The David Lee Martin Show - Holy Ghost Encouragement For Christian Creatives

https://davidleemartin.com/becoming-stewards-of-heavens-storehouse/

“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.” Psalm 90:12

Life can be lost to hurry. In our rush to tomorrow we miss the delights of today. And so the dance continues.

The number of days only ever diminishes, so it is wise to stop and take stock of how you are spending them. Are the moments dripping through your fingers in pursuit of something you already have? Or something that you think you want but on inspection could never satisfy your craving?

It is easy to live by default, reacting to circumstances as they rush by, rather than living by design, cultivating the life that you desire.

And by that I don’t mean the American dream. Whoever the ‘American’ is, he has much to answer for. The dream (or more precisely what the dream has mutated into) that has been foisted on unsuspecting generations drives the ambitions of millions over a precipice of endless discontent.

This is not the way of Jesus.

His purpose for you is richly furnished with provision, but is not driven by market forces. It is not moulded by passing fads and fashions.

God has great plans for your prosperity in every arena of life, and all that is necessary for fulfilment is already baked into your future.

Steps of humble obedience will get you there.

https://davidleemartin.com/multiply-your-results-not-your-efforts/

The door that will unlock in your thinking if you ponder what I share here long enough could save you years of frustration.

The accumulated moments of unnecessary effort in our daily routines can add up over time and become years of our life. These unchallenged chief robbers of time are the small foxes that spoil the vine. They appear unimpressive and minimal close up, but multiply their destructive consequences and you’ll find time spilling out in all directions.

It begins with the false premise that more effort is equal to bigger or better results.

We seek better outcomes and wonder why they are not forthcoming, and simply jump on the bike and pedal harder. The problem is, some of our cycles have square wheels!

Your habits and processes are the bicycles that you ride in life and business. We flow with the familiar without giving consideration to whether the way we are doing the work is the best and most efficient use of time and energy...

https://davidleemartin.com/filling-time-vs-freeing-time/

Productivity hacks are often used to cram more activity into tight-packed time. The myth of multitasking continues its cultural march, pulling unsuspecting ambitions into an ever-increasing swirl of bigger, faster, more.

But productivity at its heart is not about filling time, it is about freeing time.

Freeing time for those activities that are most meaningful and impactful...

https://davidleemartin.com/peace-through-process/

Business and creativity can become like a giant bowl of spaghetti. A tangled mess of awesome but impossible to tame. All of the ingredients for delicious are in there but every day is fraught with problems because no processes are in place.

Instead of peaceful pathways leading to predictable results, there’s a constant run round the same mountains, increasingly eating your time and hampering your creative flow.

But creative natured entrepreneurs often prefer the chase. They love the starts, not the stays. The making, not the maintaining.

But a business is not built on excitement. However much the sales pages sell you on passion, passion is not enough to build your business on. There has to be structure, however simple, and process, however rudimentary.

Once the pathways are in place, the streams can run freely, and results can be expected today, tomorrow and for as long as the machinery of production is in place...

https://davidleemartin.com/i-pray-weird/

I pray weird.

In fact, it may be weird to pray nowadays, period.

Most folks like to think they can do life themselves. No help. No fallback. No crutch.

Not me.

I’m helplessly and happily aware that without Jesus I’m up a creek without a paddle. In fact, not just a paddle, a boat, a motor, a direction, a scrap of toilet paper, or even a hope!

Atheists passionately practice their non-belief with religious zeal nowadays. Ironic how “not believing” has become so in vogue. It’s the new thing to believe. Apparently.

The high-priests of nothing-there push their belief in not believing with a devotion that shames the luke-warmness of many churchgoers.

The worship of self is the altar of choice for a generation.

All the while, there’s some weird folk praying.

I once heard a preacher say, “A man’s secret is in his story.”

The life of any sermon is not so much in the accuracy or eloquence, but in the life that sits behind the speaking. It is the secret heart, the man behind the suit and boots, that makes the difference.

Behind any product, service, or publication, is a person.

Whether you write, sing, act or architect, the vibrancy of your creative work will depend upon and be infused with the life that produced it.

https://davidleemartin.com/your-secret-is-in-your-story/

When Jesus taught His disciples He did it on the move. They learned on the road, not in a row crammed into neat seats and tidy lines.

Men of God learn to pray in the upper room, not the schoolroom.

A bare but leafy tree became an object lesson in faithful fruitfulness.

A farmer became the frame through which the Master taught the principles of spiritual seedtime and harvest.

On the beach, they became fishers of men.

The looming mountain was the picture used to distill the working of faith.

The New Testament is full of the telling refrain:

“As they went”...

https://davidleemartin.com/instead-of-worrying-about-what-you-dont-know-share-what-you-do/

I’m here at the head of another week. I’m a typical creative. The day lays before me and my greatest task is deciding which of my plates and projects I want to spin.

Some may be far better organised than I am, and have things neatly planned out months ahead. God bless that person, I need them to lay hands on me and impart some of that amazing!

It would be easy for me to slap myself up and get on own case for not being more awesome. After all are we not all supposed be superhero’s nowadays? Juggling business, life, and family like a rock star?

Or does that only happen on Facebook and Instagram?

In the down-and-dirty reality of putting the bins out, cleaning up spilled juice, cooking, washing, paying bills, praying, staying fit, and figuring out why-that-thing-is-not-working-as-it-should-do, days can quickly disappear.

Having said all this, I do a lot. I have two businesses up and running and making money, a healthy and happy household, and most importantly of all, a thriving relationship with Jesus Christ.

I must be doing something right I remind myself.

And here’s one of those things that I think is making a difference, at least for me...

One of my favourite verses is found in Deuteronomy, where the Holy Ghost declares concerning Israel that he brought them out, in order to bring them in.

“And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in” (Deuteronomy 6:23 KJV)

Yes, He brought them out, but the purpose was not just to deliver them from bondage and futility, it was in order to BRING THEM IN.

Sometimes we can focus so much on the desert that we forget to look and remember that we were made for the promise.

We will generally move towards the things that are biggest in the frame of our imagination.

https://davidleemartin.com/from-and-for/

“Lord, I have chosen you alone as my inheritance.

You are my prize, my pleasure, and my portion.

I leave my destiny and it’s timing in your hands.”

Psalm 16:5, Passion

https://davidleemartin.com/my-prize-and-my-pleasure-psalm-16-praying-the-psalms/