This morning in church I had an prophetic experience. Since it's such a long read, I have posted a shorter version of the half-hour-experience below for those who are interested. The message I felt I received from the encounter is as following:
We know there is a worldwide prophetic movement that is being built by all prophetic artists together. He raised us up for this reason. As we submit ourselves to Him, He is using us build an amazingly warm-hearted, life-giving and joyful place for people to encounter God. We're an odd bunch, building in a place where there hasn't been much life for a long time (desert), so it takes some time for people to understand what we're doing. However most Christians will see how wonderful it is and bask in the freedom/joy/love/life this movement is bringing.
However some of us artists are in a more difficult situation. About a quarter of us are assigned to places where we're also faced with cold and desolate ground. We're not only building in dry land, but we're facing the solid frozen ground of Christians/churches/cultures that are unwilling to even consider that this is a movement of God. This environment isn't just difficult, but it's nearly toxic to the arts movement. This group of us will not just be misunderstood, but also be opposed, scolded, shunned, banned, diminished, judged harshly, or even be called false prophets/demonic because of the assignment God gave us as prophetic artists. We are being confronted by large forces of religion, stubbernness, pride and fears. One specifically persistant fear God showed me was the fear of failing a legacy that was entrusted by ancestors/previous generations.
Are you part of the group of artists that is building the prophetic arts movement in one of these cold and toxic areas? Then I believe God gave us some important tactics on how to deal with this:
1) Don't become insecure about your gifting. If things move slower or you don't see fruit it, doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong. It just means that the soil in parts of your assignment needs a lot more preparation as opposed to artists that work in easier soil
2) Take authority over any spiritual power that wants to dominate your area in Jesus name. This isn't only a start of a breakthrough for the area, but also protects yourself from becoming frozen by the spiritual atmosphere as well.
3) Connect with other artists that are facing the same/similar opposition! We need each other badly for encouragement and support, but mostly to pray together for the frozen ground to be plowed. Only God can prepare the soil, so let's get together and cry out for Him to plow.
4) Plant seeds of love and honor. Do not engage in arguments with people, but instead sow love and honor. Every person has things we can honor them for. It's our job to find the good and vocalize that. Thank them for sharing their knowledge, their faithful servanthood, their humility, willingness to help, faithfulness, compassion for the poor/sick, etc. In the long run these seeds will bear fruit.
5) There will be a slow change first, and a sudden change later. People might still will not be willing to take part in the art movement, but the coldness and opposition will end.
6) Be open for anything. I believe the Lord showed me that eventually a lot of non-Christians will come to find the Lord through the arts-movement. I'm not sure how, but I believe this phenomenon will be instrumental for these opposing areas to become even more involved in the arts movement. When this happens it's up to us to just stand asside, pray and let the Lord use whomever He wants to use to further this movement.
I felt it's important to share this encounter, but also to listen to God and create space for this group to unite. My first thought is to start a Facebook group where we can support each other in prayer and prophetic encouragement, cry out to the Lord on behalf of each other, guard each other from victimization/doubts/hopelessness and share experiences or (spiritual) tactics. A collective war-room for the arts movement if you will. If you are interested in becoming part of something like this, please let me know! [ START OF ENCOUNTER]
I was standing in the desert with my hands open as in submission. My hands produced great creative power that the Lord was using to build something. I was part of circle made of many prophetic artists. Facing inward the Lord used our hands to create a beautiful city, filled with overwhelming life and joy. The city was colored in warm colors (red, yellow and orange). This is the prophetic movement He is creating through all of us. About a quarter of the edge of the circle was cold, desolate and blue. The Lord showed me these are Christian cultures and churches who view the prophetic movement as a threat to their beliefs, theories and traditions. I asked the Lord frequently during the encounter what we could do as artists to help them. The first time God reminded me of my authority in Jesus and I started breaking off spirits and fears. This made me feel more free to do what needed to be done. The second time the artists assigned to the blue patch of land started holding hands, supporting each other. Together we cried out to the Lord to plow the soil, which was frozen solid. He did so and we started planting seeds by loving and honoring the people in this patch. After all this I was dissapointed to not see any difference, but when the Lord showed me the patch again from heavens perspective, I saw the color had become more teal. All of a sudden fully-grown trees and plants popped out of the soil. When I asked the Lord about building houses, He said “these people need to want to be covered”. When I asked Him about how to make that happen He said He would use the world for this. I saw people from outside the circle walk through the blue patch straight into the center of the city.
[END ENCOUNTER] So here's what I believe the Lord is saying:
I was in the desert, standing with my hands open as in submission. As looked at my hands I saw creative power all over it and knew the Lord was using the power to build something. As I looked around me I saw that there were many other prophetic artists standing exactly like I did. Together we formed a very large circle, facing inwards. Our hands were used by God to create beauty in the tiny pie-slice from where each of us was standing, till the middel of the city. As we were standing there and allowing Him to work, a city started taking shape in the circle, right until it filled nearly the entire circle. The city was made with warm colors: reds yellows and oranges and I just loved it. (1)
I was puzzled by a small strip of blue landscape right in front of me that looked cold and desolate. I thought that I must have made a mistake in what I created, but also noticed that the strip was about a quarter of the outer ring of the entire circle. (2) Looking at the center of the city I asked God to take me inside so I could see what it was like. Flying through and over the city I was filled with joy, lifelyness, colors. I saw that besides the warm-colored desert-houses, there was also a lot of nature, like parks and a zoo. It was absolutely wonderful and heavenly. I believed it symbolizes the prophetic arts movement. When the Lord returned me, I was not standing outside of the circle anymore, but in the blue strip. It was cold and desolate. I asked Him what this part means and how it can become part of the glorious city. The Lord showed me that this is part of the Body of Christ that isn't willing to embrace arts as a beautiful gift from God. People that are stuck in theories and traditions and consider the arts to be a threat. I saw a low white fog cloud ready to roll from the city onto the blue land. I saw myself standing with a staff in my hand and was reminded that I have authority. I started breaking off things I felt in the Spirit: e.g. spirit of religion, fear of failing God, fear of letting go of old traditions, stubberness, etc. There was no visible difference, yet I did feel less pressed and stifled. I realized that the prophetic artists that are facing the blue, should be uniting. All of sudden I saw that the other artists on my left and right also were standing in the blue now. We held each others hands an leaned on each other heavily. I cringed while I cried and squeezed the hands of those next to me. Then together we started praying for the ground of the land to be plowed by God. It was a powerful prayer and was we prayed the hard land became more grainy. We were able to start planting seeds. Also as we prayed some people that lived in this area walked by. I started grabbing them, telling them I loved them and thanking and honering them for everything they did to build Gods kingdom. Eventhough they felt threatened by the art movement, there sure are things they did for God in a very awesome way.
I flew over the city again, all the way up to heaven. I looked to the Lord, complaining to Him about how despite our hard work, love and honor, there still is no difference in the color of the blue patch. However when I turned around and moved back towards earth, I saw that about half of the blue had slowly turned teal. When I was back in the blue area I saw fully grown trees and plants popping up from the ground suddenly. I looked at the Lord again and asked Him: But what about houses? These people need covering! The Lord said: “People need to WANT to be covered”
Me: “Sure! So how can we make that happen? What can we do as prophetic artists to make them want this?”
The Lord said something like: “This is where I'll use the world.”
I saw a truck from outside the circle, backing it's way towards the edge. At the edge it stopped and opened the doors. People came walking out. They walked through the blue area straight towards the center of the city.
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