Walking in Grace vs Guilt as an Artist

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Fear can paralyze Christian artists, trapping them in a destructive pendulum swing between two extremes: the fear that God won't provide financially on one side, and the fear that success will breed pride and damage their relationship with God on the other. This powerful episode tackles this common struggle head-on, offering liberating truth for creatives caught in this cycle.

Drawing from a thoughtful question submitted by a Foundations Course participant, Matt reveals how the enemy strategically uses this pendulum to keep believers stuck, perpetually swinging between scarcity mentality and success anxiety. The solution? Understanding the profound difference between fear-based religion and grace-filled relationship with the Father.

When we recognize that fear drives while the Holy Spirit invites, everything changes. Matt unpacks God's original intention for His children to walk in abundance in every area—unlimited relationship with Him, hearing His voice, walking in authority, and living aligned with His purpose. This wasn't just the design before the Fall; it's what Jesus died to restore us to.

The posture of our hearts shouldn't be fear but sonship—knowing we are redeemed children, joint heirs with Christ, and co-laborers with the Holy Spirit. As William Booth said, "I'm not waiting on a move of God, I am a move of God." When we truly embrace Jesus' words that "it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom," we realize that every blessing comes solely by His grace. This recognition transforms how we create, succeed, and live.

Ready to break free from the fear pendulum and walk confidently in your artistic calling? Click the link to join our transformational Foundations Course and discover how Kingdom thinking can revolutionize your creative journey.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Thriving Christian Artist, the
podcast, where we hope youconnect with God to bust through
the roadblocks that have heldyou back for years, create the
work you love and really livethe life you know.
God created you to live as anartist in His kingdom.
I'm Matt Tama, your host.
Let's get started.
Hey, my friends, super gladthat you're with me today.

(00:24):
I had a great question from aparticipant in our foundations
course the other day that Ithought wow, I bet a lot of
people are struggling with thisand I wanted to really create
this as a resource for you soyou can understand the real
difference that a healthyunderstanding in the kingdom can
really make in your life.
The person's question was this,and I'll just read it verbatim.

(00:46):
It says hey, matt, I've had alot of hindrances in my life as
far as seeing success in theirart business, and she was
starting to understand that Godhad started to show her where
some of that root of hindrancewas coming from, and it was
really based on a lot of fear inher life, and so she said most
of my fear is that God won'tprovide for me financially in

(01:07):
abundant ways.
In addition to that, sometimesI feel that if I break free from
those fears and I do experience, you know, overflowing
financial abundance in my life,she starts worrying that she'll
become proud and that she'lldeeply damage her relationship
with the Lord, which is the mostimportant thing in her life.
And so she's like I'm justcontinually kind of back and

(01:27):
forth, trying to break out ofthis, trying to figure out where
the healthy place is to walk inthis in your life.
And she was just asking my wife, tanya and I, how have you guys
managed this over the years?
Realizing that you guys haveexperienced a lot of success in
your life, it seems.
But how are you walking in thisin a way that does not elevate

(01:49):
the things that you'veaccomplished or the things that
you've created in life butreally, you know, elevates your
relationship with the Lord andman?
I so appreciate that, because Iknow a lot of people struggle
with that whole deal.
And here's one thing I'velearned, I guess, just to start
out struggle with that wholedeal.
And here's one thing I'velearned, I guess, just to start
out the enemy always wants youto be on this pendulum of one

(02:12):
side to the other, right, oneside to the extreme, other side,
on one side, you know, justlike in this situation, he's
saying you'll never haveanything, financial abundance is
greed, you're not supposed tobe financially abundant and all
that.
And so it gets you into allthis fear mongering, like you
can never have anything.
Then on the other side, whenyou do, you know, start
experiencing the blessing of God, the favor of God, walking in
the things that he's called youto, he starts sowing fear over

(02:36):
there, saying you're so selfishand this is greedy, and you're
going to, you know, ruin yourrelationship with God.
And see you, you weren't really, you know, committed to your
relationship with him anyway,and he loves keeping us on this
pendulum back and forth, backand forth.
And so I think it's just superimportant that you realize if

(02:56):
you are more concerned aboutthis sort of fear-based
understanding of the blessingsand benefits of walking in the
kingdom, if you're moreconcerned about the dangers and
the excesses of pride, then youare the empowerment of God's
graciousness and the blessingsand benefits that he brings you

(03:18):
in your life.
I can just about guarantee thatin your life you've probably
been more influenced byfear-based religion than you
have grace-filled relationshipwith the Father.
That's just.
I've seen that in my own life.
I've seen that in the lives ofthousands of people that I've
had the great pleasure ofmentoring and walking with in my

(03:42):
life, you have to startrealizing that the reason we
renew our mind, the reason whywe want to be in God's word and
learn to hear his voice andlearn to walk in his ways, is so
that our identity, on asubconscious level, our heart
and mind, are influenced andshaped not by our experience,

(04:02):
not by the lies of the enemy,not by the opinions of others or
what we've gone through in ourlife, but they are to be shaped
by the word of God and by whatwe know about the nature of God
from his word.
One of the most importantthings that you can start doing
in your life is when thoughtscome into your head like is this

(04:23):
the Lord or is this not Allthis fear-based stuff?
See, fear drives right.
Fear drives you to you.
Better, do this, you're goingto miss it.
Fomo, all that the Holy Spiritis always about invitation,
right?
He wants to invite you intothis beautiful reality of the
kingdom that Jesus died torestore us to.

(04:43):
This was always God's originalintention that we would walk in
the fullness of His design forus, which was abundance in every
area, unlimited relationshipwith Him, hearing His voice,
walking in authority, walking inalignment with His design and
purpose and assignment for ourlife.
That's always been the plan ofGod and the plan of the enemy

(05:08):
has always been to what Deceiveus, so that we don't walk in
that reality, so that we try tofigure out things ourselves
based on what we can, you know,the knowledge of good and evil.
Right, the tree of theknowledge of good and evil,
rather than receiving everythingby faith, because of God's
grace, in the context of alife-giving relationship with

(05:29):
the Father.
That's the whole idea ofwalking in the blessing and
benefits of the kingdom.
That's the essence of whatGod's trying to bring into our
life.
Now, does God want us over onthe excesses?
No, and certainly, you know.
Do we need heart checks fromtime to time?
Absolutely, Absolutely.
God will, you know, alwaysbring opportunities for you to

(05:52):
check your heart, for you toexamine your motives, for you to
understand and ask yourself hey, am I really in this for the
right reasons?
Am I trusting in the gifts morethan I am the giver?
Am I trusting in the benefitsand the blessings more than I am
the blesser and the one whogives us.
Of course he's going to give usopportunities for that.

(06:12):
But listen, fear is never to bethe posture of your heart.
As a person walking in thekingdom, the posture of our
heart is what I'm a son, I'm adaughter, I'm redeemed, I'm
walking by God's grace.
I'm a son, I'm a joint heirwith Jesus, I'm a co-laborer
with the Holy Spirit in thisearth, in my generation, in this

(06:34):
time, to see the kingdom of Godnot only manifested in me but
through me, so that I'm not youknow, as I believe.
It was William Booth, thefounder of the Salvation Army.
He said I'm not waiting on amove of God, I am a move of God.
Right, that's the position ofour heart, not this fear-based
thing of I don't want to miss it, I don't want to mess up God

(06:54):
and I don't want to mess up mylife and all this stuff that the
enemy tries to put on you.
The position of our heart issonship.
The position of our heart isunconditional love and walking
in boldness.
Listen, when you truly embracethis idea that we find in Luke
12, that, hey, jesus said it'sthe Father's good pleasure to

(07:16):
give you the kingdom, and whenyou recognize that it's solely
100% by his grace that you and Ieven have the opportunity to
walk in his benefits andblessings as sons and daughters
in the kingdom.
When you start understandingthat and you start realizing
that all the gifts that he'sgiven you are for your benefit

(07:38):
and for the benefit of his fameand his glory and for his
kingdom to be made manifest andpropagated in the earth, when
you understand that man, yourealize hey, this is God's story
.
I'm just here by his grace.
I got nothing to be pridefulabout, right, I'm only here
because Jesus made a way for meto be adopted back into the

(08:02):
family of God, redeemed,reconciled and restored into the
fullness of who God created youto be.
Listen, when you start walkingin that, renewing your mind to
that fact, all of a sudden, thelies of the enemy and the grip
that he has on your heart andmind, that wants to drag you
into fear and comparison andshame with regard to walking in

(08:24):
the fullness of what God's gotfor you.
When you get that, all of asudden, everything, everything
changes.
See, that's the transformativebeauty of God's grace.
Right, that's the heart of thekingdom.
And I like to sum it up thisway Grace is Not guilt should
govern how we see God's generousgifts.

(08:48):
As you renew your mind, as youget with Jesus, as you spend
time in his presence, allow theHoly Spirit to renew your heart,
transform you from the insideout and allow you to walk in
everything without apology, thatGod designed for you from the
very foundation of the earth.
Listen, my friend, that isGod's plan for living.

(09:10):
I love you.
Join me again right here andI'll see you soon.
Bye, hey, real quick, before yougo, if you have not registered
for the foundations course yet,I want to encourage you to do
that.
Messages just like this aboutrenewing your heart and mind,
allowing God to heal the brokenplaces in your heart and bring

(09:30):
you into the fullness of whathe's called you to be as an
artist Regardless, if you'retrying to make money with your
art, do it as a ministry, justdo it as a hobby that blesses
your life.
Listen, the Foundations Courseis the most transformational
course for artists who want tocombine their faith journey with
their creative journey.
And I've got a special for youright here in the link that's in

(09:52):
the podcast description.
Click that.
Join us inside Foundations andI can't wait to see what God
does in your life inside thistransformative community.
Bye, thank you.