podcast

Sometimes it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that ability is what makes someone stand out, that skill makes all the difference.

This morning as I was praying, I was surprised to hear my own spirit calling out to God and saying to Him over and over again, “I want to make myself available to You. I want to make myself available to You.”

In itself that may not seem strange. After all, don’t we all want to be available for God. What impressed me was the insistence of my spirit. I could not stop repeating this simple request.

“I want to make myself available to You. I want to make myself available to You.”

The reality is that often it’s not our ability that determines our progress, but our availability.

As Christian creatives, authors, business people, and entrepreneurs, we need to understand that we are not in this enterprise alone.

We are not limited by our own ability or skill set, because we have a Partner who is working with us. He is more than on board and sees and understands everything.

The Holy Spirit is a partner with you in whatever endeavour you choose to engage in. You just need to continually come and make yourself available to him, so that you can become a conduit for something bigger than yourself.

https://davidleemartin.com/avail-yourself-of-god-and-he-will-give-you-the-ability/

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00:00:03.530]
Well, good morning to you, I trust you are well today I’m looking forward to just sharing some things that have been on my heart, some things that the Holy Ghost has been speaking to me about this morning. I don’t know whether it’s profound or not, but certainly it was helpful for me to be reminded of some of the things I want to share with you this morning. You know, it really came out of my time. Generally, what I try and do in the mornings is kind of rise early and take some time to be in God’s presence, spend some time in conversation with him, really kind of tackle the things that tackle my heart if I don’t allow him in.

00:01:02.390]
And I love to journal as I do that as well. That’s that’s really been a big key for me. And and this morning, as I was praying, I didn’t find that there was so much of a flow of conversation. It was more just something really gripped my heart and I began to pray. And I’m sure you may have experienced similar things when you’ve been praying. Is that kind of your spirit of hooks onto a statement? Your your spirit hooks onto a request, and it’s like that request just becomes like urgent and insistent.

00:01:44.300]
And I find myself repeating the words, Lord, I want to make myself available to you. I want to make myself available to you. And you know that maybe that’s not something so surprising or so unusual. It’s it’s not necessarily a strange prayer as such. But what impressed me was what kind of made it stand out to me this morning was the fact that I just couldn’t stop repeating it. It was just like, I don’t know. I think it wasn’t so much me trying to get through to God because we don’t need to try and get through to him.

00:02:24.590]
He’s already opened the way. It’s really there is a new and loving way. If you want to come into God’s presence, then Jesus is your highway. There’s no there’s no standing outside, okay? There’s no kind of been held on the on the sidelines. And God has ushered us deeply, deeply into his presence. But I think it was more to impress on my heart. It was more like my spirit was trying to get my attention, the attention of my mind and my consciousness, to remember that it’s not my ability that really makes the difference.

00:03:05.600]
It is my availability. And I want to remind you of that today as well. Sometimes in in kind of all of the the various things, particularly if we’re involved in creative pursuits and creative endeavours, we can feel as though sometimes like there’s always going to be someone better than us. Let’s face it. There’s always going to be someone is kind of further down the line or doing maybe what we want to do or what we are doing in a much more impressive manner or whatever else it may be.

00:03:38.870]
And we think and we can fall into the trap of thinking that they have some special ability, that they have some kind of an otherworldly skill. Okay. Or that that sets them apart. But the truth is. Okay, and I just really want to bring this to our remembrance today, that it’s not just ability that is at play here. It is availability. And I find myself praying over and over. Lord, I want to make myself available to you.

00:04:14.390]
I want to make myself available to you. And, you know, in that the words began to impress himself upon me and I decided, well, let’s find out what avail means. Let’s find out what avail ability means. And so I went to look up the word avail or availability. And it means to really to be to to be present, OK? It means to be close at hand. It means to be within arm’s reach, you know, if something is available.

00:04:55.550]
And and it got me to thinking, Lord, am I positioning myself in a way that is within arm’s. For you, am I making myself available to your presence, if you want to say something, if you want to do something, if you want to give a specific direction? Am I here in attendance and ready to respond? Ready to hear and ready to act? And again, you know, I’m not one to stop. I’m a bit like a kind of little bulldog once I get my teeth into something.

00:05:28.730]
And so we dug a bit deeper and I found out that the the word avail comes from a Latin word. Let me just make sure I get this right. So I want to be sure I get get this correct. Let me have a look here on my blog post that I wrote this morning. That at. Yeah, it means to be close at hand, within easy reach, and comes from a Latin word, a volley of Valera V-A-L-E-R-A.

00:06:08.670]
Which means to be strong or of value, to be strong or of value. It’s the same word that is used, the same root word that is used for to be valiant. Okay. Valiant is the same root word that we find this word a or availability or available. All are rooted in that thing. It means to be strong or a value. And you know, we we it does take courage to make yourself available to God. It takes courage to be at arm’s reach for him to direct you, and then to step out boldly into what he says.

00:06:54.170]
And I was reminded of a friend of mine. I think this is probably one of my favourite stories, particularly because I’m a lover of the arts. I’m a lover of kind of creativity, as well as a massive lover of Christ and a friend of mine, David Holden, he is a painter. Okay. And but his story of how he stepped into the life of an artist is really quite powerful and really unique. David was training to be a pastor.

00:07:25.350]
As some of you may know. My wife and I were pastors for 20 plus years. He was training to be a pastor when I was kind of just a young upstart, like trying to learn the ropes. And he was also, I believe, in the property market in some degree. But he was going through a really difficult time, a time of kind of a stack of various disappointing things. And he went to a meeting like a church meeting where a prophet was speaking.

00:07:56.820]
The prophet called him out, pointed him out, not he obviously didn’t know who he was and and began to pray over him, began to prophesy over him. And and he prophesied over him, you will be a painter. And, you know, by this time, David had fallen on the floor under the power of the Holy Ghost, was pinned there by some angel of some kind. I suspect his hands were burning. OK, he’s pinned to the floor, his hands are burning.

00:08:26.790]
And this prophet says you will be a painter. And, you know, he’d never painted a picture in his life. And really his natural mind immediately went having kind of just been in in more regular employ. Up to that point, his mind immediately saw himself climbing a ladder, painting walls and painting windowsills like a like a painter and decorator. And he said, I know he’s lying there thinking, Lord, that does not feel like divine destiny to me right now.

00:08:59.520]
And but the Holy Spirit spoke to him and said, no, I want you to be an artist. He was available. And but the story doesn’t stop there because often times what will happen is we will hear something from heaven, will kind of enjoy the moment and then get up and go about our regular business. You know, we’ll be like, OK, that was a nice memory that I can look back on. I can put it on my kind of spiritual wall like, oh, yeah, that was the day that God told me I would be an artist, not David.

00:09:30.990]
Yeah. You David Holden the very next day. Well, that very day he went home and spoke to his wife, told her that he was now going to be an artist. I think she probably thought, oh, no, you know, like early onset kind of mid-life crisis occurring here. I’d better be careful what I say. But nevertheless, David went out the following day. I went to an art supply shop, having never painted, not even knowing what he what he needed to buy.

00:10:02.040]
I went in and told them, I’m an artist, I need some paints. And the attendant in the shop said, well, what kind of paint do you want then, sir? And he like quite honestly, said, I don’t know. I’ve got no idea what kind of paint I want. Would you suggest something? So I left the store with a bag full of supplies, some watercolours, some sable brushes and some papers or canvases and began that very day.

00:10:30.450]
And, you know, within a month, I believe, of this particular encounter, this meeting, this empowerment, he had painted thirty plus paintings like his his I mean, his paintings are like landscapes, beautiful. Like he would go out into the countryside where he lived here in Sussex where I am. He would. Go out, find a place. Pitch himself up, and he painted the most incredible pictures you can imagine, like having never, ever painted in his life.

00:11:05.470]
God literally, because he was available, because he availed himself of God. God gave him the ability literally supernaturally at that moment in that meeting. Now, that that would mean that we would never have known that had he not been valiant enough to then step out and actually put into practice what he believed God spoke. I mean, even so, that alone would be enough to tell you, man, this is this is a God thing. But, of course, you know, we need to pay the bills.

00:11:40.430]
Yeah, so did David. And and so he and his wife laid out what what in some circles we call a fleece. OK, from the story of Gideon, God came to Gideon and said, you valiant. Yeah. You available Valiant man. You know, I’m calling you. And Gideon said, Hey, whoa, not me, man. You must be talking about someone else. And Gideon laid out a fleece and said, look, if it’s wet, if the fleece is wet in the morning and the ground is dry, then I’ll know it’s you.

00:12:12.730]
Exactly. God did it. And then the following day, he said maybe that was an accident. OK, this time I want the fleece to be dry and the ground to be wet back. God did it. OK, so God will bear with us to a degree. OK, in a doubt and ask yourself, you know, like that, that where we doubt ourselves, he will he will carry us through and bear with us in those things.

00:12:39.400]
He understands that stepping out takes courage, but he called him a valiant man. This is Gideon. I’m talking about an equally David, I believe valiantly stepped out David Holden and began to act on what God had spoken to him. And in it they laid out a fleece and said, okay, thirty days from now we’re going to hire a studio, we’re going to run a gallery exhibition. If the paintings sell, we will know that this is a God thing and not just a David.

00:13:13.480]
I’m having a mid-life crisis thing. And, you know, I mean, you can guess what the how the story continues. All of the paintings sold out. I mean, not surprisingly, they were just incredible, beautiful landscapes that he did. And and he went on to be, I want to say, one of the most prolific and popular landscape painters in our area. And his works went all over the country and I’m sure beyond the beyond the shores of Britain.

00:13:46.600]
And so all because he was available, David was available. And then we and then it got me thinking about others who were available. It got me thinking about how God calls us in whatever station of life we find ourselves in. We’ve got like, you know, and and how each of our stories is kind of uniquely stamped with God’s special anointing, OK? It’s uniquely stamped with his kind of unique grace for our lives. You know, you’ve got Joseph, OK?

00:14:23.110]
His availability went through quite a lot of adversity before he stepped into that place of authority and influence. Yeah, he went through he went through the pit to the prison, OK, to the pit, to Bonifaz. You’re cleaning Potiphar floor to the prison. To the palace. I mean, it’s like just such an incredible story. You you’ve then got Moses like out in the backside of the desert. I mean, Moses story is such an interesting one and such a one that like you, the patience required, let’s face it, like it was.

00:15:00.760]
It’s an incredible story. A burning bush out in the backside of the desert. Moses was available to him and then to respond to what God told him to do. You know, you’ve got they’ve got Peter fishing going about his business. You’ve got Matthew, the tax collector, collecting money, man, for the for the very people who were pressing God’s people at that time, you know, like the most unlikely person there he is in his office job, in the most unpopular office job on the planet at the time.

00:15:37.930]
And now God calls him there. He was available, you know, and each of our stories is different. You got Mary, you know, Mary like it called out of this incredibly dark, demonic past, you know, just such a. Rokan place and God says, Hey, Mary, are you available? Hey, come follow me, come follow me. And it’s really is the same for us. I mean, for me, I was I was like I went way off the rails in so many ways as a young man.

00:16:13.980]
And in the midst of that, not beyond it. Not once I tidied myself up. Not once I’d clean myself up right in the very thick of it. Yeah. Jesus comes in and says, Hey, boy, you available, come follow me. And he may be asking you to do that. Now, maybe you don’t even know Jesus. And he’s saying for the very first time you’re hearing, hey, come follow me. Know or maybe you’ve been following him for many years.

00:16:43.890]
And this is like a because this is a relationship, because it’s something that is growing and developing and going from strength to strength and glory to glory and faith to faith and all of those good things and challenge to challenge. Yeah, it’s. God continues to speak, God continues to say, hey, follow me, hey, come follow me. And really what I was reminded of today is that like they look, David, speaking to this, David, okay may maybe speaking to whoever is on the other side of this screen right now.

00:17:25.670]
You know, you put your name there, you know, is saying, are you are you at hand? Are you close at hand? Are you within arm’s reach? Can I reach out my hand and put it on you? Can I put it on your can I infuse your ability with my ability? Can I can I take your personality, your gift, your experience, your history and use it for my kingdom and for my glory and and to to help other people.

00:17:57.440]
And, you know, this idea of Valerie. Okay. Being to be strong just again, like it’s like the Holy Ghost leads you kind of into this kind of deeper discussion, peels away the the layers when we allow him to. That’s why it’s so important to give him time. And I’m remind I was reminded of Paul’s prayer that that God would strengthen his disciples, that they might be able to comprehend, take hold and grasp the implications and gravity of God’s amazing love.

00:18:33.200]
In Ephesians 3:16 to 19, it says that he would grant you he’s praying here. You pray, God grant them according to the riches of your glory, to be strengthened with power through your spirit in their in a man so that Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith and that you being rooted and grounded in love, maybe may be able to comprehend with all the saints the breadth, the length, the height and the depth, and to know the love of Christ, which goes far beyond mere knowledge.

00:19:06.560]
Yeah. We will ever experience this, you know, and that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. I mean, how how magnificent is that prayer? But what’s interesting is it actually takes a valiant strength to comprehend and take hold and to understand the strength and the reality and the substance of the love that the father offers us. And this love man is the foundation. It’s the sustenance, the springboard. It’s the destination of everything we do in every act of service, every creative experiment, every endeavour is rooted in this reality.

00:19:52.550]
Ultimately, love is why we exist. Love is why we do what we do. It’s why we get out of bed in the morning and, you know, to love God, to learn to love ourselves as he loves us. And I know I’m finding have found and I’m finding that that is some sometimes the the most challenging piece, OK, love others is you love yourself. OK, this love self bit can be real challenge this except self bit can be a real challenge.

00:20:25.880]
This value self and what I bring to the world can be a real challenge. OK, but this is it. This is the root. This is the ground. This is the foundation that we build from love. God love our self as he loves us. And then from that place of acceptance, we step out with confidence to not trying to be something other than what God has designed us to be, not trying to play the part of someone else’s, you to see these different ones that we’ve spoken of today.

00:20:58.820]
They were all available and but they were all available in different ways. They were all at different places. They were different people with different gifts and different different plans and destinies that guided plotted out for them. They went through different things. And it’s the same for us. We have something so special, so unique to bring. OK, and and it’s not just about your ability. It’s not just about your skill. It’s not just about your history or your education or your intelligence or, you know, or whatever it may be or whether you think you lack all of those things.

00:21:39.410]
It’s about your availability. Are you ready for God to avail himself of you, to put you on like a glove, to step out so you can step forward in your gift and your anointing and your calling? Because his endorsement ultimately OK, is the only thing that you need. And from that. Ground from that foundation, I came from that cornerstone, which cannot be shaken. We then step out to serve other people. Well, thanks for listening.

00:22:17.400]
Hopefully it’s been an encouragement to you today. If you want to connect any further, you can do so through my website at Davidleemartin.com. Have a great day.

I am a Christian creative.

I believe that the two go hand in hand. Creativity flows from the indwelling presence of the Creator. Christ in us, the hope of glory!

Does that mean that non-Christians are excluded? In no way. We are all made in His image. But it is my utmost conviction that to tap the deepest resources of our Father’s limitless heart takes more than mere acquaintance. We want to plumb the depths of what’s possible and allow His creative unction to flow full force through our being.

The church, and by that I mean the living, breathing church made up of believers across the planet, not some staid spired building on a street corner somewhere, should be the creative hub of every community.

It is time for a creative revolution. A bold and unashamed reclamation of the arts, and a celebration of the One who is the Source of all creativity.

https://davidleemartin.com/calling-christian-creatives/

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00:00:01.860]
I want to really kind of just to open up my heart and talk to you about. Really, the need for Christian, the church really, and by that I don’t mean a specific church, I certainly don’t mean just a building on a corner with a spire somewhere. But the church as a whole, the church, the people of God on this planet, the people who have been filled and who are following Jesus, who are filled with the Holy Ghost and following the Holy Ghost.

00:00:38.590]
And just really my belief that God is really calling for a revolution for like a new renaissance of Christian arts and Christian artists to really come out of the woodwork and buy woodwork. I guess I probably mean out of the out of the pews, you know, just to really step up and step out and begin to share their worth with the world. I, I know that there are books to be written, songs to be sung, pictures to be painted, invention’s to be made, recipe’s to be cooked, whatever else it may be.

00:01:19.960]
There are so many different ways in which our creativity can be expressed. And whereas so often, unfortunately, the world has had kind of the that they’ve taken the corner, they’ve taken their place in these different arenas, I believe it’s really time for the church to rise up and take its place at the forefront of creativity, the forefront of ingenuity, the forefront of really bringing new ideas to the table and also re-experiencing and communicating with greater clarity, you know, old ideas that are enduring, you know, really to kind of sweep away some of the the dust that is settled in people’s thinking, some of the familiarity that is kind of infused our culture, some of that negativity that’s infused our culture.

00:02:21.430]
And to be a voice in our generation, I believe the arts have got the the power to do that. I believe the arts have got a power to bypass all of the kind of gatekeepers that that people have in their thinking and really strike to the heart of something really go kind of go behind the lines and speak deeply to the heart. I believe that that’s one of the reasons why Jesus spoke so much in parables. He chose to be a storyteller.

00:02:58.420]
He chose to be someone. He painted pictures. He allowed people to understand truth in a creative way. He didn’t just kind of pull out his manual from heaven and say, OK, this is what the law says. But he actually began to speak in a very resonant way with his audience. He spoke about men and women who were like farmers. He spoke of fishermen he spoke of to the people and to the environment that that people were familiar with.

00:03:38.080]
And I think today, you know, the church is being shaped for a great move of the Holy Spirit. And I think in every area, all of the different mountains of influence, all of the different arenas of impact and influence in society. And certainly one of those areas and one of the most significant one of the most influential one that literally shapes how people think literally shapes how the culture that we live in is the realm of arts and entertainment.

00:04:16.430]
And by that, I don’t just mean kind of frivolous entertainment, although I don’t necessarily mean this. I think there’s anything wrong with that. But really that just books will be written that will so deeply impact and penetrate society that films will be made that carry the anointing and the message of heaven that will so powerfully speak into the very heart of the culture that we live in. And I just believe, like if we as Christians says, if we as Christian creatives, artists, authors, entrepreneurs, if we have the creator living in us, this is the this is the one who flung the stars into and filled the heavens with so much splendour.

00:05:08.190]
He’s the one who spoke and the seas teamed with Fish and Creatures, he’s the one who brought forth the hills and the rains and the snows and the sun and the moon. And he’s the one who propagated all of the diverse life that we see on the planet. He spoke all of that flowed from our fathers hard. I’m a passionate believer in the creation. I’m a passionate believer in a literal genesis, you know. And, you know, if that same being if that same power, if that same life, if that DNA dwells in us being made in his image, how much more like the surprise shouldn’t be that the church is incredibly creative and innovative?

00:06:06.120]
It should the surprise should be if we’re not, you know, and and I just call with all my heart and passion for that innovation, for that creativity, for that prosperity, for that breakthrough type anointing to really come afresh on the church body and on God’s people. And I encourage you today, if you’re watching this and you you know, you’re a follower of Jesus, you have a desire in your heart to serve his kingdom. There are a multitude of ways in which we can begin to affect that.

00:06:46.290]
Now, there are multitudes of ways in which we can express ourselves and share our worth with the world and just really begin to bring this message to the table. And it doesn’t mean that we have to I mean, like, for example. What I’m doing right now, one time would have been like literally impossible for just a regular guy stood in his office at home, but now we can live stream. Now we can create and upload videos. Now we can edit video.

00:07:18.790]
Now we can create courses that people can consume anywhere on the planet. Now we can write and publish books without gatekeepers standing between us and the bookshelves and the readers and the buyers. There are so many opportunities that are present, so many opportunities that have been given to this generation that were never that literally were not an option for people before this. I believe that this quickening, I believe that the time and the day that we live in is for a reason.

00:07:54.550]
I believe that these technologies have been brought forth. These technologies have been made available to us for a reason. It’s no it’s no accident that the avenues and the vehicles for our value have been made available and made available so freely and so kind of ease and we can so easily access them. And so I just encourage you to kind of go away and just give some consideration to the different ways in which you might be able to really crystallise your value, crystallise your ideas, your thoughts into something that would bless and build other people.

00:08:42.820]
Now, that might be in a blog post. It might be in a video. It might be in just a posts on social media. It might be in a book. It may be that you want to write a book and put a book out where people can actually kind of consume the information and your worth in that way. But whatever it may be, you know, there is going to be that you’re going to be able to find something that really kind of sits well with your personality.

00:09:11.260]
For me, I love to write. I’m learning to get a bit more comfortable doing this. I, I do do quite a lot of kind of video work where I’m training people and and coaching people. But this whole new life thing is quite new to me. And despite despite certainly when I first started a number of weeks ago, it being tremendously uncomfortable, you know, as you do things, as you step out and begin to explore new avenues of expression, it does get easier.

00:09:49.540]
It does become certainly less less intimidating. And so I just encourage you either make that step and step out or keep stepping out, keep stepping forward, keep exploring the different ways in which you can just add value to other people. You know, as Christians, we are givers. As Christians, we are people who like have an abundance and overflow that needs to spill out to others. That is the nature of our father. Our father never really did things by half measures.

00:10:31.660]
When he fed the 5000, he left like a heap of baskets full over when when he said, put your net on the other side, he just about sunk the boats. It has sunk. So our God is not someone he kind of half measures. He is someone who abundantly supplies. And I believe that there’s an abundant supply that he has placed within your heart, that within you there are many rivers that can be opened up and flow out to the world.

00:11:03.520]
Within you. There is a spring of life, a spring of creativity, a spring of joy and peace and grace and power that is springing up within you, designed to flow out and bring life to other people. So God bless you today. Let’s believe, for such a tremendous move of God amongst his people in every arena. And let’s believe, too, that each one of us will find our place, our kingdom role within that that that great move.

00:11:46.660]
I believe that we’re seeing that the signs of it now. I believe that we are in the midst of a huge shift and a huge change in just the way people operate and the way people think. Can the way people are having to engage with the world and, you know, in the midst of this adversity, in the midst of this confusion, the church can bring peace, the church can bring clarity, God’s people can bring something to the table that no one and nothing else can because we have like like whereas so much else is shaking, we have an unshakeable trust and an unshakeable faith that stands in like that stands outside of time, that stands outside of that kind of the shifts and the changes that is so often taken place around us right now.

00:12:48.520]
So far. Father, I just thank you today for my brothers and sisters. I thank you for your grace on them. I thank you for your anointing that rests upon them. I pray God for a release of your creativity today, a release of your faith. That gift of faith that rises up within us helps us step out with a fresh, supernatural courage to share our world and our worth with others in Jesus name. Well, thanks for listening.

00:13:22.010]
Hopefully it’s been an encouragement to you today, if you want to connect any further, you can do so through my website at Davidleemartin.com. Have a great day.

This is a DON’T STOP NOW moment. As you read these words you may feel cued up to give up. I get it. I’ve been there plenty and its an unpleasant place to stay.

So choose not to stay there.

Let’s not camp around the idea that something won’t work. Don’t pitch your tent around the fire of discouragement and despondency. Self pity won’t warm your fingers to write, play, or paint again.

These simple words are powerful:

“The LORD is on my side” (Psalm 118:6 KJV)

You are not alone, even if sometimes it feels that way. Your Father is here with you, fighting your battles and championing your cause.

Judges 3:1 speaks of how God deliberately left resistance in the land to test, prove, and train the people who had not yet experienced war.

Each generation, indeed every individual, have their battles to fight.

God did not allow enemies to stand in the way of His promise to slay His people, He left them there to shape them.

You are equipped by God Himself to tackle whatever stands in your path.

He has chosen you for this time, because you have all that’s required to stand on the victory’s podium.

The wonderful thing is victory is different for each of us. Our commission and assignment as given by Papa is unique to our own personality and call.

Stay The Course & Kick Discouragement To The Curb

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00:00:03.640]
Today, what I want to talk about really is just the whole area of discouragement. I know it’s something that is very. I know that it’s something that hinders a lot of people, it’s something that afflicts a lot of people, you know, we really do have oftentimes a real challenge. It’s a real challenge for us to stay motivated when certain things come against us or we feel that there is a you know, just things that are hindering us and things that are standing in our way.

00:00:47.420]
But I really want to encourage you today to really kick discouragement into the kerb and realise and choose to stay the course. I mean, it’s not a it’s not a nice place to be in. You know, that that place where we feel really queued up to give up, you know, no one wants to do that. No one wants to kind of be in that situation where their their heart and their motivation is kind of just undone. OK, it’s just you’re hurting.

00:01:21.890]
You feel discouraged. You feel as though you want to just throw in the towel. I want to speak into that today. I want to speak to that because I have like you, I’ve been exactly where you may be right now, probably on numerous occasions. I want to remind you of this wonderful scripture. I mean, it’s just it says it like it is. The Lord is on my side. Psalm 118:6. The Lord is on your side.

00:01:54.890]
He is there with you to help you to to to get you through whatever challenge you may be facing today. He is there to encourage you there to strengthen you there to really kind of deliver whatever is necessary into your soul, into your emotions, to allow you to keep stepping forward despite the challenges. You know, I think we’ve all and if you are seeking to live a creative life, if you’re seeking to put yourself out where others can judge and measure and criticise or whatever else may be may be placing a pressure on your inner man, we are all going to face times where we we just want to curl up in a ball somewhere and just say, like, that is enough.

00:02:59.690]
I’m done with this. But I want to like one of the scriptures that, as always, kind of been of interest to me, is found in the Book of judges. I think it’s in Judges Chapter three and judges Chapter three speaks of how the Lord deliberately left. Certain enemies, certain resistance in the promised land, so the generations that came through, who had not previously fought the battles of Kanan, as those battles are called, the enemies were deliberately left there by God so they could learn the art of war, so they could learn to stand against the challenges that they were facing.

00:03:53.300]
And I believe that, you know, whatever, you know, God has equipped you. God has shaped you for this generation. God has shaped you for such a time as this. And you are not alone. You are not kind of you. You are not born out of time, OK? The time that you’ve been bought, born into the it, the Lord has placed you here for a reason and he has not placed you here to fail.

00:04:26.270]
He is not placed you here to to kind of be crushed. He’s placed you here to prosper, whatever the circumstance. And so whatever enemies you are facing, you know, whatever challenges you are facing, I just really want to declare to your heart that not only has the Lord allowed those challenges to face you, but he is also equipped you to overcome them, you know, and that that picture of victory, like no one can really take your place.

00:05:04.430]
No one can stand against or take away from you the things that the Lord is prepared for you and for you alone. You know, when we talk about standing as a winner, being a winner, being successful for you, that’s going to look different than it might look for me or for someone else. No one else can take your winner’s podium. You are going to stand there. God knows what he’s shaping you for. God knows why he is shaping you.

00:05:37.700]
And he is going to be there to help you come through it successfully and powerfully. I absolutely 100 percent believe that now, you know, in the midst of all of the noise that we find online, it’s very easy sometimes for us to look at maybe how someone else is succeeding or how someone else is overcoming. And we can feel a little kind of intimidated by that. But the truth is, you know, they are fighting their own battles.

00:06:15.620]
And sometimes we can really fall into the trap of thinking that success looks a certain way that that, you know. All right, success means I have to earn this much more. Success means I have to have this many followers or an email list like this or a kind of product line like something like whatever. You know, we can we can look at other people and try and imprint their picture of success on what should really be ours. There’s a unique and peaceful avenue that you can walk down.

00:06:55.760]
There is a unique and peaceful way for you to walk in the fullness of who you have been called to be. And it does not look like the picture for someone else, the picture of you overcoming the picture of you walking in victory and fullness. Seriously, it does not look like someone else. And and so I just encourage, you know, like, you know, let’s let’s really shed that lie that, you know, that God is not in control.

00:07:34.190]
Let’s shed that lie, that he has not shaped you for your kingdom purpose. He has shaped you for your kingdom purpose, your kingdom calling your kingdom commission, your kingdom assignment. All of that is ring fenced for you to step into, to embody and to fulfil his number, the hairs on your head. The Bible says he has bottled your tears and most of us say for trying to live big and live real frugally, shed plenty of those.

00:08:09.920]
But he is also he stepped out into your future with his own feet so you can now walk in his footsteps. It says that he has prepared the way for you to walk in and. I believe that you are going to wonderfully walk in that way, that he is preordained and prepared for you. Now, I was reading in the scriptures the other day, I just absolutely love this. It’s in the Book of John in the amplified Bible now, I’m kind of pulling it a little out of context.

00:08:44.760]
The context of this is Jesus really saying how God is giving, given him authority to judge and to forgive sin. But it just really sparked something in me. I don’t know, there was something just came alive in my my heart when I considered this. And it says that God gave him authority and granted him power to execute. And just that word execute really caught my imagination, caught my attention that God has given you God has given me authority and granted us power to execute.

00:09:24.540]
And if we take a look at that word, execute, just consider these these means I’m a bit of a word freak. You know, I love I love words. I love to ride. I love to read. I love to listen. I think words are so wonderfully powerful and hear the word execute means to carry out. Now remember that you have been given authority and power to do all of these. It means to carry out. To perform, to accomplish, to implement, to effect.

00:10:00.420]
To bring off or bring about. To achieve. To carry off and carry through. To complete. To an act. To enforce. To put into effect. To put into practise. To do. To engineer. To attain. To administer. To realise, to perform and to pull off whatever it is God has placed in your heart. Whatever it is he has called you to do, you have been given the authority and the power to execute that in a very wonderful, very powerful way to pull it off, man.

00:10:39.870]
To pull it off, lady, to pull it off, whatever it may be, execute as well. You know, there’s another side to this interesting coin, and this phrase means to kill. You know, we’ve all heard of people being executed. Well, I think in this respect, the power and the authority to execute means to to chop their head off all of those excuses, destroy all of those nay sayers, to to crush every discouragement and all of that despondency that can so easily come around our hearts if we’re not careful.

00:11:19.890]
Again, just want to just bring one more thing to to you today before I close. It says here that are in the scriptures again, reading again from John, Chapter five. I encourage you to jump in and check that out for yourself, particularly in the amplified Bible. It says, I am able to do nothing of myself independently of my own accord, but only as I am taught by God and as I get his orders like, wow, come on, man, I am tired of God and I get his orders.

00:11:57.090]
Even as I hear I hear even as you hear you hear his voice. You are one of his children. You can hear his voice even as I hear I judge and then he goes on as the voice comes to me. So, sir, as the voice comes to me, as God speaks to you, it will empower you. It will anjou you with fresh enthusiasm. Literally, enthusiasm means to be breathed in by God to to be filled with him.

00:12:32.130]
I was listening the other day to a friend of mine talking about Gideon and the Scriptures. When he talks about Gideon, it says that God came upon Gideon. What it means is that God put Gideon on like a glove, God put Gideon on like a glove. And God when he inspires us, God when he fills us, God when he empowers us, God when he induce us with authority and power to execute, puts us on like a glove to do his will and pleasure.

00:13:07.380]
You have been sent by God. You are taught of God. He gives you his orders and directions each day you hear him and his voice comes to you. You are walking in the will and the pleasure of your father who has sent you. He’s commissioned you with a creative call to really bless the world. And today, you know, whatever discouragement you may have faced or whatever discouragement. You may be facing right now, I encourage you to take it to the line, I encourage you to keep pressing through.

00:13:45.390]
I encourage you to really stay the course and through consistency, through faith, through patience, to see the promise fulfilled. You know, I’d really just tread on the devil’s lies. Don’t give him any room to to back you off, keep pressing through, rise with confidence and just take one more step. Take one more swipe. Yeah. And let the authority and the power to execute B just feel your hands and feel your feet today in Jesus name.

00:14:28.470]
Well, thanks for listening, hopefully. It’s been an encouragement to you today, if you want to connect any further, you can do so through my website at Davidleemartin.com. Have a great day.

Everything we do is undergirded by prayer!

https://davidleemartin.com/work-in-me-so-you-can-work-through-me/

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00:00:01.910]
What’s very much in my heart today is just to talk about prayer and talk about the power of prayer. I love this verse of Paul here where he talks about praying in the spirit. He says, what is it then? What’s it going to be like? How do I do this? I’ll pray and I’ll pray in the spirit and I’ll pray with my understanding. I’ll sing with the spirit and I’ll sing with the understanding. I’ll spare you the singing because that would probably not be to kind of spiritual sounding.

00:00:37.190]
But certainly on the praying side of things, I really passionately I’m very, very much a spirit man in that regard. And I love the just the reality that God and Jesus with the power from on high to pray in tongues. Now, for some of you, that may sound like a bit out there. I’m quite I’ve been out there for a long time, so I’m going to make no excuses for it. It’s there in the scriptures. It’s there in the Bible.

00:01:11.210]
And it is powerful. It is life changing. It is life affirming and life giving. And that flow from the inner man is so incredible. But I think some people overcomplicate it. You know, where where Paul? He speaks about praying in the spirit and then praying in the understanding and elsewhere. He says, you know, if you’re praying in the spirit, ask for interpretation. So your mind and your understanding can be fruitful, just as your spirit is.

00:01:44.540]
And the way the way I picture it is like in our kitchen, we’ve got a mixer taps one of those taps where it’s like one spout and then you’ve got the heart and the cold on either side and you can switch them switches and put as much water, as much cold as you want in and the water flows out and mixes as it’s coming out of the net, kind of the source coming through that tap. And I think it’s very much like a like like that in prayer.

00:02:19.200]
The scriptures say that from our inner man flow rivers. So there’s this kind of picture that God gives us in the scriptures now, this inner flow opening up, coming up from our inner man and flowing out through our mouth in prayer so so that this substance of prayer flows from the inside. And I think that when we’re talking about praying in the spirit and praying in our understanding, it’s all coming from the same source. Ultimately, it is all spiritual prayer.

00:02:52.610]
It’s all prayer in the spirit in that sense. But we pray in tongues. We pray with our natural language. And I find that it’s very much like like the turning of that tap on. We can switch our tap on and that flow will come up in tongues potentially. And then it’s almost like just without us even trying, if we will relax and yield to the flow of the spirit that, you know, the other tap will be switched on and we’ll begin to find more of the flow in our natural language in the in the language that we understand.

00:03:30.710]
And I find that this flow is so beautifully dynamic. And oftentimes what will happen is the Holy Spirit will be speaking something in and through in tongues. And then before I know it, that interpretation is coming in my own language. And a while ago, I was praying in this way and the Holy Ghost, these I was praying in other tongues. And then these words came out, Lord, work in me so you can work through me. And this is a conversation that I’ve been having with God now for a number of years.

00:04:07.820]
And you know this what I’m relating to to you now and this time of prayer really kicked off something so powerful in how I’m approaching my work life, my outer life, my ministry life. Is that there really for God to work out through us, for God to do something in and through us. He has to work in us first. And there’s just this wonderful verse that speaks to this so powerfully in Philippians here. It says, It’s God.

00:04:43.910]
He works in us both to will and to do his good pleasure. So God is working in us. And the context of this verse is very interesting. It says, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in us. And so this working of God within us goes deep to the core of who we are, you know, just a few days ago I heard the Holy Ghost say, David, I want to go to the core.

00:05:14.800]
He wants to go to the core. He wants to go to the depth of who we are in God. He wants to fill us. He wants to fulfil us. But but it begins here on the inside and it begins with this heart where where it talks about working out our own salvation with humility, working at our own salvation, our own salvation, understanding that ultimately we can’t really work it in our own strength. We can’t really work it in our own wisdom where it has to be God at work within us.

00:05:51.190]
And as God works within us, just this beautiful reality of the flow of God’s spirit begins to and just begins to be unleashed, begins to be unpacked, begins to begins to really bring freedom to our inner man and freedom of expression in our prayer life. And and so, you know, as we come with this humble, hard as we come, like elsewhere, again, we can see look here. Not that one. Here we go. America speaks about the things that God enjoys, the things that God is looking for in the character of a man, and you know, what we find here in the character of a man is God is looking for humility.

00:06:49.220]
You know, this verse is pre faced by all sorts of kind of like someone come in and saying, Lord, what do you want? Do you want sacrifices? Do you want these kind of high sounding spiritual things? Do you want and God says, no, I’m not looking for that at all. This is what I’m looking for, to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly and elsewhere we find. That the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite hard God will not despise how beautiful it is to understand that God’s mercy has been extended to us in such a way that we can come boldly into his very presence, even in our imperfection, even in our kind of brokenness, even like we can come.

00:07:54.670]
In fact, not only that, he welcomes us in that state. He doesn’t he’s not waiting for us to get everything together and get our act together and become kind of some kind of religious superhero. He’s actually saying, look, come to me as you are, come to me with a humble heart. Come to me with your heart bowed before me, understanding who I am, understanding my holiness, understanding my greatness, but understanding also that through Christ, I’ve made a way for you to come and stand without fear in my presence, to stand without condemnation in my presence.

00:08:36.790]
And I just want to encourage you today to get like switch that in a in a tap on switch that flow on on the inside and let it come forth. Allow God to both speak, speak through you in your in tongues, in your spirit language and also to speak through you in your understanding so he can help you grow and help you move in to the things that he he has planned and desired for your life. Prayer undergirds everything that we do.

00:09:17.500]
Prayer undergirds all of our production. Prayer undergirds all of our prosperity. Prayer undergirds all of the progress that we will ever make, because prayer really connects us in with the life flow of God’s Holy Spirit. And it’s through the Holy Spirit that we are able to create and bring real value and share and share the wealth and our worth with the world in ways that will kind of outlive us, in ways that will not be kind of just here today and gone tomorrow.

00:09:56.890]
But to actually build your legacy and so seed that will go forward and go on to bear fruit for many years to come. Well, thanks for listening. Hopefully it’s been an encouragement to you today. If you want to connect any further, you can do so through my website at Davidleemartin.com. Have a great day.

Productivity is way overrated if it is not attended with peace. The push to run yourself ragged doing 65 things concurrently without breaking a sweat is kind of crazy don’t you think?

The pace of peace is walking in tandem with the Father. The cool of the day stroll in the security that He has everything under control.

A rest remains for those who will claim it, the Bible tells us.

Busy, busy, busy, does not give you bragging rights.

The badge of honour is not “I’m busy”, but “I’m blessed”.

https://davidleemartin.com/the-pace-of-peace-staying-productive-without-losing-your-marbles/

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00:00:03.720]
What actually prompted me to talk about what I want to talk about today is I spoke with a friend yesterday and as part of that, I was just showing some of I was showing him some of the things that I’ve been creating for the students in the Christian Creative Academy. And particularly I was talking about like roadmaps that help people publish books, create online courses, develop their websites, etc. And it was like like without without wanting to sound kind of weird or proud.

00:00:43.220]
I was really happy with what I saw. But what it highlighted to me was how easy it is to just become very busy with productivity and really step out of pace with peace. And by that, I mean, when we look at the then nature of and the manner and the mode of operation of God right there in the beginning when he created everything, you see him stop at every place along the way and really like, enjoy and celebrate what he had made.

00:01:23.360]
We see again and again the refrain. And it was good and it was good and it was very good. And and it was like there was an appreciation. God actually took time to slow down, to hit the pause button and just enjoy what he had made and rejoice and celebrate in what he had made. And I think I really don’t know about anyone else here because I can’t speak for for you. But I find it’s very easy sometimes, particularly if you’re a creative person and an active person and you have a desire to be productive, that you can kind of just run from one project to the next.

00:02:09.500]
Or you may have various. Dishes that you are spinning, all these plates that we spin and you don’t leave yourself enough kind of wide space on the page to just enjoy what you’ve already made to to really celebrate your wins and say it was highlighted to me yesterday because I was looking at some some stuff that I’d made and I’d actually be honest with you. I’d really forgotten that I’d even created it. And so in showcasing it to my friend, I was like, wow, this is so good.

00:02:48.890]
This is really nice. And, you know, productivity, when it is uncoupled from piece or not attended with piece is really quite overrated. You know, there’s there’s so much talk nowadays about productivity and multitasking and and like producing so much and doing so much and time management, et cetera. I say today, I think it’s probably been kinder since the year dot. But honestly, there is a great deal more than like being able to multitask on 65 things at once without breaking a sweat.

00:03:30.080]
I mean, that may be quite impressive. It might get you in the Guinness Book of World Records, but it will probably also eventually give you a heart attack. You know, the pace of peace. Here’s where we learn to walk in tandem with God, and quite honestly, that pace is the cool of the day. Yeah, knowing, walking and wandering with him in the cool of the day, understanding and having the security that he is in control, that he’s got you covered, he’s got your back.

00:04:02.720]
He’s right there ahead of you leading the way. And he’s on every side all around you. You are secure in the knowledge that he will provide. I mean, the scriptures talk about look at the birds of the air. You know, your father feeds them. Are you not much more precious than he talks about flowers in the field and says, look, the here today gone tomorrow. How much more even in their splendour and their beauty, how much more will your father not also clothe you and, you know, say whereas nowadays sometimes busy, busy, busy is like a bragging point.

00:04:42.740]
It’s like that badge of honour that sometimes we wear. It’s also something that we can become habitual, habitual in our response. Oh, hi. How are you? Busy. How are you doing? Oh, I’m busy. How was last week. Well, baby was busy and it becomes instead of the refrain being it was good. It was good. It was very, very good. I’m celebrating what what I’m producing. I’m celebrating what God is doing in me and in my life.

00:05:16.670]
We instead replace that with this modern kind of chorus of busyness. But busy is not the badge that we wear. Busy is not the badge of honour. The badge of honour is not unbusy. The badge of honour is. I am blessed if we look in the end right there, back in the very, very first few chapters of Genesis, it says God bless them, speaking of mankind, men and women, and said Be fruitful and multiply.

00:05:51.800]
Speaking of productivity, they did a pretty good job, I think, when it came to being fruitful and multiplying. But this blessing is one that God has really given to mankind. This this fatherly blessing, this Bisto moment is still at work. If we will step into it, if we will believe it, if we accept it, that God has not called you to just be busy, he’s called you to be blessed, that there is a favour that that attends your life.

00:06:31.970]
And I don’t think that this first blessing can be overemphasised. You know, it was that it’s really the first endowment of power to prosper. And it also came with with authority to do so. It empowered Adam and Eve to actually be the fulfilment of that blessing and that word. And so I really would say we do not have to be busy to be blessed. The Bible talks about the the reality that there is a rest that remains for the people of God and that we can step into that rest of faith and begin to operate from that place.

00:07:21.920]
You know, prosperity, I kind of wrote this morning, is not the result of striving. It’s the fruit of staying connected to the life giving vine. I mean, and by that, what that comes from is scripture that Jesus himself was speaking to his followers and he told them, look, abide in me and I in you because the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine. No more. No more. Can you accept you abide in me.

00:07:53.780]
I’m the vine and you are the branches he that abides in me and I in him. The same will bring forth much fruit because without me you can do nothing and say here we have a promise of fruitfulness and really God’s direction. How to plug into that. You know, it’s very rare that you would see an apple tree straining to produce an apple through its branches. It’s very unlikely that you will see an oak tree like straightening and trying hard to produce an acorn.

00:08:34.280]
It just happens naturally. It flows from the core and flows through the branches to. The leaves to the fruits and the fruit is born as a result of the nourishment coming up through the roots. We as creative Christians are rooted and grounded in the rich soil of God’s love. We are rooted and grounded in the blessing that he has given to us, the rooted and grounded in the blessing that he has spoken over mankind. And I just so encourage you today that this is the place of your fruitfulness.

00:09:20.430]
God delights to prosper his people. You know, he’s overjoyed when his servant, you know, the Bible says that he he rejoices in the prosperity of his servants. And even more so when those servants recognise that they are sons, that there’s this relationship that we’ve been called into and, you know, whereas we usually are in a rush to produce. I mean, that’s just part of that whole mindset, that whole kind of let’s let’s make more, do more, be more.

00:09:52.890]
Is that part of that whole mindset? Is that kind of we’re on this hamster wheel having to fill every moment with something that’s kind of tangibly producing or making or doing something? But I don’t know about you, but I’ve found that God is not in such a rush. I found that God does not seem to be quite so concerned with impressing the world as maybe we are, you know, even though he is magnificently impressive and you know, really what I think this comes down to and more and more, I, I keep swinging around to this and and I’ll keep reminding myself that whereas I might be working on my business, he’s actually working on me, whereas you might be working on your business or your projects or whatever they may be.

00:10:49.480]
He is, meanwhile, in the midst of that through that, in that he is working on you because we make craft products, we make craft books, we make craft websites, we make craft paintings. We make craft all sorts of different things. But what God makes is people what God builds is people what God develops and what God blesses and what God raises up. And what God shapes is sons and daughters. He crafts character and in whatever you’re doing.

00:11:30.420]
Whether whether you whether you are being shaped by success or whether you are being shaped by the challenges that you are climbing through and working through and learning from in all of that in in both the the tough and the the times of kind of prosperity and ease, if you like, in all of that, God continues to work and shape and mould our character because whereas a lot of things will pass away, you will not. And God is shaping you for something far greater than just the role and the stewardship that you have here during this lifetime.

00:12:20.070]
And he will take every opportunity he can to leverage and utilise the things that you are involved in, in the assignments that you are fulfilling on the planet. He he will utilise and leverage every single one of them for your benefit. And by your benefit, I mean the person that you are becoming, not just here and now, but, you know, beyond this day, beyond this time in the world to come. And it so again, it’s really just reaching out to encourage you, you know, to kind of sometimes it’s a good thing.

00:13:00.600]
And I do try and practise this. Sometimes I need to be reminded that we should be pressing the pause button and just always kind of making sure that we stay aligned with our purpose and that we’ll know where that we’re walking in our purpose when we experience peace. And that doesn’t mean just outward circumstances are free of conflict. But what it does mean is that there is a peace that goes beyond the natural peace, that goes beyond understanding. And I think actually a sign of that peace and a mark of that peaceful life and that restful walk is that we do celebrate our wins, that we do swing round and take a moment to appreciate how far we’ve come, to appreciate the work of God in our lives, in the midst of the work that we are doing, because it really is a beautiful work in our God.

00:14:12.090]
God, I don’t think is is in a rush because he doesn’t just come in and do a cheap job. He doesn’t come in. And just like Bish Bash Bosh and then send a bill, you know, he he paid the full price and he is very, very intimately and very wonderfully involved in. The making of the man or the woman that is you. And from that place, you know, as we as we lead into that reality, as we lead in to his grace, as we lead into his love, we will grow.

00:14:57.520]
You will grow, you will develop. You will become a bigger, fuller, more complete person on the inside. And then from that place. This fruitfulness that we’re talking about, this fulness that we’re talking about, will begin to manifest itself in so many ways, including finances. You know, we yearn to earn. Of course we do. We’re eager for impact. We want to grow. I totally get that. I totally relate to that.

00:15:30.760]
But it’s going to spring from this supernatural connexion that we have with the one who brings the increase, as I say, many, many times. And I never grow tired of saying Jesus first. Everything else follows. Well, thanks for listening. Hopefully it’s been an encouragement to you today. If you want to connect any further, you can do so through my website at Davidleemartin.com. Have a great day.