September 30, 2025 • 42 mins
What if the most powerful studio you own is the one behind your eyes? As artists, our imaginations are vivid and fast—capable of painting hope or projecting fear in seconds. Today we unpack a simple, repeatable way to turn worry into worship by pointing that creative engine toward God’s promises instead of worst-case stories.
We dig into why fear and faith run on the same internal mechanism and how agreement shapes outcomes: see it, agree with it, speak it, and step into it. With Philippians 4 as our anchor, we talk about holy contentment that frees you from being ruled by circumstances without dimming ambition or vision. You’ll learn a practical “thoughts captive” checkpoint—does this sound like Jesus?—and a step-by-step reset to declare Scripture, visualize best-case scenarios rooted in God’s nature, and let peace take the steering wheel. We also name the subtle ways comparison and old wounds hijack imagination, then reclaim your God-given uniqueness through 1 Corinthians 12:18 so your “different” becomes your most fruitful gift.
If you’ve been in a season of waiting, this conversation reframes the in-between as fertile ground where imagination either fuels fear or forms faith. We offer a guided reflection to invite the Holy Spirit into your inner pictures—provision, breakthrough, next steps—so you create from clarity, not panic. Expect practical tools, biblical insight, and a gentle challenge to cultivate the inner life that shapes the art you release into the world.
If this spoke to you, subscribe, share it with a creative friend, and leave a review so more artists can find it. Want structured help to renew your mind and align your creative life with Scripture? Enroll in the Created to Thrive Foundations course at https://www.matttommeymentoring.com/foundations!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
You know, artists can be some of the biggest and
best worriers in the world.
You know why?
Because we've got these vividimaginations that God gave us,
but if we point them in thewrong direction, they can create
entire stories about things thatmay never ever happen in our
life and just cause worry towell up inside of us like a huge
tidal wave.
(00:20):
But here's the good news whenyou actually start taking that
imagination and pointing it inthe direction of the Lord and
allowing the Holy Spirit tobegin to move through your
imagination, it can be one ofthe biggest tools that God's
given us in order to grow andmature in Him.
So today on the podcast, I'mgoing to talk about how you can
start turning worry into worshipthrough your redeemed
(00:42):
imagination today on TheThriving Christian Artist.
All over the world, artists areawakening, painters and potters,
writers and weavers, poets anddancers, not chasing followers
or fame, but sons and daughterscalled for such a time as this,
transformed from the inside out,creating with purpose, releasing
the glory of God, and living inthe power of the kingdom right
(01:03):
now.
This is the Thriving ChristianArtist.
Listen, I don't know about you,but worry is one of the things
that I think I see in my ownlife and also having mentored
(01:25):
thousands of artists all overthe world for so many years.
Worry and anxiety and fear andjust having our emotions uh you
know play tricks on us and tryto take the steering wheel in
our life is one of the thingsthat that artists really, really
struggle with.
And if we don't get a hold ofit, it can really be a big, big,
big uh opportunity for the enemyto slow down and even stop the
(01:48):
things that God's trying to doin our life.
Our imagination is not designedto be this sort of playground
for the enemy and fear andanxiety, it's designed to be a
canvas for God's truth so thathe can, through the power of the
Holy Spirit and through his wordat work inside of us, create
with us a beautiful picture thatcreates desire and faith inside
(02:11):
of us to walk toward the thingsthat God has for us.
But listen, if we if we're allthe time, you know, caught up in
fear and anxiety and we don'tallow the word of God to come in
and do its work and take itsplace of primacy in inside of
us, we can really uh be drawninto areas that God never ever
intended for us to be drawninto.
(02:33):
And so I want to dive deep intothis today, give you some real
scriptural keys, I think, thatare going to help you start to
learn how to point yourimagination in the right
direction and begin to invitethe Holy Spirit into your
imagination so that not only youcan do all the things that He's
called you to do, but you canalso have a really healthy,
right understanding of not onlywho God is, but who you are in
(02:57):
Christ and who you are as anartist, so that you can walk in
and fulfill everything thatGod's got for you.
All right.
Now, the first thing I want tosay is that your imagination is
an engine that God's put insideof you.
This was God's idea.
I know a lot of times peoplehave this idea that imagination
and imagining is somehow bad,you know, and people pull out of
(03:20):
one scripture out of context,this idea that all imagination
is vain, you know, vainimaginations.
And, you know, but here's thedeal: if your imagination could
be pointed in one direction, itcan also be pointed in another.
And that's the beautiful thingabout free will.
God gives us the engine, Godgives us the abilities, God
gives us the gifts, he gives usthe tools, but then it's our
(03:41):
decision where to point them.
And I can either allow myimagination and my emotions and
all the things of my internallife, I can allow them to be
pointed in a direction thatdraws me away from Jesus, or I
can draw point him in the insome in the directions that are
going to draw me closer to him,away from his word or closer to
his word, away from his natureor closer to his nature.
(04:05):
And the beautiful thing aboutour imagination is that it's
designed to be that place thatGod works inside of us to create
beauty and story and give usvision.
And but that again, thatrequires us pointing that in the
right direction and pointing inthe direction of the Lord in his
(04:26):
word.
You know, one of the reasons Ithink that that we as artists
deal with anxiety and worry andfear maybe more than others, or
at least we talk about it andfeel it more than others, is
because that gift ofimagination, that gift of
creativity is something that'sheightened inside of us.
We're we're used to using thatpart of our internal makeup, if
(04:50):
you will, right?
When we're when we're coming upwith ideas, when we're seeing,
you know, possibilities in ourartwork or in the things that
God's called us to, we're usedto allowing that engine inside
of us to really work and andreally see the details and
really get passionate about itand all that.
And here's the thing, as you'rematuring in the Lord, I wish our
(05:11):
flesh was just completely dead,but how many of you know he
wants to raise its old ugly headall the time?
And so as your imagination isbeing fueled and growing over
here and you're maturing in theLord, your flesh is always
wanting to raise its ugly headand go, yeah, but what about
this?
But what about that?
Or that doesn't feel good, orthat wasn't fair, or this might
happen, or that might happen.
(05:32):
And if you're not careful, thatflesh can draw your imagination
down a road that you were neverintended to go.
And what does the enemy love todo?
Boy, he loves to be right there.
He loves to be right there.
He sees that little ember,right?
That little spark of worry andall that.
He blows on that and he startssending the fiery darts of, you
(05:53):
know, that he wants to send andthe lies that he sends.
And all of a sudden, that thingthat was just a little ember,
just a passing thought, becausewe turn our focus and we allow
that thing to get planted in ourimagination.
What starts happening?
Boy, you start telling yourselfstories.
You got a whole scenario made upin your mind of things that
might happen, could happen, orgonna happen, should have
(06:14):
happened.
You're you know, all thesethings that are only up here,
but they're creations of thisincredible imagination.
And you know that why thatworks.
See, faith and worry are reallythe same things, right?
They're just pointed in adifferent direction.
Faith and fear, faith and worry.
Faith, real faith, healthy faithis pointed in the direction of
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Jesus, who he is, what he saidin his word, his real nature,
who, what he says about us.
That's where faith is designedto take root inside of our heart
and our imagination to connectwith that so that we can see and
envision all the possibilitiesthat God has for us.
But when you turn that and youpoint it in the direction of
(07:00):
things that are not true inGod's word, things that are not
the design of God, things thatare not outcomes that God has
designed for you, what begins tohappen?
Fear.
And fear leads to anxiety, andfear leads to insecurity, and
fear leads to uh comparison andall that.
Faith is about coming intoagreement with the promises of
(07:20):
God, right?
Remember in 2 Peter 1, 3 and 4,it says that we participate in
the divine nature, right?
That abundant life that Jesuspromises.
How do we participate in that?
Through the precious promises ofGod.
We know in the kingdom, nothing,nothing happens in this in the
kingdom except throughagreement, right?
We see it, we agree with it, wedecree it out of our mouth, we
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proceed with it by faith.
Well, guess what?
You can just as soon do that towith the Lord and his word, or
you can turn around and do thatwith the enemy.
And you can begin to see thingsin your imagination that the
enemy has implanted in there,that your flesh has brought up,
that your that your fleshly fearhas has brought up.
(08:04):
And boy, you can cultivate that,and that can just create this
whole picture that you think isyour reality.
And you are literally beingdrawn to that and building a
negative faith toward thosethings and seeing those things
manifest in your life that Godnever ever designed for you.
If you've read my book, God'sPlan for Living, I talk about in
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there that you know the thoughtsthat we dwell on create the
world that we dwell in.
Why?
That's how God designed it,right?
The Bible says, as a man thinksin his heart, what?
So is he.
And so we're supposed to bethinking on and imagining the
things that God has for us, hisoutcomes for our life, his
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purposes and plans, the visionhe's implanted in our heart, but
our flesh and the work of theenemy, there, it's always trying
to draw us into this otherdirection where we'll come into
agreement with things that Godnever designed for us.
Now, I just want you to juststop for a second.
You know, if you're watchinghere on YouTube or even if
you're just listening on thepodcast, think about for a
(09:10):
moment.
Wow, am I using the engine of myimagination to cultivate the
vision and the purposes andplans that God has for me?
In other words, when I close myeyes or when I'm daydreaming, am
I allowing those things to bethe things that I'm I'm
ruminating on?
Or am I just allowing myimagination to run to run wild?
(09:34):
And am I allowing this beautifulgift that God's given me to come
into faith and desire with Him?
Am I allowing the enemy and myown immaturity in my walk to
draw me into places that Godnever designed for me?
Put that in the comments.
I'd love to see.
Because listen, I know for me,until I got a hold of this,
(09:56):
until I started really learningthat it was my responsibility to
co-labor with the Holy Spiritand to point that if I would
point my imagination and I wouldpoint the eyes of my heart and
point my faith in the directionsthat God has for me and the
promises that He has for me,when I learned that, and I
(10:17):
learned that, oh wow, that's themoment in the pointing, in the
pointing, that's the moment thatgrace is released.
That's the moment that grace isreleased, and that's when when
power and and uh authority and Ithink expectancy begin to come
in your heart as you start toenvision the things that God has
(10:37):
for you.
But it takes you and me pointingour faith and pointing our
imagination in that direction.
Now, you know, I love to starteverything that we talk about
here in Scripture, and I want tolook at Philippians 4, 11
through 13.
A lot of people love to talkabout Philippians 4.13.
I can do all things throughChrist who strengthens me.
(10:58):
But people don't often realizethat the beginning of this
section is all about renewingyour mind to what's really true.
And so let's look at this.
This is this is Paul speaking.
He says, Not that I speak fromneed, for I've learned to be
content in whatevercircumstances I am, but I know I
know how to get along withlittle, he says, and I also know
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how to live in prosperity.
In any and every circumstance,this is the NASB.
In any and every circumstance,I've learned the secret of being
filled and going hungry.
He knows both of them, right?
Both having abundance andsuffering need.
But what does he say?
I can do all things through him,some translated say through
(11:41):
Christ who strengthens me.
In other words, what?
Paul's imagination, what he wasfocusing on, no matter what
situation that he was in, it wasnot chained to the circumstances
that he found himself in, but hewas anchored in Christ.
I want you to just let that sinkin for a second.
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If your imagination and theposition of your heart is not
anchored in Christ, then whensituations change in your life,
when feelings come up in yourlife, when somebody says
something, does something, whena when a circumstance doesn't
work out the way you think itought to ought to work out, what
can happen?
Our imagination can be turned tothe right or to the left by that
(12:27):
circumstance.
But maturity in the Lord, andthis is one of the things that I
think we all can recognize as westart to mature in the Lord, is
that when our heart and ouremotions stop getting turned,
and when we start daydreaming,we quit letting our imagination
just go every which away, but westart realizing, hey, whether
(12:48):
things are good or not so good,whether I'm in a season of
plenty or a season of not soplenty, where I'm in a season of
walking in my dreams or I'm in aseason of waiting.
Whatever the season ends, likePaul, I can do all things.
That is, I can do what it takesin every situation that I'm in,
not because of the situationthat I'm in, but because of who
(13:11):
I am in Christ.
See, contentment in thatsituation doesn't mean
complacency.
It doesn't mean that you're notdreaming for more.
It doesn't mean that you're notdesiring more, it doesn't mean
that you're not, you don't havean expectant heart and all this
kind of stuff.
It contentment is this sort ofholy alignment, if you will,
that that frees your imaginationfrom the power of circumstances
(13:36):
and feelings and connects itwith the power of God and the
promises of God in your life.
In other words, a holycontentment is a thing that can
direct your imagination andprevent it from spiraling in
fear and spiraling in anxiety.
(13:57):
Learning to keep the eyes ofyour heart, the ears of your
heart focused on the truth ofGod's word, regardless of the
situation that you're goingthrough.
Think about right now in yourlife.
Is there a situation?
Is there a show that you didn'tget in?
Is there a sale that you didn'tmake?
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Is there a creative project thatdidn't work out the way you
thought it was going to workout?
Did somebody say something toyou at church or at an art guild
meeting or, you know, just inyour booth the other day at a
show?
Did somebody say something thatthat really threw your all threw
you off?
And boy, your imagination justtook that and it started running
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in a direction that you know, asyou start thinking about it
right now, you know that that isnot God's best.
One of the things I teach allthe time, you know, in the
foundation scores at thementoring program here on the
podcast, I'm talking about allthe time.
When we capture our thoughts,when we take our thoughts
captive, like the Bible says,first question you ask is, does
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that sound like Jesus?
Does that sound like Jesus?
But rarely, I mean, if you'rereally honest, rarely do people
do that.
Rarely will people beintentional enough to take their
thoughts captive.
In other words, what?
They just let the situationhappen, they let a fleshly
response happen, and then all ofa sudden they let their
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imagination get pointed in thewrong way.
And listen, if you're like me,you know, before I really
started learning how to walk inthis, and listen, we're all
maturing in this as we walk withthe Lord.
I'm not perfect by any means.
But I'm just telling you, somethings I think that were just
meant to be passing situationsin our life for us to learn how
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to maybe stand up, believe God,build some faith.
These things turned intothree-day, three-week,
three-month, three-yearsituations that we just let our
imagination build up all thesefalsehoods and these fears and
these anxieties in our life.
And they took us down thesespirals that God never ever
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intended for us.
And what does the enemy tellyou?
The enemy tells you in themiddle of that, well, see, this
isn't God's plan for you.
You're not really supposed to bean artist, you're not really
supposed to be doing this, blah,blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah.
And none of that has anyrelation to the truth.
The only issue is you chose inthat moment to allow your
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imagination and your heart tocome in faith with things that
God never intended for you.
So listen, I don't say that fromshame because I've walked
through the same thing in mylife.
But for the grace of God go I,even today, right?
I'm just saying if you don'tlearn to get intentional about
this, that will be, especiallyfor artists, that will be an
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ongoing area that the enemy,like a lever inside of you that
he will pull every time in orderto get you to come out of
agreement with what God's gotfor you and get you delayed and
derailed and distracted from allthat God has designed you for.
Now, I love Philippians 4 13 inthe message.
All right, I love readingdifferent different versions.
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And in the message, it saysthis, and this even brings out
brings out more.
It says, Whatever I am, whereverI am, I can make it through
anything in the one who makes mewho I am.
Oh, I'm gonna say that again.
And again, this is Philippians 413 in the message.
It says, Whatever I have andwherever I am, I can make it
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through anything in the one whomakes me who I am.
In other words, what?
We're allowing ourselves and ourimagination to be anchored in
the truth of God's word.
We anchor our imagination in whoGod says we are, not in a fear
of what we might be missing orwhatever, right?
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Our imagination is being givenby us, given, given to us by God
for us to see his beauty and tosee hope and to see possibility
of of what could be.
For it's the place that, youknow, in the Bible, there's a
couple of different words we seefor imagination in the Bible.
Yetzar and Yatzar.
One is kind of an internalimagination, uh, an internal
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forming, and the other is kindof an external forming.
But the the idea of the wordimagination biblically is this
is this idea that it's a placeof forming.
It's a seed bed where things getuh planted and and brought forth
into fruit.
It's a you know, some some eventhink that that word, I've seen
in theologians that even in inStrom's Concordance talk about
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this idea of a womb, that yourimagination is like a womb.
It's a place where where thingsare formed and brought into
maturity.
So this is the design of God,right?
This is the thing.
And so when when you realizethat, and I always say this,
kind of like gravity, right?
Gravity works whether you lovethe Lord or whether you don't,
(18:59):
right?
Gravity is just one of thoselaws that God put into place.
Uh, you get on the top of abuilding, you jump off barring a
miracle of the Lord, you'regonna go splat.
Why?
Because gravity works, right?
Well, your imagination and faithwork regardless of what you put
in your imagination or where youpoint your faith.
It just works.
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Is your imagination and yourheart?
The Bible talks about your heartis the ground of your heart.
It's just designed to bringforth whatever you plant inside
of it.
And so this is why ourimagination, you've got to think
about it as a seed bed, as awomb, as as ground.
We've got to protect the thingsthat we are not only allowing to
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be planted in our heart, butalso the things that we're
allowing ourselves to bring tofruit.
And if I just want to say this,if you're if you're noticing all
the time that, man, I'm justcatching myself all the time,
and I'm just down this road,this spiral of fear and anxiety
and all that kind of stuff, Ijust want to let you know
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through the power of the HolySpirit and your intention, you
can stop that in Jesus' name.
You don't have to be tormentedwith all this imagination and
all this imagining andfear-based imagination that is
taking you away from the thingsthat God has for you.
In that moment, when you findyourself, when you catch it,
when you take that thoughtcaptive, like the Bible says,
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you can point yourself and youcan say, nope, I know that this
is not God's best for me.
I'm gonna choose, Holy Spirit,I'm choosing right now to focus
on what you say, to focus onyour abundance, to focus on your
blessing, to focus on thepromises and plans that you have
for my life, to focus on yourpromise as provider and
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protector and keeper of me, tofocus on the peace that you
bring.
Father, I know that I've got allthis stuff going on right now,
but I'm not gonna allow myimagination to just go down here
and build this whole movie aboutwhat might happen in the worst
case scenario.
I'm stopping right now and I'mchoosing to turn my imagination,
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to turn my words, to turn theeyes of my heart, to turn, to
turn all of that toward you andtoward what your word says.
And I'm gonna come intoagreement, out of agreement with
the stuff the enemy's trying tobring up in my life, and into
agreement with the truth of yourword.
I'm gonna, you know, you canbegin to, because you can't
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here's a cool thing.
Your brain can't focus on twothings at once.
You can't imagine a goodscenario and a bad scenario at
once.
And so what can you do?
You can stop and in that momentbegin to declare the word of
God.
Begin to declare the promises ofGod and begin to envision what
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does it look like for that to betrue in my life?
What would it look like in thissituation if I was walking in
God's abundance?
What would it look like if myart was being a blessing in the
lives of others?
What would it look like if allthe promises that God has toward
me that are yes and amen in hisword?
What would it look like if allof those things were happening?
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What would it look like if thebest case scenario happened?
Did you know that you can youcan literally stop and you can
close your eyes and you can turntoward those things and begin to
intentionally cultivate thosethings in your mind?
And guess what will happen?
Just like your heart will attachuh fear to negative
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imaginations, your heart willbegin to rise up in faith and
joy and peace when you begin touse your imagination as a place
to see the purposes and plansthat God has for you.
And listen, that's not some newage mumbo jumbo.
That's the way that God designedyour heart and your mind to
work.
Your imagination, listen,friend, your imagination was
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never designed to be this stagefor fear to be acting out the
play of fear and anxiety andworry in your life all the time.
It was designed to be asanctuary for faith, a canvas
for faith where God and youtogether could paint the
pictures that He has for you andthe plans that He has for you.
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That's the purpose.
Now, I want to keep moving here.
1 Corinthians 12, 18.
I love in the NASB, this is oneof the things that that you can
really focus on when the enemystarts to attack your uniqueness
as an artist.
Because here's the thing infact, this whole this whole
episode started with me wantingto talk about uniqueness as an
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artist, but I just felt the Lordkind of lead me in this
direction today because one ofthe biggest things that is a
barrier to your uniqueness hasnothing to do with your artistic
skill or perspective or anythinglike that, but it's your
feelings of inadequacy towardbelieving for and respecting and
loving and cultivating theunique things that God has put
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inside of you.
I guarantee you, if this is notan area that you're really
growing in, I guarantee you thatthere's areas in your life that
God is trying to celebrate,areas of uniqueness in your life
artistically that God's tryingto bring up in and through you.
But fear and anxiety and thiswhole imagination thing pointing
in the wrong direction, itcontinues to psych you out,
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believing that what you have isnot worth it, that you're not
good enough, that you'll neverbe good enough, that that fourth
grade teacher, that second gradeart project, that college
professor, that unbeknowingfamily member, they said
something stupid, but it wasn'tstupid to you.
It hurt at the time, and it gotlodged in your heart.
And because you didn't know whatto do with it at that time, the
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enemy's been using that thingfor years and years and years to
point your imagination in the inthe direction of fear and
anxiety and inadequacy andself-sabotage, and things are
never gonna work out.
And that's been all that you canimagine all these years.
I want to tell you this, thisfriend, 1 Corinthians 12, 18, it
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says this God has placed themembers, each one of them, in
the body just as he desired.
And he goes on in that sectiontalking about the uniqueness
that that he's designed us with.
And I want to tell you the thingthat you think is weird, the
thing that you think is is nogood, the thing that you're
trying to downplay, the thingthat you think you make makes
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you too unique is the very thingthat God wants to bring up
inside of you and make a uniquecelebration in your life, not
only to bring you joy andfulfillment, but to also be a
unique expression of Him withinthe body of Christ.
Why?
So that the fullness of hisnature can be released, so that
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somebody that needs yourexpression, God through you can
experience the full nature ofGod through what it is that you
do.
Listen, the truth is that youruniqueness is intentional by
God, and it's essential for hiswork here on the earth.
But what?
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Again, the enemy wants to twistyour imagination to make you
compare yourself to one another,to make you, you know, think
that you're not good enough,you're not as far along as them,
you're not as successful asthem, you don't have as many
Instagram clicks as them, asmany sales as them, whatever.
But listen, God wants to redeemthat place of uniqueness.
And if there's woundednessaround it, that place of
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woundedness, in order to makethat the place that you
celebrate and to let the Lorduse that place of deepest
woundedness as the place ofdeepest healing and
reconciliation and restorationin the lives of others.
Listen, when you start torealize that, you start
realizing the truth of thatscripture that says all things
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work together for good to thosewho love God and are called
according to his purpose, thatmy life and your life are
literally one brushstroke, anessential part of the
masterpiece that God is paintingin the earth right now.
But if you and I are continuallyallowing our imagination to
convince us otherwise, we arethe ones that are blocking what
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God wants to do inside our lifeand through our life.
Listen, this is never more, Idon't know, uh, at the front of
my mind.
And it's it's never more astruggle in my life than when
I'm in a season of waiting.
And when I'm in a season wherethings are, you know, kind of
(27:39):
like Paul said, I'm in a seasonof plenty or I'm in a season of
lack, I'm in a season of uh, youknow, abundance and a season of
not quite enough.
I'm imprisoned or I'm free, youknow.
Those seasons, I don't knowabout you, but for me, it's kind
of almost easier to try tofigure out what to do in the
Lord if you're in a season ofhot or cold, black or white, one
(28:01):
or the other, right?
But it's in those seasons, whichis much of our life, right?
We're not always walking inthings.
We're usually walking on the wayto something or away from
something, right?
We're in these seasons ofwaiting.
And I didn't can I just tell youthat is a season, that is a
time, a prime time where theenemy wants to take advantage of
(28:23):
you in this area of yourimagination.
Because when when when we'rewalking in mystery, your brain
and and your your heart, thedesires of your heart, you're
you're you're trying to makesense of what's going on.
And can I just tell you, unlessyou are anchoring your heart in
(28:48):
the truth of God's word, even inthe middle of the mystery, the
enemy is more than happy to giveyou a clear, a crystal clear
vision to focus on in the middlewhen when things aren't going,
when things aren't really clearin your life.
He will tell you exactly what isgoing on.
And you know what it is?
Things are falling apart.
(29:09):
Things are over for you.
You're too old, you you've lostit, you missed that opportunity,
it's gonna be bad, it's gonna beHe will just create that crystal
clear picture.
And I'm telling you, the onlyway that you can start growing
in this is realizing that theseseeds, these seasons of waiting
can either be a breeding groundfor the enemy or they can be a
(29:33):
proving ground for maturity inthe Lord.
James 1 4 says this letendurance all right, some
versions say patience, but Ilove that word.
Let endurance have its perfectresult in you so that what you
may be perfect, complete, andlacking nothing.
(29:54):
In other words, what?
You gotta be patient, you gottalearn to wait well.
You've got to learn to endurewell.
In the middle of when thingsdon't make sense, you've got to
learn that it is yourresponsibility and my
responsibility to take hold ofthe promises of God and
intentionally point ourimagination in the direction
(30:17):
that it was designed so thatwhy?
Our imagination begins tocultivate the purposes and plans
of God in our internal life sothat they can manifest in our
external life.
That's how the kingdom of Godworks.
That's how God designed thewhole thing.
That's how it works.
Nothing happens in the externalbefore it happens in the
(30:38):
internal.
And I don't know about you,friend.
I I just turned 52 uh last week,had my birthday.
Woo-hoo.
You know, I've just decidedthough, this at this stage of my
life, I'm done.
I'm done with allowing the enemyto be to just have free reign in
my heart and mind and createwhatever pictures and feelings
(31:00):
and and and desires and and andoutcomes that he wants to
create.
I am endeavoring in my heart tostay connected with the Lord and
to sow the word of God in mylife so that my imagination
becomes a place wherepossibility and where faith and
where the promises of God arebeing cultivated every day.
(31:21):
Listen, as I'm beginning to kindof bring this thing into a
landing, I want to remind you,Matthew 6, 31 through 33.
It says this in the amplified,don't worry then, for your
father knows exactly what youneed in all these things.
But first and most importantly,seek his kingdom and his
righteousness in what?
(31:41):
All these things will be addedunto you.
What about Philippians 4.19?
Right, just a little bit beyondwhat we were just reading.
It says, And my God will supplyall your needs according to his
riches and glory in ChristJesus.
So again, what?
When things are not working out,when we're in a season of
mystery, when we're in a seasonof waiting, when we're in a
(32:02):
season that we don't understand,the waiting is where imagination
can either fuel faith or e orfuel fear or either form faith.
I'm gonna say that again.
The waiting is where theimagination can either fuel fear
or form faith.
(32:24):
So, my friend, I want to justtake this moment as we end today
and ask you to think about aspecific situation in your life
right now.
And you can use this when anywhen any kind of worry begins to
arise.
But right now, is there asituation if you just close your
eyes for a second, let your letyourself think about, let the
(32:45):
Holy Spirit speak to you.
Is there a situation right nowin your life where you are
allowing your imagination tofuel fear?
To fuel fear.
Just ask him right now, Lord, isis there is there a situation in
my life where I've been allowingmy imagination to fuel fear?
(33:07):
And then ask him, say, say, HolySpirit, what would it look like
for you?
What scripture do you want toshow me right now that I could
attach my faith to so that myimagination could begin to form
faith toward the things that youhave towards me?
(33:27):
Invite the Holy Spirit rightnow.
Say, Holy Spirit, would you giveme a picture of what that looks
like?
Would you begin to show me whatyou know provision looks like in
this or breakthrough looks likein this situation?
Or what is you know, a situationwhere I'm I'm feeling like I
can't see the next step.
What does it look like accordingto your word and according
according to how you design me?
(33:47):
What does it look like to walkin the abundant life that you've
that you've promised me?
And just begin to allow him toinvade your imagination and
begin to show you and begin tospeak to you what things could
look like and do look like inthe realm of faith.
And you know, you can just beginto pray in that in that moment.
(34:09):
God, thank you that you'veplaced me in this time, in this
place with these gifts for sucha time as this.
Thank you that even though Ican't see clearly in the
natural, Lord, I can see clearlywith eyes of faith.
Can I just tell you that?
You may not be able to seeclearly in the natural, but you
can absolutely see clearly inthe in the supernatural by
(34:30):
faith.
And when you begin to seeclearly in faith in the
supernatural, that's when you'regonna begin to walk in more
clarity in the natural becauseyou're gonna be forming with God
the things in the spirit thatare gonna eventually show up in
the natural.
(34:50):
Man, that's when things getexciting.
So listen, like just abouteverything I talk to you about
here on the podcast, this is oneof those things, and you say,
mate, you always say this.
Well, it's cause it's true.
This is one of those things thatGod's not going to do to you,
he's gonna do with you.
As you turn your heart and yourfaith toward him, begin to
(35:15):
intentionally sow his promisesin your heart, begin to
intentionally cultivate hispresence in your life.
That's how this process getsstronger and stronger and
stronger.
And listen, when you do that,when you start cultivating that
in the garden of your heart, allthat other stuff, all those
lesser ideas that the enemy'strying to plant, that the
(35:36):
enemy's trying to flame inflamein your life, those things just
move to the side.
Why?
Because you're allowing faith togrow in the things that God has
for you.
Listen, my friend, I want topray for you right now because I
believe that there's grace foryou.
If you're watching this, ifyou're listening to this, I
don't believe it's by chance.
I believe that God directs oursteps.
(35:57):
He orders the steps of therighteous.
And you're here for such a timeas this right now to hear this
message, but not just to hearit, let it go one in out one in
one ear and out the other, butto actually do something about
it.
So, Holy Spirit, I thank youright now that you brought my
friend to this YouTube channel,to this podcast episode, to
wherever it is that they'reencountering this message.
(36:18):
Lord, I thank you that this is amoment for them.
It's a moment where they get tochoose.
And Holy Spirit, I pray that youwould well up inside of them
right now, that you would beginto draw them with a new passion
and in a new way and with a newvision toward all the things
that you have for them.
So that comparison and fear andanxiety and worry could decrease
(36:40):
as faith and expectancy begin toincrease in their imagination
and in their heart as they beginto cultivate this these things
with you.
And I thank you, God, that whenwe do that, Lord, you're
faithful.
You don't we don't ask for breadand you give us a stone.
Lord, you said seek you andyou'll and we'll find you.
(37:01):
And so, Lord, we're choosingtoday to seek you in our
imagination, to seek you in ourinternal thoughts, to seek you
in the things that we're seeingand believing for, believing
that all things are workingtogether for for good, believing
that you have plans and purposesfor us that are far beyond what
we could ever ask or imagine.
(37:22):
Release grace, God, now to myfriend as they're listening, as
they begin to lean into this.
Let this be their new reality inChrist.
We thank you for that, God, inJesus' name.
Amen.
Amen.
Hey, listen, if this is an areathat you want to grow in, uh,
this is an area, let me justsay, it's the area of my life
that I'm probably the mostpassionate about.
(37:43):
And the reason I'm mostpassionate about is because the
reason that I most struggledwith, the thing that I most
struggle with in my life, that'swhy I started mentoring artists
years ago.
That's why I wrote Unlocking theHeart of the Artists is my story
of walking out of all this andwalking into the things that God
has for me.
And it's the reason that Idesigned the Created to Thrive
Foundations course.
(38:04):
It's a nine-week course.
Hundreds and hundreds of artistsall over the world are walking
through it right now, andthey're seeing God do the things
that I've been talking abouthere on this episode today, of
learning how to change yourinternal world out of agreement
with the with the lies of theenemy and out of your experience
and into alignment with thetruth of God's word.
(38:24):
Listen, if you if you don't knowhow to do that, if you've never
been taught how to do that, it'sit's not, you know, something
that we just know how to do uh,you know, on our own in our own
ways.
And it's something maybe, youknow, unfortunately, a lot of
churches don't teach this.
But actually, renewing your mindis a one way that the Bible says
that you experiencetransformation in your life.
The way your life getstransformed is not by hoping for
(38:47):
it or praying for it or beggingGod for it.
The way your life getstransformed, the Bible said, is
through the renewing of yourmind.
And the reason I developed thetransformation and the
foundations course is so thattransformation could be easy for
artists just like you.
And if you'll trust me and uhand become a part of this
foundations course, enroll in ittoday, we would love to walk you
(39:10):
through this process oftransformation so that you can
start seeing uh your life changeand transform into everything
that God's got for it accordingto his word.
You can find all the informationright here uh here in this
episode in the show notes.
And you can become enrolled justas soon as you click on that
button.
You can get in there and joinour community and uh start
(39:31):
asking me questions.
But more than that, you just gothrough the course as we've
designed it and allow others tojoin you on the way and
encourage you on the long on theway and start seeing that
transformation show up in yourlife.
All right.
Listen, my friend, I love you.
It's a joy for me every week tocome and and share with you the
things that I'm sharing withyou, but it doesn't mean
(39:51):
anything unless you do somethingwith it, unless you implement
and enrolling in the foundationscourse and using the strategies
that I'm talking about everyweek.
That's the way you implement.
All right.
Listen, I love you.
Thank you so much for being herewith me.
Make sure that you'resubscribed, make sure you
follow.
Please, if you would, sharethese videos, these podcast
episodes with others that youknow would be a be blessed by
(40:14):
them.
And until next time, remember,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
thrive in everything that God'scalled you to do as an artist in
his kingdom.
(40:34):
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 to join
us, and it's a great way to stayconnected.
(40:55):
All right, love you.
Bye.
You know, artists can be some of the biggest and
best worriers in the world.
You know why?
Because we've got these vividimaginations that God gave us,
but if we point them in thewrong direction, they can create
entire stories about things thatmay never ever happen in our
life and just cause worry towell up inside of us like a huge
tidal wave.
(00:20):
But here's the good news whenyou actually start taking that
imagination and pointing it inthe direction of the Lord and
allowing the Holy Spirit tobegin to move through your
imagination, it can be one ofthe biggest tools that God's
given us in order to grow andmature in Him.
So today on the podcast, I'mgoing to talk about how you can
start turning worry into worshipthrough your redeemed
(00:42):
imagination today on TheThriving Christian Artist.
All over the world, artists areawakening, painters and potters,
writers and weavers, poets anddancers, not chasing followers
or fame, but sons and daughterscalled for such a time as this,
transformed from the inside out,creating with purpose, releasing
the glory of God, and living inthe power of the kingdom right
(01:03):
now.
This is the Thriving ChristianArtist.
Listen, I don't know about you,but worry is one of the things
that I think I see in my ownlife and also having mentored
(01:25):
thousands of artists all overthe world for so many years.
Worry and anxiety and fear andjust having our emotions uh you
know play tricks on us and tryto take the steering wheel in
our life is one of the thingsthat that artists really, really
struggle with.
And if we don't get a hold ofit, it can really be a big, big,
big uh opportunity for the enemyto slow down and even stop the
(01:48):
things that God's trying to doin our life.
Our imagination is not designedto be this sort of playground
for the enemy and fear andanxiety, it's designed to be a
canvas for God's truth so thathe can, through the power of the
Holy Spirit and through his wordat work inside of us, create
with us a beautiful picture thatcreates desire and faith inside
(02:11):
of us to walk toward the thingsthat God has for us.
But listen, if we if we're allthe time, you know, caught up in
fear and anxiety and we don'tallow the word of God to come in
and do its work and take itsplace of primacy in inside of
us, we can really uh be drawninto areas that God never ever
intended for us to be drawninto.
(02:33):
And so I want to dive deep intothis today, give you some real
scriptural keys, I think, thatare going to help you start to
learn how to point yourimagination in the right
direction and begin to invitethe Holy Spirit into your
imagination so that not only youcan do all the things that He's
called you to do, but you canalso have a really healthy,
right understanding of not onlywho God is, but who you are in
(02:57):
Christ and who you are as anartist, so that you can walk in
and fulfill everything thatGod's got for you.
All right.
Now, the first thing I want tosay is that your imagination is
an engine that God's put insideof you.
This was God's idea.
I know a lot of times peoplehave this idea that imagination
and imagining is somehow bad,you know, and people pull out of
(03:20):
one scripture out of context,this idea that all imagination
is vain, you know, vainimaginations.
And, you know, but here's thedeal: if your imagination could
be pointed in one direction, itcan also be pointed in another.
And that's the beautiful thingabout free will.
God gives us the engine, Godgives us the abilities, God
gives us the gifts, he gives usthe tools, but then it's our
(03:41):
decision where to point them.
And I can either allow myimagination and my emotions and
all the things of my internallife, I can allow them to be
pointed in a direction thatdraws me away from Jesus, or I
can draw point him in the insome in the directions that are
going to draw me closer to him,away from his word or closer to
his word, away from his natureor closer to his nature.
(04:05):
And the beautiful thing aboutour imagination is that it's
designed to be that place thatGod works inside of us to create
beauty and story and give usvision.
And but that again, thatrequires us pointing that in the
right direction and pointing inthe direction of the Lord in his
(04:26):
word.
You know, one of the reasons Ithink that that we as artists
deal with anxiety and worry andfear maybe more than others, or
at least we talk about it andfeel it more than others, is
because that gift ofimagination, that gift of
creativity is something that'sheightened inside of us.
We're we're used to using thatpart of our internal makeup, if
(04:50):
you will, right?
When we're when we're coming upwith ideas, when we're seeing,
you know, possibilities in ourartwork or in the things that
God's called us to, we're usedto allowing that engine inside
of us to really work and andreally see the details and
really get passionate about itand all that.
And here's the thing, as you'rematuring in the Lord, I wish our
(05:11):
flesh was just completely dead,but how many of you know he
wants to raise its old ugly headall the time?
And so as your imagination isbeing fueled and growing over
here and you're maturing in theLord, your flesh is always
wanting to raise its ugly headand go, yeah, but what about
this?
But what about that?
Or that doesn't feel good, orthat wasn't fair, or this might
happen, or that might happen.
(05:32):
And if you're not careful, thatflesh can draw your imagination
down a road that you were neverintended to go.
And what does the enemy love todo?
Boy, he loves to be right there.
He loves to be right there.
He sees that little ember,right?
That little spark of worry andall that.
He blows on that and he startssending the fiery darts of, you
(05:53):
know, that he wants to send andthe lies that he sends.
And all of a sudden, that thingthat was just a little ember,
just a passing thought, becausewe turn our focus and we allow
that thing to get planted in ourimagination.
What starts happening?
Boy, you start telling yourselfstories.
You got a whole scenario made upin your mind of things that
might happen, could happen, orgonna happen, should have
(06:14):
happened.
You're you know, all thesethings that are only up here,
but they're creations of thisincredible imagination.
And you know that why thatworks.
See, faith and worry are reallythe same things, right?
They're just pointed in adifferent direction.
Faith and fear, faith and worry.
Faith, real faith, healthy faithis pointed in the direction of
(06:39):
Jesus, who he is, what he saidin his word, his real nature,
who, what he says about us.
That's where faith is designedto take root inside of our heart
and our imagination to connectwith that so that we can see and
envision all the possibilitiesthat God has for us.
But when you turn that and youpoint it in the direction of
(07:00):
things that are not true inGod's word, things that are not
the design of God, things thatare not outcomes that God has
designed for you, what begins tohappen?
Fear.
And fear leads to anxiety, andfear leads to insecurity, and
fear leads to uh comparison andall that.
Faith is about coming intoagreement with the promises of
(07:20):
God, right?
Remember in 2 Peter 1, 3 and 4,it says that we participate in
the divine nature, right?
That abundant life that Jesuspromises.
How do we participate in that?
Through the precious promises ofGod.
We know in the kingdom, nothing,nothing happens in this in the
kingdom except throughagreement, right?
We see it, we agree with it, wedecree it out of our mouth, we
(07:44):
proceed with it by faith.
Well, guess what?
You can just as soon do that towith the Lord and his word, or
you can turn around and do thatwith the enemy.
And you can begin to see thingsin your imagination that the
enemy has implanted in there,that your flesh has brought up,
that your that your fleshly fearhas has brought up.
(08:04):
And boy, you can cultivate that,and that can just create this
whole picture that you think isyour reality.
And you are literally beingdrawn to that and building a
negative faith toward thosethings and seeing those things
manifest in your life that Godnever ever designed for you.
If you've read my book, God'sPlan for Living, I talk about in
(08:25):
there that you know the thoughtsthat we dwell on create the
world that we dwell in.
Why?
That's how God designed it,right?
The Bible says, as a man thinksin his heart, what?
So is he.
And so we're supposed to bethinking on and imagining the
things that God has for us, hisoutcomes for our life, his
(08:47):
purposes and plans, the visionhe's implanted in our heart, but
our flesh and the work of theenemy, there, it's always trying
to draw us into this otherdirection where we'll come into
agreement with things that Godnever designed for us.
Now, I just want you to juststop for a second.
You know, if you're watchinghere on YouTube or even if
you're just listening on thepodcast, think about for a
(09:10):
moment.
Wow, am I using the engine of myimagination to cultivate the
vision and the purposes andplans that God has for me?
In other words, when I close myeyes or when I'm daydreaming, am
I allowing those things to bethe things that I'm I'm
ruminating on?
Or am I just allowing myimagination to run to run wild?
(09:34):
And am I allowing this beautifulgift that God's given me to come
into faith and desire with Him?
Am I allowing the enemy and myown immaturity in my walk to
draw me into places that Godnever designed for me?
Put that in the comments.
I'd love to see.
Because listen, I know for me,until I got a hold of this,
(09:56):
until I started really learningthat it was my responsibility to
co-labor with the Holy Spiritand to point that if I would
point my imagination and I wouldpoint the eyes of my heart and
point my faith in the directionsthat God has for me and the
promises that He has for me,when I learned that, and I
(10:17):
learned that, oh wow, that's themoment in the pointing, in the
pointing, that's the moment thatgrace is released.
That's the moment that grace isreleased, and that's when when
power and and uh authority and Ithink expectancy begin to come
in your heart as you start toenvision the things that God has
(10:37):
for you.
But it takes you and me pointingour faith and pointing our
imagination in that direction.
Now, you know, I love to starteverything that we talk about
here in Scripture, and I want tolook at Philippians 4, 11
through 13.
A lot of people love to talkabout Philippians 4.13.
I can do all things throughChrist who strengthens me.
(10:58):
But people don't often realizethat the beginning of this
section is all about renewingyour mind to what's really true.
And so let's look at this.
This is this is Paul speaking.
He says, Not that I speak fromneed, for I've learned to be
content in whatevercircumstances I am, but I know I
know how to get along withlittle, he says, and I also know
(11:19):
how to live in prosperity.
In any and every circumstance,this is the NASB.
In any and every circumstance,I've learned the secret of being
filled and going hungry.
He knows both of them, right?
Both having abundance andsuffering need.
But what does he say?
I can do all things through him,some translated say through
(11:41):
Christ who strengthens me.
In other words, what?
Paul's imagination, what he wasfocusing on, no matter what
situation that he was in, it wasnot chained to the circumstances
that he found himself in, but hewas anchored in Christ.
I want you to just let that sinkin for a second.
(12:02):
If your imagination and theposition of your heart is not
anchored in Christ, then whensituations change in your life,
when feelings come up in yourlife, when somebody says
something, does something, whena when a circumstance doesn't
work out the way you think itought to ought to work out, what
can happen?
Our imagination can be turned tothe right or to the left by that
(12:27):
circumstance.
But maturity in the Lord, andthis is one of the things that I
think we all can recognize as westart to mature in the Lord, is
that when our heart and ouremotions stop getting turned,
and when we start daydreaming,we quit letting our imagination
just go every which away, but westart realizing, hey, whether
(12:48):
things are good or not so good,whether I'm in a season of
plenty or a season of not soplenty, where I'm in a season of
walking in my dreams or I'm in aseason of waiting.
Whatever the season ends, likePaul, I can do all things.
That is, I can do what it takesin every situation that I'm in,
not because of the situationthat I'm in, but because of who
(13:11):
I am in Christ.
See, contentment in thatsituation doesn't mean
complacency.
It doesn't mean that you're notdreaming for more.
It doesn't mean that you're notdesiring more, it doesn't mean
that you're not, you don't havean expectant heart and all this
kind of stuff.
It contentment is this sort ofholy alignment, if you will,
that that frees your imaginationfrom the power of circumstances
(13:36):
and feelings and connects itwith the power of God and the
promises of God in your life.
In other words, a holycontentment is a thing that can
direct your imagination andprevent it from spiraling in
fear and spiraling in anxiety.
(13:57):
Learning to keep the eyes ofyour heart, the ears of your
heart focused on the truth ofGod's word, regardless of the
situation that you're goingthrough.
Think about right now in yourlife.
Is there a situation?
Is there a show that you didn'tget in?
Is there a sale that you didn'tmake?
(14:18):
Is there a creative project thatdidn't work out the way you
thought it was going to workout?
Did somebody say something toyou at church or at an art guild
meeting or, you know, just inyour booth the other day at a
show?
Did somebody say something thatthat really threw your all threw
you off?
And boy, your imagination justtook that and it started running
(14:39):
in a direction that you know, asyou start thinking about it
right now, you know that that isnot God's best.
One of the things I teach allthe time, you know, in the
foundation scores at thementoring program here on the
podcast, I'm talking about allthe time.
When we capture our thoughts,when we take our thoughts
captive, like the Bible says,first question you ask is, does
(14:59):
that sound like Jesus?
Does that sound like Jesus?
But rarely, I mean, if you'rereally honest, rarely do people
do that.
Rarely will people beintentional enough to take their
thoughts captive.
In other words, what?
They just let the situationhappen, they let a fleshly
response happen, and then all ofa sudden they let their
(15:20):
imagination get pointed in thewrong way.
And listen, if you're like me,you know, before I really
started learning how to walk inthis, and listen, we're all
maturing in this as we walk withthe Lord.
I'm not perfect by any means.
But I'm just telling you, somethings I think that were just
meant to be passing situationsin our life for us to learn how
(15:40):
to maybe stand up, believe God,build some faith.
These things turned intothree-day, three-week,
three-month, three-yearsituations that we just let our
imagination build up all thesefalsehoods and these fears and
these anxieties in our life.
And they took us down thesespirals that God never ever
(16:01):
intended for us.
And what does the enemy tellyou?
The enemy tells you in themiddle of that, well, see, this
isn't God's plan for you.
You're not really supposed to bean artist, you're not really
supposed to be doing this, blah,blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah.
And none of that has anyrelation to the truth.
The only issue is you chose inthat moment to allow your
(16:21):
imagination and your heart tocome in faith with things that
God never intended for you.
So listen, I don't say that fromshame because I've walked
through the same thing in mylife.
But for the grace of God go I,even today, right?
I'm just saying if you don'tlearn to get intentional about
this, that will be, especiallyfor artists, that will be an
(16:45):
ongoing area that the enemy,like a lever inside of you that
he will pull every time in orderto get you to come out of
agreement with what God's gotfor you and get you delayed and
derailed and distracted from allthat God has designed you for.
Now, I love Philippians 4 13 inthe message.
All right, I love readingdifferent different versions.
(17:08):
And in the message, it saysthis, and this even brings out
brings out more.
It says, Whatever I am, whereverI am, I can make it through
anything in the one who makes mewho I am.
Oh, I'm gonna say that again.
And again, this is Philippians 413 in the message.
It says, Whatever I have andwherever I am, I can make it
(17:31):
through anything in the one whomakes me who I am.
In other words, what?
We're allowing ourselves and ourimagination to be anchored in
the truth of God's word.
We anchor our imagination in whoGod says we are, not in a fear
of what we might be missing orwhatever, right?
(17:52):
Our imagination is being givenby us, given, given to us by God
for us to see his beauty and tosee hope and to see possibility
of of what could be.
For it's the place that, youknow, in the Bible, there's a
couple of different words we seefor imagination in the Bible.
Yetzar and Yatzar.
One is kind of an internalimagination, uh, an internal
(18:15):
forming, and the other is kindof an external forming.
But the the idea of the wordimagination biblically is this
is this idea that it's a placeof forming.
It's a seed bed where things getuh planted and and brought forth
into fruit.
It's a you know, some some eventhink that that word, I've seen
in theologians that even in inStrom's Concordance talk about
(18:37):
this idea of a womb, that yourimagination is like a womb.
It's a place where where thingsare formed and brought into
maturity.
So this is the design of God,right?
This is the thing.
And so when when you realizethat, and I always say this,
kind of like gravity, right?
Gravity works whether you lovethe Lord or whether you don't,
(18:59):
right?
Gravity is just one of thoselaws that God put into place.
Uh, you get on the top of abuilding, you jump off barring a
miracle of the Lord, you'regonna go splat.
Why?
Because gravity works, right?
Well, your imagination and faithwork regardless of what you put
in your imagination or where youpoint your faith.
It just works.
(19:20):
Is your imagination and yourheart?
The Bible talks about your heartis the ground of your heart.
It's just designed to bringforth whatever you plant inside
of it.
And so this is why ourimagination, you've got to think
about it as a seed bed, as awomb, as as ground.
We've got to protect the thingsthat we are not only allowing to
(19:45):
be planted in our heart, butalso the things that we're
allowing ourselves to bring tofruit.
And if I just want to say this,if you're if you're noticing all
the time that, man, I'm justcatching myself all the time,
and I'm just down this road,this spiral of fear and anxiety
and all that kind of stuff, Ijust want to let you know
(20:05):
through the power of the HolySpirit and your intention, you
can stop that in Jesus' name.
You don't have to be tormentedwith all this imagination and
all this imagining andfear-based imagination that is
taking you away from the thingsthat God has for you.
In that moment, when you findyourself, when you catch it,
when you take that thoughtcaptive, like the Bible says,
(20:28):
you can point yourself and youcan say, nope, I know that this
is not God's best for me.
I'm gonna choose, Holy Spirit,I'm choosing right now to focus
on what you say, to focus onyour abundance, to focus on your
blessing, to focus on thepromises and plans that you have
for my life, to focus on yourpromise as provider and
(20:49):
protector and keeper of me, tofocus on the peace that you
bring.
Father, I know that I've got allthis stuff going on right now,
but I'm not gonna allow myimagination to just go down here
and build this whole movie aboutwhat might happen in the worst
case scenario.
I'm stopping right now and I'mchoosing to turn my imagination,
(21:11):
to turn my words, to turn theeyes of my heart, to turn, to
turn all of that toward you andtoward what your word says.
And I'm gonna come intoagreement, out of agreement with
the stuff the enemy's trying tobring up in my life, and into
agreement with the truth of yourword.
I'm gonna, you know, you canbegin to, because you can't
(21:31):
here's a cool thing.
Your brain can't focus on twothings at once.
You can't imagine a goodscenario and a bad scenario at
once.
And so what can you do?
You can stop and in that momentbegin to declare the word of
God.
Begin to declare the promises ofGod and begin to envision what
(21:52):
does it look like for that to betrue in my life?
What would it look like in thissituation if I was walking in
God's abundance?
What would it look like if myart was being a blessing in the
lives of others?
What would it look like if allthe promises that God has toward
me that are yes and amen in hisword?
What would it look like if allof those things were happening?
(22:14):
What would it look like if thebest case scenario happened?
Did you know that you can youcan literally stop and you can
close your eyes and you can turntoward those things and begin to
intentionally cultivate thosethings in your mind?
And guess what will happen?
Just like your heart will attachuh fear to negative
(22:35):
imaginations, your heart willbegin to rise up in faith and
joy and peace when you begin touse your imagination as a place
to see the purposes and plansthat God has for you.
And listen, that's not some newage mumbo jumbo.
That's the way that God designedyour heart and your mind to
work.
Your imagination, listen,friend, your imagination was
(22:58):
never designed to be this stagefor fear to be acting out the
play of fear and anxiety andworry in your life all the time.
It was designed to be asanctuary for faith, a canvas
for faith where God and youtogether could paint the
pictures that He has for you andthe plans that He has for you.
(23:19):
That's the purpose.
Now, I want to keep moving here.
1 Corinthians 12, 18.
I love in the NASB, this is oneof the things that that you can
really focus on when the enemystarts to attack your uniqueness
as an artist.
Because here's the thing infact, this whole this whole
episode started with me wantingto talk about uniqueness as an
(23:41):
artist, but I just felt the Lordkind of lead me in this
direction today because one ofthe biggest things that is a
barrier to your uniqueness hasnothing to do with your artistic
skill or perspective or anythinglike that, but it's your
feelings of inadequacy towardbelieving for and respecting and
loving and cultivating theunique things that God has put
(24:04):
inside of you.
I guarantee you, if this is notan area that you're really
growing in, I guarantee you thatthere's areas in your life that
God is trying to celebrate,areas of uniqueness in your life
artistically that God's tryingto bring up in and through you.
But fear and anxiety and thiswhole imagination thing pointing
in the wrong direction, itcontinues to psych you out,
(24:28):
believing that what you have isnot worth it, that you're not
good enough, that you'll neverbe good enough, that that fourth
grade teacher, that second gradeart project, that college
professor, that unbeknowingfamily member, they said
something stupid, but it wasn'tstupid to you.
It hurt at the time, and it gotlodged in your heart.
And because you didn't know whatto do with it at that time, the
(24:49):
enemy's been using that thingfor years and years and years to
point your imagination in the inthe direction of fear and
anxiety and inadequacy andself-sabotage, and things are
never gonna work out.
And that's been all that you canimagine all these years.
I want to tell you this, thisfriend, 1 Corinthians 12, 18, it
(25:10):
says this God has placed themembers, each one of them, in
the body just as he desired.
And he goes on in that sectiontalking about the uniqueness
that that he's designed us with.
And I want to tell you the thingthat you think is weird, the
thing that you think is is nogood, the thing that you're
trying to downplay, the thingthat you think you make makes
(25:31):
you too unique is the very thingthat God wants to bring up
inside of you and make a uniquecelebration in your life, not
only to bring you joy andfulfillment, but to also be a
unique expression of Him withinthe body of Christ.
Why?
So that the fullness of hisnature can be released, so that
(25:52):
somebody that needs yourexpression, God through you can
experience the full nature ofGod through what it is that you
do.
Listen, the truth is that youruniqueness is intentional by
God, and it's essential for hiswork here on the earth.
But what?
(26:13):
Again, the enemy wants to twistyour imagination to make you
compare yourself to one another,to make you, you know, think
that you're not good enough,you're not as far along as them,
you're not as successful asthem, you don't have as many
Instagram clicks as them, asmany sales as them, whatever.
But listen, God wants to redeemthat place of uniqueness.
And if there's woundednessaround it, that place of
(26:35):
woundedness, in order to makethat the place that you
celebrate and to let the Lorduse that place of deepest
woundedness as the place ofdeepest healing and
reconciliation and restorationin the lives of others.
Listen, when you start torealize that, you start
realizing the truth of thatscripture that says all things
(26:55):
work together for good to thosewho love God and are called
according to his purpose, thatmy life and your life are
literally one brushstroke, anessential part of the
masterpiece that God is paintingin the earth right now.
But if you and I are continuallyallowing our imagination to
convince us otherwise, we arethe ones that are blocking what
(27:18):
God wants to do inside our lifeand through our life.
Listen, this is never more, Idon't know, uh, at the front of
my mind.
And it's it's never more astruggle in my life than when
I'm in a season of waiting.
And when I'm in a season wherethings are, you know, kind of
(27:39):
like Paul said, I'm in a seasonof plenty or I'm in a season of
lack, I'm in a season of uh, youknow, abundance and a season of
not quite enough.
I'm imprisoned or I'm free, youknow.
Those seasons, I don't knowabout you, but for me, it's kind
of almost easier to try tofigure out what to do in the
Lord if you're in a season ofhot or cold, black or white, one
(28:01):
or the other, right?
But it's in those seasons, whichis much of our life, right?
We're not always walking inthings.
We're usually walking on the wayto something or away from
something, right?
We're in these seasons ofwaiting.
And I didn't can I just tell youthat is a season, that is a
time, a prime time where theenemy wants to take advantage of
(28:23):
you in this area of yourimagination.
Because when when when we'rewalking in mystery, your brain
and and your your heart, thedesires of your heart, you're
you're you're trying to makesense of what's going on.
And can I just tell you, unlessyou are anchoring your heart in
(28:48):
the truth of God's word, even inthe middle of the mystery, the
enemy is more than happy to giveyou a clear, a crystal clear
vision to focus on in the middlewhen when things aren't going,
when things aren't really clearin your life.
He will tell you exactly what isgoing on.
And you know what it is?
Things are falling apart.
(29:09):
Things are over for you.
You're too old, you you've lostit, you missed that opportunity,
it's gonna be bad, it's gonna beHe will just create that crystal
clear picture.
And I'm telling you, the onlyway that you can start growing
in this is realizing that theseseeds, these seasons of waiting
can either be a breeding groundfor the enemy or they can be a
(29:33):
proving ground for maturity inthe Lord.
James 1 4 says this letendurance all right, some
versions say patience, but Ilove that word.
Let endurance have its perfectresult in you so that what you
may be perfect, complete, andlacking nothing.
(29:54):
In other words, what?
You gotta be patient, you gottalearn to wait well.
You've got to learn to endurewell.
In the middle of when thingsdon't make sense, you've got to
learn that it is yourresponsibility and my
responsibility to take hold ofthe promises of God and
intentionally point ourimagination in the direction
(30:17):
that it was designed so thatwhy?
Our imagination begins tocultivate the purposes and plans
of God in our internal life sothat they can manifest in our
external life.
That's how the kingdom of Godworks.
That's how God designed thewhole thing.
That's how it works.
Nothing happens in the externalbefore it happens in the
(30:38):
internal.
And I don't know about you,friend.
I I just turned 52 uh last week,had my birthday.
Woo-hoo.
You know, I've just decidedthough, this at this stage of my
life, I'm done.
I'm done with allowing the enemyto be to just have free reign in
my heart and mind and createwhatever pictures and feelings
(31:00):
and and and desires and and andoutcomes that he wants to
create.
I am endeavoring in my heart tostay connected with the Lord and
to sow the word of God in mylife so that my imagination
becomes a place wherepossibility and where faith and
where the promises of God arebeing cultivated every day.
(31:21):
Listen, as I'm beginning to kindof bring this thing into a
landing, I want to remind you,Matthew 6, 31 through 33.
It says this in the amplified,don't worry then, for your
father knows exactly what youneed in all these things.
But first and most importantly,seek his kingdom and his
righteousness in what?
(31:41):
All these things will be addedunto you.
What about Philippians 4.19?
Right, just a little bit beyondwhat we were just reading.
It says, And my God will supplyall your needs according to his
riches and glory in ChristJesus.
So again, what?
When things are not working out,when we're in a season of
mystery, when we're in a seasonof waiting, when we're in a
(32:02):
season that we don't understand,the waiting is where imagination
can either fuel faith or e orfuel fear or either form faith.
I'm gonna say that again.
The waiting is where theimagination can either fuel fear
or form faith.
(32:24):
So, my friend, I want to justtake this moment as we end today
and ask you to think about aspecific situation in your life
right now.
And you can use this when anywhen any kind of worry begins to
arise.
But right now, is there asituation if you just close your
eyes for a second, let your letyourself think about, let the
(32:45):
Holy Spirit speak to you.
Is there a situation right nowin your life where you are
allowing your imagination tofuel fear?
To fuel fear.
Just ask him right now, Lord, isis there is there a situation in
my life where I've been allowingmy imagination to fuel fear?
(33:07):
And then ask him, say, say, HolySpirit, what would it look like
for you?
What scripture do you want toshow me right now that I could
attach my faith to so that myimagination could begin to form
faith toward the things that youhave towards me?
(33:27):
Invite the Holy Spirit rightnow.
Say, Holy Spirit, would you giveme a picture of what that looks
like?
Would you begin to show me whatyou know provision looks like in
this or breakthrough looks likein this situation?
Or what is you know, a situationwhere I'm I'm feeling like I
can't see the next step.
What does it look like accordingto your word and according
according to how you design me?
(33:47):
What does it look like to walkin the abundant life that you've
that you've promised me?
And just begin to allow him toinvade your imagination and
begin to show you and begin tospeak to you what things could
look like and do look like inthe realm of faith.
And you know, you can just beginto pray in that in that moment.
(34:09):
God, thank you that you'veplaced me in this time, in this
place with these gifts for sucha time as this.
Thank you that even though Ican't see clearly in the
natural, Lord, I can see clearlywith eyes of faith.
Can I just tell you that?
You may not be able to seeclearly in the natural, but you
can absolutely see clearly inthe in the supernatural by
(34:30):
faith.
And when you begin to seeclearly in faith in the
supernatural, that's when you'regonna begin to walk in more
clarity in the natural becauseyou're gonna be forming with God
the things in the spirit thatare gonna eventually show up in
the natural.
(34:50):
Man, that's when things getexciting.
So listen, like just abouteverything I talk to you about
here on the podcast, this is oneof those things, and you say,
mate, you always say this.
Well, it's cause it's true.
This is one of those things thatGod's not going to do to you,
he's gonna do with you.
As you turn your heart and yourfaith toward him, begin to
(35:15):
intentionally sow his promisesin your heart, begin to
intentionally cultivate hispresence in your life.
That's how this process getsstronger and stronger and
stronger.
And listen, when you do that,when you start cultivating that
in the garden of your heart, allthat other stuff, all those
lesser ideas that the enemy'strying to plant, that the
(35:36):
enemy's trying to flame inflamein your life, those things just
move to the side.
Why?
Because you're allowing faith togrow in the things that God has
for you.
Listen, my friend, I want topray for you right now because I
believe that there's grace foryou.
If you're watching this, ifyou're listening to this, I
don't believe it's by chance.
I believe that God directs oursteps.
(35:57):
He orders the steps of therighteous.
And you're here for such a timeas this right now to hear this
message, but not just to hearit, let it go one in out one in
one ear and out the other, butto actually do something about
it.
So, Holy Spirit, I thank youright now that you brought my
friend to this YouTube channel,to this podcast episode, to
wherever it is that they'reencountering this message.
(36:18):
Lord, I thank you that this is amoment for them.
It's a moment where they get tochoose.
And Holy Spirit, I pray that youwould well up inside of them
right now, that you would beginto draw them with a new passion
and in a new way and with a newvision toward all the things
that you have for them.
So that comparison and fear andanxiety and worry could decrease
(36:40):
as faith and expectancy begin toincrease in their imagination
and in their heart as they beginto cultivate this these things
with you.
And I thank you, God, that whenwe do that, Lord, you're
faithful.
You don't we don't ask for breadand you give us a stone.
Lord, you said seek you andyou'll and we'll find you.
(37:01):
And so, Lord, we're choosingtoday to seek you in our
imagination, to seek you in ourinternal thoughts, to seek you
in the things that we're seeingand believing for, believing
that all things are workingtogether for for good, believing
that you have plans and purposesfor us that are far beyond what
we could ever ask or imagine.
(37:22):
Release grace, God, now to myfriend as they're listening, as
they begin to lean into this.
Let this be their new reality inChrist.
We thank you for that, God, inJesus' name.
Amen.
Amen.
Hey, listen, if this is an areathat you want to grow in, uh,
this is an area, let me justsay, it's the area of my life
that I'm probably the mostpassionate about.
(37:43):
And the reason I'm mostpassionate about is because the
reason that I most struggledwith, the thing that I most
struggle with in my life, that'swhy I started mentoring artists
years ago.
That's why I wrote Unlocking theHeart of the Artists is my story
of walking out of all this andwalking into the things that God
has for me.
And it's the reason that Idesigned the Created to Thrive
Foundations course.
(38:04):
It's a nine-week course.
Hundreds and hundreds of artistsall over the world are walking
through it right now, andthey're seeing God do the things
that I've been talking abouthere on this episode today, of
learning how to change yourinternal world out of agreement
with the with the lies of theenemy and out of your experience
and into alignment with thetruth of God's word.
(38:24):
Listen, if you if you don't knowhow to do that, if you've never
been taught how to do that, it'sit's not, you know, something
that we just know how to do uh,you know, on our own in our own
ways.
And it's something maybe, youknow, unfortunately, a lot of
churches don't teach this.
But actually, renewing your mindis a one way that the Bible says
that you experiencetransformation in your life.
The way your life getstransformed is not by hoping for
(38:47):
it or praying for it or beggingGod for it.
The way your life getstransformed, the Bible said, is
through the renewing of yourmind.
And the reason I developed thetransformation and the
foundations course is so thattransformation could be easy for
artists just like you.
And if you'll trust me and uhand become a part of this
foundations course, enroll in ittoday, we would love to walk you
(39:10):
through this process oftransformation so that you can
start seeing uh your life changeand transform into everything
that God's got for it accordingto his word.
You can find all the informationright here uh here in this
episode in the show notes.
And you can become enrolled justas soon as you click on that
button.
You can get in there and joinour community and uh start
(39:31):
asking me questions.
But more than that, you just gothrough the course as we've
designed it and allow others tojoin you on the way and
encourage you on the long on theway and start seeing that
transformation show up in yourlife.
All right.
Listen, my friend, I love you.
It's a joy for me every week tocome and and share with you the
things that I'm sharing withyou, but it doesn't mean
(39:51):
anything unless you do somethingwith it, unless you implement
and enrolling in the foundationscourse and using the strategies
that I'm talking about everyweek.
That's the way you implement.
All right.
Listen, I love you.
Thank you so much for being herewith me.
Make sure that you'resubscribed, make sure you
follow.
Please, if you would, sharethese videos, these podcast
episodes with others that youknow would be a be blessed by
(40:14):
them.
And until next time, remember,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
thrive in everything that God'scalled you to do as an artist in
his kingdom.
(40:34):
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 to join
us, and it's a great way to stayconnected.
(40:55):
All right, love you.
Bye.
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