May 13, 2025 • 21 mins
Are you an ENT artist—creating Every Now and Then whenever inspiration strikes? You're not alone. After mentoring artists for over 16 years, I've discovered the critical difference between those who merely dabble and those who truly thrive isn't talent—it's consistent, intentional habits.
The Core4 Focus Framework™ has transformed thousands of artists' lives, and today I'm breaking it down for you. First, Connect with God daily—not as a spiritual checkbox, but as the wellspring of your creativity. When you journal, declare biblical affirmations, and rehearse God's promises, you're establishing the foundation for everything else. As Jesus said, "Apart from me, you can do nothing."
Second, Clarify your focus each day in God's presence. Use your divine imagination as an internal artist's studio where God plants and nurtures ideas. Third, Create consistently—whether it's 15 minutes or several hours. Showing up in your studio is like raising a flag that says, "I'm ready to receive Your blessing today." Remember, inspiration often arrives after you begin, like priming an old pump.
Finally, Cultivate relationships by sharing your work regularly. Your art cannot bless others, generate income, or create impact if it remains hidden. These four habits—Connect, Clarify, Create, and Cultivate—form the ground that God can bless with increase and momentum.
One of the saddest outcomes would be reaching heaven having used only a fraction of your artistic potential. Don't let that be your story! When you partner with the Holy Spirit through intentional habits, your creativity becomes a highway for God's Kingdom to flow through your life.
Ready to transform your creative practice? Join thousands of artists receiving our free Thriving Christian Artist Weekly newsletter, or take the next step with our Foundations Course or Artist Mentoring Program. Your calling deserves your attention—because you were created to thrive!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Thriving Christian Artist, the
podcast, where we hope youconnect with God to bust through
the roadblocks that have heldyou back for years, create the
work you love and really livethe life you know.
God created you to live as anartist in His kingdom.
I'm Matt Tama, your host.
Let's get started.
Well, hey, my friend, so gladthat you're with me today here
(00:23):
on the podcast.
I want to jump into somethingthat I think is so vital for
everybody and yet oftentimesit's one of the things that we
don't think about a lot.
You know, as an artist, I think, one of the things from my own
life, growing up and not reallytaking my art that seriously I
really loved the whole idea ofjust shooting from the hip, you
know, like doing art when I feltlike it and kind of operating
(00:47):
in the moments of inspirationand just kind of thinking that
that's the way it was.
And you know, having theprivilege now of being in this
thing a long time, over 30 yearsas an artist over, you know,
gosh, what is it now?
15, 16 years of mentoringartists in a full-time capacity
(01:10):
through my books and conferencesand mentoring programs and all
this stuff One of the biggestlacking things that I see in the
lives of almost every artist.
I don't care how talented youare, I don't care how much
you're selling, I don't care anyof that stuff.
One of the things that very fewartists have a handle on is a
rhythm of habits in their life,and having habits in your life
(01:32):
is really, I think, thedifferentiator in somebody
that's going to be able to taketheir art into a serious hobby,
serious ministry, seriouspart-time or full-time capacity
and somebody that just kind ofis what I call an ENT artist.
Right, and every now and thenyou may be saying, oh, that
(01:53):
sounds like me.
Listen, we've all been there,right, we all kind of start that
way in our life.
But I think one of the thingsthat happens when you start to
realize that, hey, being anartist is not just something
that I do on the side, it's notjust this little fun thing that
doesn't have any meaning, butit's actually a part of how
God's wired me and designed meto reveal and release his
(02:14):
kingdom in and through my life.
Once you start to get that, youstart to realize, wow, if that
really is true, like if theabundant life for me is tied to
my willingness to invest in,lean into and, you know, really
be engaged in this whole thingof being an artist, then I've
(02:36):
got to take it seriously.
You know I say this a lot, butI'll just say it again because
it bears repeating.
Success as a Christian artistis not just about floating from
inspiration to inspiration.
It really is about day by dayintentionality.
And so these creative habitsthat I want to talk about today,
(02:56):
they're not just again, youknow just basic habits.
These are things that are goingto help you to align your mind
and your body and your spiritand your artwork and all that
God's called you to do, into arhythm for your life that really
becomes your new normal.
See Proverbs 21.5 says this, andI love this.
(03:16):
I love Proverbs.
You hear me talk about Proverbsa lot.
I love it just because they'reall these seemingly unrelated
little nuggets of wisdom, right,that got put into the book of
Proverbs, that you can just kindof take them one by one and
just be like whoa, that's reallygood.
You know, it's not like youdon't need a ton of context, you
don't need a whole lot ofbackstory.
You can just take these littlenuggets, these single verses and
(03:40):
, uh, you know, a couple ofverses together.
You can take them and just gowhoa, that is so good.
And I love Proverbs 21, 5,because it says in the New
Living.
It says good planning and hardwork leads to prosperity, but
hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.
Listen, that's not just talkingabout money, right?
(04:00):
That's not just talking aboutthe way you live your life in
general.
It really is about your art,about your art practice, about
the calling of God in your life.
It's more really aboutfruitfulness and fulfillment and
how to flow in that in everyarea of your life.
And so I want to give you fourthings today, four big
(04:20):
categories that I call our corefour focus framework, which is
something I talk about a lot inour artist mentoring program.
I've addressed it in ourfoundations course.
It's the foundation ofeverything that I put out in our
thriving Christian artistsweekly.
By the way, if you're, ifyou're not getting that, you
should, it's totally free, andwe're sending that to thousands
(04:42):
of artists every Wednesday.
It comes out with, you know,creative tips and strategies and
prayers that I put out and techtips for you, a new podcast
episode, a featured artist.
I mean, it's a great newsletter.
You should just be getting it.
If you're not getting it.
Anyway, I digress.
The core four is really, I think, the minimum basic thing that
(05:06):
every artist needs to be doingin your life if you're serious
about being intentional aboutthe calling of God on your life
as an artist.
So what does that mean?
What are the core four?
Well, the core four are justhigh level connect, clarify,
create and cultivate.
All right.
So the first one is is inconnect.
(05:28):
It's really all about youbeginning to align intentionally
with the spirit of God everyday.
Because why?
Well, everything in the kingdombegins with our connection with
the Lord.
Right, john 15 talks about youknow, I'm the vine, you're the
branches.
Apart from me, you can do a biggoose egg.
(05:53):
Right, you can do nothing.
I can't tell you how often theLord meets me in the morning in
my comfy chair, as I'm takingtime, carving out time to pray,
listen to his voice, journalworship.
Listen.
That's not just a box that wecheck in the morning.
That is the well of inspirationand life that we have to draw
from every day and it's in thatplace, right of stillness, in
(06:16):
his presence, where we can hearhis voice, receive his direction
, have our identity reaffirmedand reestablished in our life
and we realign our heart and ourmind and our actions with His
purposes.
And so, when you go to journaland when you go to use things
like biblical affirmations inyour life, listen.
These are such a key part ofyour day because you're not just
(06:39):
writing out your thoughts,right, which is good, but you're
writing out prayers, you'redeclaring the word of God,
you're rehearsing what God haspromised in your life, what is
true, what is lasting, what isfrom the voice of the Lord In
those times.
You're declaring, right, whoyou are in Christ and what God
says about your identity andyour art and your provision and
(07:01):
your possibilities and yourfuture.
Listen, that's not just hype,that's not positive thinking,
that's not any of that new agewoo-woo kind of stuff.
This is literally sowing theword of God in your heart.
This is literally connectingyour heart with the spirit of
God in order to receive life.
And that is listen.
That's a spiritual strategy forliving.
(07:23):
See, if the enemy can stealyour agreement with God, if he
can convince you that you're notwho God says you are, can't do
what God says you can do, can'thave what God says you can have,
then guess what.
He will absolutely do it.
And when you agree with theenemy.
Guess what?
You get the fruit of thatagreement in your life.
So starting with connectionevery day with the Lord is
(07:47):
absolutely essential, and Iwould I would go so far to say
this If you don't do anythingelse, if you're like man, I
can't do core four, I just gotto do core one.
Then do core one and do it well, and do it every day, all right
.
But here's the here's the thingI know the more you're with
Jesus, the more you're in hispresence, the more you're going
(08:08):
to be compelled to step into thething that God has called you
to do.
That's just.
That's just how it works.
So connect.
Secondly, clarify, and again Iwould just say this it's much
easier to clarify your life andwhat you're doing, like the
focus of what you're doing everyday.
It's much easier to do thatwhen you do that in the context
(08:30):
of his presence.
Right, because once your spiritis aligned with him, once
you're hearing his voice, oncehe's showing you the things for
the day, it's a lot easier toget focused on my to-do list for
this day, this week, this month.
It's a lot easier to do what wetalk about in the mentoring
program all the time, which isenvision yearly and then plan
(08:51):
quarterly, and then reviewweekly and then execute daily.
Right, that's the rhythm ofwhat we do, but we do that not
in a vacuum.
We do that inspired and led bythe voice of the Holy Spirit and
this focus part of every day,clarifying what you do.
(09:12):
This is a lot of times whereI'll really engage my
imagination, not as a place ofjust, like you know, woo-woo
kind of fantasy, but you know,the words that the Bible uses
for imagination are really thecontext there is like an
artist's studio, like an artistforms clay, like an artist
studio, like an artist formsclay.
Like an incubator, like a womb,like a seed bed.
(09:33):
So it's this place, right, thisengine that God has put inside
of you to not only, you know,plant new ideas, but also bring
to life new ideas and blueprintsand creative strategies and
next steps for you.
And so, listen, god gave youthis divine imagination to use
(09:56):
as a internal artist studio, ifyou will right To begin to
preview with him and dream withhim what he wants to not only
bring to you but also bringthrough you.
And so you can ask the Lordquestions like Lord what are you
dreaming about with me today.
God, what's on your heart?
(10:16):
God, show me in my imaginationthe next things that you have
for me.
God, what's your heart for thispainting that I'm working on,
or this project, or this newidea, or this conversation, or
whatever it is?
But again, using yourimagination in the context of
the voice of the Lord, hearinghis voice, following his lead,
moving with his spirit, sensingthose nudges of his heart.
(10:39):
Listen, that brings clarity andit brings intentionality, as
opposed to you just kind offloating through the day.
Well, I'm just going to trustGod.
Whatever happens, it's supposedto happen.
No, that is not how the kingdomof God works.
The kingdom of God is based inyou seeing and agreeing,
(11:00):
decreeing out of your mouth andthen proceeding with your feet
Right.
You see what God's doing, youagree with it in your heart, you
speak it out of your mouth andyou walk toward it with
intentionality.
That's how you walk, by faith,and so connect and clarify.
That's the first two.
The third one is then if God'scalled you to be an artist, you
(11:22):
got to go make art, and it'sabout, I find, being an artist.
No matter again, if you'redoing this is something you're
just coming back to, somethingthat you're doing as a full-time
occupation or anywhere inbetween Right Serious, hobby,
ministry, part-time, full-time,whatever.
It's about you showing up inthe studio every day and
(11:44):
creating something.
Listen, this is where therubber meets the road.
Day and creating something.
Listen, this is where therubber meets the road.
There's a lot of wonderful,beautiful, creative people out
there who call themselvesartists Maybe you, I don't know,
but you don't show up in thestudio every day, not even every
week.
You're just kind of hit and miss.
How can you expect God to growthe gifting that he's put in you
(12:06):
, to mature the investment thathe's put inside of you and to
use you not only for yourbenefit and his glory, but for
the influence and impact ofothers?
How can you expect him to dothat when you're not even
showing up intentionally in thestudio?
And so, listen, I don't care ifit's 15, 30 minutes an hour, it
(12:26):
is, if it's choosing a day ortwo a week to show up, you know,
all day long or if it's arhythm.
Every day you have to learn tomake creativity and creating a
lifestyle, not just an every nowand then event.
Listen, inspiration is great.
It's great to feel thegoosebumps of woo.
I want to create this thing,but listen, we've all heard this
(12:48):
a million times from, from, uh,50, 11 different people.
The more that you're in thestudio, the more that you're
doing creativity, the moreyou're going to be inspired.
Right, it is.
I like to use the the exampleof priming a pump.
Right, sometimes you go in thestudio you don't feel nothing.
There's no water running,there's nothing flowing.
But when you get in there andyou start looking at materials
(13:10):
and looking at your sketchbookand you start moving color
around or moving materialsaround or whatever you do, it's
like priming an old, old barnpump, an old farm pump.
And what happens?
The first few pumps that you,that you give nothing may come
out, but all of a sudden, whathappens?
A trickle and then, as atrickle comes, more of it comes
and all of a sudden, water isflowing.
(13:31):
And listen, that's how it works.
If you are waiting for these,you know moments of like, oh,
I'm now inspired to create.
Listen, you may get thatsometimes, but nine times out of
10, I can just promise you,cause I've been doing this a
long time.
You may not quote, unquote,feel anything, but it's as you
(13:52):
get in the studio and do it.
That's where mastery is goingto be developed.
That's where unique voice isgoing to emerge.
That's where confidence isgoing to happen.
That's where momentum is goingto happen.
And listen, some days it'smessy, some days it's beautiful,
some days it's magical, somedays it's awesome, some days you
feel like, did I do anything?
But listen?
The habit of showing up in thestudio is what gives the Holy
(14:16):
Spirit something to work with.
In fact, I would go as far asto say this showing up in the
studio and doing the act ofcreating is almost like a
trigger for the Holy Spirit.
It's almost like raising theflag saying hey, I'm here.
I'm ready to receive theblessing that you have for me
today.
(14:36):
I'm ready to hear your voice.
Why would God speak to you?
Why would God bless you?
Why would God open up creativedoors in your life, if you're
not even taking the time to showup in the studio?
Now listen, I know you're likewoo Matt, I may have to hit
pause on this podcast.
You're like you're like readingmy mail.
You're like you're calling meon the carpet.
(14:57):
Listen, listen to Uncle Matt,all right, I love you.
I love you and I love you toomuch to leave you where you are.
God has incredible plans foryour life, but none of it
matters unless you get it inyour head and get it in your
feet and get it in your handsthat, hey, I got to do something
with this gifting that God hasgiven me.
Otherwise, you know, one of thesaddest things I think one of
(15:20):
the saddest things is for you tolive out all of your days as
somebody that loves Jesus andhas all that you need for life
and godliness in this kingdom,for you to live and die on this
earth, and end up in thepresence of Jesus and say you
know what?
I did not even do a 10th ofwhat God had for me in this life
.
I just chose to not beintentional.
(15:43):
What a sad testimony.
But listen, that didn't have tobe yours.
So what we've got now is what?
Connect with the Lord.
Then we've got clarify whatyou're doing with him every day.
Then we got show up in thestudio and create every day.
Number four is what Connectwith the Lord?
Then we've got clarify whatyou're doing with him every day.
Then we got show up in thestudio and create every day.
Number four is what Cultivate?
All right, sharing your workand cultivating relationships
with others.
(16:03):
Listen, you cannot expect theart that God has given you in
your life to bless others orcreate any kind of income or
have any kind of impact If youare sitting there hiding it in
the closet, hiding it in adrawer, or it's just sitting on
your phone.
Right, you got to make a pointto share what you're doing with
somebody in some way every day,whether it's a photo, a story, a
(16:25):
behind the scenes video onsocial media, an email, a word
of encouragement, whatever it is.
An email, a word ofencouragement, whatever it is.
Listen, engage with the peoplethat God has put in your circle
of influence as you reach out towhat partners, prospects,
potential buyers, fans andcollectors, checking in with
your clients, whatever that is.
(16:47):
You've got to do something on aregular.
On the regular, all right, tocultivate relationship with
people who need to receive fromyou and from the art that God's
called you to.
That's how your creativityturns into impact.
That's how your creativityturns into influence.
That's how God begins to opendoors with stores and galleries
(17:10):
and commissions and potentialclients.
Why?
Because people know what you do.
You cannot take a passion forart and turn it into any sort of
profit machine without thisdaily habit of cultivating.
And listen, I'm not saying yougot to let social media control
your life.
I mean, I just did a wholeteaching module earlier this
(17:32):
year in the mentoring program onhow to build your art without
using social media, and tons ofpeople are doing it very
successfully, right, but thereis no world that you can exist
in where you do not share yourwork actively in some way with
people on a regular basis andsee your work get out there.
That's just a part of what Godhas called all of us to do as
(17:54):
creators.
So, listen, I don't know whatcreative habits you have in
place right now or ones that youneed to start building, but I
hope that as you start to thinkabout this core four right of
connecting with the Lord, out ofthat, clarifying what you're
doing, showing up every day tocreate and, on the regular,
(18:18):
cultivating relationships withpeople in the marketplace and in
your circle of influence, toshare who God is and what he's
doing in your life and in andthrough your art, listen, I
promise you that is the groundthat God can bless and bring
increase and multiplication andmomentum in your life.
It's not about doing everythingat once.
It's just about creating thisrhythm of day-by-day
intentionality.
(18:39):
You know why?
Because habits, not goodintentions.
Habits shape your future,habits shape your reality.
The habits that you createcreate the fruit of your life.
All right, again, when youpartner with the Holy Spirit
through this whole process notjust try to do it white knuckle
(18:59):
and make it happen but when youpartner with the Holy Spirit in
this creative process, yourhabits become highways for the
kingdom of God to flow in andthrough your life.
My friend, I love you.
I am always honored to see thethousands and thousands of you
that are listening all over theworld to this podcast, taking
(19:19):
advantage of all the resourcesthat we have inside the Created
to Thrive Artist MentoringProgram, this incredibly
transformative foundationscourse that we have now, and
that are reading every week theThriving Christian Artist Weekly
.
I just want to encourage you,if you are looking for a place
to say, matt, I listened to thepodcast, but I'd love to connect
with you more.
Listen first place.
(19:40):
Join the thriving Christianartists weekly.
All right, it's free.
You can go to the link that'sright here in the podcast
episode and start getting thatweekly newsletter that gives you
a rhythm every week based inthis core four, uh, to start
being intentional about the lifethat God's created you to be.
(20:01):
Uh, and it created you to liveas an artist in his kingdom, and
once you start doing that,you'll see God open doors.
Hey, maybe it's time to step into the foundations course.
Maybe it's time to to reallyget serious and let's jump into
the mentoring program or themastery program and let me,
along with our team, help mentoryou into things that you need
to grow as an artist in God'skingdom.
(20:22):
Hey, I love you, my friend.
Thanks for being here.
Be sure to share this with afriend if it's been a blessing
to you, and remember until nexttime you were created to thrive.
Bye, hey, thanks so much forspending a few minutes with me
today on the podcast.
Listen, I hope it's been a hugeencouragement to you on your
journey as an artist.
Hey, also, before you leave,make sure to hit the subscribe
(20:43):
button so you don't miss any ofthe other episodes of the
Thriving Christian Artistpodcast, and also be sure to
connect with me on Facebook,instagram or at my website,
which is matttommymentoringcom.
Until next time, remember, youwere created to thrive.
Bye-bye.
Welcome to the Thriving Christian Artist, the
podcast, where we hope youconnect with God to bust through
the roadblocks that have heldyou back for years, create the
work you love and really livethe life you know.
God created you to live as anartist in His kingdom.
I'm Matt Tama, your host.
Let's get started.
Well, hey, my friend, so gladthat you're with me today here
(00:23):
on the podcast.
I want to jump into somethingthat I think is so vital for
everybody and yet oftentimesit's one of the things that we
don't think about a lot.
You know, as an artist, I think, one of the things from my own
life, growing up and not reallytaking my art that seriously I
really loved the whole idea ofjust shooting from the hip, you
know, like doing art when I feltlike it and kind of operating
(00:47):
in the moments of inspirationand just kind of thinking that
that's the way it was.
And you know, having theprivilege now of being in this
thing a long time, over 30 yearsas an artist over, you know,
gosh, what is it now?
15, 16 years of mentoringartists in a full-time capacity
(01:10):
through my books and conferencesand mentoring programs and all
this stuff One of the biggestlacking things that I see in the
lives of almost every artist.
I don't care how talented youare, I don't care how much
you're selling, I don't care anyof that stuff.
One of the things that very fewartists have a handle on is a
rhythm of habits in their life,and having habits in your life
(01:32):
is really, I think, thedifferentiator in somebody
that's going to be able to taketheir art into a serious hobby,
serious ministry, seriouspart-time or full-time capacity
and somebody that just kind ofis what I call an ENT artist.
Right, and every now and thenyou may be saying, oh, that
(01:53):
sounds like me.
Listen, we've all been there,right, we all kind of start that
way in our life.
But I think one of the thingsthat happens when you start to
realize that, hey, being anartist is not just something
that I do on the side, it's notjust this little fun thing that
doesn't have any meaning, butit's actually a part of how
God's wired me and designed meto reveal and release his
(02:14):
kingdom in and through my life.
Once you start to get that, youstart to realize, wow, if that
really is true, like if theabundant life for me is tied to
my willingness to invest in,lean into and, you know, really
be engaged in this whole thingof being an artist, then I've
(02:36):
got to take it seriously.
You know I say this a lot, butI'll just say it again because
it bears repeating.
Success as a Christian artistis not just about floating from
inspiration to inspiration.
It really is about day by dayintentionality.
And so these creative habitsthat I want to talk about today,
(02:56):
they're not just again, youknow just basic habits.
These are things that are goingto help you to align your mind
and your body and your spiritand your artwork and all that
God's called you to do, into arhythm for your life that really
becomes your new normal.
See Proverbs 21.5 says this, andI love this.
(03:16):
I love Proverbs.
You hear me talk about Proverbsa lot.
I love it just because they'reall these seemingly unrelated
little nuggets of wisdom, right,that got put into the book of
Proverbs, that you can just kindof take them one by one and
just be like whoa, that's reallygood.
You know, it's not like youdon't need a ton of context, you
don't need a whole lot ofbackstory.
You can just take these littlenuggets, these single verses and
(03:40):
, uh, you know, a couple ofverses together.
You can take them and just gowhoa, that is so good.
And I love Proverbs 21, 5,because it says in the New
Living.
It says good planning and hardwork leads to prosperity, but
hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.
Listen, that's not just talkingabout money, right?
(04:00):
That's not just talking aboutthe way you live your life in
general.
It really is about your art,about your art practice, about
the calling of God in your life.
It's more really aboutfruitfulness and fulfillment and
how to flow in that in everyarea of your life.
And so I want to give you fourthings today, four big
(04:20):
categories that I call our corefour focus framework, which is
something I talk about a lot inour artist mentoring program.
I've addressed it in ourfoundations course.
It's the foundation ofeverything that I put out in our
thriving Christian artistsweekly.
By the way, if you're, ifyou're not getting that, you
should, it's totally free, andwe're sending that to thousands
(04:42):
of artists every Wednesday.
It comes out with, you know,creative tips and strategies and
prayers that I put out and techtips for you, a new podcast
episode, a featured artist.
I mean, it's a great newsletter.
You should just be getting it.
If you're not getting it.
Anyway, I digress.
The core four is really, I think, the minimum basic thing that
(05:06):
every artist needs to be doingin your life if you're serious
about being intentional aboutthe calling of God on your life
as an artist.
So what does that mean?
What are the core four?
Well, the core four are justhigh level connect, clarify,
create and cultivate.
All right.
So the first one is is inconnect.
(05:28):
It's really all about youbeginning to align intentionally
with the spirit of God everyday.
Because why?
Well, everything in the kingdombegins with our connection with
the Lord.
Right, john 15 talks about youknow, I'm the vine, you're the
branches.
Apart from me, you can do a biggoose egg.
(05:53):
Right, you can do nothing.
I can't tell you how often theLord meets me in the morning in
my comfy chair, as I'm takingtime, carving out time to pray,
listen to his voice, journalworship.
Listen.
That's not just a box that wecheck in the morning.
That is the well of inspirationand life that we have to draw
from every day and it's in thatplace, right of stillness, in
(06:16):
his presence, where we can hearhis voice, receive his direction
, have our identity reaffirmedand reestablished in our life
and we realign our heart and ourmind and our actions with His
purposes.
And so, when you go to journaland when you go to use things
like biblical affirmations inyour life, listen.
These are such a key part ofyour day because you're not just
(06:39):
writing out your thoughts,right, which is good, but you're
writing out prayers, you'redeclaring the word of God,
you're rehearsing what God haspromised in your life, what is
true, what is lasting, what isfrom the voice of the Lord In
those times.
You're declaring, right, whoyou are in Christ and what God
says about your identity andyour art and your provision and
(07:01):
your possibilities and yourfuture.
Listen, that's not just hype,that's not positive thinking,
that's not any of that new agewoo-woo kind of stuff.
This is literally sowing theword of God in your heart.
This is literally connectingyour heart with the spirit of
God in order to receive life.
And that is listen.
That's a spiritual strategy forliving.
(07:23):
See, if the enemy can stealyour agreement with God, if he
can convince you that you're notwho God says you are, can't do
what God says you can do, can'thave what God says you can have,
then guess what.
He will absolutely do it.
And when you agree with theenemy.
Guess what?
You get the fruit of thatagreement in your life.
So starting with connectionevery day with the Lord is
(07:47):
absolutely essential, and Iwould I would go so far to say
this If you don't do anythingelse, if you're like man, I
can't do core four, I just gotto do core one.
Then do core one and do it well, and do it every day, all right
.
But here's the here's the thingI know the more you're with
Jesus, the more you're in hispresence, the more you're going
(08:08):
to be compelled to step into thething that God has called you
to do.
That's just.
That's just how it works.
So connect.
Secondly, clarify, and again Iwould just say this it's much
easier to clarify your life andwhat you're doing, like the
focus of what you're doing everyday.
It's much easier to do thatwhen you do that in the context
(08:30):
of his presence.
Right, because once your spiritis aligned with him, once
you're hearing his voice, oncehe's showing you the things for
the day, it's a lot easier toget focused on my to-do list for
this day, this week, this month.
It's a lot easier to do what wetalk about in the mentoring
program all the time, which isenvision yearly and then plan
(08:51):
quarterly, and then reviewweekly and then execute daily.
Right, that's the rhythm ofwhat we do, but we do that not
in a vacuum.
We do that inspired and led bythe voice of the Holy Spirit and
this focus part of every day,clarifying what you do.
(09:12):
This is a lot of times whereI'll really engage my
imagination, not as a place ofjust, like you know, woo-woo
kind of fantasy, but you know,the words that the Bible uses
for imagination are really thecontext there is like an
artist's studio, like an artistforms clay, like an artist
studio, like an artist formsclay.
Like an incubator, like a womb,like a seed bed.
(09:33):
So it's this place, right, thisengine that God has put inside
of you to not only, you know,plant new ideas, but also bring
to life new ideas and blueprintsand creative strategies and
next steps for you.
And so, listen, god gave youthis divine imagination to use
(09:56):
as a internal artist studio, ifyou will right To begin to
preview with him and dream withhim what he wants to not only
bring to you but also bringthrough you.
And so you can ask the Lordquestions like Lord what are you
dreaming about with me today.
God, what's on your heart?
(10:16):
God, show me in my imaginationthe next things that you have
for me.
God, what's your heart for thispainting that I'm working on,
or this project, or this newidea, or this conversation, or
whatever it is?
But again, using yourimagination in the context of
the voice of the Lord, hearinghis voice, following his lead,
moving with his spirit, sensingthose nudges of his heart.
(10:39):
Listen, that brings clarity andit brings intentionality, as
opposed to you just kind offloating through the day.
Well, I'm just going to trustGod.
Whatever happens, it's supposedto happen.
No, that is not how the kingdomof God works.
The kingdom of God is based inyou seeing and agreeing,
(11:00):
decreeing out of your mouth andthen proceeding with your feet
Right.
You see what God's doing, youagree with it in your heart, you
speak it out of your mouth andyou walk toward it with
intentionality.
That's how you walk, by faith,and so connect and clarify.
That's the first two.
The third one is then if God'scalled you to be an artist, you
(11:22):
got to go make art, and it'sabout, I find, being an artist.
No matter again, if you'redoing this is something you're
just coming back to, somethingthat you're doing as a full-time
occupation or anywhere inbetween Right Serious, hobby,
ministry, part-time, full-time,whatever.
It's about you showing up inthe studio every day and
(11:44):
creating something.
Listen, this is where therubber meets the road.
Day and creating something.
Listen, this is where therubber meets the road.
There's a lot of wonderful,beautiful, creative people out
there who call themselvesartists Maybe you, I don't know,
but you don't show up in thestudio every day, not even every
week.
You're just kind of hit and miss.
How can you expect God to growthe gifting that he's put in you
(12:06):
, to mature the investment thathe's put inside of you and to
use you not only for yourbenefit and his glory, but for
the influence and impact ofothers?
How can you expect him to dothat when you're not even
showing up intentionally in thestudio?
And so, listen, I don't care ifit's 15, 30 minutes an hour, it
(12:26):
is, if it's choosing a day ortwo a week to show up, you know,
all day long or if it's arhythm.
Every day you have to learn tomake creativity and creating a
lifestyle, not just an every nowand then event.
Listen, inspiration is great.
It's great to feel thegoosebumps of woo.
I want to create this thing,but listen, we've all heard this
(12:48):
a million times from, from, uh,50, 11 different people.
The more that you're in thestudio, the more that you're
doing creativity, the moreyou're going to be inspired.
Right, it is.
I like to use the the exampleof priming a pump.
Right, sometimes you go in thestudio you don't feel nothing.
There's no water running,there's nothing flowing.
But when you get in there andyou start looking at materials
(13:10):
and looking at your sketchbookand you start moving color
around or moving materialsaround or whatever you do, it's
like priming an old, old barnpump, an old farm pump.
And what happens?
The first few pumps that you,that you give nothing may come
out, but all of a sudden, whathappens?
A trickle and then, as atrickle comes, more of it comes
and all of a sudden, water isflowing.
(13:31):
And listen, that's how it works.
If you are waiting for these,you know moments of like, oh,
I'm now inspired to create.
Listen, you may get thatsometimes, but nine times out of
10, I can just promise you,cause I've been doing this a
long time.
You may not quote, unquote,feel anything, but it's as you
(13:52):
get in the studio and do it.
That's where mastery is goingto be developed.
That's where unique voice isgoing to emerge.
That's where confidence isgoing to happen.
That's where momentum is goingto happen.
And listen, some days it'smessy, some days it's beautiful,
some days it's magical, somedays it's awesome, some days you
feel like, did I do anything?
But listen?
The habit of showing up in thestudio is what gives the Holy
(14:16):
Spirit something to work with.
In fact, I would go as far asto say this showing up in the
studio and doing the act ofcreating is almost like a
trigger for the Holy Spirit.
It's almost like raising theflag saying hey, I'm here.
I'm ready to receive theblessing that you have for me
today.
(14:36):
I'm ready to hear your voice.
Why would God speak to you?
Why would God bless you?
Why would God open up creativedoors in your life, if you're
not even taking the time to showup in the studio?
Now listen, I know you're likewoo Matt, I may have to hit
pause on this podcast.
You're like you're like readingmy mail.
You're like you're calling meon the carpet.
(14:57):
Listen, listen to Uncle Matt,all right, I love you.
I love you and I love you toomuch to leave you where you are.
God has incredible plans foryour life, but none of it
matters unless you get it inyour head and get it in your
feet and get it in your handsthat, hey, I got to do something
with this gifting that God hasgiven me.
Otherwise, you know, one of thesaddest things I think one of
(15:20):
the saddest things is for you tolive out all of your days as
somebody that loves Jesus andhas all that you need for life
and godliness in this kingdom,for you to live and die on this
earth, and end up in thepresence of Jesus and say you
know what?
I did not even do a 10th ofwhat God had for me in this life
.
I just chose to not beintentional.
(15:43):
What a sad testimony.
But listen, that didn't have tobe yours.
So what we've got now is what?
Connect with the Lord.
Then we've got clarify whatyou're doing with him every day.
Then we got show up in thestudio and create every day.
Number four is what Connectwith the Lord?
Then we've got clarify whatyou're doing with him every day.
Then we got show up in thestudio and create every day.
Number four is what Cultivate?
All right, sharing your workand cultivating relationships
with others.
(16:03):
Listen, you cannot expect theart that God has given you in
your life to bless others orcreate any kind of income or
have any kind of impact If youare sitting there hiding it in
the closet, hiding it in adrawer, or it's just sitting on
your phone.
Right, you got to make a pointto share what you're doing with
somebody in some way every day,whether it's a photo, a story, a
(16:25):
behind the scenes video onsocial media, an email, a word
of encouragement, whatever it is.
An email, a word ofencouragement, whatever it is.
Listen, engage with the peoplethat God has put in your circle
of influence as you reach out towhat partners, prospects,
potential buyers, fans andcollectors, checking in with
your clients, whatever that is.
(16:47):
You've got to do something on aregular.
On the regular, all right, tocultivate relationship with
people who need to receive fromyou and from the art that God's
called you to.
That's how your creativityturns into impact.
That's how your creativityturns into influence.
That's how God begins to opendoors with stores and galleries
(17:10):
and commissions and potentialclients.
Why?
Because people know what you do.
You cannot take a passion forart and turn it into any sort of
profit machine without thisdaily habit of cultivating.
And listen, I'm not saying yougot to let social media control
your life.
I mean, I just did a wholeteaching module earlier this
(17:32):
year in the mentoring program onhow to build your art without
using social media, and tons ofpeople are doing it very
successfully, right, but thereis no world that you can exist
in where you do not share yourwork actively in some way with
people on a regular basis andsee your work get out there.
That's just a part of what Godhas called all of us to do as
(17:54):
creators.
So, listen, I don't know whatcreative habits you have in
place right now or ones that youneed to start building, but I
hope that as you start to thinkabout this core four right of
connecting with the Lord, out ofthat, clarifying what you're
doing, showing up every day tocreate and, on the regular,
(18:18):
cultivating relationships withpeople in the marketplace and in
your circle of influence, toshare who God is and what he's
doing in your life and in andthrough your art, listen, I
promise you that is the groundthat God can bless and bring
increase and multiplication andmomentum in your life.
It's not about doing everythingat once.
It's just about creating thisrhythm of day-by-day
intentionality.
(18:39):
You know why?
Because habits, not goodintentions.
Habits shape your future,habits shape your reality.
The habits that you createcreate the fruit of your life.
All right, again, when youpartner with the Holy Spirit
through this whole process notjust try to do it white knuckle
(18:59):
and make it happen but when youpartner with the Holy Spirit in
this creative process, yourhabits become highways for the
kingdom of God to flow in andthrough your life.
My friend, I love you.
I am always honored to see thethousands and thousands of you
that are listening all over theworld to this podcast, taking
(19:19):
advantage of all the resourcesthat we have inside the Created
to Thrive Artist MentoringProgram, this incredibly
transformative foundationscourse that we have now, and
that are reading every week theThriving Christian Artist Weekly
.
I just want to encourage you,if you are looking for a place
to say, matt, I listened to thepodcast, but I'd love to connect
with you more.
Listen first place.
(19:40):
Join the thriving Christianartists weekly.
All right, it's free.
You can go to the link that'sright here in the podcast
episode and start getting thatweekly newsletter that gives you
a rhythm every week based inthis core four, uh, to start
being intentional about the lifethat God's created you to be.
(20:01):
Uh, and it created you to liveas an artist in his kingdom, and
once you start doing that,you'll see God open doors.
Hey, maybe it's time to step into the foundations course.
Maybe it's time to to reallyget serious and let's jump into
the mentoring program or themastery program and let me,
along with our team, help mentoryou into things that you need
to grow as an artist in God'skingdom.
(20:22):
Hey, I love you, my friend.
Thanks for being here.
Be sure to share this with afriend if it's been a blessing
to you, and remember until nexttime you were created to thrive.
Bye, hey, thanks so much forspending a few minutes with me
today on the podcast.
Listen, I hope it's been a hugeencouragement to you on your
journey as an artist.
Hey, also, before you leave,make sure to hit the subscribe
(20:43):
button so you don't miss any ofthe other episodes of the
Thriving Christian Artistpodcast, and also be sure to
connect with me on Facebook,instagram or at my website,
which is matttommymentoringcom.
Until next time, remember, youwere created to thrive.
Bye-bye.
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