The Thriving Christian Artist
The Thriving Christian Artist
5 Core Principles for Thriving Artists
This episode explores the transformative journey that artists undergo by emphasizing the importance of internal growth and spiritual connection over external measures of success. By outlining five core principles—Connect, Vision, Thought, Belief, and Cultivate—listeners are encouraged to deepen their relationship with God and embrace ongoing transformation.
• Emphasis on the internal process of transformation
• The significance of connecting deeply with God
• Understanding the clarity provided through divine vision
• The power of renewing one’s thoughts
• Aligning beliefs with God’s truth
• Continual cultivation of one’s artistic gifts
• Invitation to join the Foundations course starting January 14, 2025
http://www.matttommeymentoring.com/foundations
Join us inside the Created to Thrive Artist Mentoring Program at http://www.matttommeymentoring.com/artmentor
Welcome to the Thriving Christian Artist the podcast, where we hope you connect with God to bust through the roadblocks that have held you back for years, create the work you love and really live the life you know. God created you to live as an artist in His kingdom. I'm Matt Tommey, your host. Let's get started. Well, hey, my friend, welcome to the podcast. I'm Matt Tommy, your host. So glad that you are here. Listen, I want to take some time and share something with you that's really core to who we are in the Created to Thrive Artist Mentoring Program and really everything that God's called me to do in raising up an army of artists. You know, back in 2009, I had a dream 3.09 in the morning, two mornings in a row. In 2009, I had a dream 3.09 in the morning, two mornings in a row. God woke me up in the middle of the night with a Jason Upton song that said Raise up an army, raise up an army, raise up an army, like Joel saw. And I went down to my studio the second morning and opened up my Bible to Joel 3.9. And it says you know, go to the nations, raise up an army, gather the warriors and the weaklings. And it's this huge, huge, dramatic image of an army being raised up. And you know, after you get something like that, you're like, well, how in the world is this going to happen? And you know, over the years, since 2009, I've endeavored to try to raise up this army of artists in the best way that I've known how. But one of the things that I realized from my own journey of brokenness and struggle is that most of the things that really make a difference in the lives of artists have really very little to do with your art and marketing and business and everything to do with your heart. See, in the kingdom, transformation doesn't happen from the outside in. It happens from the inside out, and most people are never taught how to cooperate with the process of transformation that God designed for them to actually see transformation happening in their life. We've been taught and modeled striving. You know working for the Lord and doing all these things for God. You know working for the Lord and doing all these things for God. We've been modeled the American or Western work ethic of just pull yourself up by your bootstraps and make it happen and hope for the best. We've been taught work hard, you know, no matter what the cost and eventually it'll pay off. But rarely, if ever, no matter if we love Jesus or not, whether you're raised in the church or not rarely are people taught how transformation really happens. Well, the Bible is really clear and I love teaching this process because when you understand how transformation happens and you understand the roadblocks to transformation, you can really accelerate your journey with the Lord and accelerate the results that you see in your life.
Speaker 1:I can remember walking for so many years as a creative that struggled not externally necessarily. I was talented. I knew how to perform. I knew how to you know kind of tap dance for Jesus, if you will, and get it done. I knew how to play to my strengths. I knew how to perform. I knew how to you know kind of tap dance for Jesus, if you will, and get it done. I knew how to play to my strengths. I knew how to do all this stuff.
Speaker 1:But nobody ever told me how to get over the fear of perfectionism and performance mentality and striving on my own, how to deal with the torturous thoughts that came with comparison, with jealousy, with feelings of inadequacy, with procrastination and perfectionism and all the stuff that we, as artists, deal with. And listen, well-meaning people who love Jesus. Probably you and I know me have dealt with that stuff for years, or probably dealing with it right now, and yet, because you may not have a real handle on how to deal with that, you just push it down and hope it'll get better, or you try to pray it away. Oh God, please take this away from me. Well, let me say something that may be a little bit. You know, maybe it'll offend you. I'm not trying to offend you, but there are some things in your life that are not designed to be prayed away, in other words, these I've found that transformation in the kingdom and breakthrough in the kingdom is not something that God does to you, but it's something that God does with you as you learn to cooperate with him, based on kingdom principles, and so I want to give you, just really quickly today, what I call the five core principles for thriving artists.
Speaker 1:It's the core of what we you know a lot of what we teach, at least in the beginnings of Created to Thrive, and it's the focus of what has been our experience course over the years, which I've this year completely rewritten and we're launching it again in January and calling it the foundations course. It's got all new exercises, all new teaching, all new videos, all new art projects. We're super, super excited about it because this has been probably one of the most transformational things that we've ever seen artists go through in all the years that we've been helping artists. This year it's going to be a nine week course that you go through, which you get lifetime access to get real transformation and real acceleration in your life before you ever think about adding to that what it takes to be a successful artist in the marketplace.
Speaker 1:Because here's what I found you can be as talented as you want to. You can be the best marketer, the best business person, or you can be on the other side of that. You can be like just starting out and you can be super introverted and hate all the business side of things. You can be like just starting out and you can be super introverted and hate all the business side of things. But listen, when you get free inside your heart, when you start to get confident and clear about who God's created you to be and you start walking in the power of his spirit in your life, my friend, listen, the marketing and the art stuff and the business side of things it takes root a lot quicker and it produces fruit a lot faster, and I've seen that not only in my own life, but I've seen that in the lives of countless artists over the years.
Speaker 1:And so I want to give you these five principles, and really just to give you a framework, but to whet your appetite to join us inside of the Created to Thrive Foundations course, which starts in January, and, of course, there's a link right here in the in the show notes that you can click on that and join us. It starts January, the 14th 2025. But we want you to join us for this, because there is no better way for you to really start your year off right than to lay a solid foundation of the kingdom and of healing and of clarity in your heart than with this foundations course. So what are the five core principles? Well, I'm going to read them to you and then I'm going to go back and share just a little bit about each one. Okay, the first one is connect, the second one is vision, thirdly is thought, fourth is belief and five is cultivate.
Speaker 1:All right, connect. What does that mean? Well, core verse there John 15,. Five through seven. You know I'm divine, You're the branches. Apart from me, you can do nothing.
Speaker 1:Everything in the kingdom starts with intimacy with the father and learning to hear his voice, to be led by his spirit. And growth happens in your life not out of striving or just having a good idea or trying to do something for God, but growth happens as you connect with God and then he leads you to connect authentically with others. You know, not not only people that you love in your life, but also your prospects, your clients, your partners. Everything starts with that connection, but it starts with the connection with the Lord, not just connection to a good idea. Everything in the kingdom has to be birthed in intimacy. We talk about in the course the barriers to that, how the enemy blocks us in that, and how to really begin to cultivate intimacy with the Lord in a way that is authentic to you.
Speaker 1:Secondly, I find that as you connect with the Lord, he begins to release vision to you. Secondly, I find that as you connect with the Lord, he begins to release vision to you in line with your unique design for your unique assignment. If you've read my latest book, god's Plan for Living, you know that I really believe in the framework that I developed there God's ideal that as your identity in Christ is established, your design is uncovered and your unique assignment is revealed. Well, again, this is echoing that same sort of sentiment that, as you connect with God, he can't help but give you vision for who it is that you are and what it is that you're called to do. You know, the Bible says in Proverbs 29, 18, without a vision, people perish. That word actually means without prophetic revelation, people cast off restraint. And so vision from God for your life and for your art and, potentially, you know, any sort of business that you would pursue. It gives you clarity and focus and boundaries and allows you to really thrive in your design and assignment. Not because you're talented, necessarily, but because you're coming into agreement with what God's created you, for that is so much more valuable and so much more accelerative, if you will, if that's even a word, than your talent, right? Because when you begin to come into agreement with who God says you are and what he can do, you're leaning into the grace and the favor and the divine appointments and the supernatural encounters that are coming to bear on your journey, and that is priceless. Number three then, out of that, you start to realize that, hey, even though I've got a vision and I'm connected to the Lord. I realize that I've got to be convinced that in my mind and in my heart that these things are true.
Speaker 1:Well, the third principle here is thought Again. Romans 2 says don't conform to the pattern of this world, that is, don't do life the way everybody else does it, but what Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. In other words, lasting transformation happens not just from trying harder, not from wishing harder or just praying that it would happen. Lasting transformation in your life happens through allowing the Holy Spirit to change the way you think about everything. And when you cooperate with the Holy Spirit to transform your thoughts, your life gets transformed as a result. Why? Because transformation in the kingdom happens from the inside out. Well, here's the deal your thoughts are like seeds, and when you plant seeds and you're in the ground of your heart, they begin to take fruit and those thought seeds turn in to beliefs. You know the Bible, which is the fourth principle in these five core principles.
Speaker 1:Most people say they believe that God's faithful, say they believe that God's got a plan for them, say they believe this, that or the other, but the actions of their life, the words of their mouth. The feelings of their heart really tell a different story, and it's only through connection and vision and thought that your beliefs begin to be shifted into agreement with who God says you are and what he says you can do. You know, but the Bible says in Proverbs 27, three, as a man thinks in his heart, that is that you know, so is he that is. You know the thoughts that that you dwell on, create the world, that you live in, the world that you perceive, the world that you see around you, and so, whatever you believe in your heart about your life, your art and God, what's possible that sets the boundaries for your life and what's possible for you to achieve?
Speaker 1:Again, you got a lot of people out there maybe you I know it was me for a long time who believed Jesus or on their way to heaven. But they're looking at life through a lens that's all based on them, based on their fears, based on their history, based on what mama, daddy, trauma wounds have said to them, and not based on the truth of God's word and man. They start to realize, hey, I need to shift my beliefs through the power of the Holy Spirit, through shifting my thoughts, through connecting to vision through connecting with intimacy with the Lord. It's all connected there. And so when you start to do these things and that's what this course is all about not just, like you'd hear on a Sunday morning, just do this and everything would change. No, we actually walk you through a process of that has been proven over the years to to really see transformation happen in people's lives, so that you don't just talk about this stuff, you don't just hope that it's going to happen, but it actually starts to happen during the course, which is phenomenal.
Speaker 1:And that's the last thing is really cultivate, because this journey is not just a kind of a one and done. It is really an ongoing cultivation of the ground, of your heart and of your mind, in order to come into agreement and stay in agreement with who God's called you to be and what he's called you to do. You know the Bible says in Genesis 1, 28, that we're to be fruitful and multiply. In other words, the life, your life and my life is the fruit of the habits that we employ, and faithfully stewarding what's in our hand right now is the path to growth and multiplication and greater impact. You know, in Matthew 25, the parable of the talents, it says you know, you've been faithful with little. Now I'm going to make you ruler over much. So many of us were trained to want multiplication, to want impact, to want to make a difference for God and do all this stuff, and yet we were never taught how to be faithful and fruitful. And that's what this process is all about Going back to basics, laying a good foundation, a solid foundation in your heart, so that the life that God wants to birth through you, the fruit that he wants to birth in you and through you, is built on a foundation that will last.
Speaker 1:My friend, if you are somebody in your life who has wanted you're an artist, you've wanted to be an artist your whole life. You've been trying the best that you can, but you continue to come up against these invisible barriers of thinking well, if I just got better at time management, or if I just quit comparing myself, or if if I just, you know, weren't such a perfectionist, or if I wasn't like this or that. If you keep coming up against those invisible barriers over and over and over and over again, my friend, I want to tell you this is that's not about the invisible barrier. The invisible barrier is just a symptom of a deeper issue that's going on in your heart. And if you'll let the lord and let me help you walk through a process of identifying those roadblocks, letting the lord heal those and replace those with the truth of his word and give you a new set of habits and thoughts and beliefs to run on, I promise you you will see quick, measurable results in your life. As an artist, I can't tell you the countless stories that we've heard over the years that when people