podcast

Recognizing the grace and goodness of God in your life is a key skill to learn. I say “skill” and “learn” because an attitude of gratitude is intentional, not accidental.

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Gratitude is something that we have to practise. I believe that gratitude is as much a skill as just a natural leaning of the heart. In fact, I think that the world we live in right now and the nature of the culture that we have been immersed in for so many decades and so many centuries lends itself more to discontent rather than contentment or gratitude. And so in some ways, living a grateful life and living with thankfulness is something that rubs against the general grain. It swims against the flow.

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Really, the attitude of gratitude that’s going to change your altitude and lift you above the general way of thinking, this discontent ocean that we are tossed around in our society and our generation. That is a skill that we learn through practise. It’s intentional, not accidental. The world’s flow and its fierce purpose is to make you feel inadequate. If you are not wearing the right perfume, living in the right place, driving the right car, you are somehow less than what?

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Well, less than whatever the world parades as enough. You will never be enough in the world’s eyes, because as soon as you’ve bought in and taken on what it seeks to put on you and those attitudes and those desires and that way of thinking and living, there will be something else that it will bring to the table and say, Well, actually, that’s not what you wanted. What you really want is this when we talk about the right car or the right whatever really in the world’s way of working, the right simply means whatever you presently don’t have as far as they are concerned.

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This hamster wheel of want is a neverending and leads nowhere other than just sheer exhaustion. And so coming back to gratitude, coming and living from in a grateful manner, a thankful way for what we already have for who God has already made us is really the stepping off point from that hamster wheel.

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I’ve got to confess, it’s one that I miss way too often in the scurry to achieve, or the scurry to grow or the scurry to create or the scurry to make more whatever it may be, be more there’s. All of the opportunities that are bound for grateful acceptance and Thanksgiving pass me by. And instead of stopping to celebrate God’s faithful hand in the affairs of my life, I find myself too often rushing to the next thing running to whatever comes after. You know, there’s no breath taken, no faithfulness recognised, no luxuriating in the simple pleasure of present wonder, just an anxious chase after whatever comes next.

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And as a creative, I derive a great deal of satisfaction from making things and bringing things into existence.

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But I’ll be honest with you, I have to be very intentional and make a decision to hang around afterwards to actually appreciate what I’ve made as soon as something is out of the bag, as soon as something is like popped from the womb. I’m looking for the next thing. What can I make next? What can I do next? I think that in many ways I robbed myself of the fullness and the joy of appreciating all that God is doing and making through me.

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And even God paused his creative activity to call what he had made. Good. Good. Very good. Now we see it in Genesis chapter one, and I think that there are many lessons for us to learn in that chapter.

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I guess in some ways I’m a recovering creator holic. I’d rather be a creator holic than other kinds of holic, I guess. But as a creator Holic deriving way too much of my identity. I think from the things that I make, I want to list five practises that are helping me punctuate my days in my projects and potentially could help you to punctuate your days and projects with something that will Crown them and crush this tendency to rush ahead of the Holy Ghost. Number one.

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And I think that this is so broad stroke it’s like this does not just cover this one subject. This is true in so many regards to how we live our lives is to remember that God is not in a hurry. Too often we have this destination in view and really fail to enjoy the journey with every milestone victory we rush on by convinced that the next milestone is the one that’s going to sell their need for significance with every few steps that you take toward your goals.

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Stop give thanks for the ground that you’ve covered. And of course, thank God for what’s to come.

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But don’t hand your emotions to an uncertain future that’s not guaranteed. Give God room to fill this moment and make it monumental. And a marathon is running stages, and each mile that you cover should be recognised as a victory. And so I guess the first thing that I want to encourage you to do is to learn to enjoy the journey and thank God for every step and really do make time to appreciate what you have already done, how far you’ve already come. And even if things have not worked out the way that you had hoped or envisaged, allow gratitude to move your heart toward giving thanks for the things that you’ve learned and that you’ll be taking in to the next stage and the next steps.

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Number two, I need to remember that I’m not in competition with anyone, even myself. The combative and competitive nature and worldly pursuit of power or prestige, whatever form that takes will inevitably lead to pride. Now Proverbs 13 verse ten points out that only by pride comes contention. Contention really results from that prideful pursuit that it’s so easy to get caught up in. And when we talk of pride, there are two sides to the pride coin that have played in this game.

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Either you’ll think you’re better than others or that they are better than you. You’ll either think of yourself more highly than you want and diminish the achievements of others, or you’ll go all grasshopper on everyone in your own side and think that your worth is worthless compared to someone else’s. And I’ve heard someone kind of say, You’re not in competition with anyone but yourself, but quite honestly, I don’t want to compete with myself, nor do nor commend myself. Paul said, we do not begin again to commend ourselves.

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We’re not sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as of ourselves.

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But our sufficiency is of God. Two Corinthians three, one to five. Our sufficiency is of God. The idea that there’s this great self somewhere down in the future that we’re chasing after robs us of thankful appreciation for who we are today. You’re enough right now.

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You’re not frantically trying to be someone that you are not already bring your best self to the table today and every day and then that way, your future self won’t always be goading you like with this senseless sense of inadequacy. It’s not true. You are all you need to be today to bring what you need to bring right now. And of course we are growing. We are expanding.

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We are learning well. I certainly hope we are.

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There is potentially a better self somewhere down the road, but hey, don’t look longingly thinking. Well, when I become my better self, then just be your best self right now in Christ, you are complete and today is a great day to thank God for his gracious workmanship. Appreciate your present imperfect self, and don’t postpone feeling worthy to some unknown future day of perfection because it may never come honestly, in God’s eyes, you are the man. You are the woman number three. I will notice the small things now.

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Life is not made up of mountaintop moments. It’s made up of the tiny steps between the peaks. Learning to enjoy the beauty of the Valley is what makes every day life a delight, not a drudgery. The small beauties of every day are the ingredients of a truly rich and full existence. That sip of coffee in the early hours, warm water rolling through your fingers and the silky smooth of fragrance soap when you wash a cool breeze on an autumn morning or a stolen, unspoken glance with a loved one in the crowded busyness of life.

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Such moments are what real life is made up of. So notice and count the smallest benefits of your life. Don’t despise the simple and small things as you do as you learn to appreciate those. You’ll find that the big things turn up more often than you expect because you’ll actually see that the small things are really actually massive. I didn’t say that very well.

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I didn’t say it very eloquently. But boy, oh, boy. I think that this is a massive key, a great key that will unlock so much appreciation and gratitude and contentment in our lives. If only we would see the small things for the big deal that they really are now. Number four, time is precious, especially this moment.

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We can chase money all we like, but it’s never going to buy us another minute on Earth. Let all things find their proper place in the priority scale. It’s not that we shouldn’t be ambitious. It’s not that we shouldn’t be pursuing certain things in business, in creativity, et cetera, et cetera. It’s not either or it’s both and but everything needs to be in its proper place in minutes and hours are more precious than the dollars that you can earn if you spend too many of them in pursuit of things.

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The most valuable things in life are really not things at all. I love the words of Ryan Nicodemus and Joshua Fields Melbourne. They’re known as the Minimalists, and their latest book is called Love. People Use Things because the opposite never works. Appreciate the people in your life.

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Don’t trade time with them for things that will never make you happy. Life is all about relationships, relationship with God, with your loved ones and with others who are taking their own Pilgrim journey. Walk some of the way with them, be in encouragement to them, take time to recognise them and to appreciate them. And then finally, number five and I could probably continue listing all of the ways in which we as such self consumed individuals could be more thankful. But rather than keep you for 6 hours here, number five is live today like tomorrow is a myth.

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Larna and I Larna, my wife and I had a good, very good friend, Vincent. He was a hugely successful man over 70 was stronger than most 20 year old man. Quite honestly, I’m not kidding. And he was training hard for world cycling Championships. When we last saw him.

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We met him and walked with him in one of our local parks here. And we just had such a joyful conversation, such a hopeful conversation centred on the Scriptures, centred on the good things that God was doing in our life. Lana and I worked with Vince and his wife in Church planting and evangelism for many years. And honestly, no one would ever have expected what would happen next in just like one day he’s here. The next day he was gone.

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He was in a tragic cycling accident and this strong, passionate, ambitious, faithful, faith filled man of God went on to eternity suddenly, just like that in our plan and prepare with diligent wisdom, of course, but really don’t count on tomorrow to say the things that you need to say today or to do what you know you need to do today prioritise the truly important things over those unimportant things that are just urgent but transitory. The urgent things of life can just so crowd out the things that are truly important.

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We can get busy being busy rather than be active in pursuing and learning the most important thing which is to love and to give and to encourage and to strengthen others. To disciple others.

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Invest vigorously in your love account. Store up riches that moth and rust can’t touch, not just riches that certainly will sprout wings and fly away in your bank account. The currency of heaven is not the same as the one we trade here on Earth. And the accolades of eternity are not going to be measured in monetary terms. Let your daily actions reflect your heartfelt values.

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Don’t assume that you have tomorrow to make up for the truly important things that you fail to prioritise today. Prioritise them right now. Today. Now, what are your thankful practises? What priorities do you choose to follow as you make your way between the peaks?

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How can we learn to appreciate the richness of our everyday life more fully? I’d love to know your thoughts. If you want to, you can jump over to my blog at davidleemartin.com. Just take a look for the article Gratitude Five practises that will change your altitude and share your thoughts in the comments.

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There be great to hear from you. Hey, God bless you and have a wonderful blessed Thankful Thankful day in Jesus name. 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 live at Davidleemartin.com.

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Have a great day.

The snake of shame and its poisonous accusations are shaken off and trodden underfoot in the place of prayer.

Here, in the intimate, warm, embrace of God, the words are heard, “accepted,” worthy,” “whole,” and “holy”.

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My creative process is a very simple one. I generally just lift up my voice to ask the Holy Ghost what I should write, and it’s not like there’s necessarily some incredibly massive download from Heaven every time I do that if only. But there’s always a prompt. There’s always something that he will give a nudge that he will offer that will kind of spark that creative fire on the inside to produce something that you can put out into the world. And this morning, my prompt came as I was praying.

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I’m kind of reclaiming the early hours of the morning in my new property, carving out a space for prayer. It’s right here in my office, actually, in some ways, I don’t know. I was a little reluctant to kind of use my office for all things, but this may sound really kind of cheesy, but with the right bit of lighting and just creating the right ambience, it’s becoming as well as my work space during the day, in the night and early morning hours. It’s also becoming my prayer space.

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And as I was praying this morning, I found myself just pressing in to know more of Jesus.

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I’m aware of how distracted our lives can become or my life can become, how caught up in activity it can become.

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In fact, I’ve spoken to this a little and written about this a little over the past few days. How kind of swept into wrong ways of measuring can just really kind of throw us off track and take us away from the foundational principles of being in the presence of God and allowing His peace to keep our heart and mind stayed and secure and anchored in him. And if you’ve not already signed up for my weekly newsletter, just jump over to davidleymartin. Com. Drop your first name and email in.

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I promise you won’t be spammed forever. You will just receive great encouragement through that, and you can cancel anytime, of course. But last week I spoke very much in the correspondence that I sent out about these wonky metrics that we sometimes find ourselves being measured by or measuring ourselves by and attached to that, I think, and attached to so much of what gets spewed out on the Internet is an invitation to shame.

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It’s so pervasive and so prevalent that sometimes we don’t even notice the hook that’s gone in our jaw when we watch the parade of humanity showing off before us as we go through our day and scroll through our feeds. There’s a big difference between blame and shame. I’m not saying that blame is any better than shame in some ways, and there’s a big blame game goes on so often where everyone wants to blame everyone else. It’s not me. It’s them.

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That kind of blame really is very unproductive. Blame, on the other hand, when it’s understood correctly, can be very cleansing, blame says and accepts I did wrong. Rightly? Understood. It’s not a bad thing.

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It just is accepting our part and confessing our sins. And in doing so, we keep the slate clean and it allows us to walk freely in love and truth and free from that kind of gnawing guilt that sometimes can attach itself to unconfessed sin. And by sin, I just mean anything that is not faith or not love. Just as simple as that sin doesn’t have to be some kind of glaring Commission or omission. It’s just plain flat out, man.

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Oh, God, I am so sorry. I did not live and walk and speak by faith in that situation. Lord, I did not act or speak in love in that particular circumstance. But the shame side of things is so different. Whereas blame says I did wrong.

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Shame says I am wrong. I am faulty substandard. I’m to be blamed because I’m bad. No amount of impassioned apology will shake shame. And this is it.

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Sometimes we can just kind of strap ourselves into that shame vehicle and just spend our whole days just racking ourselves with this piled on guilt. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. And really, it doesn’t lead anywhere because we’re not actually making apology for what we did.

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We’re not bringing a specific sin to the throne and saying, God forgive me for this particular action or lack of action, but we’re actually confessing, Lord, I’m bad I’m wrong. I’m sorry for being who I am, and that’s an entirely different thing because God is not looking at you in that way at all. He has taken care of things at the cross and he is looking at you with such incredible compassion. He is looking at you through the cross through the blood of his son Jesus. And he does not see things the way that you maybe see them.

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And he certainly does not see things the same way that the world wants to see that the world sees and measures by and steams through. Shame is really it clings to the soul like a chain holding the one who feels shamed to their mistakes. It just attaches us to them and makes it very much as if we are part of them, and they are part of us, that we are one and the same with our failure. And it’s just not true before our eyes, it’ll strap you in like that, like a chain, and then it will pile up the perfections of others before our eyes, or certainly the supposed stock of success and ensure that the shadow of someone else’s magnificence casts its darkness over your already shaky sense of self esteem.

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They could be whoever they may be, honestly, that they will change according to what the devil can kind of pull out of the bag. They are so much better than you or you’re just a failure. They whoever they may be, have it all sussed out now when we speak of a pandemic like hitting the nations. But boy, oh, boy, shame is pervasive. It is truly a pandemic.

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It’s spread throughout humanity in a way that has so undermined the confidence and the image of God in our brothers and our sisters out there in the world, the humanity largely labours under a heavy blanket of shame. And it’s not meant to be that way. Jesus has come to remove our shame. It really is the stock of hell unleashed on the soul of humanity. And it will tell you, man, you are an underperforming embarrassment.

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You’re no good. You’re worthless. All of these things are lies now. Shame seeks to hide the wonder of God’s image behind fig leaves of performance. It shows up in all manner of pretence and dancing for the crowds like a shackled beast, robbed of dignity.

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The picture I saw here was some, like great bear, but like on a short chain dancing, beaten and abused.

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That’s not the way God wants us to live and not the way God wants us to think or see ourselves or certainly see anyone else. It drives us to hide our light under a bushel, afraid of what others will say. It this short leash that I’m talking about. It just wants to keep you on that firmly tied to your sense of failure or to your mistakes or to your mishaps. And that is something that Jesus has given us an Avenue away from.

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Because however short the chain or the leash may be, the devil himself. Not even the devil himself can keep you from the prayer closet.

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In the place of prayer, we shake the shame and this morning, as I was in my developing sanctuary here in my office, my early morning refuge, as I seek the face of God, I found myself, honestly, my preclausite is quite an amusing place to be. I’m glad that God told us to pray in secret.

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It’s best behind closed doors, honestly, but I found myself shaking myself, shaking my body, shaking my head, stamping my feet quietly because it was like 435 o’clock in the morning. But just saying and praying, I shake it off, I shake it off, I shake it off, I shake it off and it wasn’t just shame. In fact, I can’t lie. There are elements of shame that still try and cling to me, but it’s like all of the things that seek to cling to us. For me.

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This morning, as I was shaking it up in the prayer closet, it was really about just focus and concentration on so many other things, prompted by a fear of what’s to come, prompted by a fear of the future, chasing after things, thinking, oh, well, if this doesn’t work and I don’t get this in place and if this doesn’t happen and that doesn’t happen and I’m not able to do this and I don’t make this and I don’t do that, then something awful is going to take place, and I’m not going to be able to or whatever else.

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It may be just this kind of locomotive of thoughts that the devil wants to Ram down our throat. So we have no capacity to rest and recover and refresh and revive in the presence of God, where our whole heart is centred upon Him, our whole being is anchored in him. And we find a piece that passes understanding. We come to a place where we’re no longer trying to be someone or go somewhere because we realise we already are someone and we’ve actually already arrived.

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This is the place of prayer in a stepping across that threshold into the heavenly sanctuary, coming through the door of the cross, washing in the word, shaves shame fully from the soul. It removes it, it renders it powerless. And as gruesome as this sounds, it is actually very beautiful being bathed in the blood of Jesus. More refreshing than summer rain. Our soul is purged and the Prince of this world, Satan and all of his schemes, whatever they may be, whoever they may be, whatever embodiment they may take, whatever tactic he may use to keep you chained, he is rendered powerless in the presence of God, so pure, so completely Holy, worthy.

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We are invited into the Holy place because of the name, because of the blood, because of the word, because of the cross there to fellowship with Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and that snake of shame that wanted to attach its poisonous teeth to us. All of its accusations are shaken off and trodden underfoot. Just as the Scripture said right there at the outset, he might bite your heel. But, boy, oh, boy, there’s one coming. He’s going to tread on his head.

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And the devil has been well and truly trodden upon no uncertain terms. And here, like in the intimate, warm embrace of God inside the Holy place, in the sanctuary itself, deep behind the curtain, away from the world and all its wild imaginings and all of its craziness, there is peace and there is quiet and there is rest. And there is refreshing and in the embrace of God, the words that he speaks, accepted, worthy, whole and Holy.

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I want to encourage you today to reclaim that place of prayer if it needs to be reclaimed. I want to encourage you today that there is more to discover. And part of my shaking in the sanctuary today was to shake off my thought that this is just the way it is. I can tell you this is not just the way it is. There is so much more to discover in God, so much more that he wants to reveal to your heart so much more.

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He wants to give that you will never fear another day in your life. You will never carry that burden for one more second, Jesus is Lord, and he is faithful, and he is wonderful and beautiful and precious and real and wants to meet with you in that place. The Scriptures tell us that he is the Holy high priest of the Heavenly Tabernacle. The sanctuary in the heavenly that you have been invited into. Boy.

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Oh, boy. This is such a wonderful day to live in, and God is very much at work among his people. Now, I’ve got a guide to something that I practise called Tabernacle prayer. If you go to Davidleemartin.net/tabernacle-pray-guide, you can pick up a copy of that for free. I promise you, man, it will be a blessing to you.

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If you actually practise it, it will blow your spiritual socks off in the best possible way. Hey, God. Bless. You have a great day. And yeah.

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See you soon. 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.

Bezalel was marvellously equipped to create the intricate tabernacle of God’s presence in the wilderness. The anointing took his talent and made it something more.

Moreover, “God put in Bezalel’s heart that he may teach,” (Exodus 35:34 AMP). The blessing stretched far beyond the bounds of Bezalel’s life, spilling into the lives of others and multiplying God’s gracious anointing.

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I want to take the opportunity today to talk about Grace to create. I believe that God’s Grace to create allows a constant flow to find its way from our home card onto the page or paper, whatever instrument you use to bring your worth to the world. There is a Grace and a flow that is not strained. The creative process should not be one that is full of anxious energy and angst. This idea that the artistic life must be one of full of angst and torment.

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The picture of the tormented artist is I don’t believe that the picture that we see in Scripture. I think very much of a bezelle there in the Book of Exodus and how he was so marvellously equipped to create the Tabernacle in which God’s presence and power would be manifest. And God’s anointing took his talent and made it something more. He had given himself to learn the skills that were then put to work by God for God’s glory and God’s purpose. The idea of Grace to create doesn’t necessarily just mean sitting on our hands waiting for God to work a miracle.

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We have to go about training. We have to go about developing. We have to go about growing and learning much as anyone else would. But that alone is really just the raw material that we can then offer into God’s hand and for God’s purposes. And I believe by that Grace by that equipping and empowering that we can accomplish and become far more than we could just by talent alone.

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I love as well, and this is more an aside, but it’s something that’s very strongly on my heart. The Scriptures say of Bezelle. He is a guy, talented, gifted, equipped by God. But the Scriptures say that God put in Bezel’s heart that he may teach Exodus 35, verse 34, the blessing stretched far beyond the bounds of just bezell L’s life, spilling into the lives of others and multiplying that gracious anointing that rested on this man. I believe that God can do the same with you.

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He can take what you offer and multiply it. His anointing can come on the gifts and talents and expertise that you carry in your life and through a process of Grace at work in your life. Over time, he will produce something remarkable and not only that your life and your gifting can encourage others to step into their giftings. And through that just the Kingdom will grow. The Kingdom will be multiplied.

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The many facets of Jesus wisdom will be seen and shine all the more brightly as a result. In God’s Kingdom, the math of creativity begins when we seek first the King and his Kingdom. When we seek him first, the promise is that those who earnestly and diligently seek him will find a rich reward, multiplication and addition to our lives in remarkable ways, ways that we didn’t even anticipate or expect seeking first. The Kingdom, though to the flesh, seems counterintuitive to front load our life with things that are behind closed doors, seeking God in secret seem so outside the wheelhouse of the flesh man, God’s Kingdom.

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Things work differently.

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The drive to lean on our own understanding and push with the strength of our own learning and expertise and genius is so strong. I think that’s why we see so many people burn out and why the creative highways and byways are littered with people who started well but didn’t finish the race. Pushing hard and praying hard is needful at times. But the opposite imbalance of never taking action is also very common, and both are like gullies that have been carved on either side of the creative road that we as anointed artists, authors and entrepreneurs are looking to walk on the one side.

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It’s all us, our talent, our time, our efforts, our limited genius, what we can do with who we are and what we’ve got.

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And then on the other side, the Gully on the other side. It’s all God, but not in a good way, just waiting endlessly for God to do something but never really offering any substance of faith for him to work with, sitting under the proverbial tree, hoping that a Golden Apple from heaven’s storehouse is somehow and someday going to fall into your palm. I don’t believe that either of those are pictures of this Grace to create that I’m talking about. I think that the balance that walks between the two is this Grace to create Grace to create brings all of you to the table and places it at God’s disposal.

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It takes talent and the natural skills that we’ve honed and sanctifies them to Holy purpose Grace to create uncouples from outcomes, leaving those to God and humbly offers worth to the world.

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In response to God’s prompting and leading, the writer dedicates his fingers to God and then punches the keys every day, trusting the Holy Ghost for words that will one day work in the lives of his readers. The painter, musician, businessman or businesswoman believes God for the ideas and direction to build authentic outflows that bring in abundant incomes. God is in the driving seat, but the life of the passenger is not passive. Now we work together with the anointing to get to our destination, thinking of Grace to create it’s really coupled together with this idea of creative flow.

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The Bible talks about Rivers that flow from the throne above.

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The Bible speaks of Rivers that flow from the throne of God, gushing forth with healing power. These Rivers are so charged with the life of God himself that wherever the Rivers go, life is brought about Ezekiel 47, verse nine. But then Scripture also speaks of Rivers flowing from another throne. Rivers from the throne below. If you like that, Jesus has taken up residence on the throne of our hearts as believers, Austin self and taking his rightful place.

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This same lifegiving river breaks forth from within the believer. The Scriptures say that he believes in me. As the Scripture said, out of his heart will flow Rivers of living water. John 738 the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up unto everlasting life. John 414 and they’re connecting these two.

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The river from above, the river from below. God’s outflow and the outflow from our own heart and life in him put them together and something powerfully supernatural occurs. Our hands become His hands. Our mind operates with insights that proceed from a higher place. A higher mind.

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Creativity flows from that deeper place within us, from a higher mind without blockages. New and exciting things come into existence through us. Walking in pace with God, we can jettison those nervous pursuits of the world and tap into a Kingdom flow of inspiration that’s bigger and deeper than ourselves. So deep. In fact, that Ezekiel describes it as being too deep to swim in.

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Our feet no longer touch the ground. We’re no longer determining the direction we’re carried by something bigger and stronger than ourselves. The journey to discover this creative Grace begins when we take our first trusting steps into the shallows, believing that he can bring us across into our promised land. In Ezekiel, there the picture of the waters that Ezekiel is carried into. He begins first just up to the ankles, then to the knees, then to the waist and then over, way above his head.

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It’s not like God just throws us in an ocean of uncertainty and fear and just feeling out of control. He actually carries us gracefully into the expression of our creative gifting. He doesn’t push us too fast. Nor does he hold us back. We just move in pace with him, trusting him for the outcomes.

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Now we make something and we send it like bread on the waters. As it says in Proverbs, believing that God’s Grace again will bring it back to us at his appointed time. Marvellously Multiplied I just encourage you today to turn on the tap and let that inner river flow. Well, thanks for listening. Hopefully, it’s been an encouragement to you today.

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If you want to connect any further, you can do so through my website, davidleemartin.com. Have a great day.

Has there ever been a time when authentic expressions from the body of Christ were more needed? You are uniquely created by God to be YOU! Not what the world thinks you should be, not what society says, but the genuine uncompromised outshining of Christ!

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What I’m sharing today was inspired by a sermon that Larna, my amazing wife. And there is nothing better on this planet than having an amazing wife.

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God has definitely blessed me with a woman who knows him.

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And she led me to listen to a Sermon of the Week by Bill Johnson. So if you look for Betheld Church Sermon of the Week and cheque out the sermon called when in the War Create.

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It reminded me of a scripture that I’ve thought on.

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Prayed on and even written about in the past on a number of occasions from the Book of Zechariah. It really does kind of open up some.

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Interesting thoughts about the creative life and living a creative Christ filled calling. Now creativity, unencumbered by man’s opinions, is one of the strategies that Heaven is using to raise resistance to the ground. Absolutely burn it to the ground and bring glory to the Creator. It’s so easy for our creativity to be squashed and quenched by our fear of the opinion of other people. But I believe God is raising up a company of craftsmen, artisans, artists, musicians, writers, painters who will not be fearful to take risks, who will not be afraid to step up and step out and let their voice and let their art speak on their behalf without being so concerned about what others will think or say.

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I don’t think there’s ever been a time when authentic expressions from the body of Christ were more needed. You are uniquely created by God to be you. And yet the world tries to get us to be moulded and conformed to its idea of how we should be, how we should talk, what we should look like when we say that God has created uniquely to be you. We’re not talking about what the world thinks you should be, or even the Church thinks you should be. Not what society says, but the genuine, uncompromised outshining of Christ alive in you making himself known the Book of Zechariah.

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He saw a day in which God’s people would be scattered and their heads hung low. I think we live in a similar day today. And he writes, Then I raised up my eyes and looked and there were four horns. Horns speak of authorities in the realm of the spirit. You’re talking about principalities powers, demonic influence and schemes at work in the Earth. And I said to the angel who talked with me, what are these? And he answered, These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.

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And I said, what are these coming to do? So he said, These are the horns that scattered Judah so no one could lift up his head, the schemes of the enemy, to scatter the people of God, to splinter the house of the Lord and to bow our heads in shame are so real and so powerful and so potent that we have to be very, very aggressively intentional not to bow to their influence, not to take them on board and allow the heavy yoke of slavery to once again come on our shoulder.

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You are not a slave to fear. You are a glorious outshining of Christ in the Earth on the planet. You are a scary person to the devil. God’s remedy is so eye opening because this scripture in Zechariah continues. Then the Lord showed me four Kraftsmen and Zechariah. He asks again, what are these? What’s this all about? And God spoke of their warring purpose. Zechariah one eight through 21. If you want to read it in your own Bible, the craftsmen are coming to terrify them, to terrify these demonic spiritual authorities that are seeking to scatter and to depress the people of God.

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He says he’s sending craftsmen out to terrify them, to cast out the horns of the nations that lifted up their Horn against the land of Judah. To scatter it. Now part of my own creative journey into fiction publishing was a response to the slew of dark, supernatural themes that seemed to be fill in the shelves of our children’s stores now glamorising witchcraft, romanticising shape shifting desensitising impressionable minds to the reality of the spirit realm and its dangers. Making out that it’s like fun, romantic, entertaining, heroic.

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What a lie. False gods and erroneous worldviews sowing confusion and scattering the people of God in the name of entertainment. Dear friends, my brothers and my sisters. The world of the media is such a powerful tool, both in the hands of the enemy, but more so in the hands of God’s people. O Lord, in the name of Jesus, send your craftsmen into the fray. Let them come and terrify. That’s my prayer. That’s my desire. Raise up the artists raise up the artisans, raise up the writers and the poets and the painters raise up the dancers who will dance on injustice.

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The Bible speaks of two ruling spirits at work in the Earth spoken of in one John Four verse six. It could not get simpler than this. He speaks of the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Oh, dear Jesus. Error is very much on display right now. But God is raising up an army of artisans, creative craftsmen to terrify the enemy. Stories to be told, songs to be sung, visions that carry God’s anointing on a canvas, prayers that are painted fashions that are fashioned in heaven’s courts.

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And then sown here on Earth beats that capture the heart of Jesus games that glorify righteousness and ride rough shod over Satan’s schemes. We live in days where the Church and when the Church needs to be distinct, melding into the wallpaper so no one gets offended has worn way thin the time, I believe, has come to terrify. And I mean that in the most Holy and the most wonderful and the most loving and powerful anointed way possible. Terrify the devil with our songs, slice him with our stories, shame him with our sanctified selfexpression.

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Let the world know that the voice of the Church, the Church of the living God will not be silenced. What has God placed in your heart has shame or splintered emotion held you back from stepping out? Here’s a great question. What would a 100% you authentic, genuine article look like if you were to step out onto the world stage? And how can you begin to live with that kind of fearless abandon? What would you do if failure was not an option? Is it possible that there is a lion living on the inside of you ready to roar in a Christianity?

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The kind of Christianity that we have embraced and that we live? The Christ that we know is not some kitten to be petted and pacified. It’s the real and Rawsome reality that the devil tries to mimic this grand that we call Christ the lion of Judah. This warring, wonderful, majestic King is mimicked by Satan and we’re told that Satan, like a lion, prowls around looking for those he can devour. But God, my friend, is releasing the Lions of Judah, his high praising artful priests to shut the Devil’s mouth and declare his demise.

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Release the artists. Release the writers. Release the songsters. Release the minstrels, release them, release them, release them, let them sing their songs, write their words, paint their pictures. Let the great Grace of God come on his craftsmen, his people, his body. Send your craftsman Lord to the four corners of the Earth. Let their overflowing devotion never deviate. Let their words and work touch the uttermost parts of the planet penetrating hearts and minds with God anointed ideas now men in our day and it’s almost comical to watch.

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They may push for preeminence but here in the body of Christ, we carry a new Renaissance and we don’t need to parade. Our wisdom and genius is not of ourselves and we know it pulling marbles from the world above we strike hard at the heart of the enemy reaching far behind his lines. The arts are designed to touch the heart to bypass reason and strike deep our wisdom and our genius is not of ourselves words we write break through the hardest hearts tunes we sing shower Grace on the hero and usher in the presence poems that we pen paintings that we create strike like sharpened sides reaping harvests of humanity for the King and his Kingdom.

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A Zechariah so beautifully said the craftsmen are coming. Look out, devil.

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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.

The precious place of prayer will soon become your most treasured place on earth because it’s here that Heaven breaks in and you get to sup with the Savior.

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There is no subject that moves me, stirs me and grips me more than the subject of prayer. And I was thinking, thinking it actually arose from my time of prayer this morning when I found other things wanting to push their way through the door and Rob the time that I was offering and dedicating to Jesus. Now, when Jesus toured the hillside crowd about prayer, he said this Matthew Six, but thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father, which is in secret, and your Father, which sees in secret, will reward you openly.

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Such a magnificent promise. But what I want to bring to your attention today and what was brought to my attention this morning was that we need to shut the door.

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Don’t let your closet become crowded. The closet is a picture of the space that you construct for the presence of God to take priority and presidency in your life. It’s the Holy place, sanctified and set apart in a Holy expectation that something special, beautiful and supernatural will occur in your life. Satan absolutely hates that thought. He wants to keep us grounded in the natural.

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Your own flesh even will fight against being dethroned. And prayer is the place where the flesh is dethroned and the Spirit comes to take the throne and sit in its proper place, carving out the boundaries of your closet and hammering the pegs into the ground to prepare your spiritual sanctuary takes work and will face resistance both without and within.

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That’s just the nature of prayer is as much as it is a playground where we enjoy God and where we jump and splash in the beautiful waters of His presence. It is also at the very same time a battleground that is hard won and hard fought. The ground of your soul that you’re possessing for the practise of prayer may well have been occupied for many years, overrun by the cares and concerns of life, deceitfulness of riches, desire for other things, greedy pursuits, or even devilish trespassers who’ve set up tents on that land.

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Brother sister, it’s time to give eviction orders to all of those trespassers, all of those things that have crowded in and have crept upon the ground that belongs to the place and the priority and the practise of prayer, the desire for other things has to go and the door firmly slammed in the face of distraction. And in saying that it doesn’t mean that we neglect our responsibilities, we’re still building our businesses, bringing up our children, loving and tending affectionately to our wives and our husbands.

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But the totem pole of priority is radically rearranged. So all of those idols of modernity no longer stand at its head. If the door is not closed to disturbance, then an entourage of concerns, comparisons, and competitive notions will creep into the closet with you. As your clothes in the door, they’ll sneak in and begin to gnaw at your attention. You know what is intended to be a Holy space becomes crowded with personalities other than the one that you’re seeking.

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Yesterday’s concerns will bustle in, seeking to fill the atmosphere with worry. Tomorrow’s uncertainties will goad you out of the sanctuary to seek and sort them in your own strength. If you’re not careful, the prayer closet just becomes a thoroughfare for any thought that chances by protect your land and stand your ground, man or woman of God. This kind of distracted atmosphere is not conductive to effective prayer. The heart and mind bouncing around here and there, never landing on any subject long enough to harness it to the will of God and pray it through.

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In this age and society of three second attention, the old school practise of praying through is foreign to most men and women. We want answers and we want them now.

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Fervency gives way to urgency and pressing present concerns. Relegate real Kingdom priorities in the life of the fierce man or woman of prayer, this tendency to dance around must be subdued. Ferocious focus is what’s needed prayer really in its essence, the very nature of prayer requires your full attention. It’s not a halfhearted thing. There’s no halfhearted approach to God.

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He is a consuming fire, and the idea that we can balance worldly ambitions with the Wildlands of the Spirit is foreign to Scripture. The first commandment is to love God unreservedly in mind, body, soul, and spirit. There is no room for maybe or sometime or some day. It is now and it is all encompassing. Jesus is Lord amusements.

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Seek to barge into your prayer time. Thoughts will push for your attention. Niggles will rise to the surface. Negative emotions will elbow their way into the closet, attempting to divert your gaze.

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Keep your eyes firmly fixed on Jesus. It’s not easy when your soul has been trained to jump with every Ping and vibration. Dear brother, dear Sister, this is a war that we are involved in and it is a war for your attention. It’s a war of endless distractions.

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The life of prayer is not a hurried one. Prayer life is countercultural today’s lifestyle of rush and hurry, consumption, accumulation, competition and comparison conflicts entirely with the pursuit, entertainment of the rich, unhurried and hearty. In a life that you crave to honestly become a man or woman of the Spirit is not something you can conveniently cram into your daytimer prayer.

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Yes, prayer is life. It demands change and transformation in every area, not just a small space behind the door of your closet for a few minutes of quiet prayer is not a box that you tick. Fierce focus does not happen by accident. Your inputs throughout the day must change or they’ll crowd into your closet. Even when the door has been closed, priorities and pace must be made subject to the demands of the sanctuary, not the other way around.

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Too often, prayer is crammed around our day, not our day shaped around prayer. You know, prayer is really not something that we can fit into our furious over busy schedule. It will take time, attention and costly devotion. Oh, God, it’s so worth it. If you want God’s presence and the voice to be more than just a side dish, you’ve got to sit at the right table.

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Jesus is not going to barge into your schedule and force your hand. If your life is crowded with a multitude of minor affairs, he’s not going to push them aside. Demanding your attention. Shoe the crowd from your closet and open the door to the King. Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

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Jesus said, if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and I will SUP with him and he with me. The door that he’s knocking and wants to step through is the door that you shut to the noise and the hurry of the world. This precious place of prayer will soon become your most treasured place on Earth. Because it’s here that heaven breaks in and you get to SUP with the saviour. Well, thanks for listening.

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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.