I am a prophetic artist. God uses my creative process to reveal things to me personally but also uses my final pieces to speak to people as well. Many times when I share my paintings people are touched by them in powerful ways but other times people are surprised of how God can use the art to minister to others. This blog post is to provide some background and biblical foundation to the purpose of prophetic art.
First of all, we must recognize that the arts and creativity are important to God. We observe this all throughout the Bible. God made us in his image to be creative and through our creations give Him glory. He has given us talents and abilities for His pleasure and to reveal who He is to the world. He blesses the work of our hands (Deuteronomy 2:7) and the bible tells us that Whatever we do, we should do heartily, as for the Lord and not for men (Colossians 3:23)and art is not an exception.
Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men” (Proverbs 22:29). This says to me that God created us to be skilled in what we do and to be noticed. We want to be noticed and our creativity must reflect God. I believe God loves creativity and creative people and if you want to learn more about this read my Blog post entitled "God Loves Creative People"
We see in the old testament the Lord downloading all the details about the design of Tabernacle, the priests' garments, colors of the fabrics and threads as well as the dimensions or all that was to be created (Exodus 25-31). This is a great example of artisans coming together after Moses received the revelation and creating what was revealed. The artist were inspired by the Holy Spirit (specifically the Spirit of Wisdom) to create the heavenly designs that will prophesy of things to come. All that was created had a purpose and a message. Every detail was a representation of what Jesus was going to fulfill later on. The Lord does not change. He is the same yesterday today and forever. Why then would we think we can't use our creations to reveal what we hear Him speak to us now? We do not add to the Bible but we can prophesy with our creations and ensure that all revelation we receive is consistent with the Word.
What then is prophetic art? In a simple statement, it is prophecy in an art form. We should all desire to prophesy as Paul instructed us in 1 Corinthians 14:39. We can prophesy using art to convey the message. The creative people in the Bible had the Spirit of Wisdom come upon them to create the designs that were revealed to them. When the Holy Spirit gives us revelation we can use our creations to manifest the Lord's power and expressions.
I do want to make a distinction of prophetic art and worship art. There are many artist that can create beautiful pieces in response to their devotion and praises to the King. They are expressing worship up to the Lord. The same way we sing songs to His name and exalting who He is. This we do from our heart as an offering to Him.
Prophetic expression on the other hand is ascending to be able to get revelation and hear what God is saying and them use artistic expression to express what was heard.
The art is the interpretation of the artist of what was revealed to him or her in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Art can carry the Lord's presence if you are receiving your inspiration from the Lord. We can be creative without the Holy Spirit because we are creative beings by nature. We can create things inspire by things around us, inspired by demonic spirits, or just create because we have the ability. I can take an art class and paint because the teacher said to paint an object. These forms of creation are unlikely to carry the presence and power of God because of the source of inspiration.
Imagine a dark picture of something demonic hanging on your wall. What kind of impact or atmosphere will that piece of art create? Likely, it will be a heavy atmosphere. We must understand that we can shift atmospheres with our creations. This is the power of art!! The same way if the Holy Spirit is the one doing the inspiring then we should expect powerful environments created when our pieces are revealed.
Like with any activity, we should test the spirit (1 John 4:1). Just because the artist says they are prophetic that does not make the piece prophetic. Our spirits must recognize and discern the Spirit of God. Discernment of spirits is important to know the source of the artistic expression. A lot of people react to my paintings and say the look like they are New Age. It is likely they are looking at it from what they know is familiar but if I ask them to look at them as if Jesus was speaking to them personally, I expect their hearts to shift and bring them to a closer encounter with the bridegroom.
Isaiah 55:8-9 says that God's ways are not our ways and most of the times when we receive a prophetic word it almost impossible to make sense of it but our sprits react to it. In the same manner, art has the ability to engage our right brain so we can access things that our logical part of the brain does not accept. If we create with Holy Spirit revelation, we should be able to communicate things that sometimes are difficult to grasp with logic.
I pray that for those that read this blog and feel a calling to use their artistic expressions for God's glory, this blog inspires you to be bold and change the world around you as you unveil your pieces.
Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men” (Proverbs 22:29). This says to me that God created us to be skilled in what we do and to be noticed. We want to be noticed and our creativity must reflect God. I believe God loves creativity and creative people and if you want to learn more about this read my Blog post entitled "God Loves Creative People"
We see in the old testament the Lord downloading all the details about the design of Tabernacle, the priests' garments, colors of the fabrics and threads as well as the dimensions or all that was to be created (Exodus 25-31). This is a great example of artisans coming together after Moses received the revelation and creating what was revealed. The artist were inspired by the Holy Spirit (specifically the Spirit of Wisdom) to create the heavenly designs that will prophesy of things to come. All that was created had a purpose and a message. Every detail was a representation of what Jesus was going to fulfill later on. The Lord does not change. He is the same yesterday today and forever. Why then would we think we can't use our creations to reveal what we hear Him speak to us now? We do not add to the Bible but we can prophesy with our creations and ensure that all revelation we receive is consistent with the Word.
What then is prophetic art? In a simple statement, it is prophecy in an art form. We should all desire to prophesy as Paul instructed us in 1 Corinthians 14:39. We can prophesy using art to convey the message. The creative people in the Bible had the Spirit of Wisdom come upon them to create the designs that were revealed to them. When the Holy Spirit gives us revelation we can use our creations to manifest the Lord's power and expressions.
I do want to make a distinction of prophetic art and worship art. There are many artist that can create beautiful pieces in response to their devotion and praises to the King. They are expressing worship up to the Lord. The same way we sing songs to His name and exalting who He is. This we do from our heart as an offering to Him.
Prophetic expression on the other hand is ascending to be able to get revelation and hear what God is saying and them use artistic expression to express what was heard.
The art is the interpretation of the artist of what was revealed to him or her in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Art can carry the Lord's presence if you are receiving your inspiration from the Lord. We can be creative without the Holy Spirit because we are creative beings by nature. We can create things inspire by things around us, inspired by demonic spirits, or just create because we have the ability. I can take an art class and paint because the teacher said to paint an object. These forms of creation are unlikely to carry the presence and power of God because of the source of inspiration.
Imagine a dark picture of something demonic hanging on your wall. What kind of impact or atmosphere will that piece of art create? Likely, it will be a heavy atmosphere. We must understand that we can shift atmospheres with our creations. This is the power of art!! The same way if the Holy Spirit is the one doing the inspiring then we should expect powerful environments created when our pieces are revealed.
Like with any activity, we should test the spirit (1 John 4:1). Just because the artist says they are prophetic that does not make the piece prophetic. Our spirits must recognize and discern the Spirit of God. Discernment of spirits is important to know the source of the artistic expression. A lot of people react to my paintings and say the look like they are New Age. It is likely they are looking at it from what they know is familiar but if I ask them to look at them as if Jesus was speaking to them personally, I expect their hearts to shift and bring them to a closer encounter with the bridegroom.
Isaiah 55:8-9 says that God's ways are not our ways and most of the times when we receive a prophetic word it almost impossible to make sense of it but our sprits react to it. In the same manner, art has the ability to engage our right brain so we can access things that our logical part of the brain does not accept. If we create with Holy Spirit revelation, we should be able to communicate things that sometimes are difficult to grasp with logic.
I pray that for those that read this blog and feel a calling to use their artistic expressions for God's glory, this blog inspires you to be bold and change the world around you as you unveil your pieces.
