How to Unlock God's Unique Plan for Your Creative Life w/ Matt Tommey, Mentor & Author

Allen C. Paul 0:00
Hey there, Allen Paul here of God and  gigs and I want to ask you if you, like me, are a super busy creative. Are you juggling your family, your job, perhaps a nine to five job that you're still doing but also doing your creative side hustle? Are ah you feeling like you're torn between those two worlds. And maybe, just maybe, you're feeling like this might be the time that you take your part time creative life life and make it your full time passion and your living, but you're feeling stuck. There are some questions you have about how to actually make that happen. Can you even become a full time creative? Well, I have a resource that's designed specifically just for you. It's called the four questions that you need to answer before going into full time creative work. And you might be surprised by the questions that you think you need to answer and the questions that I will help you answer with this workbook resource. So just go to Godandgigs.com questions or check out the link on this podcast and go get that resource. It's free and it's here to help you to get out of that stuck feeling and to really embrace your next step as a creative, which may be finally embracing that God given passion to make a living doing what you love. The resources there. You just got to go grab it. Godandgigs.com Questions take this opportunity to go forward in your creative life. Now, let's get on to this week's episode. Imagine if you had the perfect plan to build the creative business that God had designed for you to build, that you had the plans, that you had the process that you knew from his voice exactly what to do, when to move, how to move, and how that would impact your life. What would you do if you had that kind of connection with God in your creative or, uh, your artistic life or even in your Christian life? Well, my friend, it's possible. And if you listen to today's episode with leading Christian creative mentor, artist and speaker and podcaster, Matt Tommy, you're going to have some major pieces of that puzzle answered for you so that you know how to follow God. In every area of your life. But more importantly, how God is calling you to something bigger and how he can work with the design of your life as a creative artist, musician or even outside the creative space. Wherever you are right now, God has a plan. And Matt Tommy, as a leading mentor of artists throughout the world, he's going to show us how to hear that voice and how to follow it, even when it takes us down some unexpected paths. My friend, this is one of the most important episodes maybe I've ever done because this is one of the people who helped us really get the inspiration for God and gigs. So give me just a moment to welcome those of you who are new to our show. And then we'll get right into this incredibly powerful discussion.

Speaker B 03:00
Artists, musicians, and creatives of all kinds looking for help balancing your passion to create with your everyday life. Not sure if your faith can coexist with your profession? Welcome to a place where real artists discuss real life. You're listening to the God and Gig show. Visit Godandgigs.com for show notes, links and more information.

Allen C. Paul 03:23
Hello and welcome to our, show. Thank you so much for making this podcast a part of your creative day. And if you are new to our show, you are in the right place at the right time. And let me tell you why. Because if you're an artist, musician, freelancer, content creator, anyone who works at the intersection of the arts and entertainment space, or the content creation space, and you want to solve those creative issues that you have with timeless spiritual principles, well, you're in the right place because you're among friends. You're among your tribe of creatives and artists who want to become completely confident in every area of your life. That's what we do here at God and Gigs. We have our podcast, we have our uh website, we have a community, everything here to help you achieve that complete creative confidence in your faith, your family, and your career. So make sure you subscribe to the show, follow us, make sure you stay connected to all of our socials all of that information is in the show's description. Now on to today's episode with this incredible, phenomenal guest. Really, one of the reasons why Garden gigs even exist is because of Matt Tommey  and his example. Now, if you're new to Matt Tommy, let me tell you in just a nutshell what he's done and why you need to listen to every second of this interview. Matt is an internationally known artist, Christian speaker, author of seven books, and he is passionate about helping artists to thrive spiritually, artistically, and in business. He's a mentor to artists throughout the world through his Creative to Thrive artist mentoring program. And he hosts a Thriving Christian Artist podcast, which has had millions of downloads. And I can very humbly say I've also had a chance to be a guest on. So I'm super, super proud to be able to extend the invitation and have him now on the show. Now, since 2009, Matt has been raising up an army of artists to help reveal God's glory all over the world. He is absolutely sold out to helping people to live out God's design in every area of their life. So for the artisan creatives in this community, he is helping us to see God's path, God's principles, and God's plan in everything we do. Not just our creative business to create thriving businesses where we can live and work in our, uh creative calling, but also to be Christians that can truly follow God in every area of our lives. Now, Matt is also walking to talk as an artist. His Basketry work has been featured in magazines, shows, and exhibitions throughout the country. He's been recognized as one of the best American artists under 40 by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. So he is not just a mentor, but he's also walking the talk as an artist. And by the way, he's going to also share how new things are happening in his life. How new moves, new locations, even new books are coming out from him. And this new chapter of his life where he is even pivoting in terms of his creative calling, which is something that you need to listen to today, so that you realize that you're not going to reach a plateau either if God is moving you in a new direction. Matt's going to show you how to listen and discern the voice and know when it's time to move and the principles you have to apply to remain successfully following God in every area of your life. So I cannot tell you how important it is that you listen to every second of this interview and then afterward to bookmark it and to share it with a few friends who also need this kind of incredible inspiration from one of the leading Christian artist mentors of our generation. My friend, without any further delay, let me present to you, Matt Tommy.

Allen C. Paul 07:20
Ladies and gentlemen, this is one of the highest honors I've ever had on the God and Gigs show because, without this gentleman that's on our show, I probably would not have gotten gigs. I started following him, started hearing about what he was sharing, realizing that I had a virtual mentor, someone that had already walked the path and was following God and following his artistic calling and then helping thousands of artists to do the same thing. So with that matt Tommy. Welcome to the God and Gig Show. How are you?

Matt Tommey 07:50 
I'm great, Alan. Thank you so much, man. It's an honor to be here with you.

Allen C. Paul 07:54
 No, the honor is all mine. As I said, um, you literally have written the books on this subject. Not just one book, but I believe as of now, seven, and maybe another one coming out. But as of now, as we're recording seven books on, um, the creative lifestyle, living as a Christian artist. And I want to do the 32nd elevator pitch where everybody asks you who you are and they should know who you are if they already hit the description. But I actually want to start with this, and I get it's a little bit of a left turn right away. After all you've done for years and decades, is there anything right now that's still surprising you because you've done this so many times? Is there anything like right now when I talk to you, you talk to me in this interview, just what is still keeping you surprised and motivated when you do what you've been doing for decades?

Matt Tommey 08:45
Well, I would have to say it's, people, I started this not really because I, uh, ever wanted to. In my own heart, God called me to this, just like any other person has a calling. Woke me up in the middle of the night back in 2009. Said, you're a father to artists, go to the nations, raise up an army of artists. And, um, it really came out of my own journey of healing and my own journey of a lot of brokenness and trauma and woundedness that I'd walked through in my own life. And so when I started sharing that journey, I started realizing how hurt and, uh, limited, um, and throttled creatives were. Not just creatives, but really so many people in the Kingdom of God. And so the thing that keeps me going is really the stories of people who are seeing Jesus transform their life, connect them with who he says they are, what they can do, how they've been designed, all of that. And I just never get tired of seeing those, AHA, moments of people waking up from dead religion, people waking up from performance and striving on their own and learning how to walk in the freedom and fullness of the Kingdom of God. So that's a wonderful place to be, and I never get tired of that.

Allen C. Paul 09:59
Oh, gosh, thank you so much for sharing, because I do sometimes feel that for those of us who have been working for a long time, we sometimes think, oh, someone's made it, and they don't have to work anymore, they don't have to think anymore. God just drops everything in their lap and it's all there. And to hear that you have a passion of why it's, uh, still motivating you after doing this for so long. But, yeah, let's go ahead and dial it back. Now, you've told me that there's a reason that you're still going. Let's invite you to tell people those 32nd elevator pitch things like, okay, what are the things that still define that? Tommy, now, when people meet you for the first time, what do you tell them about yourself?

Matt Tommey 10:37
Well, my primary focus for the last 13 years has been helping artists, um, step into the fullness of the kingdom and really thrive spiritually, artistically, and in business. Uh, we call it in our mentoring program, The Trinity Effect. Because unless you are bringing your relationship with the Lord and your spiritual life and your art the way you create with Him and that business side of things, um, it's really difficult to get traction, not only as an artist, but as a believer in what God's called you to. And so I love to do that, uh, whether it's through conferences or books or our mentoring program, or speaking on podcasts, things like this. Uh, any way that we can help people to make those connections and really start living life from a, uh, holistic perspective where a lot of us, and me especially. I grew up kind of with these silos, if you will. My spiritual life was over here, but then I had this kind of striving mentality where, of course, God wasn't concerned about money. That's not spiritual. And I would believe lies like money is the root of all evil, which the Bible does not say. It's the love of money right there's, the root of all evil. And then I would just see my art as kind of this little fun side thing, but really had, again, no connection to who I was. And it was during my healing journey and when the Lord began to restore my heart that he began to show me that, hey, your identity in me is crucial. It's the foundation for everything. And the place that you create from that's got to come out of a healthy place. So as I'm walking in more healing, it's going to affect my art. It's going to affect my creative expression. And then as I do that, boldness and confidence begins to come where I can develop relationships in the market, present myself in a way that is confident and that allows other people to want to come and connect with me in an authentic way. And when those three things come together, that's when you start seeing what we call thriving as an artist. So, uh, that's been my life and continues to be my life right now. In this last couple of years, the Lord has started turning, uh, the page. I don't want to say as if I'm leaving the art stuff, because I'm definitely not. But he's began to open up a whole new side for me where we're taking these kingdom principles and really showing everybody in the Kingdom of God that, uh, these basic principles are how thriving works for everybody in the kingdom.

Allen C. Paul 13:01
Wow. Now you open so many paths that we could take this down. One, I'll start with the last one that just popped up, which is just said that you're taking this outside of the Creators. But I think one of the things I've struggled with, even in terms of how do I talk about these principles that are kingdom principles that should apply to everyone and then simply relate them to creatives? So I just wanted to ask you whether you feel in your experience because you've done this mentoring thing for so many people, so many creatives, why do you think creatives struggle with the holistic thing that you just described? Why is it that creatives tend to forget that we are, in a sense, just like everybody else, that we do have this need to be loved, uh, that we need to be healed, that we need to have this? So why do you think Creators put ourselves in that silo to where we don't treat ourselves with the same kind of love and respect and really receiving what God has for all believers?

Matt Tommey 15:38
Well, I think most creatives are really intuitive. A lot of us are very empathic. Um, and so because of that, you end up living very easily. Sort of an insulated, um, in an insulated world where you may not be used to developing meaningful relationships involving other people in your creative process, letting people know about difficulty, trauma, woundedness, weakness, frustrations in your life. And of course, the enemy is right there to lie to you the whole time. You're the only one dealing with this. Nobody's as bad as you. You'll never be able to all this kind of starving artist crap that people believe and cultivate in their life. And so that's kind of the general state of a lot of creatives in general. Number two, I think creatives are taught this from a very early age that do what feels good, go with your feelings, go with your gut. Which of course, the Bible never says. God gives us intuition and that's wonderful. But everything that we do has to be brought under the lordship of Jesus and filtered through the mind of Christ. So most artists and most people in the body of Christ are never taught how to practically renew their mind to the truth of what God says as opposed to what they're feeling. And so that sets us up for this thing of we're just out there as artists trying to do the best we can based on our feelings, based on comparison. And it's just a recipe for absolute disaster. And, um, the Bible is really clear in Romans Twelve two that transformation happens in your life. Not through striving on your own, not through begging God for it to happen, not through crying in tears. It comes through the renewing of your mind. That is when you start to think about life differently, yourself differently, God differently according to his Word. Then that's when you experience transformation. That's the passion that I've been on in my own life, but also in trying to help artists to connect with that as well.

Allen C. Paul 17:40
Thank you for making that even more specific in terms of the renewing of the mind. Now, a lot of your work when. You have unlocking the heart of the artist, a lot of your work has to do with really scripturally based focus on how that really works in our daily lives. And I want you to speak to not just the creators, as we've said, this is really for anybody as you hear and see these creatives and people outside struggle with these issues. What in your life has helped you to keep the main thing, the main thing because you're running a big, uh, huge business because you got all these calls you just said you're coming off of calls and all the things that are coming at you as an artist, what keeps you grounded in the Word? What keeps you grounded in that personal relationship? Because we are all faced with these distractions, especially when you're trying to build something like an art career, like a music career, like a creative career, and a ministry. By the way, this happens to ministers by side the church. We might be preaching the Word on Sunday, but then for us, uh, to practice it Monday through Saturday, it can become where the things that God gives us actually pulls us away.

Matt Tommey 18:45
Yeah. So one of the interesting things when you walk through a transformative process yourself, you try to share those things with other people. But then when you start actually helping other people get transformation and you become a student of transformation, which I feel like I am over the last 13 years, I've become a student of how do I help people experience the fullness of the kingdom in the easiest and quickest way possible? How do I get you from A to B? Right? And over the years, I've recognized some signposts. I've started to call it God's ideal. Um, I - D - E - AL. And these are five very simple things, is what my next book is going to be about. But there are five things. I think they become anchor points for me, and they've become anchor points for people. The first is identity. Right? Everything in the kingdom begins with what you believe about what God says about you in His Word, not what you think about you, not what mom and Daddy think about you, not how you've been defined over the years through your successes or failures. But what does God's Word say about you? And there's very clear and simple ways in God's Word to begin to develop. That when that becomes the foundation two. The second thing then is design. All right?

Allen C. Paul 20:04
Yeah.

Matt Tommey 20:05
God designs us, all of us in the Kingdom specifically, with gifts and graces, to be able to reveal his light in life to the world. And so you have to realize that for all of us, whether you're an accountant or in government or you're a stay at home mom, or you're an entrepreneur or you're an artist or whatever, that design and that gifting and those graces are specifically on board with you for a purpose. And so when God is speaking who you are in Him, he's speaking that through your design.

Allen C. Paul 20:40
Yeah.

Matt Tommy 20:41
All right? So that's really key. So when you get ideas, when you get passion, when you begin to sense a direction, always realize that God's speaking to you through that place of design, and God speaks loudest through his design. In other words, if I'm an artist, I'm going to hear God best when I'm doing my art, when I'm pursuing that thing that he designed me to do. All right, so ideal, um, identity design, the second thing or the third thing then would be what I call expansion. That is, as I'm faithful to be who God's called me to be and do the thing he's called me to do, he's going to begin to expand my influence beyond just my life into some sort of assignment where I get to be a carrier. Now, of this thing that he's put in me. Number four, then, is alignment, which is not only God aligning me with the ideas and opportunities and resources and relationships that I need to do the thing he's called me to do, but also me aligning myself with him. And walking through those refining seasons that none of us really like. But those times of knocking off the edges, those times of pruning and all of that. We've got to be intentional about that. And then fifthly is what I would just say is love operating your life and seeing life through the perspective of love. Because if you can't see life through God's perspective, then you can't live life from God's perspective. And most of the time, when we're just on autopilot, we're used to living based on fear, based on competition, based on trying to prove ourselves or protect ourselves. And when we really encounter the love of God and, uh, are moved and changed by Him, we can begin to see life from his perspective and interpret opportunities and difficulties and all that through his perspective. And so identity, design, expansion, alignment, love, those things, when they're built into our life, I believe, really create a beautiful framework for living and everything that God has got for us in the kingdom.

Allen C. Paul 22:46
Uh, this is incredibly practical and spiritual at the same time, because God is obviously in the daily life. Because if you apply these things to your daily life and realize that you are on a path and on a journey through that process, like the Bible says, we grow from glory to glory to glory, and we're being renewed day by day. That renewal thing is not happening all at once. Right. The transformation, it's a continuous process. So really what you're walking out there, it seems like, is you seeing what you've learned over the last 13 years of decades of being an artist, of decades of mentoring and saying, hey, here's the process that you're still on. And that's the thing absolutely we want to focus on, is that you have not arrived. Like Paul says, I apprehended, yet I press on toward the mark. So I love the fact that you are, uh, modeling, as you just said, not just follow this process, and I just sit around and just watch you follow it. But as a teacher, you have to be accountable to what you're doing. And by the way, I want to kind of pivot a little bit and say one of those big changes in your life was moving. You built an incredible studio. Uh, and you had a base, obviously, your Internet business could be anywhere in the world, but you built up a successful practice and a successful studio. And then I guess I don't know if it was God or the weather or what it was that said, hey, let's move this thing. So tell me a little about your transition personally, and how you're still following God in terms of your business decisions and your family decisions.

Matt Tommey 24:13
Well, when Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ, I think that's the only authority that we have, right? It's like, I'm doing the best I can to follow Jesus. And if you can receive something from my journey, then let's go with it. 2009, I got this call to be a father to artist, and God said, I'm going to use your baskets to do it, which was my art making baskets. And he moved us to Asheville a few months later. And literally within a couple of years, my hobby turned into, uh, a six figure, then multi, six figure business. Very successful, lot of favor. Totally the lord. It gave me a platform to be able to speak into the lives of artists, not only practically in business and marketing, uh, and creatively, but also from the kingdom. So things are kind of trucking along. I'm writing books, and I got the mentoring program. I'm traveling, all that. And then I got this really successful, legit art business that is not necessarily part of my ministry. It's just like what I was doing every day. And, um, in 2019, we had probably our biggest year ever. Big sales, biggest influence, all that sort of thing. Um, in both the mentoring side and the art side. Um, so I'm at the top of the game, right? This is great. You're in the sweet spot, like, you're doing what God's called you to do. And yet I knew that there was this tension happening. You got tens of thousands of people following and listening and all this kind of stuff. And the mentoring program is growing, and I'm still showing up in the studio every day making baskets. I mean, this is like holding two crazy horses going different ways. And in 2019, I had a dream. And in the dream, I was standing at the back of my studio, and the light was coming in and all this. And I was looking in the studio from the back door, and it was completely swept clean. And I was thanking the Lord in the dream for what a beautiful season that this had been. It was obvious that I was moving out of the studio. And I woke up and I was like, I rebuke you, devil, in the name of Jesus. I was like, this cannot be the Lord, right? I'm rebuking myself. But I started realizing that the Lord was asking me, inviting me to close the door on that season of my life and transition fully into the speaking and mentoring and all of that. Little did I know that that was just a few months before COVID hit and all that. So it was really perfect transition for that, because our online business, um, more than doubled during COVID and all that, because so many people were home and all that. But it took me two years to fully extricate myself from that part of my life because I've been making baskets. This year is like 30 years. Wow, I've been doing this a long time. It'd be like if the Lord said to you, well, we're, uh, not going to be singing anymore on a regular basis. You'd be like what? You don't be playing anymore? What are you talking about? And so it didn't make sense in the natural, but I knew it was the Lord. And the more I kept taking steps toward that, the more he would confirm it to the point we realized that he was moving us. Uh, the season in Asheville, which had been, again, the most fruitful, the most impactful, probably the most enjoyable of our 25 years of marriage. He was calling us to move to Texas. And Tanya's mom and dad live out here. Uh, but we were like, what are we, rural East Texas? Are you kidding me? We ended up buying a house. The Lord brought us to a house. We bought a house. And as soon as we bought the house, I was on a podcast with a friend of mine, um, Rebecca Friedlander, who has already, uh, moved out here as well from California. And, uh, she asked me behind the scenes, she was like, so did you move to Lindale because of all the international ministries that are based there? I was like, what are you talking about? She's like, Matt David Wilkerson was there, keith Green was there YWAM's largest base in the country? Is there mercy ships? Is there all these, like, humongous ministries of worldwide influence? This has been their base. This little bitty area that I'm in, in rural East Texas has been their, their base for 30, 40 plus years. And I was like, okay, Lord, I don't know what you're up to, but something is happening with that. And so, like, everybody, we're on the journey, right? We're just trying to follow step by step, day by day, trusting that, um, he's good and that he's going to lead us. And so there's no magic in that, right? It's just day by day, stepping out and following, uh, his lead and what he's showing us.

Allen C. Paul 29:01
Gosh, I can so identify with, uh, waking up from the dream and just telling God, no, it actually does put us in good ground. It puts us in good ground with Moses. It puts us in good ground with Gideon. It puts us a good ground with every single person called by God who said, um, I think you got the wrong one. And yet that is really where he is showing us again that his ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts. And that's a beautiful thing, right? I believe one thing that as you are teaching, not just artists, as you said, it's really just anyone in the kingdom, because we're all made in the image. Of God. I like to remind people that there are no specifically where creative is in the Bible, where only the creatives get this right. There are the Levites and all these other things, but these gifts are given to all of us, right? And so I believe what you're sharing is that since we're all in this journey following God, learning more about God, that we should really embrace all that that entails, including having the faith to walk into things that are not seen yet, including your ability for years to really hone your craft as a mentor, as a teacher, as a worshiper. And yet you saying to everyone that's listening and watching this, that you're not done, that there is still more. And I think one of the things I love about your ministry is your description of thriving versus striving, because I think many of us, including myself, still fall into that trap of striving for more versus God inviting us to more. And can you just talk a little bit about that since you're at this stage where you are seeing God change things up in your life and why it's so important that we don't give into the hustle mentality of, yes, I want this, but I still need to work for it. I need to do more, I need to do more versus what you're experiencing.

Matt Tommey 30:48
Well, I think the Jesus model is when Jesus says, I just do the things that I see the Father doing. Mhm, when you really realize from an identity perspective that this is his story, it's not my story. He's inviting me into his story. So the most momentum, the most favor, the most opportunity I'm ever going to receive is as I'm cooperating with Him and what he's trying to do in the Earth, as opposed to me trying to ask God to bless my mess, right?

Allen C. Paul 31:16
Yeah.

Matt Tommey 31:17
And so I think that's the big tension, right? We always have this tendency to go off on our own and like, oh yeah, Lord, uh, and bless this as opposed to, Lord, this is Your story. I know who I am in you. I know how you've designed me, Lord. You're showing me every day how I fit now, God, show me how I can. I call it see and agree. How can I see what you're doing in line with my design, in line with my assignment, and agree with that so that I can start walking in the things that you have. Ah, for me, when you do that, it's like somebody that goes into the shower and expects to get wet, but stands to the side of the shower, they want to get wet. They're like, Why am I not getting wet, bro, you got to stand out of the shower. And it's like God's favor and his presence and his kingdom is always on, always active, always ready, living inside of you. But if you're not in alignment, in agreement with who he's called you to be what he's called you to do, then you're not going to be in the flow of his favor, of his provision, of his opportunities, of the ideas. You're trying to do things that God never designed you to do. And that's not where the favor is. And so I think that's the big thing for me is always reminding myself, lord, even though I don't understand this, I know who you designed me to be. I know who you say I am. I know this is Your story. And even though this may be a bump or a place I can only see a few feet in front of me, I trust that you are in control. And the steps of the righteous, which includes me, is ordered by you. And, uh, you said, when I make my plans, you order my steps. And Lord, we're doing this together. That makes all the difference.

Allen C. Paul 32:59
Uh, it's so powerful and so needed to we continue to hear that message and you continue to share that message, because I think the battle is consistently we talk about the enemy and he uses all sorts of things. He uses our own thoughts, he uses comparison, he uses social media, he uses even unfortunately, he uses our fellow artists and fellow creators and people in our families to try to pull us back into that, doing this on our own through our flesh versus what you just so beautifully described. I wanted to quickly go to one thing that is definitely on my radar, and this is again, where I get the free coaching just by doing a podcast. Anybody that wants to get free coaching, go do a podcast. He's going to send me an invoice. But this is just where I get to pick Matt's brain for just a moment. There's so much in the lifestyle of the artist and the creative that comes down to what I believe. And even in one of your boot camps, you said, is it's not the favor of God that we're struggling with. It's not that you don't know what your design is. It's not your identity, it's cash flow. There you go. I was going to say it's M-O-N-E-Y. It's the fact that as much as we know these things about what God is giving us, that we lack the specific tools. And you have, you said at the very beginning, the holistic part spirit, soul, and body. It's the business and the faith and the creativity. So can you just tell me a little bit of why you see this struggle over and over again? We've been doing this for hundreds of years, and yet we creatives, and people in general still struggle with the, uh, fact that I need to be able to do this for a living. Which means, like you said, money is not the root of all evil, it's just the love of money. So just tell me in a little bit and help us how you're helping us to eliminate that issue of being called to be creative, but then not getting the resources or not getting the. Income to actually do it.

Matt Tommey 34:57
Well, first thing I would say is this your provision from God is a promise because of your position as his child, not because of your performance. That's a major thing that people have to disconnect from. I am not responsible for providing for myself. I'm responsible to receive my provision by faith through the things that God shows me, uh all right. In line with my design. That is a big change. Everything in God's kingdom right? Your salvation, the way you receive any promise, it all happens by his grace through faith. God did the work, gave it to us as a free gift through the cross. We've been restored fully. Everything that was taken away from us, he's restored and made available to us and we received that through faith. All right, so that's everything. So finances and business ideas and anything that you need to walk in the kingdom first Peter, uh, or second Peter one, Three and Four says, we've already been given everything we need for life and Godliness. So it's not that we're begging God and not that we got to go out and make it happen on our own. We've got to receive it by faith. Now, the Bible also says that people perish because of what lack of knowledge. Proverbs says if you're going to build a house, you need knowledge and wisdom and understanding. One of the things that Christians really struggle with is that they think when God gave them an idea, uh, or a vision, that somehow all they got to do is just sit there. That receiving means, well, I'm just going to wait on it. I'm just going to be sitting no again. Man in his heart, a man plans his way, but the Lord orders his steps. So as we are developing the practical knowledge we need walking in wisdom, developing the understanding through experience and through mentors, we are colaboring with the thing that God's trying to bring into our life. As we do that, as we're faithful to colabor on that end of, uh, learning the practical things we need to learn, being involved in our calling and in our assignment, that's how we begin to understand what God's bringing us. We begin to say, oh, my eyes are open to this new opportunity. My eyes are open to this new idea. The more tools you get in your tool belt, the more options you have when God gives you an idea. And so the thing that I love to share with artists is that, hey, listen, if you can get the knowledge and wisdom and understanding that you need to develop the cash flow in your life in line with your assignment, all right? Learning to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, learning to follow his lead that's how that's going to work. All right? It's not just going to come by you begging God or thinking, well, the Lord there's so many people out there, Alan, that you know, this God gave him a dream or God gave him an idea 30 years ago, 15 years ago, ten years ago. And they're saying really spiritual things like, well, I'm just believing God. One day he's going to bring that thing. And I'm like, Listen, you're sitting there waiting on God to just kind of float this thing down from heaven. He's waiting on you to again, see and agree to say yes to that thing and start walking in that direction. Because when God gives you a vision, he's given you the opportunity and the authority to begin to walk toward that. And as you do, that's when you're going to see favor, that's when you're going to see provision. That's when you're going to see ideas and relationships intersecting your path that will allow you to step more fully into what God's called you to.

Allen C. Paul 38:39
Uh, it's so powerful and so important. I, uh, just hear faith without works is dead in my head, because it is that faith that starts the process. Right. But then James is very clear about it. No, there are some actions that you take to actually validate what God has done, not to do it for Him, not to replace it, but even talking again directly to our artists and creatives, uh, that the very creative process requires you to take a step and to move in the direction. And the same thing happens in your business. The same thing happens in everything that you are actually trying to create for God. With God, it still has to be a part of us that we take action. Right. Uh, it's not all about this, like you said, this kind of ethereal, spiritual praying and then saying, well, if it didn't happen, god somehow let us down because God isn't capable of incompletion. So, I mean, it's just amazing that we get to colabor with Him, and that gives us the opportunity to take those steps, to take the course, to learn, to network and to be a part of something like this. So I would say I am the poster child of that, because without me saying, hey, yes, Matt, Tommy already wrote a book, but maybe God has a book for me. Yes, he's the person that I can say, hey, his amazing community. I want to be a part of it. But then maybe there's somebody that won't follow. And I can say this, Matt, right now to my friend. I will call her out by name on the podcast so she knows Lorraine, who I was able to introduce to your books and said, because I introduced um, you didn't know Lorraine, but I knew Lorraine. Yeah.

Matt Tommey 04:12
Ah.

Allen C. Paul 04:13
And the fact that I was able to introduce and she comes up to me in the church live and says, Alan, thank you so much. I am so open now to what God is doing in my art business. I'm calling myself an artist because Matt called me, said I need to call myself an artist. And she's so excited. But I thank God that he gave me a role to play. And I think that's what you're saying, really, to all of us, that we have a role to play in this kingdom building we have a role to play in this kingdom of artists that he's building through your work. We can each take our place and do something about it versus sitting back.

Matt Tommey 40:48
Yeah, well, and just to realize, I think every promise of God is activated by your step of faith. That promise is going to sit there full of potential until you start to walk toward it. I love the scripture. Is it, uh, Isaiah 50 something, uh, where it talks about seeing a bear and woman, you who have no children, you're going to have more children than the married woman. It's just like big faith filled promise from the Lord. And then the next verse says, enlarge the place of your tent. Right. In other words, if you want all this promise, you're going to have to go out there and expand your capacity to receive what I've got. If you don't do that, you're not going to have enough room for what I need. And I think that's something that every person in the kingdom needs that you got to realize, no matter what God has promised you, unless you start to take steps of faith in ways that don't make sense, but moving in that direction under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, that's when the doors open.

Allen C. Paul 41:49
Oh, gosh, this is powerful. And I believe right now that someone is listening and hearing is receiving it. Right. They are saying, okay, I've heard it. I know it's time to expand. I know it's time to know my identity. I know I need to know my design. I know I need the expansion. Right. And then I'm actually going to really accept the love that God has given for me. So this is all Matt. I knew it was going to be amazing before you said because you already had I had the opportunity even to be on your show, which was an incredible honor for me. And now to return the favor and let people hear your heart really again, how God is continuing to move. So I guess my last question, if I have to come up with the last question, because I would love to talk all day, but one, um, thing I would love to ask you is if you could say something to the person who is where you were. In other words, maybe in 2009 when they got that first call or maybe even 2019 when you got that dream and you're like, uh, no, I'm not receiving this. I built this business I've built, everything I've done, everything. You say, God, why do I have to change it now? So what would you say to the person who is at that place where they are about to be called into a whole new place of faith and.

Allen C. Paul 42:58
Moving, whether it's creative or not?

Allen C. Paul 42:59
What would you say to that person.

Allen C. Paul 43:00
Who is in that same place that you were?

Matt Tommey 43:01
Every person that God calls to do anything always feels disqualified. And that's just a normal part of the kingdom. And God always speaks to your design. He always speaks to your potential. He always speaks to his plan and purpose for you. And usually he comes to us and speaks to us in those Gideon moments, those places where we're broke, busted, and disgusted, where we're finally to the end of ourself, where we feel there's no way that we can do anything or offer anything. Finally the Lord says, okay, great. I finally got them in a place where they'll be willing to say yes. And I would just say, listen, no matter what you've been through, no matter how disqualified you feel or whatever, realize that it's your yes that activates the purposes of God in you. All he's asking you to do is just say yes. And then get up and take those baby steps of faith every day toward the things that he's showing you. And as you'll do that, the Bible is clear in Matthew 25 Parable of the Talents, you were faithful with little. Now I'm going to make you ruler over much. It's as you steward the things that God gives you, especially the little things, especially the little nudges, especially the little ideas that you don't think, uh, will have any impact. The going to speak to that person, the meeting that person, the putting that post on social media, writing that first article, creating that first video, whatever it is, do it by faith. And as you do, God's going to begin to build your faith, uh, and show up on your behalf. And it will be like that snowball of momentum.

Allen C. Paul 44:45
Beautiful. And I'm so grateful for you for taking that small step of faith that you took over and over again consistently to the point that you have room in your tents for all of us, creatives and musicians and artists. And again, beyond where God is now showing you where you're going to impact the kingdom in an even greater way in our entire, uh, kingdom community and our people that are of faith all over the world. So since we have to come to a close, please tell them how they can stay connected to everything you're sharing in your mentoring programs and everything that you're doing. I believe I've told them a million times on this podcast, go follow Matt Tommy, but just tell them one more time if they haven't tap that button already in the description, how they can follow you.

Matt Tommey 45:29
Yeah. So Matt Tommymentoring.com is the website. You can get everything that we're doing there. You can get on our mailing list, find out about new challenges and boot camps and courses and the mentoring program and all that sort of thing. And also live events that we're doing, uh, throughout the year. The new book is going to be called God's Plan for Living. Um, we're hoping that's going to be out in, uh, Q two spring, uh, of this year. And I'm so excited to let everybody know about that. And of course, we're on all the social media platforms, so you can follow us on YouTube or Facebook, Instagram. I'm not a TikTok yet, but I might be here before long. I was just talking to my, uh, ads guy, and he's like, Matt, it's time. You got to get on there. I'm like, I think I have it literally on my to do list right now. Go create a TikTok account. I'm like, okay, I'm going to do it. So who knows, I may even be over there as well.

Allen C. Paul 46:20
We're going to be seeing next time we have viral on TikTok for Metal Tommy, the thriving Christian artist. Amazing. And, uh, you didn't mention the podcast. Hopefully they have already subscribed to the podcast. But since you're listening to a podcast right now, why not just go right over there, the thriving Christian artist, and make sure you follow him? Because, again, he is a great follow. Oh, you might find my episode, too.

Matt Tommey 46:36
Absolutely.

Allen C. Paul 46:40
But it's been an absolute pleasure, joy, and blessing. Matt, everything you're sharing, everything that you've done, really. Again, I just want to add my voice to the thousands and millions who will say, thank you for doing what. God has called you to do. Thank you for walking in his footsteps and Jesus footsteps and following the call of the Holy Spirit. We are better off. We are better people. We are more like Jesus because you are trying to be more like Jesus. We're following a mentor, uh, like you. As you follow Christ and thank you so much for being who you are. And thank you for being on The Guiding Gig Show.

Matt Tommey 47:10
Well, that means a lot. Thank you very much. It's been my pleasure.

Allen C. Paul 47:22
My friend, How could that be any more inspiring to talk to someone who has mentored thousands upon thousands of creatives and yet hear that he's not done following the voice of God? Matt is truly walking the talk when it comes to being a man of faith, a man who loves both the kingdom and loves sharing with creatives, but is not limiting himself to what he's done before, but is finding new paths and following the lead of the Holy Spirit for his family and for his business. I could not be more honored or humbled to know that Matt was willing to come on our show and to share with you so that you can follow these same principles and become someone who really is thriving as a creative, as an artist, and as a believer. So don't hesitate to get every single thing that Matt is sharing on his resources, his new book, his podcast, which has millions of downloads. Just everything that he's sharing fits right in alignment, as we talked about with The God and Gig Show, and I cannot recommend it enough.

Allen C. Paul 48:30
Uh, speaking of following in someone's footsteps, we are trying to help more creatives, just like Matt does, to make the next step in their creative journey. And maybe that next step is becoming a full-time artist, but you're not sure if it's time or how to even navigate that. Well, we have a resource that will help you take that first step of faith. It's called the Four Questions You Need to answer before becoming a full time creative. And it's available at ah, godandgigs.com Questions. Or just tap the link in this show's description and you can get that sent to you so that you can take the next best step in that walk of faith toward what God is calling you to, but do so with the information that you need. I cannot recommend it enough. And again, it's free for you. Just tap the link in the show notes or go to godanggigs.com Questions. Well, my friend, there's nothing else I could add to this episode to make it any more impactful. I'm just going to remind you, go ahead and bookmark this subscribe, follow the show, and send this episode to somebody that just popped up in your head that you know will be blessed by Matt's sharing and his journey. I guarantee you they will thank you for sharing it. And until next time, continue to become the creative that you are created to be.

Allen C. Paul 49:49
Can't wait to see you next episode.

Speaker B 49:53
Thanks for joining us here at the God and Gig 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.