podcast

Do you doubt the incredible value you have to bring to the table? Welcome to the remedy…

---

00:00:01.750]
As I was praying this morning, I got to thinking about capacity and capacity as human beings. Creative capacity is really what I was thinking about and and how when demand is placed upon us, it’s actually quite remarkable and surprising what we can produce. And I just want to kind of declare that you have a far greater capacity than you presently give yourself credit for. I really believe that I believe that the capacity that you carry is often hidden underneath layers of doubt and self consciousness. And I don’t mean that in an accusatory way.

00:00:51.730]
I just think that the human condition lends itself to doubting the incredible value that we bring to the table. Now, I’m not talking about recognising that and expressing that in a proud way we don’t produce and create to impress. We do it to express, to allow what is in us to come out into the world in ways that it can help and benefit other people. That’s what Christcentered creativity is all about. And there are creative solutions that are available for every problem that humanity faces.

00:01:38.710]
Again, that’s a belief that is a worldview that recognises the limitless capacity that we have to tap the creativity of God.

00:01:54.670]
Sometimes our consciousness, that others will judge our efforts and that sometimes there’s such judgments are going to be a little less than gracious. I mean, I’ve published some books in the past and even in the past few weeks that have enjoyed two, one and two star reviews, amongst others. And I’m selling them at like $0.99 a shot. It’s rather surprising how ungracious people can be in their judgments. We cannot allow these things to prevent us from stepping out.

00:02:39.190]
And how do I know that these are some of the things that you may struggle with in seeking to discover your creative capacity? I’ll tell you how I am human, too.

00:02:51.850]
We are in the same game. We are fighting in the same trench. Seriously, the human condition is one that requires redemption, and this is what I believe, the remedy to some of the reluctance and resistance that we face when we choose to step out in our creativity and let our voice be heard? I think that the remedy to that reluctance and resistance is to be less self conscious and more God conscious. And in the Creative Academy, the Christian Creative Academy, if you’re interested to find out more about that, you can jump over to Christiancreative Academy, I would encourage you to join obviously, it’s a great place to be and explore some of the ideas that I talk about here on the podcast.

00:03:55.390]
But in the Christian Creative Academy, we talk about five smooth stones, a five stone framework that’s really based around certain principles that can topple and overcome the roadblocks that stand in the way of you bringing your ideas and actually realising them in ways that other people can benefit from, actually crystallise them into products into podcasts, into publications that can then go out into the world on your behalf on God’s behalf and bring and bestow blessing. Now, in that five stone framework, it’s really based on the idea of the Goliath that stand in our way.

00:04:46.510]
And how David the shepherd boy, this teen shepherd rolls down to the river, pulls out five smooth stones to slay Goliath. This scrawny, red faced boy, even his own father didn’t deem him worthy of mention when the Prophet came knocking on their door, looking for a King faced with a foe that actually crumbled the courage of an entire army. Supposedly God’s Army, this unarmed youngster strode onto the field with nothing more than just a strap of leather and a few smooth stones.

00:05:29.290]
Now, if we’re talking about lack of capacity in the natural, here is an example. Talk about outmanned and underdogged David’s perspective, towered above his adversary from his God conscious Royal box, far above the world stage. Seated in heavenly places, he looked down and his perspective, his opinion, the frame through which he was looking, the lens through which he saw the world and whatever challenge and resistance it posed to his calling was, who is this uncircumcised philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? And I want to say today, creative Christian creatives artists, authors, entrepreneurs.

00:06:31.930]
The day to rise up is now, who are these uncircumcised devilish thoughts and ideas that they should stand up and defy the armies of the living God and prevent you from stepping into your creative calling?

00:06:52.930]
Yeah, of course. On the natural, David was still stood in the shadow of this giant on the Earth. But in the spirit realm, he was the one. He was the man of stature. You are the man of stature.

00:07:07.150]
You are the woman of stature. This tiny teen still stinking of sheep bedecked in a simple Shepherd’s garb towered like an edifice over the battlefield. And we know the story. The giant ended up headless in the dust. Now, what are the Giants that prevent you from striding forward?

00:07:30.310]
What capacity building connection can you make today with the Creator? The place of prayer is the seed bed of production. It could be time that you spend in his word time in prayer time, just simply waiting on his presence.

00:07:50.770]
When you hit your knees, you climb on the elevator to eternity and to the bigness of God himself. And he infuses your inner man with a strength that goes far beyond your own limited capacity. And this is the thing with self consciousness. We are always going to be aware that we are in some way an imposter. But when we are sent, when we allow the Apostolic creative call to thrust us out into the marketplace, to bring our value to the table, in whatever realm that may be, and through whatever means we choose.

00:08:31.570]
Yeah, that is a different thing altogether. We know that we are a sent one. Paul prayed the following prayer for his folks, his disciples. And my prayer is that this same anointing will spill over you. He prayed in Ephesians.

00:08:51.910]
It’s recorded that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, that the eyes of your understanding may be enlightened and that you may know. Now listen here to this prayer, because when we’re talking about your creative capacity and your ability to make an impact, just listen to these words that you would know. This is your present possession. This is who you are. This is how you do the exceeding greatness of his power towards us who believe according to the working of his mighty power, which he roared in Christ when he raised him from the dead and has put all things under his feet, giving him as a head over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him, who fills all in all, exceeding greatness, mighty power wrought in Christ, raised from the dead, the fullness of him, who fills all in all.

00:10:04.690]
Now that my friend is capacity. Well, thanks for listening. Hopefully, it’s been an encouragement to you today. If you want to connect any further, you can do so. Go through my website at davidleemartin.com.

00:10:18.430]
Have a great day.

The field of prayer is worth a thousand farms. Nothing can compare to the presence of God becoming real in your everyday experience.

---

00:00:02.210]
I’ve been thinking about the different fields that I’ve farmed over the years and five. I certainly don’t mean a real farm. I’m talking about the Euro, the arenas and the areas and the things that I’ve spent my neighbours on and in all of the different fields. The field of business, the field of Ministry. There is one field above all others that is unmatched in the rewards that it offers and the fascination with which I keep coming back to it.

00:00:41.450]
And that is the field of prayer. I was reminded of the parable that Jesus told that some guy who comes to this field and he chances upon some treasure buried in the field, so he goes away and sells everything he has in order to buy that patch of land in order that he might make the treasure his own. And really, honestly, I’m calling this episode I would sell the farm to buy this field. The Joy of Prayer The field of Prayer is worth 1000 farms. Nothing can compare to the presence of God becoming real in our everyday experience.

00:01:27.350]
The joy of prayer is a discovery that becomes a sell all proposition very quickly. It calls for a whole hearted commitment to something that money could never buy, selling all to own the field. And in it we’re not even talking making a sacrifice. Honestly, it is a joyful exchange. The King and his Kingdom are so magnificent that everything else pales in comparison.

00:02:03.410]
Matthew 13:44 Jesus taught the Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again, sold everything that he owned to get enough money to buy the field. The Kingdom of Heaven is available to us. Hallelujah honestly, there are no words. I think one of the reasons that God gave us tongues as a gift as a marriage bond when we were baptised in the Holy Ghost is because simply there are not words enough to describe the magnificent joy that he has actually invited us into.

00:02:51.470]
And life will pull our heart in many directions and hook us on all sorts of promises of happiness and fulfilment. And it’s very easy to be tugged from one thing to another, seeking whatever satisfaction it is we crave. But Fulfilment really does not reside in anything. Fulfilment doesn’t reside in the things that we own in life does not comprise of the multitudes of things that we gather and pile up. It’s not packaged like the holiday that we think is going to make our soul sing.

00:03:28.730]
We don’t need to travel there. We don’t need to take out any loan to purchase it. It’s right here under the place where our feet are presently planted and the cost to dig that field is time. Time is like sand spilling through our fingers and we have to choose every day where we’re going to spend it. And this field of prayer is ready for the taking.

00:03:54.950]
It is presently waiting for your presence. Prayer carries us to a place so manifestly outside of this world that previous pursuits just pale in the light as reality breaks through this worldly haze that we stumble through. When we come into the place of prayer, it’s like the lights are switched on. It’s like the mist dissipates, and suddenly we can see clearly. Suddenly we see that all of the rich treasures of the Earth are nothing in comparison to the treasure of knowing Jesus.

00:04:37.370]
Jesus is real. God is present and speaking, and the Holy Spirit is with us. And in us it does not get any better than that. No greater service can be rendered to mankind. No greater skill encouraged or obtained.

00:04:56.870]
The mystery of prayer remains really only a mystery to those who’ve never taken the time to dig into its treasures. And then once we start digging, we make this discovery like that man who went to the field and discovered treasure in it, we begin to take time behind the curtain, shut out the noise and the tumult outside in the world. And we begin to see the beautiful simplicity that’s found only in the face of Jesus. Once we start digging. Once we start giving time, once we find and see the field and say, Man, I’m ready to sell all to possess this, to look on Jesus, to taste His goodness, to partake of His victory, and his peace is a field.

00:05:54.590]
I will gladly sell the farm for reputation is a small price to pay to enter His courts. Opportunities and pursuits crying from the periphery of the field of prayer seem pallid in comparison to the delights that are offered to the lovers of God. All these anaemic avenues leading to glamour and Fame and fortune are really just dirt roads to nowhere. And compared to this beautiful highway of Holiness that just carries hungry seekers into the joy of God’s presence. Yeah, the field of prayer, man is worth everything.

00:06:41.270]
It’s a field that we come into with such innocent wonder. A field of uncultivated power, joy, peace and love. It’s incomparable in its potential. And then we get the opportunity to take, put our hand to the plough and drive furrows into the soil of relationship with the King. We get the opportunity to sow seeds with our lips, seeds of adoration, seeds of prayer, seeds of request, or just fill the field with a multitude of opportunities for God to show up in our life.

00:07:26.090]
And our fruit is born in and from the place of prayer, we water the field with tears, tears of repentance, tears of Thanksgiving, tears of gratitude.

00:07:49.310]
I pray that the field of prayer in my own life and in yours will be cultivated in the warmth and the light of relationship with Jesus, and that your field of prayer would become your sanctuary from every storm, that its treasures would satisfy your craving for significance. Its rich furrows and vines and fruits would satiate your hunger for a life that counts.

00:08:25.850]
Surely there is no other field that I’ve ever found that has so fascinated my heart, so fully captured? My curiosity so completely possessed anything close to worthy of lifelong pursuit? There’s this beautiful, indescribable, delightful, majestic field of prayer. My question to you today is, have you visited your field today? I’ve heard that there’s treasure hidden in there.

00:09:01.670]
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.

00:09:11.210]
Have a great day.

The rashlike preoccupation with money is a disease we need to inoculate in the secret place of prayer. That way, when cash comes into our hands we will act as stewards not slaves of the riches entrusted to us.

Jesus first, everything else follows.

---

00:00:05.210]
As followers of Jesus, we are servants and stewards of whatever we are given responsibility for an authority over on this planet. But thinking of service because both having been through a lifetime of Ministry and then serving people in the marketplace in business, I’m always brought back to the reality that the greatest service that we can render mankind is to learn to pray. I really honestly believe that there is no greater act of service than to pray. And there’s may be incidental prayers as we go about our daily business.

00:00:57.410]
But really, what I’m talking about here is going deep in prayer and going deep in our work kind of the fruit of that connection with God.

00:01:10.190]
Whatever form that may take, because, see, the prayer gives us leverage that goes far beyond the natural limits, and it harnesses the powers of heaven to work in this present world, we face such an impossible task in our day and in our generation. The problems are piling up on the doorstep of virtually everyone on the planet, many of which we simply do not have answers to. We need something that goes beyond what this present world can do, can offer, can create we need something more and bringing that down to a more microscopic level.

00:01:58.370]
And by that I mean, just looking at your own life or my own life. Even there, we need something bigger than ourselves to go to work, to be able to harness and see the fullness and the fruitfulness that God has prepared for us.

00:02:17.510]
And I believe that going deep begins right here. As a believer, we’ve been first called to know God and then to work from that place of knowing. I love this verse in Mark 3:14. It may be that you’ve heard this before, but it’s just great to be reminded of it, and it’s talking about how Jesus, when he chosen, ordained the twelve disciples, and it said that he ordained Twelve, that they should be with Him and that he might send them forth. These men were ordained to go, but first that they were called to be and specifically to be with Jesus.

00:03:01.970]
As an entrepreneurial Christian, a creative Christian, whatever you’re up to in the world, however, you are turning up to bless, help and benefit others. This lesson from the lives of the early disciples is foundational. Prosperity begins in the soul. This is how the Apostle John described it. Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers in the topsy Turvy culture that we now live in.

00:03:37.130]
This equation is often inverted. The world wants to convince you that prosperity of pocket will Salve your soul and bring you the happiness that you crave. And it may for a moment render some relief. But John points out that a clean conscience and a healthy connection to God’s purposes, empowered and made possible through a healthy mind and body, are going to give you the greater, longer lasting dividends that you’re seeking. Another favourite Promise box verse that is often quoted, it fits perfectly on a postcard is Jeremiah 29:11.

00:04:20.630]
Now my favourite rendering of this is actually in the NIV, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. We all love this, don’t we? And so we should. But what’s often excluded from the conversation is the context of this verse. Of course we all love the idea of hope and plans and vibrant, prosperous futures, but often it’s kind of not highlighted and not embraced.

00:05:02.090]
That the root of this promise that we find nestled in the Book of Jeremiah is actually prayer and not just a few incidental requests deep repentant, passionate, unreserved seeking of God’s face. Jeremiah 29:12 and 13 says, literally, continuing this thought, he says, Then you will call upon me. You will go and pray to me. I will hearken to you, and you shall seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart prayer, the inner work and prosperity, the outer work are really intimately attached.

00:05:50.210]
Jesus warned so clearly of the dangers that we’ll face as we negotiate our pathway through the vanity of our present age.

00:06:00.230]
Mark 4:19 I’ll read from the amplified, he says, then the cares and anxieties of the world. Speaking of the fruitfulness and scope of God’s Word going to work in our life and bearing forth fruit. And he warns that the cares and the anxieties of the world and the distractions of the age.

00:06:24.950]
We don’t even need to qualify these statements, do we? Seriously? I think Jesus did a quick back to the future and came and sat in our front rooms. Cayman sat in our waiting rooms. Cayman stood in the line at the supermarkets.

00:06:45.950]
Cayman stood outside the school gates. Cayman sat in the office cubicles cares anxieties distractions and the pleasure and delight and false glamour and deceitfulness of riches. The craving and passionate desire for other things creep in and choke and suffocate the word and it becomes fruitless in our challenges. Creators, I think, with all of the necessities of life clawing for our attention and a trillion advert scratching for our eyeballs and ears is to keep our craving centred on Christ. It’s very easy to get caught up in the Whirlpool of worldliness that is craving other things.

00:07:34.550]
And he is our treasure. Jesus is our treasure. This is the field that we sell everything so we can own it fruitful favour in His presence and intimately entwined with His plans. That is where we want to plant our feet. The richest man on Earth, I believe, is the one who has discovered contentment in the saving Grace of God, not the one slaving for a bigger barn.

00:08:09.470]
I find myself way too often ruffled by the desire for other things, craving significance in all the wrong places. And I’m not talking sinful places. I’m just talking looking to other things. I mean, just as this verse says, craving the craving and passionate desire for other things creep in. Yeah, we can try and find our significance in so many different places.

00:08:39.210]
I find the promised pleasures and delights of things that dollars can buy rather too convincing from my flesh. At times. Satan is an absolute devilish Alchemist as well. He takes the outward tune that the world is piping of. I don’t have enough and then stuffs it inwardly to become.

00:09:02.370]
I am not enough and I tell a lie like that often enough and big enough and people believe it. What is the lie behind the law? Can a car really offer the significance that you’re seeking? Can a can of fizzy pop really deliver? The bliss that you desire?

00:09:23.730]
Is our life so shallow that the right logo on our clothing can honestly make us worthy?

00:09:32.670]
Jesus spoke of false glamour and deceitful riches for a reason. Deceit is not deceit. If the one who swallows the lie knows what they’re guzzling down. The very nature of deceit is that we don’t realise that we are blind to reality. And I think that this is one of the reasons to place depth of prayer and acquaintance with God as your priority.

00:09:57.390]
Knowing Jesus is ultimately the only thing that really matters by nature. As creative people, we pursue things with pure intentions, but that intentionality must always be tempered by that humble connection to heaven. And if you plan to go deep, go deep in prayer first and from that place of connection, begin to create and sell, sell as an act of service to others seeking their best. Make your life count in places more significant than just your bank account. And I don’t mind like this in all of this.

00:10:35.730]
This is such an odd discussion when we start talking about prosperity and money and business and all of those kinds of things, it can be quite a tangled ball. It’s like a real big heap of spaghetti because things that we say can be so easily misunderstood and there tends to be way too much weight either on one end of the seesaw or the other. And you see this titat of over imbalance. And it’s not just that we need to have balance in the sense of mediocrity, but we do need to always seek and search our heart motives in whatever we do.

00:11:22.590]
And that’s why I say in this particular episode, let’s go deep in prayer and in work.

00:11:31.590]
Let’s be men and women of deep abiding in Christ deep prayer, but also men and women who are productive fruitful, putting ourselves out there in the world where we can help and bless and benefit and serve other people and reap the rewards for that God’s desire is to prosper his people, but not at the cost of integrity. And it’s the kind of rash like preoccupation with money is something that we really need to inoculate ourselves against in the secret place of prayer. That way, when cash comes into our hands, we will act as stewards, not slaves of the riches entrusted to us.

00:12:18.630]
Jesus first, everything else follows. Well, thanks for listening.

00:12:23.850]
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.

Resilient commitment to help others and bring your deepest and best to the table will develop the kind of character needful to carry success with grace.

---

00:00:03.890]
I’ve been pondering recently about a deep work. Now this is a subject that’s been popularised by the books by Cal Newport and others, but it’s so true. It’s not a conversation that is new, though. It’s easy to miss your awesome if you just keep skimming on the surface and the temptation to stop digging when the creative going gets tough is very real. There’s a noisy world out there intent to bring you back to the shallows so they can lay another sale to your account.

00:00:38.570]
Really, a lot of the noise is really calling you to part with cash in the vain hope that the promises of easy riches are going to solve your problems now, as much as I respect, and I’m a salesman myself. As much as I respect the opportunities that we do have today and the vast and broad spectrum of them, they are not all for everybody, and more to the point, they are not all for you. I want to encourage you to instead go deep. Speaking of the Church, Leonard Ravenhill said, people say that the Church today is growing and expanding and somewhat cynically potentially.

00:01:31.430]
But I think there was a lot of truth in what he said.

00:01:33.950]
He said yes, it’s 10 miles wide now and about a quarter of an inch deep. Jim Simbala, one of my favourite teachers on prayer, expanded on this in his sermon. Deeper, not wider. And he said this. He said the tendency today is to merely splash around in trees for a while and then jump outside the well to the surrounding soil.

00:01:56.750]
Look at this. God is doing a new thing, people proclaim in six months or so. Of course, the novelty wears off and they jump again to a new patch of grass. They spend their whole lives hop scotching from one side of God’s will to the other, never really probing the depths of the living waters inside. That’s what Jim said regarding the same subject.

00:02:21.470]
It’s true of the Church, but also so true in the realm of business, perhaps even more so. The very nature of selling demands that new things populate the shelves in order to keep the coffers rolling and the FOMO fear of missing out vacuum is always sucking otherwise intelligent entrepreneurs back to the surface. We begin to dig in one direction and then the new offer turns up or the new opportunity or the latest thing, and we dig our way back up to the surface before we discover the real riches that lay down in the depths.

00:03:03.050]
The surface is not where you’re going to discover the kind of genius that impacts people at the deep heart level that you want to. The Scriptures say this in Psalm 42:7, deep calls to deep, and so digging deep.

00:03:20.090]
Man is so much harder work than skimming the surface, which is why it’s not so popular. It takes discipline to stay the course through discouraging seasons or hard rock like problems and sometimes all you see in front of you is more dirt to dig, and the diamonds that you’re seeking remain elusive. It’s tempting to return to the surface for a fix of Zirconia. It looks like the real thing, but doesn’t take nearly as much time or pressure to form. Buying a new shiny thing provides the fix we need to numb ourselves to the reality that work, and often much work is required if we ever plan to discover our deepest and most impacting contributions that we can bring to the world. Again, let me speak from Cal Newport’s book that I referenced earlier.

00:04:17.630]
Deep work rules for focused success in a distracted world, he said. This, he said the ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As a consequence, a few who cultivate the skill and then make it the core of their working life will thrive now. That sounds marvellous, doesn’t it? He doesn’t want to thrive.

00:04:46.850]
The issue, Cal, is that I want to thrive by the end of next week, not in ten years. Time. Often a rush to become a perfect self and see all of the breakthrough that we dream of. A desire to see it happen yesterday, if possible, and if not today or tomorrow would be acceptable is one of the things that really hampers us. I believe in actually moving towards that deep place where we found our rhythm and where we found and plumbed our genius.

00:05:27.050]
And I’m not suggesting that all breakthroughs take ten years. Some can happen in that lightning moment of inspiration or a fortunate connection. But often they don’t. And the cost of discovering our deep whatever that may be really does begin to add up. Yes, it will take work, and yes, it will take time and often an investment of money as well as you learn and grow and expand inwardly before you see anything happening outwardly of any kind of note.

00:06:06.110]
But all of these are necessary components in the push to plumb our potential. Again, Newport warned this, he said, efforts to deepen your focus will struggle if you don’t. Simultaneously, wean your mind from a dependence on distractions. Distractions of the obvious kind may be or actually may not be easy to stave off willpower can stop you scrolling the screen potentially. But like, be careful, man, the undercurrents of these apps that we so readily give ourselves to are so strong that to move against them is to swim against the tide.

00:06:50.270]
But often it’s the zirconese distractions. Those are the ones that I want to address today. These pretend jewels that keep being presented to us. They’re so pregnant with the promise of a new future, but they may be the most dangerous. They glitter with this promise of ease and effortless.

00:07:15.290]
Relief from the grind of growing your breakthrough is just one click away. Plus, you’ll get all of these bonuses. Now again, I just want to stress as much as I might be, kind of putting a frame on a certain thing and speaking in a manner that is broad stroke. It’s more the culture that I’m poking at. It’s more the culture of this Internet online marketing marketplace and the way things are sold that really sometimes can hook us and keep pulling us away from really moving in prayer and moving with intention towards discovering something deeper than the latest greatest opportunity that’s sat on the shelf as digital entrepreneurs and creators.

00:08:21.770]
There’s always going to be another great opportunity knocking on that door. And of course, the latest app yet one more tantalising challenge to tip your life into whatever glorious fulfilment you’re looking for. But often our garden just gets holier in the sense of like holes dug. We go down a few inches and then we resurface and then go dig another hole somewhere else. We learn a little about many things but never know much about the one or but a few things that we’ve been called to really master so we can bring extreme value to the people that we’re called to serve.

00:09:03.530]
And instead of fruitfulness, we find a patch of ground in life piled high with often disappointed hopes and spent efforts. So whether it’s prayer, whether it’s your craft, whether it’s your business, the ability to stay the course and dig deep without fear of missing out on what everyone else is doing and the direction they are taking is one that I believe we must cultivate, and indeed more and more so. There are three skills that I want to just quickly cover that speak to this digging deep and discovering the genuine diamond subjects that you are called to really deliver heavy duty.

00:09:51.470]
There are many facets to the deep digging commitment, but these three will crop up again and again as you pursue your passion. Number one, we need to align our pursuit with God’s purpose. Ephesians 210 teaches that we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that he has already prepared for us to walk in. Now, God’s purpose for you is sure and certain, not fickle and fleeting. And digging in to find your zone of genius is as much about prayer as it is about prowess.

00:10:29.510]
It’s not just about being good at doing something or knowing a lot about something. It’s a place where you connect with your heart and connect with the purpose of God. And so making prayer priority, I think, is one of the big keys taking a leaf out of Mary’s book when she sat at the feet of Jesus. Jesus pace may not be the adrenaline fueled mad dance that the world plays, and your dopamine levels may be cold turkeyed by his refusal to keep jabbing you with a new hit of excitement every 6 seconds.

00:11:07.430]
But when you relent and allow the shepherd to lead, your fear of missing out will be washed away and the delights of a deeper connection with God, a more resolute contentment and a greater recognition of value and worth.

00:11:27.590]
That supersedes and goes beyond just the money that you make or the notoriety that you conjure is going to become so much more real to you. There is a great, beautiful, deep, abiding, peace and joy that remains for the people of God, and it’s not going to be found in the frenetic pursuit of things, whether those things are physical things or whether those things are the emotional trinkets that we want to store up, we need to allow our heart to find its place of peace. We need to find our connection with Jesus first and then have everything else follow.

00:12:22.850]
The second thing that I want to encourage you to do is to keep digging the treasures that you’re seeking inward treasure that you are called to bless the world with. They’re not on the surface and the house that you and your legacy.

00:12:42.170]
The legacy that you want to leave behind is not built on sand. Don’t be discouraged if results don’t drop instantly like ripe fruit from a shaken tree. I know it’s easy to say, and sometimes the journey seems very long, but even this piece of writing, even this podcast, as I share today, is to some degree inspired by my own deep excavation, and it’s an encouragement to myself to stay the course and not give up right before the breakthrough. If you know that your direction is set by God, if you know that you are aligned with this purpose and it fits with your passion and personality, be ready to settle into a rhythm that consistently moves you towards realisation, create something toward that every day, building habits that strengthen your resolve, continue to add value and share generously, even when all you apparently see is more dirt and rocks to dig through.

00:13:49.250]
And this kind of resilient commitment to help others and bring your best and deepest to the table will develop the kind of character needful to carry success when it comes with Grace.

00:14:02.990]
And then Thirdly, travel light. Now in the drive to discover your deep, you may find yourself diverted on many occasions, despite firm focus in one direction, the sire and cause of opportunity may bring you back to the surface, only to be let down again. Sometimes we can feel that I may just be speaking for myself. But man, sometimes we can feel like such a failure because we don’t live up to all of the shiny promises that entice us behind the buy button. But even if you’re not diverted, even if you stay fully focused in your course and direction, unfazed by all of the noise, some of the subterranean lessons that we need to learn on the way to our treasure are going to be taught by one of the masterful mindset coaches, one that we’re all tutored with to one degree or another and whose disguise we do tend to despise.

00:15:09.470]
And that is the lessons that failure can teach us. I like to think that failing is future success wrapped in a lesson to learn, it comes disguised success. Future success comes disguised as failure. If we can recognise that and strip it back, we’ll understand that there are some deep lessons that we can learn that will then become a great blessing and strength to others as we keep moving forward. Let’s learn our lessons well and carry the wisdom forward with us.

00:15:49.190]
But leave the baggage behind now, not allowing yesterday’s mess ups and missteps to weigh us down. Take that next step. Dig that next spadeful. Keep hope and faith as your light filled guides. Even Jesus himself was led to times of testing in his wilderness experience, but he returned in the power of the spirit.

00:16:14.870]
I believe that we can do the same wilderness moments, times of testing, times of trial times where we have the opportunity to diminish our view of ourself or our abilities are going to probably be many and scattered on the pathway to your ultimate success. But these wilderness moments are part of our training, and if we can embrace them as such, it will make us and strengthen us and mould us to be the people that we need to be when we stand before the audience that God has called us to Minister to.

00:16:57.410]
Let’s be a people who are deep, not just wide. Let’s dig with purposeful, intent to become all that we have been created to be. And don’t let the hardness of the way stop you in your tracks.

00:17:10.370]
Your diamond day is coming and the world will be a richer place because you chose to keep digging 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.

00:17:28.790]
Have a great day.

The creative life is one of idea sharing, value bringing, wealth-creating, human loving, generosity.

---

00:00:02.870]
The creative nature is, I think, often romanticised or glamorised. And for many people, the idea of being an artist or an author or a creative creative of any kind takes on this gleam. But really it’s much more ordinary than normal. Then it’s often made out to be. I mean, quite honestly, every single human being on the planet is created in the image of their creator, and he is abundant in every sense of the word.

00:00:40.310]
And so I believe that in every human being, there is a nature that is quite naturally. Or, if you like, supernaturally creative and that creative flair shows up in many ways that are quite remarkable. The problem, I think, is and to a degree, this does come from a mindset that I’ve alluded to already. The problem is that many times it shows up for a momentary burst and much like a firework rises into view and then plummets back into obscurity. We have a moment of courage.

00:01:22.430]
We step out of the shadows, and in this instance of brilliance, we let our light shine. But then kind of skulk back into the shadows and the mundanety of everyday life, waiting for the next zap of inspiration to hit us at some kind of unexpected moments. Really, a creative flare becomes F-L-A-I-R becomes a creative flare. F-L-A-R-E. That firework syndrome that I’m talking about.

00:02:01.010]
But the element here that’s missing is not a mystery. It is simply being consistent with our creativity. Consistent creative action is, I believe, the key that unclogs the pipes so that they can flow more freely and deliver the goods day after day instead of in fits and spurts. Sometimes when we place a restriction or an expectation upon ourselves, it’s surprising what depth of creativity we find within ourselves. Honestly, I try and write every day.

00:02:37.850]
I try and do this podcast five days a week, and there have been a few moments where I’ve wondered, Well, man, will I have anything left to say by the end of the week, but it’s surprising when we place a demand on that inner reserve on that inner well, just how deep it runs now, the romantic ideas that surround creativity and its exercise are really partly to blame. This glamorization of artists and writers as tormented souls court in a tumultuous affair with the esoteric muse. But really, here on planet Earth, most creatives are just regular folk, with a number with a few ideas, a keyboard or a paintbrush.

00:03:33.050]
Whether that’s a digital paintbrush or whatever, there are so many expressions of creativity.

00:03:42.030]
Of course, the artistic life isn’t an ordinary one. It doesn’t come with the same guarantees that some paths we might choose maybe come with, although that is less and less the case, I think. But neither is it kind of other worldly or out of reach. The creative life, essentially is one of idea sharing value, bringing wealth, creating human loving generosity. We have something that we believe is valuable and worthy of sharing on the inside.

00:04:18.930]
And we make a habit of looking for ways to share that and give it away. The artist or writer is starkly aware that the stories that they carry are too valuable not to give away. A faithful creative cannot be a hoarder, and the compulsion to make a difference in the lives of others compels us. And we look for ways to crystallise the value that we carry in our spirit so it can be consumed and enjoyed by another human heart. I encourage you to do that, and that’s why we develop creative disciplines, habits that descale the inner pipes so the ideas can flow from heart to heart to head and to hand unhindered that flow from our inner man out into the world, much like a pipe in your home, left untended like lime scale forms on pipes.

00:05:22.410]
I’m sure you’ve seen it if you boiler kettle or if you’ve had pipes that are clogged up and the flow diminishes and it’s exactly the same with their creative plumbing. Now worry fear of what others will think or say. Chasing money, unbelief pressure to conform. Any or all of the above and more can choke our artistic arteries. Here are a few creative habits that I think have potent descaling powers, and there are more.

00:05:53.370]
Really, we could write a book just about creative habits. Maybe I should think about doing that. Here are just a few. Write something every day. If you’re a musician, sing something every day, play something every day.

00:06:09.990]
It doesn’t necessarily have to be writing. If you’re a painter or an artist, sketch something every day, make it just part of the fabric of your days. Read something every day. Something edifying. I’m not talking just about whatever accidentally turns up on your scrolling screen.

00:06:32.550]
But be intentional in building new information into your heart into your mind by reading quality material and do that every day. Again, it doesn’t have to be lots and lots and lots. Just a little each day really does add up.

00:06:53.550]
This next point should maybe have been at the top of the list. Here. Pray every day. The greatest creative thing you can do is take time and spend time with the creator like hands down. The most productive thing you can do is to pray.

00:07:14.790]
Number four, curtail your consumption of unintentional and intrusive content. I want to make it clear that I’m not against consumption. And there are times when just having a scroll on Facebook or Instagram or just a browse through a magazine can be quite fun and quite refreshing in some ways, but when it becomes an addictive habit, it has the opposite effect. And so that’s why I say curtail your consumption of unintentional because you’re not necessarily choosing what turns up on your screen and intrusive content, because honestly, these different platforms are designed to push things into your field of vision.

00:08:04.530]
They have an agenda so just be careful with that and so indulge your curiosity with careful curation.

00:08:13.830]
That’s the way I be a curator of the information that you choose to consume another thing. Be quick to act on ideas regardless of outcomes. Don’t let your fear of what might or might not happen stop you taking action. If I were to do that, I would probably never, ever write a book in case no one reads it. I would never create anything because I would be fearful that it wouldn’t work or wouldn’t be received or wouldn’t make money or not.

00:08:46.110]
That money is the only thing. But sometimes we think, oh, man, I can’t waste time or spend time doing that. What if it doesn’t exit you fill in the blank. Do it anyways. Allow your creativity to be exercised so it can become what it needs to be to maybe take you to that blank that you just filled in.

00:09:11.790]
But it’s not going to happen by just sitting back, waiting for it to drop up on you. It’s going to happen as part of the process of discovery. By actually doing, I would say another great creative habit is to stay curious, always be asking questions, always be looking to find out more, stay alive and alert to the world around you and the wonders that it wants to deliver. Learn new skills, another one. Learn new skills.

00:09:47.010]
But in this I would say, be careful not to get caught up in just busy work. Learn the skills that feed into your ability to better create and share your worth with the world. So having made a decision, this is how I’m going to serve the world with what I carry in my heart. Learning new skills that help you to do that is time well spent. And then, of course, to connect regularly with other creative souls who share your desire to make a positive impact in the world.

00:10:27.030]
Your creative flair in the right sense of the word. Not that firework deserves more than a bright and transitory moment in the sky. God created you to be a creator, and His will for you is not fleeting. Allow faith and patience to strengthen your creative steps and keep your faith even when challenges stand in your way. And I promise you they will.

00:10:53.490]
They will come. You’ll be challenged to back off. You’ll be challenged to simmer down. There’ll be all sorts of different things that present themselves that want to stop the wheels moving as you move toward really making the impact that you know that you can. I encourage you to allow faith and patience to continue to strengthen your heart in your desire to help, bless and impact other people.

00:11:21.990]
The pathway to breakthrough is often littered with those who burned out along the way, those whose creative aspirations were dampened. So my encouragement, I’m going to speak about this a bit more. I think over the coming days, maybe even weeks, is to draw deeper. Scrub the pipes with some praying and some sharing with other faithful creatives make a point of connecting with other people. I’d love to encourage you, Jim, and honestly, one place you can do that is in the Christian Creative Academy.

00:12:00.870]
You can cheCK out the website at Christiancreative.Academy. It’s just a membership that I’ve opened up for faithful creatives like you who are dedicated to making this year the year that they see change and Holy Ghost growth in the creative projects. It’s a creative group of people and some very rich and deep resources that will feed in to your creative output and also the best thing about it. So I think the best thing about it anyways, is how deeply rooted in Christ the program is. First, you are a child of God.

00:12:48.510]
You stand in the image of the Creator to bring something of eternity to play in everything that you do in the world. And then Secondly, you’re someone who makes things. You’re a maker. And so I would love to invite you to join that membership.

00:13:06.990]
It’s not expensive to do so. And I promise you you’ll get far more value out of it than it costs. So as Christiancreative Academy, you’d be welcome to join us. Hey, God bless you. Hopefully this was helpful today and I look forward to digging deeper in the coming days and weeks as we talk about deeper.

00:13:30.510]
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.