount of man hours that go into an episode has grown. And we’re now putting between 20 and 30 hours per episode into each episode, which sounds like a lot. But there are other shows that put hundreds of main hours into an episode, and they’ve got a whole team working on it.

00:15:30.950]
And I have a team working on mine. So it’s not just me anymore. I have a producer who helps prepare questions for guests and schedule guests. And I have somebody who helps edit the audio. And I have somebody else who helps convert the audio into blog posts. So it’s no longer just me anymore. And that also helps. There’s a time when you’re going alone. But there’s also a time when you need others and the strength of others and the skills of others to help you, because just because you can do something and just because you’re the best at it doesn’t mean that you should do it.

00:16:01.490]
There’s a famous quote by I think it was Paul McCartney who said somebody asked me if Ringo star was the best drummer in the world. He’s like Ringo. He’s not even the best drummer in the Beatles. There are other Beatles who are better drummers than Ringo, but they were better put to use singing or playing guitar because Ringo couldn’t do those things. So you have to figure out what it is. That’s the thing that you can do that nobody else can do and basically know where you fit in the body and the more that you embrace being what you are and who you are and who God made you to be, and the more you’re willing to give up control.

00:16:38.630]
It’s like I’m a mouth. I really shouldn’t be grabbing things. Sure, I could grab things. And when you’re desperate, you can put something in your mouth and hold it there. But really, the hands are better at that. They can hold things much easier, much better. They don’t damage things just by holding them. And so I need to give up control of holding things to the hands and trust that they know what they’re doing. And I think that applies at sticking with stuff, having that team around you.

00:17:04.070]
Has that been a difficult process for you, Thomas? Letting go. And as well, you’re talking about discovering what you can do, what you can do best and really finding. Yeah. This is my part in this enterprise. This is my part where I can best serve the body, if you like. I’m assuming that that’s been a journey for you. A journey of discovery. Yeah.

00:17:35.750]
It’s been easier than you would think, but not for the reasons that you would think and the reasons I struggle with a lot of health issues. I don’t talk about them on the show, but I’m not a healthy person. I don’t have very much energy. And so the only way that I could function is to use these people. And I’ve never been a particularly healthy person my whole life. I’ve never been very healthy. And I remember talking with a CEO of a very prosperous medical company and talking about who he looked for employees.

00:18:07.670]
And he said he had this matrix of people that were hard working, not hard working and people who were smart and people who were dumb. He said, people who are dumb and are not hard working. You can leave them if you want. They’re no trouble. People who are dumb and hardworking. You got to get rid of those people as quickly as you can because they’re toxic because they’re going to break things and trash your whole organisation. And then he said, the smart people who are hardworking, those are who are really good at middle management and getting work done.

00:18:38.990]
And for my top executives, I want people who are smart and are not hard working, who are using the strength of others instead of their own strength. And that was a really interesting paradigm that he had that perhaps my lack of energy, at least in this season is a blessing. It forces me to lean on others. It’s definitely a blessing for others because it forces me to create jobs right? When I’m doing something somebody else could do, I’m stealing their job and they are not making the money that they could be making.

00:19:09.110]
And I’m exhausting myself in a way that I don’t need to exhaust myself. And so for me, my energy is actually a more precious resource than my time. I’ve got tonnes of time, but I do not have tonnes of energy. I’m very limited in the amount of things that I can do with my energy. And so that guides my delegation. And for somebody else who’s really energetic, I can imagine it’s harder for them because they could do it for me. It’s like it either is done by somebody else or it doesn’t happen.

00:19:40.050]
So I guess I should delegate it. Yeah.

00:19:46.630]
You bring so much value to the table for so many people, Thomas. And I’m not just saying that that’s just a fact that in the creative space you have really sown yourself on behalf of other people, to help other people rise to help other people kind of recognise and realise their genius in numerous different ways. And I know for certain that there will be people here listening who maybe want to say, for example, start a podcast, maybe want to write a book right now. All that is is that hope on the inside.

00:20:32.410]
I was just writing. I think it was yesterday or one day in the past week, I was writing about how the Bible talks about faith, giving substance to the things that we hope for, that it actually takes those invisible things and makes them visible in some way. And so there will be people here who are listening like, wow, man, I would just love to do something like Thomas is talking about. I would love to start a podcast or I would love to write a novel. I’ve got this idea for a story or a nonfiction book.

00:21:13.390]
You were talking about some of the nonfiction books that you’ve written yourself knowing hit the rewind button to where say, we were all those years ago. What advice would you give those people who are wanting to come into this creative space and begin to explore the potential of actually generating some kind of income or certainly making an impact with their stories or with the message that they carry? What advice would you give them, Thomas?

00:21:59.270]
So a couple of ideas. The first is I would suggest to go on some dates with your idea. And this is something I started doing where I will go and get lunch at a restaurant with me and my legal pad and the idea. And I’ll just explore the idea. I’ll just kind of jot down all of my thoughts about the idea. Some podcast episodes will start this way where I’ll just be drafting everything I know about a topic and kind of dumping what’s currently in my head on the topic onto the page so I can see where the gaps are and where I need to put some more thought or perhaps do some more research.

00:22:34.070]
And sometimes I’ll go on dates with ideas, and that’s all that happens, right? Me and the idea realise we’re not a good fit. Maybe I shouldn’t get married to this idea. This is a fun date. I enjoyed lunch, but it’s not you. It’s me. We’re just not compatible. You look great. I thought you were a good idea, but you’re not as good an idea as I get that.

00:22:55.730]
I think I’ve married a few in the past. What did I do that for?

00:23:03.890]
That’s right. And the date can be fun. And maybe you’ll learn some things about the idea or you’ll think through it and it’ll be useful later. But just because you wanted to start a podcast on that thing doesn’t mean you should. Or maybe the actual podcast should have a different form. And then your initial idea. It takes some kind of refining to help you with that. But my other suggestion is actually probably not what you’re expecting. And it’s from a quote from Jesus. I only know it in the King James, and it is until you are faithful with that which is among other man’s who will give you that which is your own.

00:23:39.110]
And a lot of people want to go and be the barnibus right away. Or sorry, be the Paul right away. And they’re not willing to be the Barnabas. And you will learn faster, assisting somebody else who’s a few steps ahead of you. And you’ll make money faster because they need help. Right. And you can learn. You can be Elisha to Elijah, right where Elisha is walking behind Elijah. He’s carrying his staff. He’s assisting him. But then when Elijah leaves, Elisha immediately knows what he’s doing. He’s not figuring things out.

00:24:13.550]
He gets the mantle and the authority. But he also had the training and the experience of Elisha. Could you imagine, like sitting at the campfire and listening to Elijah tell the stories, all of the experiences that Elijah had to learn the hard way. Elisha got to learn the easy way and he was being paid or being compensated. I don’t know how it worked back then, but look for opportunities to do that. Instead of jumping straight in to making your own podcast, reach out to a podcast and be like, hey, can I edit your podcast?

00:24:45.530]
Can I help produce the podcast? And maybe they’ll pay you? Maybe they won’t at first, but if you’re good, they’ll want to pay you. If you threaten to leave, they start to rely on you and you’re like, hey, I need to be compensated, and you can explore that. But everyone’s happy to do a podcast host for free. You’re not getting paid. When you start your own podcast, you’re paying money and it’s often it’s that craving of the glory, having your face on the cover, having your name on the book.

00:25:12.290]
And if you’re willing to help some other people write their books first and being faithful in that role of an assistant, you’re going to learn better. And you’re going to gain that confidence. And a lot of the people who look like their overnight successes were quietly behind the scenes, helping a lot of other people become successes first. And then they took all of those skills that they gained, helping others, and then they do it themselves. Wow.

00:25:35.390]
That’s such powerful, such powerful words, humbling words. I think sometimes we live in a very me centred culture, don’t we? A very celebrity type culture. Certainly one of the things that I’ve struggled with sometimes is in that celebrity culture, everything is just trumpeting and fanfares about. I’ve made this much money or I’ve got this many followers or follow me. Buy my product and you can become what I am. But they fail to tell you that they’ve been in the game for 25 years to become what they are.

00:26:19.310]
Oh, that’s only one of the tricks.

00:26:20.870]
Yeah. Just like this product.

00:26:22.550]
There’s many other tricks.

00:26:25.970]
Carry on, carry on there.

00:26:28.790]
Like, for instance, they’ll say I made a million dollars. And what they won’t tell you is that they spent $950,000 on advertising to make that million dollars. There’s a lot of ways to look more successful than you really are. Yeah. And.

00:26:46.050]
To remain humble and to remain sensitive in this online space, I think actually takes a lot of intention because it is very noisy once you get into it as well. All of the algorithms that exist conspire to suck you into a Whirlpool. Sometimes I found Thomas of Inadequacy. You feel because you’ve not got this following or you’re not making this much money or you’ve not got this many best sellers or whatever else it may be that somehow it diminishes your sense of worth and your recognition of just how precious what you bring to the table is and being able to shut out those voices while you do come in and offer your service, either helping others, beginning to build your own platform and develop your own skills.

00:27:52.090]
It takes a lot to kind of shut out the noise and hear the Holy Ghost enough to not be diverted in all sorts of different directions and just end up running in circles.

00:28:11.650]
Yeah. I think this actually ties back to where we started about loving God and loving your neighbour. And I think that the focus of tuning out that noise is to just have a laser focus on the people that you’re serving and not be worried about other people who are serving other people. There are lots of people in this world and they need help, but lots of different ways. And instead of looking at others who are serving others, if you’re just focused on here is the community. I’ve been called to serve, and I’m going to serve them.

00:28:41.830]
And this is something I wrestled with because authors don’t have a lot of money. And serving authors is not nearly as lucrative as, say, serving businesses or small businesses. Right. There’s a lot of other places where I could take my skills as a marketing person, and I dabbled in that. But I never had a piece about it for some reason. I’m here with the authors. I’ve been here with the authors from the beginning. I was amongst the authors helping them while I was still in College.

00:29:11.530]
And I’m still here today and focusing on them has helped. I think the people I’m called to serve, and if you don’t know who you’re called to serve, you’re not ready to start serving. I’m going to make a meal. It’s like, who are you making meal for? I don’t know how many people are they going to be. I don’t know. It’s like, well, then don’t open the recipe book yet. The approach is very different if you’re making a romantic meal for your wife than if you’re feeding a whole Boy Scout trip.

00:29:44.690]
Right? Everything has changed. It depends on the audience. And if you are willing to be faithful with what God has given you and who God has called you to reach, that’s it that’s as good as it gets. It’s not going to get any better than that. And comparing yourself to others. And keeping score isn’t going to bring you any kind of happiness because there’s always going to be somebody making more money and there’s always going to be somebody more successful and with more whatever the score is.

00:30:11.330]
And one thing I like about podcasting is there’s no real public, transparent scorekeeping. I’ve been really hesitant to get on YouTube in any meaningful way because of the view count. Everyone gets to see what the number of views are and suddenly your whole worth and your credibility and everything is tied to this number. And I don’t like that. Yeah.

00:30:34.730]
Well, Thomas, I’ve got to say that as a member of that author community, we really do appreciate you. And we sincerely appreciate the service that you’ve offered us and continue to offer just in the creative space. It’s so much more than authors. I mean, really, you’ve impacted my life in ways that you don’t actually realise. Probably.

00:31:01.790]
But.

00:31:04.290]
If people want to find out more about you, Thomas, and what you do, where would you send them? Where can they go? And I’ll put these links in the show notes, et cetera. But let us know.

00:31:19.050]
Yeah. So I have two podcasts that you can listen to for free. One is the Christian Publishing Show, and this is all about writing better books, writing faster books, but also about the kind of the spiritual journey of writing. So we’re not afraid to talk about God on that podcast and partnering with God in the creation process, but also lots of practical stuff like how to get a literary agent and how to write tighter sentences. And my other podcast is novel marketing, and it’s all about growing your platform, building your influence and selling more books.

00:31:53.430]
So it’s on actually taking your message and getting it out into the world. Because if you write a great book and no one reads, it is of no value, right? It’s like speaking and no one can understand what you’re saying, right? It’s just a clanging gong. The message has to actually enter someone’s head for it to have a value. The marketing is important and the marketing is also when done well can be an active service. You can serve people and bless people through your marketing so that whether they buy your book or not, they’re still blessed by your message.

00:32:25.290]
And that’s what we talk about in the novel Marketing podcast. How to build a website, how to get more email subscribers. We try to keep it really practical and you can find that at authormedia. Com. Amazing.

00:32:39.450]
Thank you so much for your time. What a rich time we’ve had together. So thankful. Thomas. Hey, God bless you. And I’m sure we will be dragging you back in here to speak to us again at some time soon. Hey, God bless man. Thank you so much.

00:33:02.670]
Thank you for having me. Pleasure.

00:33:05.670]
Well, thanks for listening. Hopefully, it’s have been an encouragement to you today. If you want to connect any further, you can do so through my website. Davidleemartin.com have a great day.