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Culture wants us to come crawling from the valley with our trophies and set them up in our own honour. Covenant calls us upward from here to something more enduring.

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Day number 13 in our entrepreneurial journey from Genesis chapter 26.

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And today I want to talk about going up.

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Up to the high places. Going up to the high places. Now, I’m not going to subject you to any more of my awful singing, but we find here that the scripture says in Genesis chapter 26:23. And he went up from fence. We’ve already been down. We went down into the Valley. Needless to say, this creative life, this entrepreneurial ambition that we are following is a roller coaster of ups and downs. In following Isaac, as we said, we saw him head down into the Valley, and then the Valley led him to rare both, which we spoke about last time, that open place of influence and access that even here, surprisingly, Isaac doesn’t put down his roots. You would think once you’d come to that place, finally, after all of that striving and all of that difficulty, I found somewhere where the influence and the effect of my mouth and heart are being gloriously widespread. Is this not the success that I’ve sought? And yet he did not build in rehoboth? It says he went up from there. Financial success and audience reach alone is really not enough to satisfy the deeper cry of the Christ filled heart.

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Let me promise you that.

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I mean, it certainly goes some way to relieving much of the pressure that we can feel at times. But the cry of the heart is for something more than this world can offer us. Because our lives are not self centred and because of that, success on the surface is not really the ultimate destination. We are called to make a difference, and we need to know that there is a purpose for our prosperity. Prosperity alone is not enough. Coming into that wide place is not enough. We need to know that we’re walking in the very presence and purpose of God. And so here we see Isaac going up. Even from here rehoboth, he moves into a higher place, and we’re going to kind of unpack that over the next few days or the next few episodes, you may have tasted success. You may have scaled the sales totem and stood atop the reputation mountain and lived that pedestal life plastered across the pages of short history. Then why, with all of that under your belt, do you still feel such an ache on the inside? Were you not told, if you reach these dizzy heights of income, that your life would be sweeter than nectar, all of your problems would dissipate, and you would feel the worth and the wonder of who you truly are?

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Yes, you may have been told that. Is this not the place that you were supposed to feel whole? Why then, do I feel such an emptiness? Why do I feel such an ache? Why do I feel as though there must be something more? I can tell you, my dear friend, the reason is because there is more. A broad and open marketplace is magnificent, but that should not be the end of the road. Moving on from prospering to then align ever more closely with our true purpose is where we are aiming. The power to get wealth is a wonderful promise that we find in the Scriptures. Deuteronomy chapter 8:18 tells us, you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he that gives you the power to get wealth. The effect of your heart and your mouth is being increased. Hallelujah. And you’re seeing and reaping the rewards of the journey that you’ve taken and the tests that you’ve overcome. Sharokundalah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. But there is a reason beyond the getting, and it’s the reason beyond the getting that leads to real greatness. And we find out in the second half of this verse, some people get all hung up on the power to get wealth, but the verse continues that he, God may establish his Covenant.

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There is a Covenant purpose. And Covenant purpose is the very first impulse that stirs you to use your creativity to contribute to others. The one commandment, the commandment that Jesus gave, the commandment that he stressed, and that he emphasised was to love one another, to love others. And that Covenant promise, that Covenant commandment drives us to want to contribute. And this Covenant, this living, this life of God on the inside, this creative call draws us to a final destination where all of our experience and the passion that we carry on the inside spills into a purpose bigger than ourselves and far beyond our own wealth or comforts. Culture wants us to come crawling out of the Valley, out of all of those testings with our trophies in hand and set them up in our own honour. Look how wonderful I am. Look how far I have come. Look at what I have accomplished to stretch out and enjoy the luxury of our labours in the wide pastures of Rehoboth. But Funnily enough, God is not finished yet. Covenant calls us upward from here to something more enduring. We go up from this place of success.

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If you like, we can go beyond that. Covenant calls us onward. God may lift you up in due time and I pray that he will. But hold your course and don’t be diverted. I was reminded of the story of Lot there at the gates of Sodom, Lot and Abraham. The story of Lot and Abraham. And it says Lot pitched his tent towards Sodom. And before you know it, he’s right in the middle of it. And just because the pastures may look green, just because the opportunities may look amazing, just because you are beginning to see success, or maybe seeing magnificent breakthroughs, doesn’t mean that we should pitch our tent and move in to Sodom and make wealth our Endgame. Dear Jesus, please forbid that such should happen to any one of us. This in a sense, is the beginning of a new stage of the journey. A new stage of stewardship in which you’ve been tested and tried and found worthy to carry a fresh responsibility in the Kingdom? How many faithful and sincere entrepreneurs have got caught here diverted from the call and ending up just in a life of consumption and accumulation, accumulating wealth instead of stretching to the next well where there is something far greater than just prosperity to be found?

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Isaac, we’re told, went up from there to be a Sheba really means the 7th well or the well of the oath and it’s here that we will see how great becomes greatness and we’ll jump into that in our next episode.

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Hey, thanks for listening today. I would also love to encourage you if you’ve enjoyed this episode, make sure you leave a rating and a review on whatever your favourite platform to listen to on is. And also just to let you know about my most recent book, I published a book just very recently called Wanted Ferocious Men of prayer. I know it’s an unusual and perhaps provocative title but it is such a great read. If you are a man and you know that God is calling you to the prayer closet pick up a copy, jump over to Amazon wanted Ferocious men of prayer and if you’re a woman who knows a man make sure you pick up a copy and put it in that man’s hand.

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Hey, God bless you.

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Have a great day and I will see you tomorrow.

Dear creative, if you stay with the journey, through resistance, discouragement, valleys, and changes, God will eventually bring you a broad place of influence.

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So far in our entrepreneurial journey that we’ve been taking together with Isaac from Genesis chapter 26, we’ve faced famine, strife, rejection, dry valley, alleys, jealousy, contention, hatred. Is it any wonder that many people who set out on this creative pilgrimage end up giving up? But we’re not going to give up. And as unglamorous as this journey may be, at times as challenging as it may be, creative life really is in many respects, if you are called to it, the only life we can live. The Bible talks about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all three were what are described as tent dwellers.

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They understood that they were pilgrims passing through, that they were not meant even despite the blessing that they enjoyed, despite the riches and the prosperity that God was pleased to bestow upon them, they continued to understand that they are not of this world, just as you are not of this world that created dream, that creative anointing, that’s living in you has been planted from another world, from another realm, from a realm that is so much more enduring, so much more magnificent than this one could ever dream or hope of being in its present state. But there is coming a day, my dear brother, my sister, when there will be a new heaven and a new Earth, and all of our labours and everything that we have walked through and been through will find its reward. So whatever happens, do not give up. Do not be discouraged. And that’s why the Scriptures speak so much about and I believe that this chapter also kind of exemplifies the need for perseverance.

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The trying pathway that we often have to walk to a prosperous outcome is littered with the footsteps of the patient. And the persevering scripture encourages us over and over again to keep on keeping on. Galatians 6:9 just as one example, let us not grow weary in doing good for end season. You will reap if we do not give up. James.

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Many of us are familiar with the book of James. James, chapter 1:2 through 4, says, Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, you feel like turning around to James and saying, yeah, right. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. It builds patience, it builds character. Let that steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

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And again, two, Thessalonians 3:13. As for you, brothers, as for you, sister, do not grow weary in well doing. And that’s what Isaac did until he arrived. Finally, after all of these kind of digging Wells and the Wells being filled up and the Wells being stolen and being thrown out and all sorts of different challenges that he faced, he comes to a place and digs another well, and this well, no one strives for it. He’s got beyond that place of strife and contention.

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And I think that we can go through that same thing. And when we come through with our heart, right when we do not allow bitterness or strife or unforgiveness to take a hold of our heart and we don’t grow weary in well doing, God can then bring us into a place where he is pleased and confident to prosper us, because he knows that our heart and our character will be able to carry it without it becoming, without his blessing, becoming the very thing that leads to us being cursed. And I’ve seen that so many times. We’ve seen it very publicly at times where a Ministry or an individual prospers and suddenly they begin to act and think differently. We do not want to be like that.

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We want to be those whose hearts and minds are so rooted in eternity that whether we have little or whether we have much during our passing through on our way there, we know what it is to live in contentment. And so here we read Genesis chapter 26, our favourite chapter right now, he removed from fence. So here he goes again, we go again, Hallelujah. And he digs another well. And for that they strove.

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Not no one strove for this. He found a place where he could really, if you like, and if he chose to put down some roots and he called the name of it Rehoboth. And he said, for now the Lord has made room for us and we shall be fruitful in the land. How many of you, my creative brothers and sisters, sometimes feel very constricted there’s that challenge and that pressing and that pressure, that need to make enough money to pay the bills or whatever else it may be, that compulsion on the inside to want more time to create, and yet you’re bound to have to do other things to provide for your family or your home. There is no shame in any of that.

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And oftentimes it’s such a necessary part of the journey. But bless God, there is a place here we find it Rehoboth, where all of that striving came to an end. And he found a place where he felt able to breathe, where he felt able to think and to create and to consider and to think freely and openly. I believe and I pray that God would bring us to that same place, too, that the pressures that are pushing against you right now will give way and you too will be brought into a wide place, into a place where you feel as though the Lord has made room for you and a place from which you know you can be fruitful in the land. And the interesting thing is, in the scriptures, there is nothing there by mistake.

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Every word Jesus said, not one cross of the T or dot of the I will pass away. Everything is inspired. And so these names that we find in the scriptures are definitely worth just digging a little deeper into see what they mean. And Interestingly, when I looked up Rehoboth in the Zondovan NIV Naves Topical Bible, it says that it means it means broad, wide places or markets. It literally means a broad marketplace.

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And so in respect to what I was discussing and conversing with the Holy Ghost as I went through this chapter, that was just like, wow, that’s so amazing. God in our entrepreneurial efforts can bring us, after much testing at times, to our own rare booth, a place where God has made room for us, where we will be fruitful in the land, a broad and wide market, where we are reaching and influencing and blessing and building and making a difference in many lives. And again, the word room, he has made room for us. It literally means broad, wide or spacious. If you stay with the journey through the resistance, through the discouragement, through the Valley, down into the Valley, and then through the changes and then go up from dense, you’ll come to your rare birth.

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God will eventually bring you to a wide place and potentially a level of influence that you’d never before dreamed was possible. There’s a great verse, again, where this word room is used in the book of Proverbs, and here it’s talking about, again, this coming into a place of influence. It says, a man’s gift maketh room for him and brings him before great man, a man’s gift makes room for him. Again, this is so interesting. As you begin to dig into this, you find that the word room, there is one that doesn’t have just a single English equivalent.

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And as one commentator describes, he says it may best be translated in all of its colloquial uses as made greater the effect of mouth, heart, et cetera. Just again, for me, as a communicator, for you, as a communicator, how powerful is this that God can make greater the effect of your heart and your mouth? This friend is rehabbing. The journey to Rehoboth surely has been a hard one and at times a very long one, or seemingly long. But the lessons learned and the resilience that’s been formed, the way in which your message has been proven and honed through all of those experiences, the sharpening and shaping of your character, the sifting of your audience, all that we’ve been through in these past sessions and past episodes this month, Hallelujah, man, we’ve come through them and all of them have led to this place where the effect of your heart and mouth are evident to all.

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He is making greater the effect of your heart and mouth out there in the marketplace to a broad and a wide number of people really making an impact. And that doesn’t mean that a small audience is not something that we should cherish and that we should pour our hearts and minds into it’s, not just about numbers and size, because all of that is relative. And ultimately, let us not get caught up in vanity metrics. Let us understand that those to whom God has called us, we will be rewarded according to our obedience. Ultimately, Jesus said, Those whom you have given me out of the world, I have kept.

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How many did the Lord, who was he referring to? Twelve men. Twelve men, not 12,000 not 12,000,000. 12 men. He was faithful to walk with them and to instill into them that which God had put in his heart. And so I believe in Jesus name, it does not matter.

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Yeah, when we’re talking about Rehoboth, we’re not just talking about, like, all of the metrics that the world wants to stack up. There is so much more here, so much that we can draw from it. But let’s not just stamp the ways of the world upon it. However big, however small your audience may be right now, and wherever the Lord is leading you, do it faithfully. Do it as unto the Lord.

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Now, Paul encouraged Timothy. He said, do not neglect the gift that is in you. Give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all one. Timothy, chapter 4:12 through 15. There’s a bit more in there.

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In some respects, I’ve taken it a little out of context. But what I wanted to bring out here is that as Timothy chose not to neglect the gifts that God had placed within him, as he gave himself fully to them, his progress became evident to all. And I believe as you give yourself and continue to give yourself, don’t neglect the gifts and the callings that God has placed upon your life, ultimately your progress will become evident to all you’ve given yourself. Often times I don’t know about you, but I certainly have given yourself. Often in obscurity and against the odds.

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You’ve put your work out there, and it felt like you were an audience of one. There were four people listening. You, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. But as you’ve continued to do it, as you’ve continued to step out here at Rehoboth, your progress is evident. Now.

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Instead of you looking out for people, people come to you. People seek you out. Your words are embraced. Your heart is fully convinced by the journey you have undertaken, that there is nothing that is not a product of God’s Grace at work in your life. And I believe that that is one of the reasons God allows us to go through testing, that we won’t fall into the trap of thinking that it’s all of us, it’s all of our own wisdom, all of our own strength.

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And because we are really something. Ha, ha shikaraka.

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No, that man is dead on the cross. He’s pinned there with Jesus, that old man. And there is now a new man created in the image of Christ. That’s the dude that we want to be turning up and making himself known out in the marketplace. So whatever worth you bring you know it’s from the wealth of his presence working through you and it does seem doesn’t it, when we come here finally to rare herb off that all of the testing that you’ve endured is now paying off.

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Thanks for listening today. I would also love to encourage you if you’ve enjoyed this episode, make sure you leave a rating and a review on whatever your favourite platform to listen to on is. And also just to let you know about my most recent book, I published a book just very recently called Wanted Ferocious Men of Prayer. I know it’s an unusual and perhaps provocative title but it is such a great read. If you are a man and you know that God is calling you to the prayer closet, pick up a copy jump over to Amazon wanted ferocious men of prayer and if you’re a woman who knows a man make sure you pick up a copy and put it in that man’s hand hey God bless you have a great day and I will see you tomorrow you.

In a fixed-pie-thinking world God wants us instead to live with a mindset that lives with an awareness of His ever expanding limitless world of infinite possibility.

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I was reminded of a song by Bob Dylan. And yeah, I’m a fan. I do love a bit of Bob called Political World. It’s a world of strife and manoeuvre to secure your slice of the pie. And we see it all the time. Politics turns up everywhere. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the world, in business, even in Church, God forbid their politics is often a part of the mix. By politics. I’m not talking kind of partisan, okay? I’m just talking generally where people come with fixed pie thinking, which means that your success equals my failure or my success equals your failure. If your slice is large, mine must of necessity be smaller, small men, often with inflated egos, pushing pawns around the board, seeking their own. But the thing is, the Kingdom of God is so different to the kingdoms of this world. Now the kingdoms of this world is always asking the question, who will be the greatest of all? And then Jesus sweeps in and says, well, the greatest of all is going to be a servant of all. And then he proved it and lived it out for us to follow.

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God lives in an ever expanding limitless world of infinite possibility. If we’re looking at the cake, if we’re looking at the pie, his pie is ever increasing. He knows that to help others is to help oneself with the measure that we meet. It will be metered to us. It will be measured to us give, and it will be given so much, and you will reap much. It doesn’t make sense to the natural mind when we give things away, when we give ourselves away, when we choose to lay down our life for others, we somehow gain it back in a greater measure. And that’s why I believe in sharing what, you know, giving away what you have secured. Hand it on so your hands always remain empty to receive a multiplied return. And I’m not just talking about money here, actually. In fact, I’m talking more about the experiences, the expertise, the learnings that you have come to know and to understand. And finding ways to then crystallise that learning into products, into publications, into digital platforms, being able to crystallise all of that worth in a way that can then be shared with other people. That’s why I’m so passionate about what we’re doing in the Christian creative Academy.

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I mean, do check it out. Christiancreative.Academy, check it out. It may be a place that you can find some encouragement and you can move forward with some of your ideas or even discover, like, dig in and find out. Allow God to open your eyes to the worth that you already carry. And we can guess which of these two worlds the Herdman of gehrar pitched their hopes. We’re looking at Genesis chapter 26. We’ve got this God world with the ever expanding pie. And then we’ve got this kind of small political world, this world of competition and comparison with this tiny pie where everyone’s fighting for their slice. And we read the Herdman of Gehras drove with Isaac’s Herdman, saying, the water is ours. And he called the name of that well Essex, because they strove with him. And then Isaac’s servants digged another well, and the servants and the Herdman of Gehra strove for that one also. And Isaac named that one Sitna. Now, it’s interesting, ESSEC. You know, there’s not one detail in the Scriptures that does not carry significance, Essex. The first well that Isaac named after the striving of the herdsman of Gerar with his servants Essex means contention, argument and quarrel.

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And as we know Proverbs, that intent tells us only by pride comes contention. But with the well advised is wisdom. With the well advised is wisdom. Make no mistake, the subterranean river that feeds this well, this well of Essex, will always lead back to pride. That’s where it’s going to flow from. Contention flows from pride. I guess it begs the question, have we ever drawn from the well of contention? I know I have in the past, and its waters are always bitter. Seriously, it is not a place you want to drink from at all, and certainly not for too long. Now, with regard to our discussion of faithfulpreneurism over this month, it should be a timely reminder about the nature of money. And I bring this up because contention often flows like here. We can see there was contention here because someone had more than someone else, or someone had something that someone else wanted. The world of competition and comparison begs that we contend for certain things to stand out. And the nature of money is one of contention. It is one of competition. It is one of comparison. It is a good servant.

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Money is a good servant in the hands of a good man, but it’s always a terrible master. The deceptive nature of riches and the pursuit of other things can quickly creep in and steal our contentment. And money alone. Really, the reason I bring money up in the discussion here of faithful for tourism is because we are out there in the marketplace and we do believe in being rewarded for our labours. I believe in that. I believe in the blessing of God. I believe in the goodness of God. I believe that there are rewards both here and in the future for those who faithfully follow Christ. But I want to be careful not to measure my worth by the very same, like wonky metrics that the world is measuring. Money alone cannot be the sole pursuit for a Christian creative. Where our treasure is, that is where our heart will follow, Jesus told us. And our treasure is people investing in others and digging for the treasure that they carry and helping them bring their treasure out into the world. That’s our call. Now, I like the minimalists. I don’t know if you’ve ever come across them online.

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The Minimalists said they wrote a book and they called it love. People use things, not the other way around. That is a great truth to carry in your heart. And Isaac was well advised coming back to our Scripture in Proverbs by pride cometh contention, but with the well advised is wisdom. I believe that Isaac went to the Holy Ghost and got some advice, and he chose to give place rather than to strive. Clearly, he strove for something deeper, and then the next Port of call was also a hotbed of contention, and he called the next well Sitna. They strove for that as well, and this actually means hatred and hostility. Now one thing leads to another. If we give way to bitterness and contention, contention and disagreements given place and allowed to take root in the heart will lead to hatred and hostility. Now why do you think that we hear Jesus so often address the dangers of unforgiveness, even to the point of declaring that God will give no consideration to our requests if we don’t first forgive those who’ve wronged us. Mark 11:25 and 26 says, when you stand praying, forgive, and if you have ought against any, when you stand praying, forgive.

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If you have ought against any that your Father also, which is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father, which is in heaven, forgive your trespasses. He says the same thing about bringing an offering to the feet of the King. First resolve your differences, then bring your gift to the altar. If you desire to prosper, these two Wells will inevitably present themselves, goading you to drive your stake in the ground and refuse to move. We reason that we’re better off to have bitter waters than no waters at all. And there can be a strange satisfaction that comes from hating and blaming others. But really, it’s a poisonous brew that we know will kill us. Yeah, and it can kill us slowly or it can kill us quickly, but it will kill us if we hold on to unforgiveness and grievance. And God’s advice is always to lay our grievances aside, born from the knowledge that unforgiveness binds only the one who holds it in their heart. The bitter man or woman binds themselves with their own chains, and God has better things for us. The pie is not fixed.

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There’s more than enough for you, and no man can take the inheritance that God has set aside for you. Now with a well advised we’re told is wisdom. And the Wells of Essex and Sitna are not a place to pitch your future. If your heart today needs to say sorry and let go of past hurts, lay them down and do as Isaac did. He removed from fence. He moved on from that place. Genesis 26:22 now we do not want to stay pitched by Wells of bitterness and hatred. We want to move on to fresher ground, to sweeter waters and to begin to delight ourselves in something that will not only satisfy our own soul more fully, but allow us to satisfy others in the same way.

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Thanks for listening to today’s episode. Hopefully it was a blessing to you if it was do please consider leaving a rating and a review on whatever platform you are listening on. I also would love to encourage you to cheque out my new book faithful creative we’ve got a package of resources designed specifically to encourage you in your Christian creative core. You can cheque that out at faithfulcreativebook.com and if you choose to pick it up, use the Promo Code podcast for 50% off so you’ll get it for half price. Have a great rest of your day and God bless Jesus first everything else follows.

Sometimes the pathway to your promised land takes you down into the valley. You may even need to pitch your tent there sometimes until its precious lessons are learned…

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Sometimes the pathway to your promised land is going to take you down into the Valley. You may even need for a season to pitch your tent there, because there are precious lessons to be learned. We’re told that even Jesus in Hebrews chapter 5:8. We’re told that Jesus, though he were a son, yet learned the obedience by the things which he suffered. Can it really be any different for us, our momentary afflictions? That’s how how Paul described his affliction and the things he went through. I mean, I certainly wouldn’t call them momentary or light in any way. But even Paul’s afflictions, he said, could not be compared with those of our Lord. But for sure, wherever we’re at whatever challenges we’ve faced or are facing, there are no smooth promises found on the pages of the Holy book. There’s no get out clause, discount, ticket or special offer that exempts any one of us from challenge and setback. The Valley, I believe, is as much a part of our training as the mountain. We love those mountain peak moments, don’t we? Those are the ones that we put on our sales pages. Those are the ones that we brag about in our author bios.

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Yeah, the only place the Valley story comes in is where we want to kind of use it as a bed to build this kind of. But everything turned around and everything worked out. Wonderfully type story. But seriously, those Valley seasons, they can be rough. Sometimes the Valley is as much a part of our training as the mountain, like I say. And it was the same for Isaac, we’re told in Genesis 26:17. Isaac departed since we talked about that last time a little and pitched his tent in the Valley of Gehrar and Dwelt there. Now geography and history tell us that this Valley was actually a dry riverbed where the water would flow in the rainy season. The only problem was it was in the Negev, and the rainy season did not come very often. It was a rare thing for this not to be a dry place. And for us as Christians, for us as particularly Christian creatives entrepreneurs, there may come dry seasons that leave you with more hot, dusty questions than you have answers. Failures will fly in and consume your self confidence at times like the dry heat of the desert.

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And in those times, man, God’s voice can sometimes seem very silent. And we can be under the stars in the freezing cold nights, feeling uncovered, embarrassed and exposed, and our soul just naked to the ravages of doubt and self questioning. But the lessons that we can learn here, the lessons that they are here to be found and savoured, and in some ways, the waters that we draw from these times can be sweeter than any that we’ve tasted before. The thing is, they are beneath the surface. Testing times do indeed prove our character. And while our branches outwardly may look bare. Our roots of necessity are stretching deeper and deeper into the faithful soils of God’s love and his purposes. Again and again in this chapter, we witnessed Isaac and those of his household replying to the repeated challenges with resolute confidence. He said to himself, and we see it again and again. If I dig, I will drink again of God’s goodness. If I dig again, I will surely taste God’s goodness, and we find it here in the Valley. Even in the Valley they were digging. Genesis 26:19. Isaac’s servants digged in the Valley and found there a well of springing water.

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The Valley really doesn’t offer any easy bargains. You can either despair or you can dig. You can give up, or you can grab hold of a fresh and a deeper Grace that will carry you through the cross. I think the most amazing truths that we find in the Bible are the ones that are most contrary and most counter to reason. The cross was God’s means to free the world man’s most heinous crime. Satan’s most awful concoction was God’s purest love and genius at work. And all that the world and Satan threw at the one who hung there on the cross resulted in redemption for many. And your testings are as well. They’re working in you a far greater weight of glory, leading to a testimony that will not only liberate your creative voice to speak deeper and more resonant to your audience in the hearts of your hearers. In fact, it will sing more loudly than a Battalion of books or a Legion of libraries or a choir of voices because you’ve been there, people will hear. People will know that there is greater depth and substance behind these words than just cleverness. It’s not just that we throw a few words together as influencers, coaches, creators.

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What we make, what we write, what we put out to the world actually flows from the experiences that we’ve gone through. And we understand that the comfort where with we have been comforted with God, then uses that leverages, that to comfort and to strengthen and to encourage and bless others. I don’t really here want to make light of the angst that can come like a flood to crush us all, the discouragements that seek to hamper our steps, the prodding stick of pride that tries to convince us of our entitlement to only good and to lament the unfairness of it all. Seriously, the Valley is sometimes not a pretty place to stay. But here Isaac chose to pitch his tent and dig, knowing that there are streams, even in the desert places, if you dig long and deep enough to find them. Yes, my friends, the greatest gains are often made when we are stood still, when we’ve been forced into a Valley, when we’re standing in a dry season, when we’re wondering which way to turn and we stand and we say, God, I don’t know which way to go. I don’t know what to do.

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Everything doesn’t look the way I thought it would look at this point and we go deeper. We hear clearer when all of our other options are exhausted when the winds of yesterday are consumed with the questions of today we have opportunity to find Jesus in ways that we would never otherwise choose to know him and some of the sweetest waters are actually found and discovered in the bitterest circumstances. And so whatever Valley you are walking through today, whatever Valley you are facing, know this you can dig even in the Valley and there will be as with Isaac you will find a well of springing water.

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Thanks for listening to today’s episode. Hopefully it was a blessing to you if it was do please consider leaving a rating and a review on whatever platform you are listening on. I also would love to encourage you to cheque out my new book faithful creative. We’ve got a package of resources designed specifically to encourage you in your Christian creative core. You can cheque that out at faithfulcreativebook.com and if you choose to pick it up, use the promo code podcast for 50% off so you’ll get it for half price. Have a great rest of your day and God bless Jesus first everything else follows.

What better way to celebrate Jesus’ victory but to pray.

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It’s Good Friday, and I just wanted and felt that we would just take a break from our journey with Isaac that we’ve been on over this past month. Going to take a short response, might just pull into the pit stop for a few days over this Easter weekend. And, yeah, we’ll resume our journey next week. But I won’t be recording over the weekend or on Monday. But I wanted to kind of just wrap up the week and felt as though one of the best things I could do, or certainly one that I believe would be a blessing and refresh your soul, is to just spend some time in prayer.

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So I’m going to just really pray over you today, pray into all that God is doing in your heart. And, yeah, pretty much that’s it. I can’t think of any better way to kind of take a hold of the victory that Jesus amazing, wonderful, saviour one on the cross, then to harness all of that wonder, that love, that authority, and that Grace that has been opened up to us through the cross, through his burial, through his resurrection, that we now, as men and women of God, are able to lift up Holy hands in prayer and offer our supplication and offer our heart to Him afresh. So let me just begin by praying. Why do we need so much preamble?

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Lord Jesus, Father God, Holy Spirit, we come to you today. We worship you. We honour you. You truly are magnificent in every way, Lord. We come with Thanksgiving.

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We come into your courts with Thanksgiving. We come into Your courts with praise today to honour you and to worship you. Thank you, Lord, for the cross. Thank you for the blood of Jesus that has cleansed our hearts, set us free, and set us on a path, Lord, that will go on beyond this life and into eternity. I thank you, God, that that pathway that you’re choosing led us through death on the cross, that our old man, our old life is gone.

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Old things have passed away. And behold, all things have been made new. Thank you, God, that we stand in the new creation today, that You’ve given us access, Lord, to Your presence, that we can come boldly before Your throne and lift up our hearts and lift up our hands in our time of need and find help from Your hand. Find love and Grace in Your presence. Lord, I pray for my brother or sister who’s listening right now.

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I thank you, God, for the work that you’ve been doing in them this year, in these weeks and in these months proceeding. I thank you, God, for the intimate, close Communion that they have with you and with your Holy Spirit. I pray, God that their ear would be sensitive to your voice. I pray, God, that they would know your goodness and sense your presence even now as they’re listening. Lord, I just worship and honour you.

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I thank you, God, that you dwell in the praises of your people. That you are enthroned in the praises of your people. And truly, God, today we do worship you. Truly we do respect you. We lift up our hearts to you and bow our knees to you, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, majestic living God, we acknowledge you and we declare your son.

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We declare his blood. We declare the blood and the Grace and the goodness of God that was released through the cross into our lives. That, Lord, at the cross our sin was eradicated. Our lives were changed forever. I thank you, God that in baptism we were buried with him and we, Lord, that old life is buried forever.

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Gone under the ocean. Oh Lord, just as Noah’s Ark carried them into a new world so you have carried us through baptism into a new world and into a new life. And I just pray, father, as we burst forth from the waters as we come out of that grave that there would be explosive creative life flowing from our hearts. Thank you, Jesus that you ascended that you sent the Holy spirit to dwell with us and to be in us and that from our hearts flow Rivers of living water. Lord, I just thank you today for the mighty awesome gracious Holy spirit whom you have sent father, above all other things we want to say we love you.

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We want to say we worship you. We worship you. We worship you. We bless magnify and adore you, God on this good Friday on this day where we remember as we do every day the goodness and the Grace and the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus. Lord, we worship you.

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I pray, father, that this weekend that this day would be a day in which we encounter your presence Lord, we know that your book and the lives of those who followed you were full of suddenlies and I pray your God that today would be a suddenly for us that you would suddenly come and we would know your goodness and we’ll you would sense your presence I bless my brother I bless my sister today in Jesus name.