December 23, 2025 • 40 mins
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What if the pressure to prove yourself isn’t part of God’s plan for your creative life? We walk through a simple, Scriptural process to leave perfectionism, comparison, and anxiety behind and step into a new kingdom way of creating—one rooted in mind renewal, daily partnership with the Holy Spirit, and bold, faithful action.
We start with the anchor: Romans 12:2 and the daily practice of renewing your mind. From there, we unpack five core Scriptures every Christian artist can memorize and declare. Colossians 1:13 reframes your identity—you’ve been transferred out of darkness, so your art no longer has to live under scarcity or performance. John 10:27 promises guidance—“My sheep know my voice”—so decisions in the studio and business can flow from listening instead of guessing. 2 Timothy 1:7 breaks the fear loop with power, love, and a sound mind, giving you courage to choose and move. Philippians 4:13 restores confidence that you can do what God actually calls you to do because His strength meets you in the work. And 2 Peter 1:3–4 shatters the starving-artist myth: through knowing Him and embracing His promises, you already have everything needed for life and godliness.
Along the way, we share practical ways to live this out: simple pre‑studio prayers, daily declarations that rewire your inner narrative, and a “next faithful step” approach to projects, pricing, and promotion. Expect an honest look at common mental traps—feeling behind, chasing trends, or stalling for perfect clarity—and clear tools to replace them with peace, listening, and steady momentum.
If you’re ready to shift from frantic hustle to fruitful flow, this conversation will help you align your heart with truth, hear God’s voice, and create from love instead of for love. Subscribe for more episodes that blend spiritual formation with practical creative strategy, and share this with a friend who needs the reminder: you’re not behind—you’re being led.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
You know, it's easy as a Christian artist to be
going after everything that Godhas for you creatively, but also
get stuck in these loops ofperfectionism and comparison and
inadequacy and feeling likeyou're behind, like you're just
not measuring up.
Listen, I struggled with thatfor a long time.
And it was really frustratingbecause I asked the Lord, God,
heal me of this.
(00:20):
Take these things away from me.
Why am I having to deal withthis?
And I just couldn't make senseof it in my mind.
And it really affected my, notonly my creativity, but also my
relationship with the Lord untilI realized what I'm going to
share with you today, which isthe one process in God's word
that promises lastingtransformation from the inside
out.
(00:40):
And so today I'm going to teachyou five encouraging Bible
verses right out of God's Wordthat I believe every Christian
artist needs to know that aregoing to help you combat the
lies of the enemy and keepyourself encouraged and walking
with the Lord and everythingthat he's got for you as an
artist in his kingdom.
So if that sounds good to you,let's get started.
So you might be wondering, well,what is that one process in the
(01:02):
New Testament that teaches ushow to experience lasting
transformation in our life?
Well, it's actually found inRomans 12, 2.
And Paul says, he says, Don't beconformed to the pattern of this
world, but be transformed by therenewing of your mind.
So in other words, when youbecame a Christian, you were
instantly made in your spirit anew creation.
(01:23):
But you also came with a lot ofbaggage that had a lot of
mindsets and beliefs and sort ofparadigms, if you will,
frameworks in your mind ofthinking about the world,
thinking about God, thinkingabout yourself.
And what Paul's saying is thisif you don't learn to align your
heart and your mind with whatGod says about you, you're going
(01:44):
to continue to struggle with allthe things that you've always
struggled with, even though youlove Jesus, you're saved, you're
on your way to heaven.
That was a big, big revelationfor me.
And maybe that is for you aswell.
But, you know, all of Romans,the first 11 chapters, Paul is
kind of telling about all thegreat things that are ours now
in Christ.
And what he comes up to now inRomans 12, he's saying, listen,
(02:06):
essentially what he's saying isyou can't walk in any of that.
You can't walk in any of thebenefits and blessings that God
has for you as a person in thekingdom unless you learn to
renew your mind.
Unless you learn to quitthinking about things and seeing
things and believing things likethe world did, like you used to
when you were outside of Christ.
You've got to start transformingyour mind from the inside out.
(02:29):
And listen, this is superimportant.
Renewing your mind is notsomething that you go to the
altar and get prayed for.
It's not something that God doesto you.
It's a daily, moment-by-momentprocess that God does with us
through the power of the HolySpirit that's already living
inside of us.
And so I could teach on this foryears and years and years, but
today I want to give you thosefive really key verses that I go
(02:52):
back to all the time that havehelped me to keep myself
encouraged and keep my mind andmy heart focused on the fact
that I'm not doing life like Iused to anymore.
I've been brought into adifferent kingdom.
I'm living by a different set ofrules.
God has a different plan andpurpose for my life, and I'm not
on my own.
And so that's what these fiveverses are about.
(03:13):
And if you'll if you'll learnthese and begin to declare these
over yourself every day, youwill cooperate with the Holy
Spirit and see your life beginto change.
One of the really interestingthings I think that we we know
from God's word is, you know,like in Proverbs, it says, as a
man thinks in his heart, so ishe.
In other words, the things thatwe believe in our heart are the
(03:35):
things that we see show up inour life.
And so if you want to seedifferent things showing up in
your life, if you want to ditchstruggle and perfectionism and
comparison and those feelings ofinadequacy, those patterns of
self-sabotage, those don't comefrom just praying harder or
wishing harder or hoping harder.
They come from this process oflearning to renew your mind.
(03:56):
In other words, sowing the wordof God in your heart so that the
fruit that's coming forth inyour life is actually the fruit
of the kingdom, not the fruit offear and unbelief.
All right.
Now, I want to jump into theseverses because they are super,
super important for all of us.
And the first one is thisColossians 1, 13.
And it says this (04:15):
it says, He has rescued us, talking about
the Father.
He's rescued us from the domainof darkness and transferred,
some verses say conveyed.
I love that word, buttransferred us into the kingdom
of his beloved son.
Now, this is this is soimportant for you to realize.
Before you were in Christ, youwere in the kingdom of darkness.
(04:39):
I was in the kingdom ofdarkness.
Now, what does that look like?
Well, we can go back all the wayback to Adam and Eve, and we can
see that sin separated us fromthe perfect the perfect kingdom
that God had put us in, right?
When God created Adam and Eve,he put them in a place where
they had all the provision, allthe authority, all the
opportunity, all the creativity,all the partnership, all the
(05:00):
relationship that they needed todo and exist and live and thrive
in everything that God hadcreated them to do.
But what happened?
They thought they could do ittheir own way, right?
We've all done that.
And that sin separated separatedthem from everything that God
had provided for them in thatkingdom.
In other words, it separatedthem from that kingdom.
(05:21):
And so, you know, Adam and Evewere shown right out of the
garden.
And what happened?
They came under a curse.
And part of that curse wasstriving on their own, trying to
having to make a living on theirown, trying to figure it out on
their own.
They had to work by the sweat oftheir brow, had to kind of make
it happen by striving.
And that has been the story ofhumanity for since the very
(05:44):
inception of creation, untilJesus came and finished the work
on the cross and redeemed usfrom death, hell, and the grave.
And so when we receive Jesus inour heart, we're not just saved
from going to hell.
Of course we are, but we'rewe're redeemed from death, hell,
and the grave.
We're reconciled to relationshipwith the Father.
(06:06):
In other words, thatrelationship that sin separated
us from him, the work of Jesusreconciles us back to the
Father, brings us back intoright relationship, and it
restores to us the fullness ofthe kingdom.
In other words, we get to livein the same way that Adam and
Eve got to live before the fall.
(06:28):
That was what the whole work ofsalvation was about, to restore
us to the fullness and to thisbeautiful life that God had
always intended for us.
And so it's really important foryou to realize that when you got
saved, when you invited Jesusinto your heart, you came into a
different kingdom.
Not by anything that you haddone, not by anything that I've
(06:51):
done, right?
Like Paul says, not by any ofour works that we would boast
about it, but it's by his grace.
God has literally picked you upfrom your sin and brought you
into a different kingdom.
And here's the cool thing (07:01):
you no longer have to try to figure
everything out on your own.
It's no longer all up to you.
You're no longer, you know,having to deal with comparison
and anxiety.
And can I make it?
And how do I make a living?
And where's my next meal goingto come from?
And am I going to be good enoughto do this?
And how can I get God to like meand love me?
And how can I work myself backinto good graces?
(07:23):
All of that is gone.
In Christ, you are literally ina new kingdom with a new set of
operating rules.
And that is so incredible.
In other words, you're no longersubject to the rules of that old
kingdom of fear and condemnationand the pressure to perform.
And so understanding that, thatyou've literally been conveyed,
(07:46):
transferred into anotherkingdom, and you don't have to
live under all that weight ofsin and comparison and
condemnation and measuring up,that is huge.
It absolutely changeseverything.
Now, I'm not using this as oneof the five verses, but you
could absolutely go, you know,into Luke and read about the
(08:07):
story of the prodigal son.
I think it's probably the bestexample that we have of what it
looks like to be transferredfrom one kingdom to another.
We see this, this, you know,this young man that grew up in a
beautiful kingdom, right?
The kingdom of his father.
But he decided he could do itbetter on his own.
And so he what?
He took off, grabbed hisinheritance, and and you know,
(08:29):
ruined it all, like we've alldone in our life, ends up in the
pig sty, realizes, oh my gosh, Ijust I got to get back.
I can't live like this anymore.
And he he realizes the error ofhis ways, and he just thinks,
you know what?
If I could just get back and belike a servant in dad's house,
it'd be better than this.
And so he goes back with histail between his legs.
(08:51):
But what happens?
It the Bible says that thefather saw him a long way off
and with compassion in hisheart, he ran toward him and he
hugged him and he embraced himand he put a ring on his finger
and sandals on his feet, and hesaid, Go get the fatted calf.
We're gonna have a party.
My son that was dead is nowalive.
My son that was lost is nowfound.
(09:13):
In other words, what I'mbringing him back in it and
putting him into my kingdom.
I'm bringing him back to wherehe was always intended to be,
not as a servant, not as asecond-class citizen, but as a
full son with all the rights andbenefits and privileges and
responsibilities.
That's what happened to you andI when we got saved.
(09:33):
And listen, if you are stillbelieving that you're just an
old sinner saved by grace, thatyou're just barely making it,
oh, that if you could just, if Icould just make my life, if I
could just make my life countenough to get God to let me into
heaven, if I could just get mylife to count enough, if I could
just do enough and be enough andsell enough and create enough
(09:55):
and do it right enough andplease people enough in order to
know that I'm pleasing God.
Listen, if you're still livingunder that, I'm telling you,
that's a that's a kingdom thatGod never designed for you and
me to live in.
And so realize that it fromColossians, again, I'm gonna
read it again.
It says he has rescued us.
(10:16):
Jesus came on a rescue missionto get you out of that old
thinking, to get you out of thatold kingdom.
And it says he's rescued us fromthe domain of darkness and
transferred us into the kingdomof his beloved son.
And so that's where you and Inow live.
The question is, will you and Ichoose to walk in the new
(10:36):
reality that is ours in Christ?
And that's what this learning torenew your mind is all about.
All right.
So realize you've beentransferred, you're in a
different kingdom, different setof rules.
All right.
Number two verse is John 10, 27.
Now, can you imagine Adam andEve when sin separated them from
the Father and they got kickedout of the Garden of Eden and
(10:57):
now they're under this curse andall this?
Can you imagine going from beingled by the Father every day,
walking with him in the cool ofthe day, hearing his voice, you
know, knowing that there's arelationship that you could talk
back and forth to him, knowingthat he's gonna lead you in
everything that you need to do?
Can you imagine going from thatto now you're outside of that
(11:19):
kingdom and you're completely onyour own?
I would be scared to death,right?
Uh can you imagine the pressurethat was on them?
Can you imagine the anxiety?
The the the like, oh my God,like what are we gonna do?
Like we've always had everythingthat we needed in in the Garden
of Eve, but now we we gotta gofigure it out ourselves.
(11:41):
Adam's looking at Eve like,where's the food?
I don't know.
Is there a creek out here?
Like I know there was one backthere, but I mean what what do
we do?
They were completely on theirown.
Listen, a lot of Christians, andmaybe you, because I did this
for a long time, a lot ofChristians are still living
their life like they're still ontheir own, even though they've
been conveyed and transferredinto a different kingdom.
(12:03):
They're they're on their way toheaven and love Jesus, but
they're still living their lifeand still practicing their art
and trying to grow an artbusiness and doing it like it
all relies on them.
But listen, here's here's theverse, John 10, 27, and this
just this so gives me suchcomfort and confidence.
It says, this is Jesus talking.
It says, My sheep know my voice,I know them, and they follow me.
(12:28):
What does that mean?
In this new kingdom that you andI get to live in as redeemed
sons and daughters of God, weare not wandering around trying
to figure everything out byourselves.
Jesus said clearly, my sheepknow my voice.
And he says, I know them.
I want you to get that.
Jesus knows exactly where youare, exactly what you need,
(12:50):
exactly where you are on thejourney.
And he is promising to what?
Lead you by his voice.
By his voice, by the inner voiceof the Holy Spirit, by his word,
by all the other ways that Godleads us by his voice, but he's
promising to lead us.
I mean, think about that justfor your your creative life.
(13:11):
You don't have to be anxiouslystruggling about every move and
trying to strategize and tryingto be on Chat GBT, trying to
figure it out what's going onand trying to talk to you, see
the latest person on Instagramthat's blowing up and try to do
it like them.
No, you don't have to stress outabout all those things.
All you have to do is what?
Just like it says in John 15,you can't do anything without
me.
But if you abide in me and byand I abide in you, you're gonna
(13:34):
produce what?
Much fruit.
So this isn't about passivity,it's about partnership.
When we are walking inrelationship with the Lord,
we're abiding in him, we'rereading his word, we're
listening for his voice.
We can trust that he knowsexactly where we are, exactly
what we need, and he wants tolead us.
(13:55):
I love that because when hesays, you know, Jesus is talking
about they're gonna follow me.
What does that say?
That says to me that Jesus isalready out in front.
Jesus is always out in front.
In fact, you know, even in theOld Testament, it says that God,
you know, is our is our JehovahRapha, our provider.
That that word actually meansRapha, actually means the God
(14:17):
who sees and provides.
So, so God is gonna see whereyou are, He's gonna see to it,
He's gonna make sure it happens,right?
He's gonna, He knows exactlywhere you are on the journey.
Jesus is out in front of you nowby the power of the Holy Spirit
leading and guiding you.
And so listen, this is freedomfor artists, right?
(14:38):
Because instead of trying tofigure it out on our own, we can
create and explore and moveforward in our creative process
and in our lives as artists,whether it's ministry or
personal joy or or in themarketplace, we can move forward
knowing that God's voice ispromised to be there within us,
leading us every single day.
(15:00):
When you go in the studio, youdon't have to worry about what
you're gonna make.
All you got to do is what?
We just connect with the Lord.
We Lord, thank you for making mean artist.
Thank you today that that you'vegiven me this opportunity and
these materials and these skillsand these talents to glorify you
with what I do.
And so now, Holy Spirit, I justinvite you in this place and I
invite you to lead me.
(15:21):
You can do that the same thingin your art business, right?
That's how God helped me tocreate an uber successful art
business over the years, not byjust doing what everybody else
is doing and trying to figure itout, but what?
Learning to listen to his voice,learning that I'm in a different
kingdom.
I get to do it in a differentway now, and I get to be led by
(15:41):
his spirit.
All right.
So that's that's huge.
Verse number three is this.
Oh, I love this.
2 Timothy 1.7.
Because listen, this this isthis is the testimony and this
is the the life story of so manyartists, right?
Fear and anxiety and inadequacyand comparison and all this.
(16:01):
He's saying this in in 2 Timothy1.7, right?
The apostle says this, for Godhas not given us a spirit of
fear, but of power and of loveand a sound mind.
Listen, what I've been mentoringartists for a lot of years.
I've been an artist for, youknow, 35 plus plus years,
working artists.
(16:22):
One of the things that I seeartists do, especially Christian
artists, is constantlysecond-guessing themselves out
of fear.
What if I made the wrongdecision?
Well, is this the right thing oris that the right thing?
Is this what God wants me to do,or is that what God wants me to
do?
Oh, I just want God, if you'lljust tell me what to do, I'll
just do it.
And you're in this constantparalyzation, flip-flop, back
and forth of not being able tomake a decision because you're
(16:44):
fearful that you're going tomake the wrong one.
Can I just tell you that ifyou've been living in that, I
lived in that for a long time.
But if you if you can justrealize that pattern right there
is not God's best for your life.
God didn't give you a spirit offear and anxiety, but he gave
you what?
A spirit of power and a of loveand a sound mind.
(17:05):
Now, what does that mean?
Well, it means that you and I inChrist, not on our own, but in
Christ, we have the supernaturalability to hear from God and to
do what he says.
In other words, there's anassumption, not out of, you
know, just just being somebodythat thinks you've got it all
together, but no, there's anassumption that, hey, God's
(17:27):
given me the power to do thethings that he's called me to
do, right?
He's given me a spirit of powerto act in faith, even when I
can't see all the next steps.
Number two, he says he's givenyou a spirit of love.
Now, this is so good.
A lot of times we make decisionstrying to get love.
(17:48):
If I do this, they'll like me.
If I do this, they'll accept me.
If I do this, this will pleaseGod more than this will, right?
But in the kingdom, we don'thave to perform for God's love.
We're already loved.
And so when the Bible says God'snot given us a spirit of fear,
but of power and of love and asound mind, he's saying we don't
operate for love.
We're not performing for love.
(18:10):
We're operating from a place ofalready being loved.
Whoa! Listen, what kind offreedom does that give you when
you know that you're alreadyloved?
When you know that you don'thave to perform, when you know
that you're not trying toimpress God or impress anybody
else.
You're just all you got to doevery day, get up, say, thank
you, Lord, that I'm in a newkingdom.
(18:31):
You've given me the power to doeverything I need to do.
And God, I'm operating from aplace of love, from being love,
not trying to perform to get youto love me or to get acceptance
from the world.
All right.
And the last one, a sound mind,you know, giving me a spirit of
power and love in a sound mind.
That word is actually aboutsound judgment.
In other words, you have theability through the power of the
(18:53):
Holy Spirit to have wisdom anddiscernment about the things
that you're walking through inyour life supernaturally.
Now, do you got to ask for it?
Sure.
You got to ask.
The Bible says, you know, theHoly Spirit is the one that
leads us into all truth.
If that if we ask for any goodthing, Jesus said he's a good
(19:15):
father, right?
The father's a good father.
He's not gonna give us a snakeif we ask for for a fish.
He's not gonna give us a stoneif we ask for bread.
The Holy Spirit, if we ask forwisdom, he's gonna give it to us
and give it to us liberally.
And so you don't have to operateanymore out of this place of
fear and comparison andperformance and trying to get
(19:36):
everybody to like you and be onthis wishy-washy thing all the
time.
No, when that comes into yourmind, when you start to feel
that coming in, you can justbegin to declare out of your
mouth Nope, God's not giving mea spirit of fear.
This thing that's trying to comeon me right now that doesn't
sound like God.
That doesn't feel like whatJesus died for me to walk in.
I declare today that God hasgiven me a spirit of power and
(19:58):
of love and a sound mind.
I come out of agreement.
I disagree with that otherstuff.
And I come into agreement withthe truth of God's word.
Listen, when you do that, thatbegins to renew your mind.
That begins to convince yourheart and mind on the inside
that I'm living in a differentkingdom.
All right.
(20:18):
Now, number four, this really uhjust continues to echo what we
just talked about in versenumber three, but verse number
four is uh Philippians 4.13.
And I love it.
It says, I am able to do allthings.
You may have heard I can do allthings, right?
But I'm able to do all thingsthrough him who strengthens me.
(22:12):
Are you getting this?
I mean, I just want to start atthe top again with this.
You can live in a differentkingdom because of what Christ
has done.
God is directing your pathbecause of what Jesus has made
available to you.
You have the supernaturalability to discern God's will
and God's direction in your lifewithout fear.
(22:32):
And now, number four, you can doeverything that God's called you
to do.
I don't know about you, but I'mgetting encouraged.
Like this, this is why we haveto learn to do this, right?
We have to encourage ourselvesin the Lord.
See, this this verse gets quoteda lot of a lot of times out of
context, right?
Paul is not talking about likewhatever you want to do just
willy-nilly, you know, you canyou can do.
(22:54):
No, he's saying whatever Godcalls you to do, that is, in
that place of the Lord, as he'sspeaking to your heart and he's
leading your life, whatever hecalls you to do, no matter how
big, no matter how complicated,no matter how scary, no matter
how unqualified you may seem,you can do it not on your own,
but what?
Through Christ who strengthensyou.
(23:17):
Listen, one of the biggesttemptations and things that the
enemy throws at us is feelingsof inadequacy.
I'm not good enough.
I'm too young.
I'm too old.
I didn't go to art school.
I'm not skilled enough.
I've never done business before.
I don't like numbers.
I don't, I'm an introvert, notan extrovert.
I don't like sales.
I just want people to come buyit from me and not have to talk
(23:39):
to me.
All these things of not enough,not enough, not enough, not
enough.
Jesus, listen, this verse issaying whatever God's called you
to do, in fact, you can do it,right?
In fact, the Bible says what?
It's in our weakness that God'sstrength is what?
Made perfect.
That's good news for me.
It is good news for you too.
(24:01):
Because when you feel at yourlowest and your weakest and
you're like, I can't do it, thatis the perfect time to just say,
God, whoo, I feel like you'recalling me to this, but Lord,
this is a lot bigger thananything I ever thought I was
going to be doing.
And Lord, I just trust that as Ikeep saying yes, as I keep
walking with you in this newkingdom, in this new reality,
(24:23):
knowing that the power of theHoly Spirit is in me, God, I
declare, I declare by faith, Ican do all things because it's
you who's strengthening me.
It's not about your ability,it's not about your power
working through you, it's abouthis power working through you.
And so, guess what?
You don't have to compareyourself, you don't have to
(24:44):
judge yourself about what you'vedone or not done, your successes
or your failures.
It doesn't matter.
It listen, in God, it doesn'tmatter because it's not your
strength that's working in you,it's his strength.
It's his strength.
All right.
And then number five, this isthis was a life-changing section
(25:05):
of scripture for me.
I think probably one of the mosttop three, top five for me ever
in my life.
Uh, and it's all about realizingthat you already have everything
you need.
The curse on most artists' livesis the starving artist's curse,
right?
That you don't have enough,you'll never have enough, you'll
(25:28):
never make money, you'll neverbe successful.
Nobody makes a living from beingtheir art.
It's always going to be astruggle.
Listen, can I just tell youthat's a lie from the pit of
hell?
And it's a result of the cursethat came through sin.
But guess what?
In Christ, you've been redeemedfrom the curse, you've been
redeemed and you've beenreconciled and you've been
(25:48):
restored to a different kingdom.
And 2 Peter 1, 3 and 4 saysthis.
Listen, I should do a wholevideo on this.
It says, His divine power, allright.
So all God, not us, his divinepower has given.
In other words, it's somethingthat he's already done.
His divine power has given useverything required for life and
(26:11):
godliness through the knowledgeof him who called us by his own
glory and grace.
So, how does everything that weneed for life and godliness get
to us through the knowledge ofhim?
In other words, you got to startunderstanding the nature of God
and the nature of how thiskingdom works.
(26:32):
And once you start understandingthe nature of how this kingdom
works, you can begin to receiveby faith everything that you
need for life and godliness.
Think of it this way (26:42):
when Jesus died on the cross and redeemed
and reconciled and restored you,he gave everything back to you
that you would ever need.
Every resource, everyrelationship, every creative
idea, every divine appointment,every open door, every business
idea, every art idea, everythingthat you need that sin stole has
(27:04):
been restored to you in Christ.
Now, where does it exist?
Well, it exists in the spiritrealm, right?
It's it's out there.
In fact, we know this asartists, right?
Everything that that every Ieverything that we create starts
where?
It starts in the imagination.
It starts in the spirit, right?
We see and agree with ideas.
(27:26):
God gives us an idea, we see it,we agree with it in our heart,
and then we release that throughour creative expression.
Well, listen, the same thing'strue in our walk with the Lord.
God's already given you all theprovision you need.
God's already given you all theideas, the relationships, the
opportunities, the open doors.
So how do we get those?
Well, when we are abiding withhim, the Holy Spirit speaks to
(27:50):
our heart by revelation.
In other words, he begins toshow us things in our
imagination.
He speaks to our heart, hespeaks through his word, he
speaks to us throughconfirmation of other people and
circumstances as he does whatthat first verse taught or the
second verse talked about, as heleads us, right?
As we're following him, he'srevealing these things to us.
(28:10):
And so, guess what?
We can latch hold of thosethings by faith and say, thank
you, Lord, that you've given methis idea for an art business or
an art ministry center or a newproject or a new studio or
whatever it is.
Thank you, Lord, for that.
Now, God, I thank you that ifyou've given me the idea, you've
already given me everything thatI need to accomplish it.
(28:31):
Wow.
Isn't that amazing?
Isn't it amazing to think thatif God gives you the idea, he's
already provided everything thatyou're gonna need to be able to
walk toward the thing andaccomplish the thing that he's
promised you.
Wow.
Does that take the pressure off?
You bet.
It absolutely takes the pressureoff because now I'm not worried
(28:52):
about trying to how to make thisthing happen for God.
I all I'm worried about, and I'mnot worried, all I'm concerned
with, all I'm focused on iswhat?
Learning to abide with him, hearhis voice, follow his lead,
recognizing where he'sproviding, recognizing where
he's opening doors, and juststep through those as he leads.
(29:15):
Wow, he's already given meeverything I need.
It takes the pressure off.
And listen, it says then, so I'mgonna read this again just so I
can continue.
It says, His divine power hasgiven us everything required for
life and godliness through theknowledge of him who called us
by his own glory and goodness.
By these, what?
By his own glory and goodness.
All right, by these, he hasgiven us.
(29:37):
Now, this is a key.
Now let's backwards engineerthis.
Evil desire, some translationssay lust, lusting for things
(29:59):
that that uh, you know, you whatis lust?
Lust is usually a natural desirepointed in an unnatural
direction, right?
A natural desire pointed in thewrong direction.
You and I all have a desire foruh to thrive, to grow, to be
successful, to be effective, todo incredible things for God, to
live an abundant life that Jesuspromised.
(30:21):
We get in trouble when we try tolust after it in our own
strength and accomplish it inways that are outside of God's
ways and outside of God'stiming, right?
We lust after that.
Oh, I gotta do that now.
I gotta do it like they do it.
Oh, that they did itsuccessfully.
I'll just copy them.
No, God's not asking us to dothat.
That that brings evilcorruption, that brings lust
(30:43):
inside of our heart, right?
Striving on our own.
But what does he say?
We can escape that and we canparticipate in the divine
nature, that is, this beautifulkingdom life that God's given
us.
We can do things thoughaccording to God's nature, what?
Through the very preciouspromises of God.
Now, do you know what thatmeans?
(31:04):
That means when you and I do thevery thing that I'm teaching you
to do, which is what?
Take hold of the promises ofGod, take hold of the word of
God, declare it as true, beginto sow it into our mind, sow it
into our heart, and walk byfaith, assuming that it is more
true than what we see around usin our life.
Guess what happens?
(31:24):
That literally, that process,the promise of God, and you
beginning to appropriate that inyour life, that opens up a
pipeline in the spirit for youto be able to receive everything
that God has for you.
See, most Christians areoperating out of a different
pipeline.
(31:44):
They want the things that Godhas promised them in his word,
but they're over here doing,they're they're trying to
receive from a differentpipeline.
And that pipeline is strivingand comparison and doing it
yourself and trying to do itlike the world does it.
And they're frustrated becausethey see the promise of God, but
they're receiving from adifferent pipeline.
(32:05):
Is this resonating with you?
Listen, that was my life for alot of years, and I'm telling
you, it is this can be a flippedswitch for you when you begin to
disconnect from that old way ofdoing things and you say,
Father, I'm gonna do it away theway that you said.
I'm gonna just gonna begin to dothe crazy thing of believing
(32:26):
that I'm in a new kingdom whereeverything that I need has
already been provided for me,where you're gonna lead me by
your voice, where you're gonnastrengthen me by your spirit and
believe that everything that Ineed for life and godliness is
already mine.
I'm just gonna be crazy enoughto believe that and declare it
every day.
And listen, when you and I beginto do that, it literally opens
(32:46):
up your heart and mind, the eyesof your heart to begin to see
life and see possibilities indifferent ways.
It we know this.
I'm gonna do a whole nothervideo on this about how
neuroplasticity works and howrewiring our brain and rewiring
our heart works according to theword of God.
But listen, when you begin toreceive through the precious
(33:11):
promises of God, it opens up adifferent pipeline into your
life, one where you arereceiving the good things of God
by faith, not trying to make ithappen on your own.
Whoa! That is huge.
So again, every resource, arelationship that you need,
everything that you need,everything that you need.
(33:33):
If you're feeling financialanxiety, if you're feeling
creative anxiety, if you'refeeling age anxiety or being
feeling left behind anxiety, ifyou're feeling not enough
anxiety or feelings ofinadequacy, in Christ, you have
been given everything you needfor life and godliness.
And so you just gotta realizethat all that other stuff is
(33:55):
just a lie from the enemy, andyou gotta you gotta push that
out.
Take every thought captive, say,nope, that's not the Lord.
I'm choosing to believe whatGod's word says.
So listen, these five versesthat I've given you today, all
right, these are like fivesmooth stones in your toolbox,
(34:17):
in your tool belt, right?
That if you'll learn to declarethese every day, to walk in
these every day, to declare thatthis is your new reality in
Christ, because it is, listen, Ipromise your life will change.
Why?
Because everything that happensexternally is the fruit of
what's happening internally.
I'm gonna say that again.
(34:38):
Everything that's happeningexternally in your life is the
fruit of what's happeninginternally.
And so if you want to see yourexternal situation change, the
way to do that is not striving,hoping, and begging more, but
the way to do that is to changethe internal narrative of your
heart, to be renewed in yourmind and in your spirit.
And as you do, God can begin tolead you and guide you and bring
(35:01):
you in to a new reality.
Wow.
You're not on your own.
You don't have to figure it out.
You don't have to try to surviveand just measure up anymore.
So again, I'm gonna give youthese last, these five verses
one more time.
Remember, you live in adifferent kingdom, all right?
Colossians 1.13.
God directs your path as youwalk with him, John 10 27.
(35:23):
You have a supernatural abilityto discern the will of God
without fear, all right?
2 Timothy 1.7.
You can do everything that God'scalled you to do, Philippians
4.13, and you already haveeverything that you need.
2 Peter 1, 3 and 4.
Listen, I want you to put in thecomments, all right, which one
of these uh has given you thebiggest aha moment today?
(35:46):
Maybe all of them.
Maybe you're having a momentright now that's like, oh my
gosh, I've been living in the inin a kingdom that I was never
designed to live in.
And I'm realizing for the firsttime that God's got a different
kingdom for me.
And listen, let me just saythis.
If you have somehow found yourway to this video and you're
like, this is good news.
(36:08):
I've never invited Jesus into myheart, but I want to live in
this new kingdom.
I want to disconnect from fearand striving and inadequacy and
all that, and I want to be ableto live in the fullness of this
good news that you're tellingabout.
Can I just say, I want to inviteyou to invite Jesus into your
heart?
The Bible says if we confess oursins, he's faithful and just to
(36:29):
forgive us.
And all you have to do, all youhave to do is just say, Jesus,
I'm a sinner.
I've lived my life on my own.
In fact, you can pray this withme right now.
I've lived my life on my own.
I've tried to do it my own way,but Lord, I confess that I'm a
sinner.
I need you in my life.
Jesus, would you come and be theLord of my life, save my soul,
(36:53):
redeem my heart, reconcile me torelationship with the Father,
and restore me to this newkingdom that Matt's talking
about today.
I give you my life, I give youmy heart in Jesus' name.
Listen, if you prayed that, webelieve you got saved.
We believe that that God hasconveyed you from one kingdom to
(37:15):
another.
And listen, if you've been, ifyou've been saved and loving
Jesus, but you've been living inthat old kingdom, you can just
pray this, you can pray the samekind of prayer.
You can just say, Jesus, forgiveme for not walking in the
kingdom that you've you'veprovided for me.
Lord, I come out of agreementwith that old way of living,
that old way of walking.
I forgive me, Lord, for tryingto do it on my own.
(37:37):
Lord, I choose to walk in thisnew reality that you died for me
to walk in.
Father, we thank you.
I just want to pray right now,Lord.
Thank you that by your HolySpirit and by the work of Jesus
on the cross, Lord, you haveconveyed us into a different
kingdom.
That we are able to live now ina new reality, to hear your
(37:58):
voice, to follow your lead, toknow that we've got everything
that we need already provided,and to be empowered to do
everything that you've called usto do without fear or anxiety or
inadequacy.
Holy Spirit, I pray that youwould make this our reality as
we learn to sow these truths inour heart and see our inner man
renewed, see our mind renewedand transformed into alignment
(38:21):
with all that you died for us towalk in.
We thank you for that, Lord.
In Jesus' name.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Hey, listen, I want to I want togive you something, all right?
Completely free.
It's something uh that I puttogether for you that's 31 days
of biblical affirmations.
Of course, you could be prayingthese scriptures, these five
(38:42):
scriptures are my anchors thatI'm always praying and declared
out of my mouth.
But listen, I want to give yousomething, these 31 days of
biblical affirmations, you canyou can get the link right down
here in the description.
You can download it.
I'm I made it super simple soyou can print it off.
Doesn't take a lot of ink, anduh you can print it off, you can
use it on your phone, whatever.
But it's literally 31 days ofscripture and affirmations that
(39:05):
you can declare in your lifejust to get begin to get you in
the habit of declaring who youare in Christ, what he's called
you to do, what he's alreadygiven you, and all that's yours
in this new kingdom.
All right.
Listen, my friend, God loves youso much as a Christian artist,
he has prepared so much for you,but he never designed for you to
have to do it on your own.
All right.
(39:25):
I love you.
It's an honor for me to be herewith you every week to encourage
you on your journey.
Make sure you're subscribed.
And remember, till next time,you were created to thrive.
Bye.
Hey, my friend, before you go,make sure that you're signed up
for the Thriving ChristianArtist Weekly.
It's my free newsletter full ofspiritual encouragement,
creative inspiration, andpractical tips to help you
(39:48):
thrive in everything that God'scalled you to do as an artist in
his kingdom.
Every issue is absolutely free,and it includes the latest
podcast episode, featured artistspotlights, a worship song of
the week, and again, tons oftips and encouragement and
inspiration for you to keep youinspired and encouraged in
everything that God's got foryou as an artist in the kingdom.
You can click the link righthere in the show notes, so join
(40:09):
us, and it's a great way to stayconnected.
All right, love you.
Bye.
You know, it's easy as a Christian artist to be
going after everything that Godhas for you creatively, but also
get stuck in these loops ofperfectionism and comparison and
inadequacy and feeling likeyou're behind, like you're just
not measuring up.
Listen, I struggled with thatfor a long time.
And it was really frustratingbecause I asked the Lord, God,
heal me of this.
(00:20):
Take these things away from me.
Why am I having to deal withthis?
And I just couldn't make senseof it in my mind.
And it really affected my, notonly my creativity, but also my
relationship with the Lord untilI realized what I'm going to
share with you today, which isthe one process in God's word
that promises lastingtransformation from the inside
out.
(00:40):
And so today I'm going to teachyou five encouraging Bible
verses right out of God's Wordthat I believe every Christian
artist needs to know that aregoing to help you combat the
lies of the enemy and keepyourself encouraged and walking
with the Lord and everythingthat he's got for you as an
artist in his kingdom.
So if that sounds good to you,let's get started.
So you might be wondering, well,what is that one process in the
(01:02):
New Testament that teaches ushow to experience lasting
transformation in our life?
Well, it's actually found inRomans 12, 2.
And Paul says, he says, Don't beconformed to the pattern of this
world, but be transformed by therenewing of your mind.
So in other words, when youbecame a Christian, you were
instantly made in your spirit anew creation.
(01:23):
But you also came with a lot ofbaggage that had a lot of
mindsets and beliefs and sort ofparadigms, if you will,
frameworks in your mind ofthinking about the world,
thinking about God, thinkingabout yourself.
And what Paul's saying is thisif you don't learn to align your
heart and your mind with whatGod says about you, you're going
(01:44):
to continue to struggle with allthe things that you've always
struggled with, even though youlove Jesus, you're saved, you're
on your way to heaven.
That was a big, big revelationfor me.
And maybe that is for you aswell.
But, you know, all of Romans,the first 11 chapters, Paul is
kind of telling about all thegreat things that are ours now
in Christ.
And what he comes up to now inRomans 12, he's saying, listen,
(02:06):
essentially what he's saying isyou can't walk in any of that.
You can't walk in any of thebenefits and blessings that God
has for you as a person in thekingdom unless you learn to
renew your mind.
Unless you learn to quitthinking about things and seeing
things and believing things likethe world did, like you used to
when you were outside of Christ.
You've got to start transformingyour mind from the inside out.
(02:29):
And listen, this is superimportant.
Renewing your mind is notsomething that you go to the
altar and get prayed for.
It's not something that God doesto you.
It's a daily, moment-by-momentprocess that God does with us
through the power of the HolySpirit that's already living
inside of us.
And so I could teach on this foryears and years and years, but
today I want to give you thosefive really key verses that I go
(02:52):
back to all the time that havehelped me to keep myself
encouraged and keep my mind andmy heart focused on the fact
that I'm not doing life like Iused to anymore.
I've been brought into adifferent kingdom.
I'm living by a different set ofrules.
God has a different plan andpurpose for my life, and I'm not
on my own.
And so that's what these fiveverses are about.
(03:13):
And if you'll if you'll learnthese and begin to declare these
over yourself every day, youwill cooperate with the Holy
Spirit and see your life beginto change.
One of the really interestingthings I think that we we know
from God's word is, you know,like in Proverbs, it says, as a
man thinks in his heart, so ishe.
In other words, the things thatwe believe in our heart are the
(03:35):
things that we see show up inour life.
And so if you want to seedifferent things showing up in
your life, if you want to ditchstruggle and perfectionism and
comparison and those feelings ofinadequacy, those patterns of
self-sabotage, those don't comefrom just praying harder or
wishing harder or hoping harder.
They come from this process oflearning to renew your mind.
(03:56):
In other words, sowing the wordof God in your heart so that the
fruit that's coming forth inyour life is actually the fruit
of the kingdom, not the fruit offear and unbelief.
All right.
Now, I want to jump into theseverses because they are super,
super important for all of us.
And the first one is thisColossians 1, 13.
And it says this (04:15):
it says, He has rescued us, talking about
the Father.
He's rescued us from the domainof darkness and transferred,
some verses say conveyed.
I love that word, buttransferred us into the kingdom
of his beloved son.
Now, this is this is soimportant for you to realize.
Before you were in Christ, youwere in the kingdom of darkness.
(04:39):
I was in the kingdom ofdarkness.
Now, what does that look like?
Well, we can go back all the wayback to Adam and Eve, and we can
see that sin separated us fromthe perfect the perfect kingdom
that God had put us in, right?
When God created Adam and Eve,he put them in a place where
they had all the provision, allthe authority, all the
opportunity, all the creativity,all the partnership, all the
(05:00):
relationship that they needed todo and exist and live and thrive
in everything that God hadcreated them to do.
But what happened?
They thought they could do ittheir own way, right?
We've all done that.
And that sin separated separatedthem from everything that God
had provided for them in thatkingdom.
In other words, it separatedthem from that kingdom.
(05:21):
And so, you know, Adam and Evewere shown right out of the
garden.
And what happened?
They came under a curse.
And part of that curse wasstriving on their own, trying to
having to make a living on theirown, trying to figure it out on
their own.
They had to work by the sweat oftheir brow, had to kind of make
it happen by striving.
And that has been the story ofhumanity for since the very
(05:44):
inception of creation, untilJesus came and finished the work
on the cross and redeemed usfrom death, hell, and the grave.
And so when we receive Jesus inour heart, we're not just saved
from going to hell.
Of course we are, but we'rewe're redeemed from death, hell,
and the grave.
We're reconciled to relationshipwith the Father.
(06:06):
In other words, thatrelationship that sin separated
us from him, the work of Jesusreconciles us back to the
Father, brings us back intoright relationship, and it
restores to us the fullness ofthe kingdom.
In other words, we get to livein the same way that Adam and
Eve got to live before the fall.
(06:28):
That was what the whole work ofsalvation was about, to restore
us to the fullness and to thisbeautiful life that God had
always intended for us.
And so it's really important foryou to realize that when you got
saved, when you invited Jesusinto your heart, you came into a
different kingdom.
Not by anything that you haddone, not by anything that I've
(06:51):
done, right?
Like Paul says, not by any ofour works that we would boast
about it, but it's by his grace.
God has literally picked you upfrom your sin and brought you
into a different kingdom.
And here's the cool thing (07:01):
you no longer have to try to figure
everything out on your own.
It's no longer all up to you.
You're no longer, you know,having to deal with comparison
and anxiety.
And can I make it?
And how do I make a living?
And where's my next meal goingto come from?
And am I going to be good enoughto do this?
And how can I get God to like meand love me?
And how can I work myself backinto good graces?
(07:23):
All of that is gone.
In Christ, you are literally ina new kingdom with a new set of
operating rules.
And that is so incredible.
In other words, you're no longersubject to the rules of that old
kingdom of fear and condemnationand the pressure to perform.
And so understanding that, thatyou've literally been conveyed,
(07:46):
transferred into anotherkingdom, and you don't have to
live under all that weight ofsin and comparison and
condemnation and measuring up,that is huge.
It absolutely changeseverything.
Now, I'm not using this as oneof the five verses, but you
could absolutely go, you know,into Luke and read about the
(08:07):
story of the prodigal son.
I think it's probably the bestexample that we have of what it
looks like to be transferredfrom one kingdom to another.
We see this, this, you know,this young man that grew up in a
beautiful kingdom, right?
The kingdom of his father.
But he decided he could do itbetter on his own.
And so he what?
He took off, grabbed hisinheritance, and and you know,
(08:29):
ruined it all, like we've alldone in our life, ends up in the
pig sty, realizes, oh my gosh, Ijust I got to get back.
I can't live like this anymore.
And he he realizes the error ofhis ways, and he just thinks,
you know what?
If I could just get back and belike a servant in dad's house,
it'd be better than this.
And so he goes back with histail between his legs.
(08:51):
But what happens?
It the Bible says that thefather saw him a long way off
and with compassion in hisheart, he ran toward him and he
hugged him and he embraced himand he put a ring on his finger
and sandals on his feet, and hesaid, Go get the fatted calf.
We're gonna have a party.
My son that was dead is nowalive.
My son that was lost is nowfound.
(09:13):
In other words, what I'mbringing him back in it and
putting him into my kingdom.
I'm bringing him back to wherehe was always intended to be,
not as a servant, not as asecond-class citizen, but as a
full son with all the rights andbenefits and privileges and
responsibilities.
That's what happened to you andI when we got saved.
(09:33):
And listen, if you are stillbelieving that you're just an
old sinner saved by grace, thatyou're just barely making it,
oh, that if you could just, if Icould just make my life, if I
could just make my life countenough to get God to let me into
heaven, if I could just get mylife to count enough, if I could
just do enough and be enough andsell enough and create enough
(09:55):
and do it right enough andplease people enough in order to
know that I'm pleasing God.
Listen, if you're still livingunder that, I'm telling you,
that's a that's a kingdom thatGod never designed for you and
me to live in.
And so realize that it fromColossians, again, I'm gonna
read it again.
It says he has rescued us.
(10:16):
Jesus came on a rescue missionto get you out of that old
thinking, to get you out of thatold kingdom.
And it says he's rescued us fromthe domain of darkness and
transferred us into the kingdomof his beloved son.
And so that's where you and Inow live.
The question is, will you and Ichoose to walk in the new
(10:36):
reality that is ours in Christ?
And that's what this learning torenew your mind is all about.
All right.
So realize you've beentransferred, you're in a
different kingdom, different setof rules.
All right.
Number two verse is John 10, 27.
Now, can you imagine Adam andEve when sin separated them from
the Father and they got kickedout of the Garden of Eden and
(10:57):
now they're under this curse andall this?
Can you imagine going from beingled by the Father every day,
walking with him in the cool ofthe day, hearing his voice, you
know, knowing that there's arelationship that you could talk
back and forth to him, knowingthat he's gonna lead you in
everything that you need to do?
Can you imagine going from thatto now you're outside of that
(11:19):
kingdom and you're completely onyour own?
I would be scared to death,right?
Uh can you imagine the pressurethat was on them?
Can you imagine the anxiety?
The the the like, oh my God,like what are we gonna do?
Like we've always had everythingthat we needed in in the Garden
of Eve, but now we we gotta gofigure it out ourselves.
(11:41):
Adam's looking at Eve like,where's the food?
I don't know.
Is there a creek out here?
Like I know there was one backthere, but I mean what what do
we do?
They were completely on theirown.
Listen, a lot of Christians, andmaybe you, because I did this
for a long time, a lot ofChristians are still living
their life like they're still ontheir own, even though they've
been conveyed and transferredinto a different kingdom.
(12:03):
They're they're on their way toheaven and love Jesus, but
they're still living their lifeand still practicing their art
and trying to grow an artbusiness and doing it like it
all relies on them.
But listen, here's here's theverse, John 10, 27, and this
just this so gives me suchcomfort and confidence.
It says, this is Jesus talking.
It says, My sheep know my voice,I know them, and they follow me.
(12:28):
What does that mean?
In this new kingdom that you andI get to live in as redeemed
sons and daughters of God, weare not wandering around trying
to figure everything out byourselves.
Jesus said clearly, my sheepknow my voice.
And he says, I know them.
I want you to get that.
Jesus knows exactly where youare, exactly what you need,
(12:50):
exactly where you are on thejourney.
And he is promising to what?
Lead you by his voice.
By his voice, by the inner voiceof the Holy Spirit, by his word,
by all the other ways that Godleads us by his voice, but he's
promising to lead us.
I mean, think about that justfor your your creative life.
(13:11):
You don't have to be anxiouslystruggling about every move and
trying to strategize and tryingto be on Chat GBT, trying to
figure it out what's going onand trying to talk to you, see
the latest person on Instagramthat's blowing up and try to do
it like them.
No, you don't have to stress outabout all those things.
All you have to do is what?
Just like it says in John 15,you can't do anything without
me.
But if you abide in me and byand I abide in you, you're gonna
(13:34):
produce what?
Much fruit.
So this isn't about passivity,it's about partnership.
When we are walking inrelationship with the Lord,
we're abiding in him, we'rereading his word, we're
listening for his voice.
We can trust that he knowsexactly where we are, exactly
what we need, and he wants tolead us.
(13:55):
I love that because when hesays, you know, Jesus is talking
about they're gonna follow me.
What does that say?
That says to me that Jesus isalready out in front.
Jesus is always out in front.
In fact, you know, even in theOld Testament, it says that God,
you know, is our is our JehovahRapha, our provider.
That that word actually meansRapha, actually means the God
(14:17):
who sees and provides.
So, so God is gonna see whereyou are, He's gonna see to it,
He's gonna make sure it happens,right?
He's gonna, He knows exactlywhere you are on the journey.
Jesus is out in front of you nowby the power of the Holy Spirit
leading and guiding you.
And so listen, this is freedomfor artists, right?
(14:38):
Because instead of trying tofigure it out on our own, we can
create and explore and moveforward in our creative process
and in our lives as artists,whether it's ministry or
personal joy or or in themarketplace, we can move forward
knowing that God's voice ispromised to be there within us,
leading us every single day.
(15:00):
When you go in the studio, youdon't have to worry about what
you're gonna make.
All you got to do is what?
We just connect with the Lord.
We Lord, thank you for making mean artist.
Thank you today that that you'vegiven me this opportunity and
these materials and these skillsand these talents to glorify you
with what I do.
And so now, Holy Spirit, I justinvite you in this place and I
invite you to lead me.
(15:21):
You can do that the same thingin your art business, right?
That's how God helped me tocreate an uber successful art
business over the years, not byjust doing what everybody else
is doing and trying to figure itout, but what?
Learning to listen to his voice,learning that I'm in a different
kingdom.
I get to do it in a differentway now, and I get to be led by
(15:41):
his spirit.
All right.
So that's that's huge.
Verse number three is this.
Oh, I love this.
2 Timothy 1.7.
Because listen, this this isthis is the testimony and this
is the the life story of so manyartists, right?
Fear and anxiety and inadequacyand comparison and all this.
(16:01):
He's saying this in in 2 Timothy1.7, right?
The apostle says this, for Godhas not given us a spirit of
fear, but of power and of loveand a sound mind.
Listen, what I've been mentoringartists for a lot of years.
I've been an artist for, youknow, 35 plus plus years,
working artists.
(16:22):
One of the things that I seeartists do, especially Christian
artists, is constantlysecond-guessing themselves out
of fear.
What if I made the wrongdecision?
Well, is this the right thing oris that the right thing?
Is this what God wants me to do,or is that what God wants me to
do?
Oh, I just want God, if you'lljust tell me what to do, I'll
just do it.
And you're in this constantparalyzation, flip-flop, back
and forth of not being able tomake a decision because you're
(16:44):
fearful that you're going tomake the wrong one.
Can I just tell you that ifyou've been living in that, I
lived in that for a long time.
But if you if you can justrealize that pattern right there
is not God's best for your life.
God didn't give you a spirit offear and anxiety, but he gave
you what?
A spirit of power and a of loveand a sound mind.
(17:05):
Now, what does that mean?
Well, it means that you and I inChrist, not on our own, but in
Christ, we have the supernaturalability to hear from God and to
do what he says.
In other words, there's anassumption, not out of, you
know, just just being somebodythat thinks you've got it all
together, but no, there's anassumption that, hey, God's
(17:27):
given me the power to do thethings that he's called me to
do, right?
He's given me a spirit of powerto act in faith, even when I
can't see all the next steps.
Number two, he says he's givenyou a spirit of love.
Now, this is so good.
A lot of times we make decisionstrying to get love.
(17:48):
If I do this, they'll like me.
If I do this, they'll accept me.
If I do this, this will pleaseGod more than this will, right?
But in the kingdom, we don'thave to perform for God's love.
We're already loved.
And so when the Bible says God'snot given us a spirit of fear,
but of power and of love and asound mind, he's saying we don't
operate for love.
We're not performing for love.
(18:10):
We're operating from a place ofalready being loved.
Whoa! Listen, what kind offreedom does that give you when
you know that you're alreadyloved?
When you know that you don'thave to perform, when you know
that you're not trying toimpress God or impress anybody
else.
You're just all you got to doevery day, get up, say, thank
you, Lord, that I'm in a newkingdom.
(18:31):
You've given me the power to doeverything I need to do.
And God, I'm operating from aplace of love, from being love,
not trying to perform to get youto love me or to get acceptance
from the world.
All right.
And the last one, a sound mind,you know, giving me a spirit of
power and love in a sound mind.
That word is actually aboutsound judgment.
In other words, you have theability through the power of the
(18:53):
Holy Spirit to have wisdom anddiscernment about the things
that you're walking through inyour life supernaturally.
Now, do you got to ask for it?
Sure.
You got to ask.
The Bible says, you know, theHoly Spirit is the one that
leads us into all truth.
If that if we ask for any goodthing, Jesus said he's a good
(19:15):
father, right?
The father's a good father.
He's not gonna give us a snakeif we ask for for a fish.
He's not gonna give us a stoneif we ask for bread.
The Holy Spirit, if we ask forwisdom, he's gonna give it to us
and give it to us liberally.
And so you don't have to operateanymore out of this place of
fear and comparison andperformance and trying to get
(19:36):
everybody to like you and be onthis wishy-washy thing all the
time.
No, when that comes into yourmind, when you start to feel
that coming in, you can justbegin to declare out of your
mouth Nope, God's not giving mea spirit of fear.
This thing that's trying to comeon me right now that doesn't
sound like God.
That doesn't feel like whatJesus died for me to walk in.
I declare today that God hasgiven me a spirit of power and
(19:58):
of love and a sound mind.
I come out of agreement.
I disagree with that otherstuff.
And I come into agreement withthe truth of God's word.
Listen, when you do that, thatbegins to renew your mind.
That begins to convince yourheart and mind on the inside
that I'm living in a differentkingdom.
All right.
(20:18):
Now, number four, this really uhjust continues to echo what we
just talked about in versenumber three, but verse number
four is uh Philippians 4.13.
And I love it.
It says, I am able to do allthings.
You may have heard I can do allthings, right?
But I'm able to do all thingsthrough him who strengthens me.
(22:12):
Are you getting this?
I mean, I just want to start atthe top again with this.
You can live in a differentkingdom because of what Christ
has done.
God is directing your pathbecause of what Jesus has made
available to you.
You have the supernaturalability to discern God's will
and God's direction in your lifewithout fear.
(22:32):
And now, number four, you can doeverything that God's called you
to do.
I don't know about you, but I'mgetting encouraged.
Like this, this is why we haveto learn to do this, right?
We have to encourage ourselvesin the Lord.
See, this this verse gets quoteda lot of a lot of times out of
context, right?
Paul is not talking about likewhatever you want to do just
willy-nilly, you know, you canyou can do.
(22:54):
No, he's saying whatever Godcalls you to do, that is, in
that place of the Lord, as he'sspeaking to your heart and he's
leading your life, whatever hecalls you to do, no matter how
big, no matter how complicated,no matter how scary, no matter
how unqualified you may seem,you can do it not on your own,
but what?
Through Christ who strengthensyou.
(23:17):
Listen, one of the biggesttemptations and things that the
enemy throws at us is feelingsof inadequacy.
I'm not good enough.
I'm too young.
I'm too old.
I didn't go to art school.
I'm not skilled enough.
I've never done business before.
I don't like numbers.
I don't, I'm an introvert, notan extrovert.
I don't like sales.
I just want people to come buyit from me and not have to talk
(23:39):
to me.
All these things of not enough,not enough, not enough, not
enough.
Jesus, listen, this verse issaying whatever God's called you
to do, in fact, you can do it,right?
In fact, the Bible says what?
It's in our weakness that God'sstrength is what?
Made perfect.
That's good news for me.
It is good news for you too.
(24:01):
Because when you feel at yourlowest and your weakest and
you're like, I can't do it, thatis the perfect time to just say,
God, whoo, I feel like you'recalling me to this, but Lord,
this is a lot bigger thananything I ever thought I was
going to be doing.
And Lord, I just trust that as Ikeep saying yes, as I keep
walking with you in this newkingdom, in this new reality,
(24:23):
knowing that the power of theHoly Spirit is in me, God, I
declare, I declare by faith, Ican do all things because it's
you who's strengthening me.
It's not about your ability,it's not about your power
working through you, it's abouthis power working through you.
And so, guess what?
You don't have to compareyourself, you don't have to
(24:44):
judge yourself about what you'vedone or not done, your successes
or your failures.
It doesn't matter.
It listen, in God, it doesn'tmatter because it's not your
strength that's working in you,it's his strength.
It's his strength.
All right.
And then number five, this isthis was a life-changing section
(25:05):
of scripture for me.
I think probably one of the mosttop three, top five for me ever
in my life.
Uh, and it's all about realizingthat you already have everything
you need.
The curse on most artists' livesis the starving artist's curse,
right?
That you don't have enough,you'll never have enough, you'll
(25:28):
never make money, you'll neverbe successful.
Nobody makes a living from beingtheir art.
It's always going to be astruggle.
Listen, can I just tell youthat's a lie from the pit of
hell?
And it's a result of the cursethat came through sin.
But guess what?
In Christ, you've been redeemedfrom the curse, you've been
redeemed and you've beenreconciled and you've been
(25:48):
restored to a different kingdom.
And 2 Peter 1, 3 and 4 saysthis.
Listen, I should do a wholevideo on this.
It says, His divine power, allright.
So all God, not us, his divinepower has given.
In other words, it's somethingthat he's already done.
His divine power has given useverything required for life and
(26:11):
godliness through the knowledgeof him who called us by his own
glory and grace.
So, how does everything that weneed for life and godliness get
to us through the knowledge ofhim?
In other words, you got to startunderstanding the nature of God
and the nature of how thiskingdom works.
(26:32):
And once you start understandingthe nature of how this kingdom
works, you can begin to receiveby faith everything that you
need for life and godliness.
Think of it this way (26:42):
when Jesus died on the cross and redeemed
and reconciled and restored you,he gave everything back to you
that you would ever need.
Every resource, everyrelationship, every creative
idea, every divine appointment,every open door, every business
idea, every art idea, everythingthat you need that sin stole has
(27:04):
been restored to you in Christ.
Now, where does it exist?
Well, it exists in the spiritrealm, right?
It's it's out there.
In fact, we know this asartists, right?
Everything that that every Ieverything that we create starts
where?
It starts in the imagination.
It starts in the spirit, right?
We see and agree with ideas.
(27:26):
God gives us an idea, we see it,we agree with it in our heart,
and then we release that throughour creative expression.
Well, listen, the same thing'strue in our walk with the Lord.
God's already given you all theprovision you need.
God's already given you all theideas, the relationships, the
opportunities, the open doors.
So how do we get those?
Well, when we are abiding withhim, the Holy Spirit speaks to
(27:50):
our heart by revelation.
In other words, he begins toshow us things in our
imagination.
He speaks to our heart, hespeaks through his word, he
speaks to us throughconfirmation of other people and
circumstances as he does whatthat first verse taught or the
second verse talked about, as heleads us, right?
As we're following him, he'srevealing these things to us.
(28:10):
And so, guess what?
We can latch hold of thosethings by faith and say, thank
you, Lord, that you've given methis idea for an art business or
an art ministry center or a newproject or a new studio or
whatever it is.
Thank you, Lord, for that.
Now, God, I thank you that ifyou've given me the idea, you've
already given me everything thatI need to accomplish it.
(28:31):
Wow.
Isn't that amazing?
Isn't it amazing to think thatif God gives you the idea, he's
already provided everything thatyou're gonna need to be able to
walk toward the thing andaccomplish the thing that he's
promised you.
Wow.
Does that take the pressure off?
You bet.
It absolutely takes the pressureoff because now I'm not worried
(28:52):
about trying to how to make thisthing happen for God.
I all I'm worried about, and I'mnot worried, all I'm concerned
with, all I'm focused on iswhat?
Learning to abide with him, hearhis voice, follow his lead,
recognizing where he'sproviding, recognizing where
he's opening doors, and juststep through those as he leads.
(29:15):
Wow, he's already given meeverything I need.
It takes the pressure off.
And listen, it says then, so I'mgonna read this again just so I
can continue.
It says, His divine power hasgiven us everything required for
life and godliness through theknowledge of him who called us
by his own glory and goodness.
By these, what?
By his own glory and goodness.
All right, by these, he hasgiven us.
(29:37):
Now, this is a key.
Now let's backwards engineerthis.
Evil desire, some translationssay lust, lusting for things
(29:59):
that that uh, you know, you whatis lust?
Lust is usually a natural desirepointed in an unnatural
direction, right?
A natural desire pointed in thewrong direction.
You and I all have a desire foruh to thrive, to grow, to be
successful, to be effective, todo incredible things for God, to
live an abundant life that Jesuspromised.
(30:21):
We get in trouble when we try tolust after it in our own
strength and accomplish it inways that are outside of God's
ways and outside of God'stiming, right?
We lust after that.
Oh, I gotta do that now.
I gotta do it like they do it.
Oh, that they did itsuccessfully.
I'll just copy them.
No, God's not asking us to dothat.
That that brings evilcorruption, that brings lust
(30:43):
inside of our heart, right?
Striving on our own.
But what does he say?
We can escape that and we canparticipate in the divine
nature, that is, this beautifulkingdom life that God's given
us.
We can do things thoughaccording to God's nature, what?
Through the very preciouspromises of God.
Now, do you know what thatmeans?
(31:04):
That means when you and I do thevery thing that I'm teaching you
to do, which is what?
Take hold of the promises ofGod, take hold of the word of
God, declare it as true, beginto sow it into our mind, sow it
into our heart, and walk byfaith, assuming that it is more
true than what we see around usin our life.
Guess what happens?
(31:24):
That literally, that process,the promise of God, and you
beginning to appropriate that inyour life, that opens up a
pipeline in the spirit for youto be able to receive everything
that God has for you.
See, most Christians areoperating out of a different
pipeline.
(31:44):
They want the things that Godhas promised them in his word,
but they're over here doing,they're they're trying to
receive from a differentpipeline.
And that pipeline is strivingand comparison and doing it
yourself and trying to do itlike the world does it.
And they're frustrated becausethey see the promise of God, but
they're receiving from adifferent pipeline.
(32:05):
Is this resonating with you?
Listen, that was my life for alot of years, and I'm telling
you, it is this can be a flippedswitch for you when you begin to
disconnect from that old way ofdoing things and you say,
Father, I'm gonna do it away theway that you said.
I'm gonna just gonna begin to dothe crazy thing of believing
(32:26):
that I'm in a new kingdom whereeverything that I need has
already been provided for me,where you're gonna lead me by
your voice, where you're gonnastrengthen me by your spirit and
believe that everything that Ineed for life and godliness is
already mine.
I'm just gonna be crazy enoughto believe that and declare it
every day.
And listen, when you and I beginto do that, it literally opens
(32:46):
up your heart and mind, the eyesof your heart to begin to see
life and see possibilities indifferent ways.
It we know this.
I'm gonna do a whole nothervideo on this about how
neuroplasticity works and howrewiring our brain and rewiring
our heart works according to theword of God.
But listen, when you begin toreceive through the precious
(33:11):
promises of God, it opens up adifferent pipeline into your
life, one where you arereceiving the good things of God
by faith, not trying to make ithappen on your own.
Whoa! That is huge.
So again, every resource, arelationship that you need,
everything that you need,everything that you need.
(33:33):
If you're feeling financialanxiety, if you're feeling
creative anxiety, if you'refeeling age anxiety or being
feeling left behind anxiety, ifyou're feeling not enough
anxiety or feelings ofinadequacy, in Christ, you have
been given everything you needfor life and godliness.
And so you just gotta realizethat all that other stuff is
(33:55):
just a lie from the enemy, andyou gotta you gotta push that
out.
Take every thought captive, say,nope, that's not the Lord.
I'm choosing to believe whatGod's word says.
So listen, these five versesthat I've given you today, all
right, these are like fivesmooth stones in your toolbox,
(34:17):
in your tool belt, right?
That if you'll learn to declarethese every day, to walk in
these every day, to declare thatthis is your new reality in
Christ, because it is, listen, Ipromise your life will change.
Why?
Because everything that happensexternally is the fruit of
what's happening internally.
I'm gonna say that again.
(34:38):
Everything that's happeningexternally in your life is the
fruit of what's happeninginternally.
And so if you want to see yourexternal situation change, the
way to do that is not striving,hoping, and begging more, but
the way to do that is to changethe internal narrative of your
heart, to be renewed in yourmind and in your spirit.
And as you do, God can begin tolead you and guide you and bring
(35:01):
you in to a new reality.
Wow.
You're not on your own.
You don't have to figure it out.
You don't have to try to surviveand just measure up anymore.
So again, I'm gonna give youthese last, these five verses
one more time.
Remember, you live in adifferent kingdom, all right?
Colossians 1.13.
God directs your path as youwalk with him, John 10 27.
(35:23):
You have a supernatural abilityto discern the will of God
without fear, all right?
2 Timothy 1.7.
You can do everything that God'scalled you to do, Philippians
4.13, and you already haveeverything that you need.
2 Peter 1, 3 and 4.
Listen, I want you to put in thecomments, all right, which one
of these uh has given you thebiggest aha moment today?
(35:46):
Maybe all of them.
Maybe you're having a momentright now that's like, oh my
gosh, I've been living in the inin a kingdom that I was never
designed to live in.
And I'm realizing for the firsttime that God's got a different
kingdom for me.
And listen, let me just saythis.
If you have somehow found yourway to this video and you're
like, this is good news.
(36:08):
I've never invited Jesus into myheart, but I want to live in
this new kingdom.
I want to disconnect from fearand striving and inadequacy and
all that, and I want to be ableto live in the fullness of this
good news that you're tellingabout.
Can I just say, I want to inviteyou to invite Jesus into your
heart?
The Bible says if we confess oursins, he's faithful and just to
(36:29):
forgive us.
And all you have to do, all youhave to do is just say, Jesus,
I'm a sinner.
I've lived my life on my own.
In fact, you can pray this withme right now.
I've lived my life on my own.
I've tried to do it my own way,but Lord, I confess that I'm a
sinner.
I need you in my life.
Jesus, would you come and be theLord of my life, save my soul,
(36:53):
redeem my heart, reconcile me torelationship with the Father,
and restore me to this newkingdom that Matt's talking
about today.
I give you my life, I give youmy heart in Jesus' name.
Listen, if you prayed that, webelieve you got saved.
We believe that that God hasconveyed you from one kingdom to
(37:15):
another.
And listen, if you've been, ifyou've been saved and loving
Jesus, but you've been living inthat old kingdom, you can just
pray this, you can pray the samekind of prayer.
You can just say, Jesus, forgiveme for not walking in the
kingdom that you've you'veprovided for me.
Lord, I come out of agreementwith that old way of living,
that old way of walking.
I forgive me, Lord, for tryingto do it on my own.
(37:37):
Lord, I choose to walk in thisnew reality that you died for me
to walk in.
Father, we thank you.
I just want to pray right now,Lord.
Thank you that by your HolySpirit and by the work of Jesus
on the cross, Lord, you haveconveyed us into a different
kingdom.
That we are able to live now ina new reality, to hear your
(37:58):
voice, to follow your lead, toknow that we've got everything
that we need already provided,and to be empowered to do
everything that you've called usto do without fear or anxiety or
inadequacy.
Holy Spirit, I pray that youwould make this our reality as
we learn to sow these truths inour heart and see our inner man
renewed, see our mind renewedand transformed into alignment
(38:21):
with all that you died for us towalk in.
We thank you for that, Lord.
In Jesus' name.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Hey, listen, I want to I want togive you something, all right?
Completely free.
It's something uh that I puttogether for you that's 31 days
of biblical affirmations.
Of course, you could be prayingthese scriptures, these five
(38:42):
scriptures are my anchors thatI'm always praying and declared
out of my mouth.
But listen, I want to give yousomething, these 31 days of
biblical affirmations, you canyou can get the link right down
here in the description.
You can download it.
I'm I made it super simple soyou can print it off.
Doesn't take a lot of ink, anduh you can print it off, you can
use it on your phone, whatever.
But it's literally 31 days ofscripture and affirmations that
(39:05):
you can declare in your lifejust to get begin to get you in
the habit of declaring who youare in Christ, what he's called
you to do, what he's alreadygiven you, and all that's yours
in this new kingdom.
All right.
Listen, my friend, God loves youso much as a Christian artist,
he has prepared so much for you,but he never designed for you to
have to do it on your own.
All right.
(39:25):
I love you.
It's an honor for me to be herewith you every week to encourage
you on your journey.
Make sure you're subscribed.
And remember, till next time,you were created to thrive.
Bye.
Hey, my friend, before you go,make sure that you're signed up
for the Thriving ChristianArtist Weekly.
It's my free newsletter full ofspiritual encouragement,
creative inspiration, andpractical tips to help you
(39:48):
thrive in everything that God'scalled you to do as an artist in
his kingdom.
Every issue is absolutely free,and it includes the latest
podcast episode, featured artistspotlights, a worship song of
the week, and again, tons oftips and encouragement and
inspiration for you to keep youinspired and encouraged in
everything that God's got foryou as an artist in the kingdom.
You can click the link righthere in the show notes, so join
(40:09):
us, and it's a great way to stayconnected.
All right, love you.
Bye.
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