The Thriving Christian Artist

Anxiety, Imagination & Faith

• Matt Tommey: Artist, Best-Selling Author, Speaker, Entrepreneur and Artist Mentor

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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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SPEAKER_00:

You know, artists can be some of the biggest and best worriers in the world. You know why? Because we've got these vivid imaginations that God gave us, but if we point them in the wrong direction, they can create entire stories about things that may never ever happen in our life and just cause worry to well up inside of us like a huge tidal wave. But here's the good news when you actually start taking that imagination and pointing it in the direction of the Lord and allowing the Holy Spirit to begin to move through your imagination, it can be one of the biggest tools that God's given us in order to grow and mature in Him. So today on the podcast, I'm going to talk about how you can start turning worry into worship through your redeemed imagination today on The Thriving Christian Artist. All over the world, artists are awakening, painters and potters, writers and weavers, poets and dancers, not chasing followers or fame, but sons and daughters called for such a time as this, transformed from the inside out, creating with purpose, releasing the glory of God, and living in the power of the kingdom right now. This is the Thriving Christian Artist. Listen, I don't know about you, but worry is one of the things that I think I see in my own life and also having mentored thousands of artists all over the world for so many years. Worry and anxiety and fear and just having our emotions uh you know play tricks on us and try to take the steering wheel in our life is one of the things that that artists really, really struggle with. And if we don't get a hold of it, it can really be a big, big, big uh opportunity for the enemy to slow down and even stop the things that God's trying to do in our life. Our imagination is not designed to be this sort of playground for the enemy and fear and anxiety, it's designed to be a canvas for God's truth so that he can, through the power of the Holy Spirit and through his word at work inside of us, create with us a beautiful picture that creates desire and faith inside of us to walk toward the things that God has for us. But listen, if we if we're all the time, you know, caught up in fear and anxiety and we don't allow the word of God to come in and do its work and take its place of primacy in inside of us, we can really uh be drawn into areas that God never ever intended for us to be drawn into. And so I want to dive deep into this today, give you some real scriptural keys, I think, that are going to help you start to learn how to point your imagination in the right direction and begin to invite the Holy Spirit into your imagination so that not only you can do all the things that He's called you to do, but you can also have a really healthy, right understanding of not only who God is, but who you are in Christ and who you are as an artist, so that you can walk in and fulfill everything that God's got for you. All right. Now, the first thing I want to say is that your imagination is an engine that God's put inside of you. This was God's idea. I know a lot of times people have this idea that imagination and imagining is somehow bad, you know, and people pull out of one scripture out of context, this idea that all imagination is vain, you know, vain imaginations. And, you know, but here's the deal: if your imagination could be pointed in one direction, it can also be pointed in another. And that's the beautiful thing about free will. God gives us the engine, God gives us the abilities, God gives us the gifts, he gives us the tools, but then it's our decision where to point them. And I can either allow my imagination and my emotions and all the things of my internal life, I can allow them to be pointed in a direction that draws me away from Jesus, or I can draw point him in the in some in the directions that are going to draw me closer to him, away from his word or closer to his word, away from his nature or closer to his nature. And the beautiful thing about our imagination is that it's designed to be that place that God works inside of us to create beauty and story and give us vision. And but that again, that requires us pointing that in the right direction and pointing in the direction of the Lord in his word. You know, one of the reasons I think that that we as artists deal with anxiety and worry and fear maybe more than others, or at least we talk about it and feel it more than others, is because that gift of imagination, that gift of creativity is something that's heightened inside of us. We're we're used to using that part of our internal makeup, if you will, right? When we're when we're coming up with ideas, when we're seeing, you know, possibilities in our artwork or in the things that God's called us to, we're used to allowing that engine inside of us to really work and and really see the details and really get passionate about it and all that. And here's the thing, as you're maturing in the Lord, I wish our flesh was just completely dead, but how many of you know he wants to raise its old ugly head all the time? And so as your imagination is being fueled and growing over here and you're maturing in the Lord, your flesh is always wanting to raise its ugly head and go, yeah, but what about this? But what about that? Or that doesn't feel good, or that wasn't fair, or this might happen, or that might happen. And if you're not careful, that flesh can draw your imagination down a road that you were never intended to go. And what does the enemy love to do? Boy, he loves to be right there. He loves to be right there. He sees that little ember, right? That little spark of worry and all that. He blows on that and he starts sending the fiery darts of, you know, that he wants to send and the lies that he sends. And all of a sudden, that thing that was just a little ember, just a passing thought, because we turn our focus and we allow that thing to get planted in our imagination. What starts happening? Boy, you start telling yourself stories. You got a whole scenario made up in your mind of things that might happen, could happen, or gonna happen, should have happened. You're you know, all these things that are only up here, but they're creations of this incredible imagination. And you know that why that works. See, faith and worry are really the same things, right? They're just pointed in a different direction. Faith and fear, faith and worry. Faith, real faith, healthy faith is pointed in the direction of Jesus, who he is, what he said in his word, his real nature, who, what he says about us. That's where faith is designed to take root inside of our heart and our imagination to connect with that so that we can see and envision all the possibilities that God has for us. But when you turn that and you point it in the direction of things that are not true in God's word, things that are not the design of God, things that are not outcomes that God has designed for you, what begins to happen? Fear. And fear leads to anxiety, and fear leads to insecurity, and fear leads to uh comparison and all that. Faith is about coming into agreement with the promises of God, right? Remember in 2 Peter 1, 3 and 4, it says that we participate in the divine nature, right? That abundant life that Jesus promises. How do we participate in that? Through the precious promises of God. We know in the kingdom, nothing, nothing happens in this in the kingdom except through agreement, right? We see it, we agree with it, we decree it out of our mouth, we proceed with it by faith. Well, guess what? You can just as soon do that to with the Lord and his word, or you can turn around and do that with the enemy. And you can begin to see things in your imagination that the enemy has implanted in there, that your flesh has brought up, that your that your fleshly fear has has brought up. And boy, you can cultivate that, and that can just create this whole picture that you think is your reality. And you are literally being drawn to that and building a negative faith toward those things and seeing those things manifest in your life that God never ever designed for you. If you've read my book, God's Plan for Living, I talk about in there that you know the thoughts that we dwell on create the world that we dwell in. Why? That's how God designed it, right? The Bible says, as a man thinks in his heart, what? So is he. And so we're supposed to be thinking on and imagining the things that God has for us, his outcomes for our life, his purposes and plans, the vision he's implanted in our heart, but our flesh and the work of the enemy, there, it's always trying to draw us into this other direction where we'll come into agreement with things that God never designed for us. Now, I just want you to just stop for a second. You know, if you're watching here on YouTube or even if you're just listening on the podcast, think about for a moment. Wow, am I using the engine of my imagination to cultivate the vision and the purposes and plans that God has for me? In other words, when I close my eyes or when I'm daydreaming, am I allowing those things to be the things that I'm I'm ruminating on? Or am I just allowing my imagination to run to run wild? And am I allowing this beautiful gift that God's given me to come into faith and desire with Him? Am I allowing the enemy and my own immaturity in my walk to draw me into places that God never 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, until I started really learning that it was my responsibility to co-labor with the Holy Spirit and to point that if I would point my imagination and I would point the eyes of my heart and point my faith in the directions that God has for me and the promises that He has for me, when I learned that, and I learned that, oh wow, that's the moment in the pointing, in the pointing, that's the moment that grace is released. That's the moment that grace is released, and that's when when power and and uh authority and I think expectancy begin to come in your heart as you start to envision the things that God has for you. But it takes you and me pointing our faith and pointing our imagination in that direction. Now, you know, I love to start everything that we talk about here in Scripture, and I want to look at Philippians 4, 11 through 13. A lot of people love to talk about Philippians 4.13. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. But people don't often realize that the beginning of this section is all about renewing your 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 from need, for I've learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am, but I know I know how to get along with little, he says, and I also know 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 and suffering need. But what does he say? I can do all things through him, some translated say through Christ who strengthens me. In other words, what? Paul's imagination, what he was focusing on, no matter what situation that he was in, it was not chained to the circumstances that he found himself in, but he was anchored in Christ. I want you to just let that sink in for a second. If your imagination and the position of your heart is not anchored in Christ, then when situations change in your life, when feelings come up in your life, when somebody says something, does something, when a when a circumstance doesn't work out the way you think it ought to ought to work out, what can happen? Our imagination can be turned to the right or to the left by that circumstance. But maturity in the Lord, and this is one of the things that I think we all can recognize as we start to mature in the Lord, is that when our heart and our emotions stop getting turned, and when we start daydreaming, we quit letting our imagination just go every which away, but we start realizing, hey, whether things are good or not so good, whether I'm in a season of plenty or a season of not so plenty, where I'm in a season of walking in my dreams or I'm in a season of waiting. Whatever the season ends, like Paul, I can do all things. That is, I can do what it takes in every situation that I'm in, not because of the situation that I'm in, but because of who I am in Christ. See, contentment in that situation doesn't mean complacency. It doesn't mean that you're not dreaming for more. It doesn't mean that you're not desiring more, it doesn't mean that you're not, you don't have an expectant heart and all this kind of stuff. It contentment is this sort of holy alignment, if you will, that that frees your imagination from the power of circumstances and feelings and connects it with the power of God and the promises of God in your life. In other words, a holy contentment is a thing that can direct your imagination and prevent it from spiraling in fear and spiraling in anxiety. Learning to keep the eyes of your heart, the ears of your heart focused on the truth of God's word, regardless of the situation that you're going through. Think about right now in your life. Is there a situation? Is there a show that you didn't get in? Is there a sale that you didn't make? Is there a creative project that didn't work out the way you thought it was going to work out? Did somebody say something to you at church or at an art guild meeting or, you know, just in your booth the other day at a show? Did somebody say something that that really threw your all threw you off? And boy, your imagination just took that and it started running in a direction that you know, as you start thinking about it right now, you know that that is not God's best. One of the things I teach all the time, you know, in the foundation scores at the mentoring program here on the podcast, I'm talking about all the time. When we capture our thoughts, when we take our thoughts captive, like the Bible says, first question you ask is, does that sound like Jesus? Does that sound like Jesus? But rarely, I mean, if you're really honest, rarely do people do that. Rarely will people be intentional enough to take their thoughts captive. In other words, what? They just let the situation happen, they let a fleshly response happen, and then all of a sudden they let their imagination get pointed in the wrong way. And listen, if you're like me, you know, before I really started learning how to walk in this, and listen, we're all maturing in this as we walk with the Lord. I'm not perfect by any means. But I'm just telling you, some things I think that were just meant to be passing situations in our life for us to learn how to maybe stand up, believe God, build some faith. These things turned into three-day, three-week, three-month, three-year situations that we just let our imagination build up all these falsehoods and these fears and these anxieties in our life. And they took us down these spirals that God never ever intended for us. And what does the enemy tell you? The enemy tells you in the middle of that, well, see, this isn't God's plan for you. You're not really supposed to be an artist, you're not really supposed to be doing this, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And none of that has any relation to the truth. The only issue is you chose in that moment to allow your imagination and your heart to come in faith with things that God never intended for you. So listen, I don't say that from shame because I've walked through the same thing in my life. But for the grace of God go I, even today, right? I'm just saying if you don't learn to get intentional about this, that will be, especially for artists, that will be an ongoing area that the enemy, like a lever inside of you that he will pull every time in order to get you to come out of agreement with what God's got for you and get you delayed and derailed and distracted from all that God has designed you for. Now, I love Philippians 4 13 in the message. All right, I love reading different different versions. And in the message, it says this, and this even brings out brings out more. It says, Whatever I am, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the one who makes me who I am. Oh, I'm gonna say that again. And again, this is Philippians 4 13 in the message. It says, Whatever I have and wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the one who makes me who I am. In other words, what? We're allowing ourselves and our imagination to be anchored in the truth of God's word. We anchor our imagination in who God says we are, not in a fear of what we might be missing or whatever, right? Our imagination is being given by us, given, given to us by God for us to see his beauty and to see hope and to see possibility of of what could be. For it's the place that, you know, in the Bible, there's a couple of different words we see for imagination in the Bible. Yetzar and Yatzar. One is kind of an internal imagination, uh, an internal forming, and the other is kind of an external forming. But the the idea of the word imagination biblically is this is this idea that it's a place of forming. It's a seed bed where things get uh planted and and brought forth into fruit. It's a you know, some some even think that that word, I've seen in theologians that even in in Strom's Concordance talk about this idea of a womb, that your imagination is like a womb. It's a place where where things are formed and brought into maturity. So this is the design of God, right? This is the thing. And so when when you realize that, and I always say this, kind of like gravity, right? Gravity works whether you love the Lord or whether you don't, right? Gravity is just one of those laws that God put into place. Uh, you get on the top of a building, you jump off barring a miracle of the Lord, you're gonna go splat. Why? Because gravity works, right? Well, your imagination and faith work regardless of what you put in your imagination or where you point your faith. It just works. Is your imagination and your heart? The Bible talks about your heart is the ground of your heart. It's just designed to bring forth whatever you plant inside of it. And so this is why our imagination, you've got to think about it as a seed bed, as a womb, as as ground. We've got to protect the things that we are not only allowing to be planted in our heart, but also the things that we're allowing ourselves to bring to fruit. And if I just want to say this, if you're if you're noticing all the time that, man, I'm just catching myself all the time, and I'm just down this road, this spiral of fear and anxiety and all that kind of stuff, I just want to let you know through the power of the Holy Spirit and your intention, you can stop that in Jesus' name. You don't have to be tormented with all this imagination and all this imagining and fear-based imagination that is taking you away from the things that God has for you. In that moment, when you find yourself, when you catch it, when you take that thought captive, like the Bible says, you can point yourself and you can 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 on your abundance, to focus on your blessing, to focus on the promises and plans that you have for my life, to focus on your promise as provider and protector and keeper of me, to focus on the peace that you bring. Father, I know that I've got all this stuff going on right now, but I'm not gonna allow my imagination to just go down here and build this whole movie about what might happen in the worst case scenario. I'm stopping right now and I'm choosing to turn my imagination, to turn my words, to turn the eyes of my heart, to turn, to turn all of that toward you and toward what your word says. And I'm gonna come into agreement, out of agreement with the stuff the enemy's trying to bring up in my life, and into agreement with the truth of your word. I'm gonna, you know, you can begin to, because you can't here's a cool thing. Your brain can't focus on two things at once. You can't imagine a good scenario and a bad scenario at once. And so what can you do? You can stop and in that moment begin to declare the word of God. Begin to declare the promises of God and begin to envision what does it look like for that to be true in my life? What would it look like in this situation if I was walking in God's abundance? What would it look like if my art was being a blessing in the lives of others? What would it look like if all the promises that God has toward me that are yes and amen in his word? What would it look like if all of those things were happening? What would it look like if the best case scenario happened? Did you know that you can you can literally stop and you can close your eyes and you can turn toward those things and begin to intentionally cultivate those things in your mind? And guess what will happen? Just like your heart will attach uh fear to negative imaginations, your heart will begin to rise up in faith and joy and peace when you begin to use your imagination as a place to see the purposes and plans that God has for you. And listen, that's not some new age mumbo jumbo. That's the way that God designed your heart and your mind to work. Your imagination, listen, friend, your imagination was never designed to be this stage for fear to be acting out the play of fear and anxiety and worry in your life all the time. It was designed to be a sanctuary for faith, a canvas for faith where God and you together could paint the pictures that He has for you and the plans that He has for you. That's the purpose. Now, I want to keep moving here. 1 Corinthians 12, 18. I love in the NASB, this is one of the things that that you can really focus on when the enemy starts to attack your uniqueness as an artist. Because here's the thing in fact, this whole this whole episode started with me wanting to talk about uniqueness as an artist, but I just felt the Lord kind of lead me in this direction today because one of the biggest things that is a barrier to your uniqueness has nothing to do with your artistic skill or perspective or anything like that, but it's your feelings of inadequacy toward believing for and respecting and loving and cultivating the unique things that God has put inside of you. I guarantee you, if this is not an area that you're really growing in, I guarantee you that there's areas in your life that God is trying to celebrate, areas of uniqueness in your life artistically that God's trying to bring up in and through you. But fear and anxiety and this whole imagination thing pointing in the wrong direction, it continues to psych you out, believing that what you have is not worth it, that you're not good enough, that you'll never be good enough, that that fourth grade teacher, that second grade art project, that college professor, that unbeknowing family member, they said something stupid, but it wasn't stupid to you. It hurt at the time, and it got lodged in your heart. And because you didn't know what to do with it at that time, the enemy's been using that thing for years and years and years to point your imagination in the in the direction of fear and anxiety and inadequacy and self-sabotage, and things are never gonna work out. And that's been all that you can imagine all these years. I want to tell you this, this friend, 1 Corinthians 12, 18, it says this God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body just as he desired. And he goes on in that section talking about the uniqueness that that he's designed us with. And I want to tell you the thing that you think is weird, the thing that you think is is no good, the thing that you're trying to downplay, the thing that you think you make makes you too unique is the very thing that God wants to bring up inside of you and make a unique celebration in your life, not only to bring you joy and fulfillment, but to also be a unique expression of Him within the body of Christ. Why? So that the fullness of his nature can be released, so that somebody that needs your expression, God through you can experience the full nature of God through what it is that you do. Listen, the truth is that your uniqueness is intentional by God, and it's essential for his work here on the earth. But what? Again, the enemy wants to twist your 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 as them, you don't have as many Instagram clicks as them, as many sales as them, whatever. But listen, God wants to redeem that place of uniqueness. And if there's woundedness around it, that place of woundedness, in order to make that the place that you celebrate and to let the Lord use that place of deepest woundedness as the place of deepest healing and reconciliation and restoration in the lives of others. Listen, when you start to realize that, you start realizing the truth of that scripture that says all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose, that my life and your life are literally one brushstroke, an essential part of the masterpiece that God is painting in the earth right now. But if you and I are continually allowing our imagination to convince us otherwise, we are the ones that are blocking what God wants to do inside our life and through our life. Listen, this is never more, I don't know, uh, at the front of my mind. And it's it's never more a struggle in my life than when I'm in a season of waiting. And when I'm in a season where things are, you know, kind of like Paul said, I'm in a season of plenty or I'm in a season of lack, I'm in a season of uh, you know, abundance and a season of not quite enough. I'm imprisoned or I'm free, you know. Those seasons, I don't know about you, but for me, it's kind of almost easier to try to figure out what to do in the Lord if you're in a season of hot or cold, black or white, one or the other, right? But it's in those seasons, which is much of our life, right? We're not always walking in things. We're usually walking on the way to something or away from something, right? We're in these seasons of waiting. And I didn't can I just tell you that is a season, that is a time, a prime time where the enemy wants to take advantage of you in this area of your imagination. Because when when when we're walking in mystery, your brain and and your your heart, the desires of your heart, you're you're you're trying to make sense of what's going on. And can I just tell you, unless you are anchoring your heart in the truth of God's word, even in the middle of the mystery, the enemy is more than happy to give you a clear, a crystal clear vision to focus on in the middle when when things aren't going, when things aren't really clear in your life. He will tell you exactly what is going on. And you know what it is? Things are falling apart. Things are over for you. You're too old, you you've lost it, you missed that opportunity, it's gonna be bad, it's gonna be He will just create that crystal clear picture. And I'm telling you, the only way that you can start growing in this is realizing that these seeds, these seasons of waiting can either be a breeding ground for the enemy or they can be a proving ground for maturity in the Lord. James 1 4 says this let endurance all right, some versions say patience, but I love that word. Let endurance have its perfect result in you so that what you may be perfect, complete, and lacking nothing. In other words, what? You gotta be patient, you gotta learn to wait well. You've got to learn to endure well. In the middle of when things don't make sense, you've got to learn that it is your responsibility and my responsibility to take hold of the promises of God and intentionally point our imagination in the direction that it was designed so that why? Our imagination begins to cultivate the purposes and plans of God in our internal life so that they can manifest in our external life. That's how the kingdom of God works. That's how God designed the whole thing. That's how it works. Nothing happens in the external before it happens in the 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 decided though, this at this stage of my life, I'm done. I'm done with allowing the enemy to be to just have free reign in my heart and mind and create whatever pictures and feelings and and and desires and and and outcomes that he wants to create. I am endeavoring in my heart to stay connected with the Lord and to sow the word of God in my life so that my imagination becomes a place where possibility and where faith and where the promises of God are being cultivated every day. Listen, as I'm beginning to kind of 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 you need in all these things. But first and most importantly, seek his kingdom and his righteousness in what? All these things will be added unto you. What about Philippians 4.19? Right, just a little bit beyond what we were just reading. It says, And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. So again, what? When things are not working out, when we're in a season of mystery, when we're in a season of waiting, when we're in a season that we don't understand, the waiting is where imagination can either fuel faith or e or fuel fear or either form faith. I'm gonna say that again. The waiting is where the imagination can either fuel fear or form faith. So, my friend, I want to just take this moment as we end today and ask you to think about a specific situation in your life right now. And you can use this when any when any kind of worry begins to arise. But right now, is there a situation if you just close your eyes for a second, let your let yourself think about, let the Holy Spirit speak to you. Is there a situation right now in your life where you are allowing your imagination to fuel fear? To fuel fear. Just ask him right now, Lord, is is there is there a situation in my life where I've been allowing my imagination to fuel fear? And then ask him, say, say, Holy Spirit, what would it look like for you? What scripture do you want to show me right now that I could attach my faith to so that my imagination could begin to form faith toward the things that you have towards me? Invite the Holy Spirit right now. Say, Holy Spirit, would you give me a picture of what that looks like? Would you begin to show me what you know provision looks like in this or breakthrough looks like in this situation? Or what is you know, a situation where I'm I'm feeling like I can't see the next step. What does it look like according to your word and according according to how you design me? What does it look like to walk in the abundant life that you've that you've promised me? And just begin to allow him to invade your imagination and begin to show you and begin to speak to you what things could look like and do look like in the realm of faith. And you know, you can just begin to pray in that in that moment. God, thank you that you've placed me in this time, in this place with these gifts for such a time as this. Thank you that even though I can't see clearly in the natural, Lord, I can see clearly with eyes of faith. Can I just tell you that? You may not be able to see clearly in the natural, but you can absolutely see clearly in the in the supernatural by faith. And when you begin to see clearly in faith in the supernatural, that's when you're gonna begin to walk in more clarity in the natural because you're gonna be forming with God the things in the spirit that are gonna eventually show up in the natural. Man, that's when things get exciting. So listen, like just about everything I talk to you about here on the podcast, this is one of those things, and you say, mate, you always say this. Well, it's cause it's true. This is one of those things that God's not going to do to you, he's gonna do with you. As you turn your heart and your faith toward him, begin to intentionally sow his promises in your heart, begin to intentionally cultivate his presence in your life. That's how this process gets stronger and stronger and stronger. And listen, when you do that, when you start cultivating that in the garden of your heart, all that other stuff, all those lesser ideas that the enemy's trying to plant, that the enemy's trying to flame inflame in your life, those things just move to the side. Why? Because you're allowing faith to grow in the things that God has for you. Listen, my friend, I want to pray for you right now because I believe that there's grace for you. If you're watching this, if you're listening to this, I don't believe it's by chance. I believe that God directs our steps. He orders the steps of the righteous. And you're here for such a time as this right now to hear this message, but not just to hear it, let it go one in out one in one ear and out the other, but to actually do something about it. So, Holy Spirit, I thank you right now that you brought my friend to this YouTube channel, to this podcast episode, to wherever it is that they're encountering this message. Lord, I thank you that this is a moment for them. It's a moment where they get to choose. And Holy Spirit, I pray that you would well up inside of them right now, that you would begin to draw them with a new passion and in a new way and with a new vision toward all the things that you have for them. So that comparison and fear and anxiety and worry could decrease as faith and expectancy begin to increase in their imagination and in their heart as they begin to cultivate this these things with you. And I thank you, God, that when we do that, Lord, you're faithful. You don't we don't ask for bread and you give us a stone. Lord, you said seek you and you'll and we'll find you. And so, Lord, we're choosing today to seek you in our imagination, to seek you in our internal thoughts, to seek you in the things that we're seeing and believing for, believing that all things are working together for for good, believing that you have plans and purposes for us that are far beyond what we could ever ask or imagine. Release grace, God, now to my friend as they're listening, as they begin to lean into this. Let this be their new reality in Christ. We thank you for that, God, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Hey, listen, if this is an area that you want to grow in, uh, this is an area, let me just say, it's the area of my life that I'm probably the most passionate about. And the reason I'm most passionate about is because the reason that I most struggled with, the thing that I most struggle with in my life, that's why I started mentoring artists years ago. That's why I wrote Unlocking the Heart of the Artists is my story of walking out of all this and walking into the things that God has for me. And it's the reason that I designed the Created to Thrive Foundations course. It's a nine-week course. Hundreds and hundreds of artists all over the world are walking through it right now, and they're seeing God do the things that I've been talking about here on this episode today, of learning how to change your internal world out of agreement with the with the lies of the enemy and out of your experience and into alignment with the truth of God's word. Listen, if you if you don't know how to do that, if you've never been taught how to do that, it's it'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, you know, unfortunately, a lot of churches don't teach this. But actually, renewing your mind is a one way that the Bible says that you experience transformation in your life. The way your life gets transformed is not by hoping for it or praying for it or begging God for it. The way your life gets transformed, the Bible said, is through the renewing of your mind. And the reason I developed the transformation and the foundations course is so that transformation could be easy for artists just like you. And if you'll trust me and uh and become a part of this foundations course, enroll in it today, we would love to walk you through this process of transformation so that you can start seeing uh your life change and transform into everything that God's got for it according to his word. You can find all the information right here uh here in this episode in the show notes. And you can become enrolled just as soon as you click on that button. You can get in there and join our community and uh start asking me questions. But more than that, you just go through the course as we've designed it and allow others to join you on the way and encourage you on the long on the way and start seeing that transformation show up in your life. All right. Listen, my friend, I love you. It's a joy for me every week to come and and share with you the things that I'm sharing with you, but it doesn't mean anything unless you do something with it, unless you implement and enrolling in the foundations course and using the strategies that I'm talking about every week. That's the way you implement. All right. Listen, I love you. Thank you so much for being here with me. Make sure that you're subscribed, make sure you follow. Please, if you would, share these videos, these podcast episodes with others that you know would be a be blessed by 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 Christian Artist Weekly. It's my free newsletter full of spiritual encouragement, creative inspiration, and practical tips to help you thrive in everything that God's called you to do as an artist in his kingdom. Every issue is absolutely free, and it includes the latest podcast episode, featured artist spotlights, a worship song of the week, and again, tons of tips and encouragement and inspiration for you to keep you inspired and encouraged in everything that God's got for you as an artist in the kingdom. You can click the link right here in the show notes to join us, and it's a great way to stay connected. All right, love you. Bye.