118 - 5-Minute Mentoring: Taking Yourself Seriously as a Christian Artist

Happy New Year, and welcome to my first podcast of the year AND the decade!

I believe that it’s going to be an incredible, incredible year, and I just wanted to start off this year with a little series. You're going to be noticing “a thread” moving through the podcast this January. I’m really trying to help you get started, get on the right path and get on a focused on everything that God has for you.

In today’s episode, I really wanted to jump into this whole concept of taking yourself seriously as a Christian artist.  Is this the year you are finally going to do that thing you’ve been talking about, or are you going to keep going around the same old bush, doing the same old thing, expecting different results?”

I’ll be talking about the four main roadblocks to taking yourself seriously as an artist and leave you with a few insights and hints on how to make this year your breakthrough year!

Connect with Matt online at www.MattTommeyMentoring.com or on Instagram and Facebook @thethrivingchristianartist

Get encouraged and connect with other artists on the Thriving Christian Artist Facebook Page  https://www.facebook.com/thethrivingchristianartist/

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Well, hey there, my friend, and welcome to the first... 5-Minute Mentoring of 2020. Can you believe it? Oh my gosh! We made it! I'm really, really glad that you're here and I'm so excited about all that this year has for you, for me, for everybody that's walking in God's kingdom. It's going to be an incredible, incredible year. And just wanted to start off this year really with a little series. You're going to be noticing kind of a thread, if you will, moving through the podcast this January. Really trying to help you to get started and get on the right path, get on a focused path to everything that God has for you. And in today's five-minute mentoring, I really wanted to jump into this whole concept of taking yourself seriously and just asking yourself, is this a year you're finally going to do that? Or are you going to keep just kind of going around the same old bush, doing the same old thing, expecting different results? Because, you know, a lot of people do that. I've done that in my life in different seasons and wondering, why am I getting the same results I've been getting? I want something different, and yet my actions don't change. And so I want this for you, and I know you want it to be the year that you do start to take yourself seriously, that you do really embrace everything that God's got for you. So I've got a few tips I hope are going to be helpful in that regard today, and The question kind of becomes, if everybody wants different results, if everybody wants to take themselves seriously, if everybody wants to live the life that God's called them to live and designed for them to live, that abundant, incredible, creative flow, kingdom-oriented, abundance-experiencing life, why aren't they doing it? Why aren't they able to live that life and actually execute on those dreams and really take themselves seriously? Well, there are a number of reasons, I think. This isn't an exhaustive list, but I think some people don't believe they can. Maybe they've been told their whole life, you can't do it. You're not good enough. You're not this enough. You're not that enough. They just have a belief system, kind of a core belief that they can't do it. Maybe they have never done it in the past. Maybe they've tried things. They've failed. They just don't believe that they can do it. And so because they failed in the past and because that's paralyzed them, They're just unable to move forward. They haven't been able to shake that. Maybe you can relate to that. I know a lot of people do. A lot of people don't believe that they're worthy to succeed. And I know that doesn't, on the surface, sound like, really? But listen, a lot of people, because of the way they grew up, the relationships that they've had, the experiences that they've had in life, maybe even their thoughts about God and what humility is supposed to look like as a Christian or humility what pride is supposed to look like as a Christian and not wanting to take any credit for anything in their life, not wanting to enjoy anything in their life. So they kind of have this underlying thing that's going on, this kind of cooking inside of them all the time that says you're not worthy to succeed. You're not supposed to succeed. You're supposed to let everybody else go first. You sit in the back. And that really paralyzes a lot of people. You know, fourthly, I think there's a lot of people out there that believe a lie about how change is supposed to happen. I've talked about it in my books and mentoring program. We talk about it as the mailbox mentality, right? That all we do is just we ask, we beg, we strive, we try to make it happen. And then we just sit back and ask God, okay, God, you do it. And I'm waiting on you. And I'm like, you know what, my friend, that's not how the kingdom works. The kingdom works when we embrace who God's called us to, when we begin to step out in faith and cooperate and co-labor with the Holy Spirit. So if you have kind of a misunderstanding about how change happens, that somehow it's all God and none of you, you're going to be waiting a long time and probably waiting in a lot of frustration. And then, you know, one of the last things that I see a lot of people that struggle with taking themselves seriously and really being able to make forward progress is in their life as an artist is they feel completely alone in their church, in their family, maybe in their local area. They don't know anybody else that understands what it means to be an artist, much less be an artist who loves Jesus and is about pursuing the power of the kingdom. And so that aloneness can feel overwhelming. It can feel stifling. And it just can be very, very paralyzing for a lot of people. And so For many people, again, maybe you, maybe that's why you're listening to the podcast today. You've been looking for a community. You've been looking for somebody that gets me, that understands what it means to be an artist, to be in the kingdom, to love Jesus and want to pursue that. And this is your year. This can absolutely be the year that you start to take yourself seriously and pursue everything that God's got for you. Well, listen, I just want to kind of strike through all of those beliefs, and I call them ungodly beliefs, you know, all these beliefs that may be really core to who you are, may be really set into your heart and your belief system, but listen, these are not God's best for your life. In fact, regardless of what you believe, I believe, listen, this is a new year, and the very fact that you're listening to this podcast right now proves that you want everything that God has for you, as an artist. And that is so exciting. And so, listen, I believe it also proves that God set you up. God's got something incredible for you. He ordered your steps to be right here at this place at this time, whether you're driving down the road, working out in the studio, just sitting in the car, sitting in your house, whatever it is, you're here by divine appointment. And listen, my friend, God's got something incredible for you in 2020 if you'll just take hold of it. And so here's my promise to you. Listen, if you will stay with me this year on this podcast, if you'll walk with me, if you'll pursue God and pursue your calling as an artist, if you'll give me the great privilege of leading you along that path, listen, I promise you, you're going to start to see some incredible, incredible breakthrough in your life. And I can't wait. I cannot wait to hear the stories of Matt, That was me. I was listening to that podcast back in January. And I did what you said. And I started taking myself seriously. And I started putting my art out there. And I started pursuing the things that God had on my life. I started taking every thought captive. I started reformatting my brain to align with the kingdom, not the lies of the enemy. And all of a sudden, here it is, the end of the year, the end of 2020. And my life is completely different.

UNKNOWN 7:37

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

I can't wait. And listen, that can absolutely change. be your story. How do I know? I hear it all the time. I hear it all the time from people that are in the mentoring program that have started taking life seriously, not living on autopilot anymore, start really pursuing the kingdom, pursuing their calling as an artist. What happens? Life changes. Why? Because the kingdom works. The kingdom that lives inside of you changes you when you begin to align with God's truth and for your life, when you begin to engage the Holy Spirit in that creative process in the context of loving community, man, sir, things change. Things begin to change. And so I can't wait for that to be your story this year. Listen, wherever you are right now, I just want to take an opportunity to pray for you because I believe God's got some incredible breakthrough for you. And I just want to just kind of almost like push you out like a big ship into the water, into the journey that God's got for you and watch you set sail into this incredible journey that God's got for you this year. So Father, in Jesus' name, Lord, I thank you that you have brought my friend to this podcast on this day at this time. And Lord, that you have incredible things for them this year. And Lord, you're not asking for perfection. You're not asking for them to do it right or wrong. You're not asking for them to be like everybody else. God, all you're asking for today is their yes. And so, Father, with everything that's in us right now, Lord, we say yes. We say yes to you. We say yes to your kingdom. We say yes to the iron sharpening iron situations we'll go through this year. We say yes to the stretching. We say yes to the joy. We say yes to the exhilaration. We say yes to the creative flow. We say yes to the community that you've called us to, God. We say yes to the transformation that's going to happen in our life and through our life to affect others this year. Lord, we repent for not taking ourselves seriously, for not putting your calling and your design in our life first, but for trying to make it happen and do all this stuff by ourself called life. Lord, we're tired of trying to do things for you. Lord, we want to do things with you. And Lord, this year, receive our yes. Receive our yes as our declaration of partnership with you in this army of artists that you're raising up all over the world. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Hey, my friend, I'm so glad that you're with me today. I hope you were agreeing with me and amening and saying, yes, that's for me, as I was praying. Listen, I would love to hear if that's your story, if you're saying yes. Listen, if you are, hit me up on Facebook, tag me in a post on Instagram, on Facebook, leave a review on the podcast. I would love to hear about your yes and what you're believing God for this year in 2020, all right? Well, hey, I'll see you again real soon here on the podcast. Remember, you were created to thrive. All right, bye-bye.