How to Revolutionize Your Creativity by Imitating God's Creative Process

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Genesis one and one. You know that verse even if you've barely read the Bible. You've heard it in the beginning. God created the heavens and the earth. Now, that should give us a clue right there that if God is the ultimate creative and the creator, that we should take some cues from Him, because he tells us exactly what he did in the creative process that occurred in the very beginning of the world.

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But do we? Now, we know God created the heavens and the earth, but do we know how? And can we glean from that creative process to see how we can really partner with Him and really, actually become these little creatives little creators that are more fulfilled, more blessed, and more productive? Because we're following God's creative process line by line, I'm going to show you how that can work for you and how integrating God's creative process into your own creative process can revolutionize the way you look at your creative life. In this episode of The God and GigsShow, give me just a moment to welcome those of you who are new to our show, and then we'll get right into this fascinating conversation.

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Hello and welcome to our show. Thank you so much for making this podcast a part of your creative day. If you're new to our podcast, my name is Allen C. Paul. I'm the host and founder of God and Gigs, and we help you to build the best creative life you've ever had by connecting the dots between your spiritual life and your creative life and helping you solve temporary creative problems by applying timeless spiritual principles.

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And one of these spiritual principles you want to get into right away today is God's creative process. Now, as a faith focus, as a believing Christian creative, you may have already said, well, I know God created everything. I'm very aware that he created me. He made me a creative. Therefore, I'm definitely in tune with this whole idea of God creating, and I create out of the gift that he gave me.

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But sometimes I think we take that a little bit too lightly. And this is what I mean. God really prescribes in so many places in the Bible exactly how he creates. Starting from Genesis and going all the way through the Bible, there are specific places where God explains and really lays out how he creates, going all the way to Moses and the temple and how he lays out things. And then, as I mentioned in Genesis and in other places in the Bible where it talks about the heavens and how he spoke, in Job, he talks about the whirlwind and how he spoke the stars into being.

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There's so many beautiful pictures in the Bible of God's creative process, but what we sometimes forget is that we can actually link our own creative process to his. And if we do that, we are participating in what really is a divine prescription for ultimate productivity in our creativity. And not just to be productive, but to be blessed, but to really know that everything we are doing as creatives, no matter where you create. Remember, this is not just for inside worship settings, church settings, ministry settings. This is everywhere.

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Since God created everything, this process works everywhere. And as long as you are aligned with his will and His Word, it can apply in the way that you are making things. It really does give you a prescription for success in creativity. So let's break that down really shortly. I'm doing a workshop.

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If you check out some of the links in the show notes and the description of this episode, you're going to see our next workshop and our prayer workshop, how to Integrate Prayer into Your Creative Process. And this teaching is in there, but I go way more in depth, so definitely check that out whenever you watch this. But now let me get right into the actual steps of God's creative process. First we see there's an announcement or you might say a pronouncement. Okay, so there's a speaking of words every single time in Scripture, in Genesis one, and God said, there is a word that has to be spoken.

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Now, you might say, okay, I'm a creative that doesn't use words. I sing or I dance, and I don't necessarily write down or speak words like a poet or as an author. I don't write the words down. That's not my gifting. Words are not my first way that I use.

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So that I create. But let me just make sure you understand. If God starts with a word, so do you. As a matter of fact, if you go to John and where he says that God is the Word, that Jesus is the word of God, in the beginning was the Word, right? So that parallels Genesis One with John.

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One in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So Jesus is a living word, but out of his words, he creates other words, right? We creatives are part of that creative exercise that God created. We are living words, and we create words ourselves. Life and death is in the power of the tongue, as you've heard.

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So here's the key thing that I want you to realize. You start as a word that God spoke. And when you speak words, creative exercise, creative life comes into being. So even if you don't use words as your creative gift, when you pronounce or speak or create, you are creating worlds with your words the same way that God created your world with His Word. That's something that creatives.

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All human beings, everyone that has the image of God has that kind of innate creative ability. But we as creatives, we tap into it probably more than we realize. And maybe that's why sometimes you feel a little flustered and frustrated because you're speaking words and you're creating things that you don't really want to create, because you're not realizing that you are really operating in a small sense, the same way that God is operating in his creative process when he pronounces something, when he speaks and it comes into being. We don't pronounce and things don't come into being out of nothing. That's not our power.

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That's only God's power. But out of the something that he's created, we still speak and we create out of our words. And so if you realize that you can pronounce and speak, even if you're not using words in your creative particular gift, you are still speaking and creating out of that ability that God put on the inside. Because we are partakers, as the Bible says, of his divine nature. So the first part of God's creative process is pronouncement or announcement.

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There is always a word that goes forth. So remember that in your creative process, you are also starting with a pronouncement. I am going to create. I am going to do this. I'm going to make something.

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And that announcement and the spirit in which you do it, if it's aligned with God, gives an authority, because the very root word of authority, right, is author. What do authors do? They write words. They start with words. God is the author and the finisher of our faith.

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Now, last time I checked, authors don't become authors when they just start writing. They become authors when they finish the book. So we've got a job as authors under the authority of God. We also have to finish and create and make the announcement and pronounce and then go forward in the creative process, just like God does. Now, here's another thing that you may not realize god does in his creative process, and this is going to blow your mind.

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God not only pronounces, but he also evaluates. There's also an evaluation of his work. And this is something that I didn't realize until I read it and just really started to ponder how incredible this is. God is perfect, right? If he's perfect, why in the world would he make anything that's not perfect?

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How is that possible that a perfect creator makes something that needs evaluation? It should be perfect as soon as he puts it out. But at every point in creation, in Genesis, God saw. So he looks, evaluates, observes, and then makes a determination on whether or not the stuff he made trees, flowers, the sea, air, stars, everything. He checks it.

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He checks his own work. Isn't that amazing? That a perfect God. And let's pause for a second. And there is one thing that he made that he said is not good.

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And it was when he realized that Adam was alone. So even God evaluated some of his work and said, not good enough. I can do better. Isn't that freeing for us in our creative process to realize if God can evaluate his work and realize some things are not just up to par of his standard, that we can also evaluate our own work and not feel bad when our work does not reach a standard that we are comfortable with. That is okay to throw things away and say no.

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Not good enough. If God can look at his own work, which was perfect in every sense that possibly could think of in the word and he still said it wasn't good enough, then maybe we should be free to follow God's creative process and always be willing to evaluate, look and see whether or not what we have made is up to standard. And by the way, let me ask you, whose standard should our work rise to? Ours or God's? Now, I would say if you check yourself and say, wait, I'm not going to be the standard here, and I'm not even going to let my audience or my viewers or my followers or whoever I'm presenting this to be the standard.

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I want this to reach God's standard. Now, it gets really interesting because if you're letting God evaluate your work and looking at his prism, this does not again mean that everything has to be religious or worship or dedicated to Him in the sense that it has to be about God. Everything eventually comes under His Lordship, of course, but we're talking about whatever you create, whatever you do. Like Colossians says, eat, drink, whatever you do, doing all to the glory of God so you can submit your creative stuff to his standard and say, did I put my all into this? Is this the best I can do?

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Or do I need to start over? That's another place where if we follow God's creative process and we evaluate what we've done, you will see an incredible new sense of understanding, of fulfillment, of insight into your creative work that you never had before. Because you were looking at it like, I don't know if I like it or I don't know if they will like it. But if you add on that third tier, that key tier of does God like it? Is this up to his standards in terms of my creative ability?

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Or did I just kind of, like, short circuit a little bit because I didn't want to push too hard because I thought this was going to be too tricky or it wasn't going to be something that I was just kind of mail it in? When God says, no, I demand and I desire excellence in your creative calling, that's something that's absolutely going to lift up your creative ability. And then finally, God pronounces. He announces god evaluates. But here's the coolest part.

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God also participates. Isn't it cool that we are also allowed to be involved in the creative process along with God? I'm going to help you see this because you might again say, wait, how in the world are we god has all the creative power, what do we have to offer to him? And the point is that God, when he made Adam and Eve, he actually asked them, said, hey, you're going to have this job in the garden, and I'm not going to do part of this job with you. You get to name every animal.

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And whatever I bring to Adam, whatever he names it, that's the name. Well, guess what? I'm pretty sure God was probably shaking his head at some of the names that Adam came up with. But whatever Adam came up with, that stuck. Okay, so when Adam came up with Platypus, or when Adam came up with Zebra, when Adam came up with Armadillo, that was what the name was.

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And God's like, that's your creative ability. Who gave Adam these names or ideas for the names of the animals? Did God somehow give Him divine insight into, oh, this is the best name, or did he just say, hey, Adam, I gave you this amazing creative ability. I'm going to let you flex your muscles a little bit and let's see what you come up with. We are called to participate with God, and God steps back and allows us to make the final determination on what the creative process will end as.

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And that, my friend, is where you can now really see God's joy in seeing you participate in the creative process with Him rather than simply working for Him or for someone else. This is a collaborative thing that you are involved in. So I encourage you start looking at your creative process as a mirror of God's creative process, where he pronounces and announces, and you can announce and speak words of life over your creative gift. You also have the ability to evaluate it, but not evaluate toward your standard, but evaluate it to God's standard. And finally, think about this.

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He wants you to participate and he gives you a blank slate and says, hey, whatever you decide to call this thing, whatever you decide to do with it, I'm standing by, I'm cool with it. I'm not going to throw it away because I didn't like the way you painted it or the way you did that cord or whatever. No, I'm giving you the ability to participate in the creative process that I started. So, as you can see, my friend, this is really exciting stuff that I'm really starting to pour myself into. And again, if you are interested in checking out more about this integration of prayer into God's creative process and then making it your own, definitely check out the link in the show notes.

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We will be doing these workshops more and more often throughout the year. And if you're checking this out as I'm recording, there is one coming up right away. But definitely check the link in the show notes and you'll see all the information for our next prayer workshop. Well, my friend, that's all I have for you today. I've been so blessed by this study.

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I hope you have too. Make sure you follow us on all social media platforms. And if you're watching us on YouTube, make sure you subscribe to this channel right away so that you can get more of this talk and this kind of encouragement about the creative process, about your creative process, about what God is doing in your creative life. And remember, continue to become the creative that you were created to be. God bless and I'll see you next episode.

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Thanks for joining us here at the God and Gigs show. Please leave us a review on itunes, like our Facebook page or visit Godandgigs.com and tell us what you thought of this show. We'll be back soon. In the meantime, go create something amazing.