"Our creativity must be submitted to God! The prophetic Gift in you to creatively express the heart of God must be purified before it can be fully utilized." I was ministering in a local church one evening when a woman approached me and began to tell me of some amazing experiences that she had with the Lord - she was almost weeping when she said that I was the only person who she felt could understand her. She wrote me a long letter describing why she thought she was crazy. She stated that she was hearing Gods Voice all the time- and she had a tremendous burden on her to deliver the Word of God. She stated that she could not stop praying in tongues - there was a tremendous desire to pray continuously- and it was scaring her! She explained how Most of Her family and friends said she was diluting herself and even thought she needed mental help!
I'm sure allot of us can relate to this and how we were when we first Got saved... we were "On Fire!" But I could personally relate to this woman's struggle. It always seemed like there was an extra burn to my fire. There was a deeper desire inside of me for something more, and for some reason it didn't seem to stop. When i looked at people around me and even those in my church I didn't see the same passion and they didn't understand my zeal. I found myself lost in the things of God often - taken away with the Word and possessing an seemingly unquenchable hunger for more. Sometimes people would say to take it easy, and that too much of a Good thing can be bad. But for some reason, that didn't sound right to me concerning my relationship with the Lord, and what seemed to be happening to me at the time. You see God had a grip on me! And when the weight of the Word is on you like that - its important to realize that He is separating you for a special purpose.
I was reminded of my own struggle. I grew up with the gift of God active in my life since I was 5 years old, and often because of my gift and peculiar viewpoint of life I was often misunderstood. My extreme passion for God, desire for the greater and my dissatisfaction with common life caused me to feel constantly rejected by a world that I did not fit in at all.
Over the Years I have been blessed to meet many individuals like myself with a similar story. Often the prophetic Gift is misunderstood outside of prophetic circles, and there was a time in my life when i didn't have a revelation of the prophetic ministry at all. To my surprise I discovered an entire new world of Gods creatively and uniquely gifted individuals. Don't get me wrong, We are all uniquely designed by God and creative in our own way. But I know that there are those of us who are somewhat specially gifted and more open to spiritual things than others and often struggle trying to find a balance. DIVINELY CREATIVE INDIVIDUALS Often the worldly ideas of God are a primitive viewpoint of a God who's very nature is diversity. That diversity is expressed all throughout the Body of Christ and finds its way into vessels flexible enough to allow the Spirit of God to flow through them in such a way. As an artist and a writer I have practiced tapping into the power of the Holy Spirit to express on canvas and on paper some of the prophetic Visions, and Revelations I've felt God has put on my heart.
There was a time in my life and gifting where other things and other spirits were trying to express themselves through me. That is why our creativity must be submitted to God! A prophetic gift to creatively express the heart of God must be purified before it can be properly utilized! there was time where some of my Gifts were dormant, in this time God was getting my priorities in order, He wanted me to have things in the right place. And Eventually he called me back to those creative gifts and at a time to the canvas - but it took a ten year turn before God could put his power back in my hands and onto the canvas again. I realized an awesome promise from God during that dry season. And that promise is that God will bring all things in Him back to you, if you are willing to receive it! That emphasizes two very important points - 1.)You must posses the faith to receive full restoration of the path for Gods promises to return. 2.)God is only obligated to restore what belongs to you in Christ. It must be for his Glory! This qualifies you to get a full return of all the Gifts you've submitted to him and all things you have honored in His Name.
Romans 11:29
For God's gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.
So if you are one of those "weirdos" I'm referring to - take it as a compliment, because you really are not a weirdo at all, and your definitely not crazy - in fact you are more sane than the world around you having chosen to draw closer to Jesus than most may even dare to. Your special gifting and Calling has earned you an open ear to God! Perhaps you are like me... I was Bewildered and suffered from a spirit of rejection at not finding my place anywhere in the world and then being appalled at not finding my place in the Church either- I later learned that God did have a place for me neither in the world or in the "worldly" church but in the kingdom of God! So be encouraged in this developmental process of your journey and let the pressures of the world around you push you even closer to the perfect will of God for your life and Calling!
(text from the book "Im not crazy im called" and "The Value of the Artist" )
by: Michae David Watson
will be sharing more on this subject in later posts...
