I realized something a few months ago as I was writing my latest book, Creative Potential: Principles for Unleashing Your God-Given Calling that I had never thought of before:
Satan has never created anything.
Think about it. God created the entire world, Genesis tells us that he made every creature on earth and everything within it. Although that may not be that great of a revelation for you, here’s where it hit home for me: Even though Satan has never created anything, I still listen to him when it comes to creativity too often.
Satan keeps telling the same lie over and over. He wants us to stop creating, he wants us to steal what isn’t ours and claim it as our own, and he wants us to borrow from others so we would look good to those we’re trying to impress. And in this pursuit to be ‘perfect,’ we rob ourselves of our own creative potential because we take advice from someone who has never created anything.
Instead, as creatives in the church, we must learn to ignore the voice of the enemy and lean into the voice of the Creator of ALL creativity. God has invited us to step into the fullness of our calling, as we pursue the purpose that He has given each and every one of us. Here are a few quick thoughts on how to ignore the voice of the enemy.
1. Time in the Word.
My pastor says that one of the reasons we can’t hear the voice of God and distinguish it from Satan’s is that we often haven’t spent enough time to become familiar with the word and voice of God. The single best way to do this is to get into the word more often. As we do, we’ll begin to learn to the spiritual voice of our Father and recognize it because His word and His voice will never be contradictory. The will always be in conjunction with one another, because God does not contradict Himself.
2. Be Regular in Our Pursuit.
Worship leader and songwriter Carl Cartee said this on the SALT Tour last fall: “Random has no cumulative value.” What he meant by that is that getting into the word or spending time in the presence of God through worship, prayer, fasting or study without a regular pattern means that our pursuit of God is random. It’s nearly impossible to grow when you randomly do something. Imagine going to the gym to lift weights whenever it was convenient. That would be random, and you’d never gain much strength. A great way to tune out the enemy’s voice is to regularly pursue God.
3. Find Your Place in Community.
Lastly, it’s God’s desire for us to be in relationship with other Jesus-loving people who will encourage, equip and edify our pursuit of our calling. But often, the enemy wants us to think that we’re best in our creative gifts when we’re by ourselves. However, God modeled community and collaboration by collaborating with Himself! It’s not God, 1-in-1, but instead God, 3-in-1. Which means God shows our need for community by being in community with Himself in His sovereignty.
As you begin to step into the fullness of your Creative Potential and recognize the purpose and calling God has predetermined for your life, I hope you’ll ignore the lie that Satan is constantly feeding us. The world needs you to step into your God-given calling and unleash the fullness of your own creative potential!
Want to know more about my upcoming book? Click here for all the details or visit CreativePotentialBook.com
