The War of Art

The War of Art reveals the hidden power of RESISTANCE—the invisible force holding you back.

Not to be confused with Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art is a must-read for anyone wanting to accomplish something meaningful. Pressfield doesn’t sugarcoat the creative journey. He names the enemy plainly: Resistance. And it’s not out there—it’s in here. It’s internal, insidious, and relentless. The more critical a project is to your soul’s evolution, the more Resistance you will face. Resistance is not just a roadblock—it’s a spiritual cancer, eating away at the place where dreams are born.

When you try to write a book, start a ministry, record a song, or launch a business, Resistance shows up. It whispers excuses. It disguises itself as procrastination, perfectionism, self-doubt,and even good intentions. And if you don’t recognize it, you’ll mistake it for wisdom or divine timing. That’s how sneaky it is.

There’s a war raging inside every day, aiming to deplete and rob you of your calling. How will you win if you don’t even know your enemy?

That’s why I recommend The War of Art to every one of my coaching clients.

Pressfield argues that most people deeply desire to unleash their God-given talents—to make their mark on the world—but they allow Resistance to hold them back. They don’t fail because they’re not gifted. They fail because they never start.

These obstacles resist our every move and must be actively fought to reach creative and personal success. Pressfield describes Resistance as an unconscious force that wars against our conscious desires. Left unchecked, it sabotages the very work we were born to do.

“Our job in this life is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be,” Pressfield writes, “but to find out who we already are and become it.”

Seth Godin takes this idea even further in The Icarus Deception. He argues that we’ve been lied to—taught to play it safe, to color within the lines, to avoid risk at all costs. He dismantles the myth that playing it safe is a secure strategy. The real danger, Godin says, is flying too low—never stepping into your voice, your calling, your gift. He calls it the deception of Icarus: society only warned us not to fly too close to the sun, but never warned us that flying too low would cause us to crash into irrelevance.

Godin writes: “Art is what we call the thing an artist does. It’s not the medium or the product. It’s you—the human doing something that might not work, something generous, something brave and real.”

That’s why their message resonates. They’re writing from a secular vantage point, but they’re describing a deeply spiritual truth. As believers, we call it calling. We call it obedience. We call it anointing. And yes—we call it ART.

ART: God’s Anointing Reveals our Talents

We all have ART. Not just painting or music, but the thing we’re meant to do. ART is the expression of your divine design. I’ve said it before: ART is God’s Anointing, Revealing your Talents, and empowering you to live and grow on purpose.

But make no mistake: ART never flows freely. It must push against resistance.

And that’s where the “growing against the flow” comes in. You see, the flow is what Pressfield and Godin are warning about: the path of least resistance, the pull of conformity, the fear of risk. The world trains you to avoid discomfort. But God calls you to grow. And growth always comes with friction.

The Apostle Paul described it well in Galatians 5:17—“For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh.” This inner war isn’t imagined. It’s real. And it’s daily.

The secular world may call it Resistance. We call it spiritual warfare.

So, whether you’re writing, building, speaking, coaching, parenting, or serving—if it’s part of your God-given ART, Resistance will show up. But don’t fear it. Recognize it. And resist it.

Final Word

Pressfield and Godin both agree: If you’re experiencing Resistance, you’re probably doing something that matters. It means you’re onto something. That’s why I continue to teach and coach others in the ART of growing against the flow. Because this world will always try to pull you into the current of mediocrity, comfort, and compromise. But you weren’t created to float.

You were created to grow against it.

Let your ART rise even if your hands shake. Even if your voice trembles. Because when you resist Resistance, you unlock the anointing that was always within you.