The Power of Creating Something…from Nothing

As a filmmaker, the question I’m asked most often is, “I want to make my film, but what do I do if I don’t have the money?” I love the movie Field of Dreams where Kevin Costner hears a voice say, “Build it and they will come.” Build what? Your dream. We must understand how God has programmed us. Since God created us in His image, we have an undeniable, innate desire to imitate Him. Perhaps the creation of man and this universe is the most brilliant, low-budget indie film of all time. God took nothing and made something.

Perhaps this is God’s filmmaking formula:

God created the world in six days. (A quick shooting schedule.)
The world sure was beautiful. (But it was simple.)
One location (The Garden of Eden.)
Inexpensive wardrobe (A leaf or two.)
Three characters (Adam, Eve, and the antagonist Satan)
Simple plot (Man meets woman, falls in love, woman falls for snake, eats his apple, and, well, it’s been the longest-running soap opera in history.)

My point is, even God started simple, no matter what we have in front of us, whether a mountain that seems unclimbable or the Red Sea that appears uncrossable, understand that God is there. The force that created the world from nothing is the same force within us today. Let’s talk about some elements of creating something from nothing.

PRAY

Mark 11:22-24 “Have faith in God,’ Jesus answered. ‘Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, “Go, throw yourself into the sea,” and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

Christ is keying us into prayer; He tells us that when we face an obstacle we already have the power to overcome it. Anytime we are called to create anything, we will make a series of moves that usually encounter obstacles, whether physical, emotional, or spiritual. The problem is that we forget we are spiritual beings having a human experience, so we turn to man’s ideas and logic. We don’t seek the supernatural, which is where God lives and creates, therefore we must get out of the physical and into the spiritual. The only way is through prayer. Prayer conditions the heart – it does not conform God to our will. Prayer does not move God, but prayer does move us. However, prayer alone is not enough.

HAVE FAITH

Verse 23 above says not to doubt, and 24 tells us to combine belief with our prayers. When we do not doubt but instead believe, we end up in the same spiritual space – it’s called faith. Verse 22 sums it up, and we see how prayer moves us – it’s through faith.

Scripture shares many accounts of Jesus dealing with peoples’ great faith, here are three:

The first is when a woman who had been sick for years with no hope to be healed probed through a crowd of people and touched Christ’s robe. He felt the power go out of Him, and He told the woman with the issue of blood that her faith had made her whole. (Luke 8:43-48).

The second is when a centurion soldier approached Christ from a distance and asked that He heal his servant. Jesus was willing to go to the centurion’s house, but the soldier told Jesus that he was not worthy for Jesus to come to him and that all He had to do was to speak the word and the servant would be healed. Christ was so amazed at this soldier’s faith. He spoke the word and the centurion’s servant was healed (Mathew 8:5-13).

The third is when a woman who was not a Jew came to Jesus and asked healing for her demon-possessed daughter. Jesus told her that he did not come to heal anyone who was not Jewish, and he used the example of “dogs” (referring to pets). The woman replied, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall off the table onto the floor.” When Christ heard what she said, He was so impressed that He healed her daughter after He told her, “you have great faith” (Mathew 15:21-28).

Yes, faith is key. However, without the next component, all the faith in the world will not help.

FORGIVE

Mark 11:25-26 “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

Wow. This point is often overlooked – and not preached today. No wonder the church is so impotent. Without totally forgiving, we cannot move forward for the kingdom, because hurt becomes unforgiveness, and unforgiveness gives birth to anger. This scenario is played out in the world through the arts. For example…

Music

No matter what genre, whether rock, pop, rap, or country, etc., we hear stories of brokenness and even anger. All this comes from unforgiveness. I don’t mean every song needs to be about a perfect or restored life, but much of this music is just downright demonic. It’s dark, and it proudly exhibits rage against anything of God and His truth.

Films & TV

Have you ever watched a film and wondered how anyone could produce, much less write, a theme so dark and hopeless, and seem to take pleasure in doing it? Not only have I seen it, but I have been one of the filmmakers who has done it. Why? Because most artists, whether filmmakers, musicians, actors, painters, etc., come from a place of brokenness where someone has injured them, and they’re carrying loads of hurt (which becomes unforgiveness.) This is how they deal with it – through their art. Unfortunately, those who listen to or watch these reflections are sucked into the broken world of this hurt turned to unforgiveness, which only breeds more anger and more unforgiveness. It’s a vicious cycle.

Since we are made in our Heavenly Father’s image and he is the master designer, creating something out of nothing, then it would only stand to reason that we can create and design just like our Father. Remember, we came into this world with nothing, and we will leave the same. Everything in between is what we do with the time we’re here, and while we’re here God gives us the time and tools to create anything out of nothing. Now, it’s one thing to create something that tells a story of brokenness (this is the gospel of salvation), but we must do it from a place of healing so that we can maintain a balance and not spew Satan’s rhetoric.

VISION

Think of your creativity as a giant engine, the motor that drives your project to fruition. Let’s call the engine your vision. Your vision does not need to be crystal-clear or even detailed enough to fully explain it. God knows your vision, and He’s the only one who really counts because He’s the one behind it. Start with your vision, and even if it’s not logical, explainable, or hardly readable, it’s ok, write it down.

Habakkuk 2:2 says, “Then the Lord replied: ‘Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.”

As time progresses, your vision will become clearer to you. When God gave me the script, The Last Evangelist, I didn’t know why I was writing it or what I was going to do with it; I was a full-time evangelist; I wasn’t making films like before, but still, God implanted the idea within me to use my filmmaking talent for His glory. Next, He gave me the final ingredient.

PASSION

The fuel that powers the engine is passion. Without passion, we cannot succeed. It’s what God had when He sent His Son to live and die for us. He had passion. His passion was to show love; love is a voice above all others. The passion of Christ led him to fulfill His destiny that the Father intended. Jesus’ passion was His love for the Father, revealed by doing His will.

The Father has given each of us the power to create just as He creates, but we must know when that power is being used for God or against God. We cannot serve God and man. We must choose for whom we create something from nothing.

* For details on the upcoming end-time TV series Last Evangelist and the movement surrounding it, visit DavidHeavener.tv/last-evangelist or email info@DavidHeavener.tv.