October 28, 2025 • 21 mins
What if you’re not behind at all—but right on time for what you were made to carry? We take a hard look at slow seasons and flip the script: delay isn’t punishment, it’s purposeful formation. Through real stories, scripture, and practical reflection, we explore four hidden purposes behind God’s timing that build resilient, joy-filled creative lives.
First, we talk about capacity. Strength comes before spotlight, and endurance widens the heart to hold influence, relationships, and resources without cracking under pressure. James 1 becomes a lens for growth that happens on the inside long before it shows on the outside. Then we sit with protection. Not every open door is meant for you. Some “no’s” are shields in disguise, sparing you from opportunities that look right but would fracture your focus or outpace your maturity.
Next, we dive into alignment. When work becomes worship, striving gives way to flow. We share the moment everything shifted—repenting of copycat strategies and returning to the specific path God outlined. Colossians 3:23 reframes creative practice as an offering, and momentum follows clarity. Finally, we step back to see the larger weave. Romans 8:28 and Ephesians 2:10 ground the conviction that your story is threaded into something bigger and better than personal success. You’re invited to cooperate, not perform; to notice what the Father is doing and join Him step by step.
If you’ve been watching the clock, ready to quit, this conversation offers a gentler measure of progress: peace, presence, and faithful practice. You’ll leave with reflection prompts to spot development in past “delays,” language to discern real God-doors, and a renewed desire to create with God, not just for applause. If this spoke to you, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs the reframing, and leave a review with the one insight you’re taking into your studio this week.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
What if you're not behind in your creative journey?
In other words, what feels likeGod's delays?
What if those are actually agift from God and actually a
shortcut to his very best planfor your life?
Well, you know, I've seen thatplay out in my own creative
journey and in the lives ofhundreds of artists that I've
mentored over the years.
But when you really start tounderstand what God is doing in
the waiting, everything changes.
(00:21):
Listen, today I'm going to showyou four hidden purposes behind
God's delays.
And by the end, you're going tobe thanking the Lord for these
slow seasons in your life.
Well, hey, friend, I'm MattTommy.
Super glad that you're here.
Listen, I want you to get thisreally down deep today.
What feels like God maybe tryingto stall you is not what's
happening right now.
When God is delaying yourjourney and when it seems like
(00:43):
it's taken a little bit longer,it's actually because God is
strengthening you on the inside.
See, God's heart behind thetiming of our journey that we
don't always understand is notabout stalling you and making
you wait just for the sake ofwaiting.
It's actually about walking youthrough a process that is
enlarging your capacity to beable to hold more influence and
(01:03):
more opportunity, moreresources, more relationships.
He's forming inside of you thecharacter that it takes to be
able to walk in the incrediblepromises and abundant life that
He has already planned for youbefore you were ever born.
Now, you know, I love to jumpinto scripture and in James 1, 2
through 4 in the New Living, Ilove the way it says this.
It says, Dear brothers andsisters, when troubles of any
(01:25):
kind come your way, right?
Anybody relate troubles of anykind, delays, things take
longer.
When they come your way,consider it an opportunity for
great joy.
For you know that when yourfaith is tested, your endurance
has a chance to grow.
So let it grow.
I love that, right?
So just let it grow.
For when your endurance is fullydeveloped, you will be perfect
(01:49):
and need nothing.
You'll be you'll be complete.
Listen, I love that.
Again, when things are taking alittle bit longer, when we don't
understand it, our endurance isbeing fully developed.
Our inner capacity to be able tohold and experience and walk in
everything that God has for usis being expanded and is being
fully realized inside of us.
(02:11):
See, this is a huge kingdomprinciple.
Everything that happensexternally starts internally in
the kingdom.
And so these seasons of delayare not wasted times.
See, God's not always just abouttaking you and me to the next
level and getting us to the nextaccomplishment or the next prize
or the next victory, the nextdestination.
(02:32):
His purpose for us in our lifeis yes, that we'd walk in
abundant life, we'd thrive ineverything that God has for us,
but his purpose is not that weget to the destination, is that
we can stay in the places thathe takes us.
And that is a whole differentconversation and why some things
take a little bit longer thanwe'd like.
(02:53):
Paul even reinforces this inGalatians 6 9.
And again, I love it.
It says, Let us not become wearyin doing good.
For the proper time we will reapa harvest if what?
If we don't give up.
Now, what is that proper time?
Well, I don't know about you,but I'm always looking at my
watch.
I'm like, the time is now,right?
I'm ready to step into it.
I'm ready to walk in everythingthat God's got for me.
(03:15):
I've got a dream, I've got apassion, I want to walk in that.
But God's like, no, no, no.
Listen, Matt, I love you.
I've created good things foryou, but I love you too much to
allow you to step into thosethings in a timing that's too
early.
Why?
Because the enemy is alwayslooking around for opportunities
to destroy us and distract usand deny us.
(03:36):
But God is looking foropportunities to dig deep inside
of us and prepare our internalnature, our internal person to
be able to walk in and stay inand flourish in every good thing
that God has for us.
Listen, these seasons ofwaiting, the first thing I want
you to get today is that they'realmost like weight training for
your soul.
(03:56):
All right.
Sometimes at first they're like,oh, this is this is this is
hard.
This doesn't feel good.
This is a little bituncomfortable.
But I'm telling you, when youchoose to trust God in the
middle of these things that aretaking a little bit longer than
you think, instead of gettingfrustrated, everything changes.
Your perspective begins tochange.
And what's happening little bylittle, day after day, is what?
(04:16):
You're getting stronger.
You're getting stronger, andyou're building that spiritual
muscle that God needs to be atwork and active and healthy
inside of you so that again, youcan walk in the good plans that
He's prepared for you.
So I want to encourage you thisweek, take five minutes and
think about, you know, in thisseason of maybe delay that's
taking a little bit longer.
What is it that you think Godmight be developing inside of
(04:40):
you?
What character trait?
What is he trying to teach you?
What's he trying to teach you tolearn to steward?
Uh, and maybe even look back atyour life.
I know I've done this before.
This is super helpful.
Look at seasons of your lifethat you thought, wow, I thought
that was a delay.
But man, when I look at it andactually examine what God did in
that, wow, it was super, superfruitful.
(05:01):
Maybe go back and look over thelast five or 10 years and see if
you can find a pattern in whatlooked like delay, but it was
actually God's development.
And here's the cool part.
In just a few minutes, I'm goingto be sharing with you why some
of those things that seem likedelays might actually be God
protecting you from somethingthat you didn't even see coming.
Hey, and by the way, if this isresonating with you today, I
(05:23):
want to make sure that you hitthe subscribe button so you
don't ever miss any of the greatcontent that I'm producing right
here on the Thriving ChristianArtist, where I'm helping
artists just like you gainclarity, confidence, and
creative freedom in Christ.
So, number two is all about Godprotecting us from opportunities
that may seem like Him, but arenot really.
Not every open door is God'sopen door for your next step.
(05:47):
And I know that that can beconfusing and even a little bit
frustrating sometimes because,you know, I love to read
scripture like Proverbs 16, 9that talks about, you know, in
his heart, a man plans his way,the Lord orders his step.
I've taught for years, you know,and everything that I do that
God has a place for us,co-laboring and dreaming with
him, stepping out in faith andand walking and believing that
(06:08):
he's gonna guide us as we walk.
And that is absolutely true.
But then you also read ascripture in Proverbs as well,
like Proverbs 19, 21, that says,Many are the plans in the in a
man's heart, in a person'sheart, but it's the Lord's
purpose that prevails.
And so there's this tension thatwe walk in in the kingdom.
That that's a good tension,right?
It's not a stressful or anxioustension, but you just have to
(06:31):
realize that not every open dooris a God door, and not every
setback is actually God tryingto, you know, hurt you.
And he's never trying to hurtus.
He's a good father.
He delights to give good giftsto his children.
And so sometimes those setbacksare actually his divine
protection.
I don't know about you, but Ican look back at so many things
(06:51):
in my life that at the time Iwas praying for.
I want to get in that show, Iwant to make this sale, I want
to have that person buy thiscommission, I want to get that
studio or this next opportunityfor my art.
And it didn't work out.
And man, I banged on the doorand I was praying for it, and I
was like, I mean, but it didn'twork out back in 2009, 2010,
(07:14):
when God moved us from Atlantato Asheville, North Carolina.
I really thought in my heartthat because God had given me
supernaturally an art gallery inAtlanta, that He was going to do
the same thing when we got toAsheville.
And so I found a building.
Man, I was in faith for it.
I started believing.
I started literally gatheringartists to pray in this
(07:34):
building.
I'd go down and prophesy overthat building.
Man, I was like, this is mybuilding.
I'm receiving it by faith.
I mean, I'm I'm just trying towalk in everything that I
believe that God had for meaccording to what he had done in
the past and according to what Iwas feeling in my heart.
But after about a year of that,you know what the Lord told me?
He said, Matt, I need you to godown by the river to where this,
(07:56):
where this uh building was.
And he said, I need you to givethis building to me.
And he said, You build thepeople and I'll build the
building.
And he actually had meprophetically take a piece of
rock that was a broken part ofthe foundation and from that
building and throw it in theriver, just as this sort of sort
of release to him.
And you know, I was reallyfrustrated with that.
(08:18):
I have to say, I was like, God,this is not the plan that I had
for my life.
I thought that, you know, youdid it once, you're gonna do it
again.
But had we gotten that building,it would have completely
overwhelmed me.
It would have set back what Godwas trying to do in my life.
It would have been a focus atthat time that was not the focus
that God had for me.
But listen, in my heart ofhearts and to the best of my
(08:40):
ability, I believed that thatbuilding was the next step.
But what?
God knew better.
He was protecting me fromsomething that was not a bad
thing necessarily, but it wasn'tthe best thing that he had for
me.
You know, you think aboutJoseph.
I mean, all the delays that hehad.
I mean, he's, you know, betrayedby his brother and he's in the
(09:00):
pit and he's going through allof this stuff.
But what?
He had to walk through thoseseasons of preparation in order
to walk in everything that Godhad for him and promised for him
in the palace.
And so I know, my friend,listen, I I've been through it
just like you do.
When we walk through theseseasons, we don't realize many
(09:20):
times that these are seasons ofrefinement, these are seasons of
preparation, these are seasonsof protection that God is
keeping us and not allowing usto walk in the thing that we are
fully convinced is the nextthing, in order for us to be
able to be protected andprepared for the really great
thing that God has for us.
(09:40):
And I'm just telling you, if wecan, if we can really allow our
heart to trust the Lord in themiddle of these things, it
changes everything and it allowsyou to walk in a level of peace
that's striving and banging onthe door trying to get it to
open, that that will never everbring you in your life as an
artist.
(10:01):
All right.
So the third way that God usesthese seasons that seem like
delay is that He's using theseto align our heart with His.
Now I want to I want to pausefor a second and kind of share
something a little personal, alittle, a little stinging still
in my life.
I remember years ago when I wasstarting to build my art
business and I was starting toreally step out in faith and and
(10:22):
go after everything that God hadcalled me to do.
I knew that God had told me oneway to build my art business,
but you know, I I wanted to kindof help God out.
I don't know if you've ever feltlike that before and just like,
well, you know, God, everybodyelse is doing it like this, and
this kind of looks like what itmakes sense.
And what I felt like God wastelling me to do, uh, you know,
(10:42):
was not the way that everybodyelse was doing it.
And so, you know, I have to say,my heart was not like, I'm gonna
disobey God, but my heart waslike, I want to speed this up.
I want to get to the end, I wantto do the thing that God's
called me to do.
And so I started building mybusiness.
I started doing my art.
I started marketing my work andjust doing all the stuff like
(11:03):
everybody else was doing in away that made sense to the
world, right?
I think about that scripture.
There's a there's a way thatseems right under man, right?
That that's kind of how I was Iwas doing that.
And I and I was asking God tobless it in the middle of it.
But I remember specificallythere's a the show that I went
to up in Baltimore, a bigAmerican Craft Council show, big
(11:23):
show, expensive show.
I was expecting to make you knowa big amount of money and sell
my work and make all these greatconnections.
And honestly, by the end of theweekend, I had I didn't lose
money, thank goodness.
But it was one of thoseweekends, like, what is going
on?
And I had this come to Jesusmeeting on the way back, this
long drive back.
And I was like, God, what isgoing on?
(11:43):
Like you said that you wouldbless it if I gave it to you and
all that, you know, just all ofthis stuff.
And I remember the still smallvoice of the Lord being like,
uh, you want to talk about this?
I'm like, uh, okay.
And I remember him so gentlydrawing me back to what he'd
originally told me several yearsbefore about how he wanted me to
(12:05):
grow my business.
And man, as he began to do that,it it just you know, it was like
a knife to my heart in a goodway.
It was like, oh, yes, Lord, I'mI'm sorry.
And it was an opportunity torepent, right?
Because repent means change yourmind, right?
That's what the word means.
Change your mind, go in adifferent direction.
And the Lord gave me thisopportunity to change my mind,
(12:26):
come out of agreement with theway that I've been doing it, and
into alignment with his heartfor my art and for my business.
And listen, when I did that,that was a marker moment.
Everything changed.
My sales changed, opportunitieschanged, my art began to change.
Why?
Did God get in a good mood?
No, I just came into alignmentwith the good plans and purposes
(12:48):
that he had for me all along.
It makes me think of that verse.
I love it in Colossians 3.23 inthe New Living.
It says this work willingly atwhatever you do as though you
are working for the Lord ratherthan people.
In other words, instead oftrying to impress everybody,
instead of trying to do it theway the world says it makes
sense, instead of doing thethings that make sense to your
(13:11):
own mind or doing things for theaccolades, offer your work, your
art, whether you're doing it asa business or a hobby or as a
ministry or whatever, offer thatto the Lord.
Because here's the deal whenyour work creatively,
artistically, when it becomes uhworship instead of striving, in
other words, when you'restarting to create with God
(13:32):
instead of for applause and forsuccess and for all the things
that the world tells us that weneed, that's when the peace of
God begins to rule in yourheart.
That's when you can begin toalign with all the good things
that He has for you.
And that's when you get in thisdivine flow that you can't and I
can't manufacture on our own.
(13:53):
You can never manufacture theflow and momentum of the Holy
Spirit by just trying to do itby yourself.
It's only when you and I comeinto alignment with God's plans
and purposes for our life.
And sometimes, just face it, Ihave to face it too.
Sometimes the way God doesthings just does not make sense
to the natural mind.
So I just want to encourage you,my friend, if you're in one of
(14:15):
those seasons right now thatdoesn't make sense to the
natural mind and you're, youknow, kind of wailing around and
wallowing around and just like,I need this to make sense.
Listen, this is a greatopportunity for you just to get
with the Lord and say, Lord,even though this situation, this
season of my life does not makesense, even though, Lord, I
would love for this to be a lotfaster and a lot smoother and a
(14:37):
lot more linear than it is rightnow, Lord, I trust you that you
are working all things togetherfor my good because you love me
and you've called me accordingto your purposes.
And Lord, teach me by your HolySpirit and by your word how to
begin to align my heart withyours so that I can walk in
every good thing that you havefor me.
Okay, so the last thing I wantyou to remember is this God is
(15:00):
using these seasons of delay andthese seasons that take a little
bit longer as a way to weaveyour story into his story.
I don't know about you, but itis really very encouraging to me
to be able to sit back sometimesin prayer in my studio, just put
some music on and be like,Jesus, thank you that my story
(15:21):
is not just about me.
Thank you that I don't have tomake it all happen.
Lord, thank you that my successis not up to me, that the
getting my artwork is is is notout there is not up to me.
Lord, this is your story, andyou've called me to be a part of
it.
You know, I love I'm a basketmaker, I've I've been a weaver
for a lot of years, and the Lordshowed me many years ago that my
(15:42):
uh my artistic calling and andwhat I do artistically is really
a prophetic picture of what I doin ministry as well, and and
taking disparate parts andthings that don't seem like they
make sense and weaving them intobeautiful uh displays of God's
glory.
And I think about my life and Ithink about your life, and I
think about, you know, the firstway that God said he wanted to
(16:04):
reveal himself to humanity inGenesis 1 was as a creator,
right?
In the beginning, God created.
And I just I love to think ofGod as this master weaver who's
taking my story and your storyand every one of his sons and
daughters' stories and weavingthem together in ways that we
don't yet fully understand howit's all going to come out.
(16:25):
And part of us learning tocooperate with him in in our
life and and through our art isrealizing that even when things
don't make sense, even whenthey're taking a little bit more
time, we know, and what is it,Romans 8.28, right?
It says this, and we know thatall things, in all things, God
works for the good of those wholove him who have been called
(16:46):
according to his purpose.
So whether we understand it orwhether we don't, whether things
are taking too long, we think,or whether they're accelerated,
whether we're having moments ofbreakthrough, or whether we're
having moments that seem likewe're just hidden on the back
end uh of the pasture like Davidwas for a lot of years, you
know, we know that God is usingall of those seasons for our
(17:09):
good and for his glory.
We can also look in Ephesians2.10.
It says, For we are God'smasterpiece.
He has created us anew in ChristJesus.
Why?
So we can do the good works thathe planned for us long ago.
In other words, this is God'sidea.
This is God's story.
He's got great things plannedfor us.
We don't have to have thepressure of trying to do this
(17:31):
and figure this out and makethis happen on our own.
We just get to get up every dayand just do what Jesus said.
He said, I just do the thingsthat I see the Father doing.
And friend, I if I can, if I canjust get that into you today,
that God's desire for you is notto perform, not to make it
happen, not to try to make yourown story and create your own
(17:52):
fame and and fortune andinfluence and impact and all the
stuff for him.
He just wants you to live andcreate and co-labor with him in
the kingdom.
And as we do that, he's weavingus into this incredible story of
his kingdom that will affect notonly us, but also everybody in
(18:13):
the world for generations tocome.
That's the power of learning toco-labor with him in our
creative calling.
So, hey, let me pull all thistogether for you, real quick.
What if, what if in six months'time you could look back and you
could realize that this exactseason that you're in that
doesn't really make a lot ofsense, it actually wasn't delay.
(18:33):
It was actually God's design.
What if you realized that youweren't behind, but you were
right on time for the biggerthing, the more important thing,
the more aligned thing that Godhad for you?
And what if you, what if youcould really get in your heart
that what felt like delay wasnot rejection, but it was
actually God's divine directionin your life.
(18:54):
Listen, when you can start toget that, that God is using
these seasons to enlarge yourcapacity, to protect you from
things that are not for you inthis time, to align you with his
heart for your life and for yourart and to weave your story into
his larger kingdom story.
My friend, you can use theseseasons that seem like delay as
(19:15):
really divine appointments foryou to lean into the Lord and
say, Lord, I trust you in thistime that you're working all
things together for my good.
Listen, friend, I want to prayfor you right now because I
don't know about you, but I needto know that I'm with other
people on this journey.
I'm so glad that God has broughtyou here today.
Father, I thank you right nowthat my friend is watching this
(19:36):
video.
Lord, we know it's not bychance.
We know it's by divineappointment.
However, they got here, Lord,they're here, they're hearing
your voice through the HolySpirit speak today through my
words.
And God, I'm asking that youwould so resonate a peace within
them and contentment for theseason that they're in, knowing
that you're working all thingstogether for their good because
(19:56):
you love us and because you'vecalled us according to your
purposes and your kingdom asartists for such a time as this.
We thank you for that, Lord, inJesus' name.
Amen.
Hey, friend, listen, from thebottom of my heart, thank you so
much for being with me today.
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(20:18):
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(21:01):
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All right, love you.
Bye.
What if you're not behind in your creative journey?
In other words, what feels likeGod's delays?
What if those are actually agift from God and actually a
shortcut to his very best planfor your life?
Well, you know, I've seen thatplay out in my own creative
journey and in the lives ofhundreds of artists that I've
mentored over the years.
But when you really start tounderstand what God is doing in
the waiting, everything changes.
(00:21):
Listen, today I'm going to showyou four hidden purposes behind
God's delays.
And by the end, you're going tobe thanking the Lord for these
slow seasons in your life.
Well, hey, friend, I'm MattTommy.
Super glad that you're here.
Listen, I want you to get thisreally down deep today.
What feels like God maybe tryingto stall you is not what's
happening right now.
When God is delaying yourjourney and when it seems like
(00:43):
it's taken a little bit longer,it's actually because God is
strengthening you on the inside.
See, God's heart behind thetiming of our journey that we
don't always understand is notabout stalling you and making
you wait just for the sake ofwaiting.
It's actually about walking youthrough a process that is
enlarging your capacity to beable to hold more influence and
(01:03):
more opportunity, moreresources, more relationships.
He's forming inside of you thecharacter that it takes to be
able to walk in the incrediblepromises and abundant life that
He has already planned for youbefore you were ever born.
Now, you know, I love to jumpinto scripture and in James 1, 2
through 4 in the New Living, Ilove the way it says this.
It says, Dear brothers andsisters, when troubles of any
(01:25):
kind come your way, right?
Anybody relate troubles of anykind, delays, things take
longer.
When they come your way,consider it an opportunity for
great joy.
For you know that when yourfaith is tested, your endurance
has a chance to grow.
So let it grow.
I love that, right?
So just let it grow.
For when your endurance is fullydeveloped, you will be perfect
(01:49):
and need nothing.
You'll be you'll be complete.
Listen, I love that.
Again, when things are taking alittle bit longer, when we don't
understand it, our endurance isbeing fully developed.
Our inner capacity to be able tohold and experience and walk in
everything that God has for usis being expanded and is being
fully realized inside of us.
(02:11):
See, this is a huge kingdomprinciple.
Everything that happensexternally starts internally in
the kingdom.
And so these seasons of delayare not wasted times.
See, God's not always just abouttaking you and me to the next
level and getting us to the nextaccomplishment or the next prize
or the next victory, the nextdestination.
(02:32):
His purpose for us in our lifeis yes, that we'd walk in
abundant life, we'd thrive ineverything that God has for us,
but his purpose is not that weget to the destination, is that
we can stay in the places thathe takes us.
And that is a whole differentconversation and why some things
take a little bit longer thanwe'd like.
(02:53):
Paul even reinforces this inGalatians 6 9.
And again, I love it.
It says, Let us not become wearyin doing good.
For the proper time we will reapa harvest if what?
If we don't give up.
Now, what is that proper time?
Well, I don't know about you,but I'm always looking at my
watch.
I'm like, the time is now,right?
I'm ready to step into it.
I'm ready to walk in everythingthat God's got for me.
(03:15):
I've got a dream, I've got apassion, I want to walk in that.
But God's like, no, no, no.
Listen, Matt, I love you.
I've created good things foryou, but I love you too much to
allow you to step into thosethings in a timing that's too
early.
Why?
Because the enemy is alwayslooking around for opportunities
to destroy us and distract usand deny us.
(03:36):
But God is looking foropportunities to dig deep inside
of us and prepare our internalnature, our internal person to
be able to walk in and stay inand flourish in every good thing
that God has for us.
Listen, these seasons ofwaiting, the first thing I want
you to get today is that they'realmost like weight training for
your soul.
(03:56):
All right.
Sometimes at first they're like,oh, this is this is this is
hard.
This doesn't feel good.
This is a little bituncomfortable.
But I'm telling you, when youchoose to trust God in the
middle of these things that aretaking a little bit longer than
you think, instead of gettingfrustrated, everything changes.
Your perspective begins tochange.
And what's happening little bylittle, day after day, is what?
(04:16):
You're getting stronger.
You're getting stronger, andyou're building that spiritual
muscle that God needs to be atwork and active and healthy
inside of you so that again, youcan walk in the good plans that
He's prepared for you.
So I want to encourage you thisweek, take five minutes and
think about, you know, in thisseason of maybe delay that's
taking a little bit longer.
What is it that you think Godmight be developing inside of
(04:40):
you?
What character trait?
What is he trying to teach you?
What's he trying to teach you tolearn to steward?
Uh, and maybe even look back atyour life.
I know I've done this before.
This is super helpful.
Look at seasons of your lifethat you thought, wow, I thought
that was a delay.
But man, when I look at it andactually examine what God did in
that, wow, it was super, superfruitful.
(05:01):
Maybe go back and look over thelast five or 10 years and see if
you can find a pattern in whatlooked like delay, but it was
actually God's development.
And here's the cool part.
In just a few minutes, I'm goingto be sharing with you why some
of those things that seem likedelays might actually be God
protecting you from somethingthat you didn't even see coming.
Hey, and by the way, if this isresonating with you today, I
(05:23):
want to make sure that you hitthe subscribe button so you
don't ever miss any of the greatcontent that I'm producing right
here on the Thriving ChristianArtist, where I'm helping
artists just like you gainclarity, confidence, and
creative freedom in Christ.
So, number two is all about Godprotecting us from opportunities
that may seem like Him, but arenot really.
Not every open door is God'sopen door for your next step.
(05:47):
And I know that that can beconfusing and even a little bit
frustrating sometimes because,you know, I love to read
scripture like Proverbs 16, 9that talks about, you know, in
his heart, a man plans his way,the Lord orders his step.
I've taught for years, you know,and everything that I do that
God has a place for us,co-laboring and dreaming with
him, stepping out in faith andand walking and believing that
(06:08):
he's gonna guide us as we walk.
And that is absolutely true.
But then you also read ascripture in Proverbs as well,
like Proverbs 19, 21, that says,Many are the plans in the in a
man's heart, in a person'sheart, but it's the Lord's
purpose that prevails.
And so there's this tension thatwe walk in in the kingdom.
That that's a good tension,right?
It's not a stressful or anxioustension, but you just have to
(06:31):
realize that not every open dooris a God door, and not every
setback is actually God tryingto, you know, hurt you.
And he's never trying to hurtus.
He's a good father.
He delights to give good giftsto his children.
And so sometimes those setbacksare actually his divine
protection.
I don't know about you, but Ican look back at so many things
(06:51):
in my life that at the time Iwas praying for.
I want to get in that show, Iwant to make this sale, I want
to have that person buy thiscommission, I want to get that
studio or this next opportunityfor my art.
And it didn't work out.
And man, I banged on the doorand I was praying for it, and I
was like, I mean, but it didn'twork out back in 2009, 2010,
(07:14):
when God moved us from Atlantato Asheville, North Carolina.
I really thought in my heartthat because God had given me
supernaturally an art gallery inAtlanta, that He was going to do
the same thing when we got toAsheville.
And so I found a building.
Man, I was in faith for it.
I started believing.
I started literally gatheringartists to pray in this
(07:34):
building.
I'd go down and prophesy overthat building.
Man, I was like, this is mybuilding.
I'm receiving it by faith.
I mean, I'm I'm just trying towalk in everything that I
believe that God had for meaccording to what he had done in
the past and according to what Iwas feeling in my heart.
But after about a year of that,you know what the Lord told me?
He said, Matt, I need you to godown by the river to where this,
(07:56):
where this uh building was.
And he said, I need you to givethis building to me.
And he said, You build thepeople and I'll build the
building.
And he actually had meprophetically take a piece of
rock that was a broken part ofthe foundation and from that
building and throw it in theriver, just as this sort of sort
of release to him.
And you know, I was reallyfrustrated with that.
(08:18):
I have to say, I was like, God,this is not the plan that I had
for my life.
I thought that, you know, youdid it once, you're gonna do it
again.
But had we gotten that building,it would have completely
overwhelmed me.
It would have set back what Godwas trying to do in my life.
It would have been a focus atthat time that was not the focus
that God had for me.
But listen, in my heart ofhearts and to the best of my
(08:40):
ability, I believed that thatbuilding was the next step.
But what?
God knew better.
He was protecting me fromsomething that was not a bad
thing necessarily, but it wasn'tthe best thing that he had for
me.
You know, you think aboutJoseph.
I mean, all the delays that hehad.
I mean, he's, you know, betrayedby his brother and he's in the
(09:00):
pit and he's going through allof this stuff.
But what?
He had to walk through thoseseasons of preparation in order
to walk in everything that Godhad for him and promised for him
in the palace.
And so I know, my friend,listen, I I've been through it
just like you do.
When we walk through theseseasons, we don't realize many
(09:20):
times that these are seasons ofrefinement, these are seasons of
preparation, these are seasonsof protection that God is
keeping us and not allowing usto walk in the thing that we are
fully convinced is the nextthing, in order for us to be
able to be protected andprepared for the really great
thing that God has for us.
(09:40):
And I'm just telling you, if wecan, if we can really allow our
heart to trust the Lord in themiddle of these things, it
changes everything and it allowsyou to walk in a level of peace
that's striving and banging onthe door trying to get it to
open, that that will never everbring you in your life as an
artist.
(10:01):
All right.
So the third way that God usesthese seasons that seem like
delay is that He's using theseto align our heart with His.
Now I want to I want to pausefor a second and kind of share
something a little personal, alittle, a little stinging still
in my life.
I remember years ago when I wasstarting to build my art
business and I was starting toreally step out in faith and and
(10:22):
go after everything that God hadcalled me to do.
I knew that God had told me oneway to build my art business,
but you know, I I wanted to kindof help God out.
I don't know if you've ever feltlike that before and just like,
well, you know, God, everybodyelse is doing it like this, and
this kind of looks like what itmakes sense.
And what I felt like God wastelling me to do, uh, you know,
(10:42):
was not the way that everybodyelse was doing it.
And so, you know, I have to say,my heart was not like, I'm gonna
disobey God, but my heart waslike, I want to speed this up.
I want to get to the end, I wantto do the thing that God's
called me to do.
And so I started building mybusiness.
I started doing my art.
I started marketing my work andjust doing all the stuff like
(11:03):
everybody else was doing in away that made sense to the
world, right?
I think about that scripture.
There's a there's a way thatseems right under man, right?
That that's kind of how I was Iwas doing that.
And I and I was asking God tobless it in the middle of it.
But I remember specificallythere's a the show that I went
to up in Baltimore, a bigAmerican Craft Council show, big
(11:23):
show, expensive show.
I was expecting to make you knowa big amount of money and sell
my work and make all these greatconnections.
And honestly, by the end of theweekend, I had I didn't lose
money, thank goodness.
But it was one of thoseweekends, like, what is going
on?
And I had this come to Jesusmeeting on the way back, this
long drive back.
And I was like, God, what isgoing on?
(11:43):
Like you said that you wouldbless it if I gave it to you and
all that, you know, just all ofthis stuff.
And I remember the still smallvoice of the Lord being like,
uh, you want to talk about this?
I'm like, uh, okay.
And I remember him so gentlydrawing me back to what he'd
originally told me several yearsbefore about how he wanted me to
(12:05):
grow my business.
And man, as he began to do that,it it just you know, it was like
a knife to my heart in a goodway.
It was like, oh, yes, Lord, I'mI'm sorry.
And it was an opportunity torepent, right?
Because repent means change yourmind, right?
That's what the word means.
Change your mind, go in adifferent direction.
And the Lord gave me thisopportunity to change my mind,
(12:26):
come out of agreement with theway that I've been doing it, and
into alignment with his heartfor my art and for my business.
And listen, when I did that,that was a marker moment.
Everything changed.
My sales changed, opportunitieschanged, my art began to change.
Why?
Did God get in a good mood?
No, I just came into alignmentwith the good plans and purposes
(12:48):
that he had for me all along.
It makes me think of that verse.
I love it in Colossians 3.23 inthe New Living.
It says this work willingly atwhatever you do as though you
are working for the Lord ratherthan people.
In other words, instead oftrying to impress everybody,
instead of trying to do it theway the world says it makes
sense, instead of doing thethings that make sense to your
(13:11):
own mind or doing things for theaccolades, offer your work, your
art, whether you're doing it asa business or a hobby or as a
ministry or whatever, offer thatto the Lord.
Because here's the deal whenyour work creatively,
artistically, when it becomes uhworship instead of striving, in
other words, when you'restarting to create with God
(13:32):
instead of for applause and forsuccess and for all the things
that the world tells us that weneed, that's when the peace of
God begins to rule in yourheart.
That's when you can begin toalign with all the good things
that He has for you.
And that's when you get in thisdivine flow that you can't and I
can't manufacture on our own.
(13:53):
You can never manufacture theflow and momentum of the Holy
Spirit by just trying to do itby yourself.
It's only when you and I comeinto alignment with God's plans
and purposes for our life.
And sometimes, just face it, Ihave to face it too.
Sometimes the way God doesthings just does not make sense
to the natural mind.
So I just want to encourage you,my friend, if you're in one of
(14:15):
those seasons right now thatdoesn't make sense to the
natural mind and you're, youknow, kind of wailing around and
wallowing around and just like,I need this to make sense.
Listen, this is a greatopportunity for you just to get
with the Lord and say, Lord,even though this situation, this
season of my life does not makesense, even though, Lord, I
would love for this to be a lotfaster and a lot smoother and a
(14:37):
lot more linear than it is rightnow, Lord, I trust you that you
are working all things togetherfor my good because you love me
and you've called me accordingto your purposes.
And Lord, teach me by your HolySpirit and by your word how to
begin to align my heart withyours so that I can walk in
every good thing that you havefor me.
Okay, so the last thing I wantyou to remember is this God is
(15:00):
using these seasons of delay andthese seasons that take a little
bit longer as a way to weaveyour story into his story.
I don't know about you, but itis really very encouraging to me
to be able to sit back sometimesin prayer in my studio, just put
some music on and be like,Jesus, thank you that my story
(15:21):
is not just about me.
Thank you that I don't have tomake it all happen.
Lord, thank you that my successis not up to me, that the
getting my artwork is is is notout there is not up to me.
Lord, this is your story, andyou've called me to be a part of
it.
You know, I love I'm a basketmaker, I've I've been a weaver
for a lot of years, and the Lordshowed me many years ago that my
(15:42):
uh my artistic calling and andwhat I do artistically is really
a prophetic picture of what I doin ministry as well, and and
taking disparate parts andthings that don't seem like they
make sense and weaving them intobeautiful uh displays of God's
glory.
And I think about my life and Ithink about your life, and I
think about, you know, the firstway that God said he wanted to
(16:04):
reveal himself to humanity inGenesis 1 was as a creator,
right?
In the beginning, God created.
And I just I love to think ofGod as this master weaver who's
taking my story and your storyand every one of his sons and
daughters' stories and weavingthem together in ways that we
don't yet fully understand howit's all going to come out.
(16:25):
And part of us learning tocooperate with him in in our
life and and through our art isrealizing that even when things
don't make sense, even whenthey're taking a little bit more
time, we know, and what is it,Romans 8.28, right?
It says this, and we know thatall things, in all things, God
works for the good of those wholove him who have been called
(16:46):
according to his purpose.
So whether we understand it orwhether we don't, whether things
are taking too long, we think,or whether they're accelerated,
whether we're having moments ofbreakthrough, or whether we're
having moments that seem likewe're just hidden on the back
end uh of the pasture like Davidwas for a lot of years, you
know, we know that God is usingall of those seasons for our
(17:09):
good and for his glory.
We can also look in Ephesians2.10.
It says, For we are God'smasterpiece.
He has created us anew in ChristJesus.
Why?
So we can do the good works thathe planned for us long ago.
In other words, this is God'sidea.
This is God's story.
He's got great things plannedfor us.
We don't have to have thepressure of trying to do this
(17:31):
and figure this out and makethis happen on our own.
We just get to get up every dayand just do what Jesus said.
He said, I just do the thingsthat I see the Father doing.
And friend, I if I can, if I canjust get that into you today,
that God's desire for you is notto perform, not to make it
happen, not to try to make yourown story and create your own
(17:52):
fame and and fortune andinfluence and impact and all the
stuff for him.
He just wants you to live andcreate and co-labor with him in
the kingdom.
And as we do that, he's weavingus into this incredible story of
his kingdom that will affect notonly us, but also everybody in
(18:13):
the world for generations tocome.
That's the power of learning toco-labor with him in our
creative calling.
So, hey, let me pull all thistogether for you, real quick.
What if, what if in six months'time you could look back and you
could realize that this exactseason that you're in that
doesn't really make a lot ofsense, it actually wasn't delay.
(18:33):
It was actually God's design.
What if you realized that youweren't behind, but you were
right on time for the biggerthing, the more important thing,
the more aligned thing that Godhad for you?
And what if you, what if youcould really get in your heart
that what felt like delay wasnot rejection, but it was
actually God's divine directionin your life.
(18:54):
Listen, when you can start toget that, that God is using
these seasons to enlarge yourcapacity, to protect you from
things that are not for you inthis time, to align you with his
heart for your life and for yourart and to weave your story into
his larger kingdom story.
My friend, you can use theseseasons that seem like delay as
(19:15):
really divine appointments foryou to lean into the Lord and
say, Lord, I trust you in thistime that you're working all
things together for my good.
Listen, friend, I want to prayfor you right now because I
don't know about you, but I needto know that I'm with other
people on this journey.
I'm so glad that God has broughtyou here today.
Father, I thank you right nowthat my friend is watching this
(19:36):
video.
Lord, we know it's not bychance.
We know it's by divineappointment.
However, they got here, Lord,they're here, they're hearing
your voice through the HolySpirit speak today through my
words.
And God, I'm asking that youwould so resonate a peace within
them and contentment for theseason that they're in, knowing
that you're working all thingstogether for their good because
(19:56):
you love us and because you'vecalled us according to your
purposes and your kingdom asartists for such a time as this.
We thank you for that, Lord, inJesus' name.
Amen.
Hey, friend, listen, from thebottom of my heart, thank you so
much for being with me today.
Make sure that you've hit thesubscribe button.
Also, if you're wanting to growdeeper in your journey as a
Christian artist, be sure tocheck out all the incredible
(20:18):
resources that we've got for youhere, right here in the
description.
There's our foundations coursethat God's using in artists all
over the world to help them laya solid foundation in Christ and
really gain clarity in whatGod's called them to do as an
artist in the kingdom.
We've got our Thriving ChristianArtist newsletter, tons of of my
best-selling books for artists,and lots of other great
(20:38):
resources that you can takeadvantage of.
So make sure that you check thatout before you leave.
Listen, I love you, friend.
I'm here every week creatinggreat content for Christian
artists to help you gain clarityand confidence and creative
freedom in Christ.
Really honored that you're here.
Look forward to seeing youaround.
And remember, till next time,you were created to thrive.
Bye.
Hey, my friend, before you go,make sure that you're signed up
(21:01):
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.
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
(21:22):
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.
All right, love you.
Bye.
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