Stuck in a rut. All dried up. Out of ideas. Burnt out. 

As artists, we want to tap into something that gives something new to the world. We want to creatively--and maybe even in a new way--express truth and beauty and goodness through our art. We want to make art that is glorious and that points to something greater than ourselves. 

As a worship artist, my goal is to point to Jesus and to His Kingdom--to express through songs what existence can be like in the Kingdom--and invite people into a revelation of Jesus as God. 

But if I'm honest, there is very little I bring to this process in the long-term without consistently visiting the secret place. 

As much as we hate to admit it, we are not the source of creativity. While we were created with a creative function as bearers of the image of God, like a car battery we must be recharged in our creativity in order to consistently innovate and produce.

The light in your tour van will stay on maybe all night on its own, but when you get up in the morning and realize the van doesn't start, you understand that sources of power must be re-charged in order to function as they were intended to. It's similar with us and our creativity: if I want to consistently create, I must tap into the source of creativity and visit it often. 

For every artist, that source is the secret place; Scripture talks about the secret place and what it holds for those who travel there. The Psalmist pours his heart out to the Lord, knowing his hope and his comfort and joy are all found in the secret place of God.

David tells us in Psalm 91: "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty" (emphasis added). This place, intimacy in relationship with God, is not meant to only be a place that we visit, but the place where we make a home. God is the author of all good things, and that includes creativity.

If you want to be truly and consistently creative, you spend time with the God of all Creativity. He will inspire you beyond the heights you can imagine and take you beyond your perspective to where He sees things--the realities of heaven.

This may sound really abstract, but the reality is this: if you want to change the world, God has to change your heart. You and I must consistently spend time with the God of the universe and get to know His heart if we want to say anything good in the world. Many of us have tried (myself included) to bring something good to the world without Jesus at the center, and it doesn't last.

It's because of this: The world does need good music. The world truly needs good art. But more than good art and good music, the world needs Jesus. 

How can you bring something to the world that it needs? Get to know the God of the universe and be changed by Him. Journey far and often to the secret place. Drink deep from the wells that you find there. 

Carry the riches you discover there into your art and change the world.