Prophetic Art: calls forth our true identity and imparts vision

“Robe of Righteousness” by Lars Justinen

Update on the Prophetic Arts Trac...

Gary and I are learning about many kingdom values, including the necessity, as christian artists, for our art to flow out our connection with God so that it becomes an active way others can experience God, and encounter His truth and love. In order to be a prophetic artist that imparts identity, first we must first find our identity in Christ.

The importance of identity is stressed here at Bethel a lot. True identity is one of the by products of spending time with God and staying connected to his body. We are made in His image, so as we get to know the Lord we find out who we are and who he has called us to be. He uses his Word, spiritual leaders, church tradition, other members of his body, and the Holy Spirit as primary ways to reveal his heart towards us. As an artist, I find the issue of identity essential to releasing God's kingdom. If I don't know who I am as a child of God and am secure in his love for me I will try to earn his love, favor, and acceptance through striving, performance, and perfectionism. If I find my identity solely in my role as an artist, to often the criticisms of others cripple my creativity and self esteem, and I become blind to the Father's gaze of affection continually shining upon me and his whispers of love regardless of my successes or failures.

To know who God is and who He says I am.

If I know who I am in Christ, what I do will flow from a place of identity and rest, please the Lord, and be successful by

His standards. I am most alive when I am connected to his spirit, aware of his presence, and actively tuning in to what he is saying and doing among his people. When I spend time with the God who is love, I learn what love looks like and how to love myself and others most effectively. What I do apart from Christ is all in vain anyway; without love I am nothing. Jesus even had to stay connected to the Father to lead an effective life and ministry here on this earth. Jesus only did what he saw his Father do. How much more do I need to stay connected and listen to who God says I am and what he is doing. What would Jesus do?... What ever He sees the Father doing. Jesus was also tested on the issue of his identity.

Today Bill Johnson was talking about identity and how when Jesus was baptized and commissioned for ministry, the Holy Spirit descended, a light shone from heaven, and the Father said "This is my son in whom I am well pleased." The next verses say that he immediately departed to the wilderness to be tested by Satan...

"If you are the son of God... tell these stones to become bread."

The first temptation in the wilderness was not to turn stones into bread, but wether or not Jesus would question his identity. The last words we hear the Father say to Jesus a few verses earlier is affirmed his identity as His son. The first thing we hear Satan say is "If you are the son of God..." Jesus' response to this challenge of His identity, was "Man does not live by bread alone, but every word that comes from the Father." Take that Satan. So when I am tempted to question my royal identity as a child of the King, if I have been basking in his love, soaking in his living word through scripture and prayer, my response will be similar; which is to immediately remind myself of who God says I am. Faith comes by hearing, so I like to speak out loud what I've been hearing God say about me.

The goal is to remind myself of who I am in Christ, then create art that is an expression of my identity. Often times the result is art that reminds others of who they are in Christ and draws them into encounters with Him. Identity, identity, identity...Who does God say I am?

When I stay connected to the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE, life flows forth form me no matter what I am doing. I become a breathing,walking, talking encounter with the Lord. When others encounter me, they should encounter God embodied through me. (No wonder we are called the body of Christ, because Christ's Spirit lives in us and He wants to touch people!) My art is similar, when I create it out of a place of intimacy with the Lord, we are creating together. It's amazing how crazy productive I am when I first soak in his presence, in his love for me, without an agenda, and continue to stay connected as I create. The same Holy Spirit that lives in side of me wants to touch others through me and art becomes a vehicle to accomplish this.

God is big, beyond my understanding, and can do what he wants. He likes operating out my box of human reason. Strangely enough he finds pleasure in partnering with me (us) to bring about his will on this earth. There was a testimony just this last month of someone getting healed of tunnel vision looking at a painting with the word Hope across it. I think God just wants to bless people anyway he can, He saw an opportunity in someone willing to partner with him. When my creations flow out of my relationship with the Lord verses me making it happen out of my own strength alone, the “product” that is created exponentially gains potential for others to encounter the presence of God and becomes an encounter waiting to happen often resulting in the miraculous. God can breath on anything he chooses, so I like to invite him to breath on my artwork so that it becomes a vehicle of encounter...that the deep Spirit of God in me would call out to deep Spirit of God in others.

Once we know who we are in Christ, God gives us vision for how to impart it to others.

He wants to co-create with us! Prophetic declarations through art, like prophecy, are God procreating with us. His seeds of truth (as wierd as it sounds from Greek his Sperma -Sperm) finds a home in us to grow into something that is evidenced in the physical relm. So when people think they are merely looking at my art, really the seed of God is looking for a heart environment He can grow in (good soil), and those who are ready are impregnated with vision beyond that of just looking at a painting. I facilitate planting the seed, but God is the one that can make it grow, and he chooses to do so in the soil of hearts that prepare an environment conducive to growth. I thought I was going to be learning about art, but really I’ve been learning about the core values of a kingdom artist who facilitates heaven invading earth.