Fire, fire, fire

Rick Joyner communicates on the Elijahlist a powerful revelatory experience he had with the Lord recently. It’s thick and heavy with relevant material, but I wanted to highlight a few that stirred me in particular:

That which is burning on the heart of God has been there from eternity—it is indestructible and will never die. As we take what is on His heart onto our hearts, that same indestructible life is in us. This is what it really means to know God, to know the deepest things on His heart and to share these with Him in His ultimate purposes. We do not need to have a prophetic experience to do this, but just be a seeker of God. The true seekers of God, those who are truly close to Him, will burn with a fire that is unquenchable. They will not be lukewarm.

The new breed of ministry will not use the people to build their ministries, they will use their ministries to build people. This will result in a revolution in the Church. Selfish ambition will be driven from the ministry of the Church. Christians will begin to love each other and serve out of love. The result of this will be a society of saints who will become a marvel in the earth and a true light to the world.

Those are kinda self-explanatory. But he goes into a section about prophetic artists that really hit me. It was particularly timely because I’ve recently been thinking and praying about what it would be like to be a prophetic photographer. What would it look like to communicate on behalf of the Lord as a photographer? What would it be like to take pictures that drip with His anointing and presence?

Think about this fact: An artist was the first person to be filled with the Holy Spirit, not a priest, king or prophet. This should give us a definite sense of the importance that the Lord gave to art. His dwelling place, the tabernacle, which is a blueprint or model for the Church, the “dwelling place not made with hands,” had to be fashioned by the best of all artists. There is a power in art that the Church has not generally recognized for many centuries now. It must be recovered because the Lord is going to give the artists in His house unprecedented power to prophesy through their art…

…There is an anointing that is about to come upon artists that will be from the Holy Spirit. Art will again be motivated by love for God. This art will have a prophetic power such as has not been given to mankind before. The more pure the love, the more pure and powerful the art will be. These are gifts from God to His Bride, and they will touch her in profound ways to draw her heart to Him and be used to express her heart for Him…

…I am not just talking about painters, sculptors or musicians in this art, but also the true apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers who were given for the equipping of the saints to become the Church we are called to be. They will be so creative in their ministries, that ministry will become one of the most compelling attractions of all. The crafting of words in messages will start to come with such creative power that multitudes will be drawn to their oratory. This is not about entertainment, but an anointing on the art of speaking that the Word of God is worthy to be adorned with.

Creativity, the basic nature of the blessed Creator, will shine through His Church as a witness of His nature. Because her heart will be in such unity with the Creator, creativity will flow from everything she does. The greatest music and the greatest art of every kind will come from the Church as worship to the Lord. These gifts will also both draw and equip the Bride for her highest purpose–her union with the King. It will begin to draw the nations to the feast.

A few years ago, I was meeting with a friend of mine and talking to him about the fact that while I can do a lot of things well, if not excellent, I wasn’t interested in doing these things if they weren’t backed by the Holy Spirit’s anointing. If it’s pictures, or Web sites or written pieces… whatever… I wanted people to encounter God through them. He later suggested that he thought eventually everything we do becomes anointed as we invite God into it. While I think this is true to a certain extent, I believe there are particular gifts and callings God would have us operate in as His ambassadors that He’ll back with more power and authority than others. And that’s where I want to be.

The things I do most naturally and the things that seem to generate the most anointed results are my writing and photography. While my technical mind and personality type helps me excel with things in my current career track, I don’t feel Web design is the anointing “pocket” for me. I think it’s a tool I’m being equipped with to support and transport my writing and photography.

I was particularly encouraged by the above passage because it took me back to a revelation the Lord gave me as I was preparing for my mini art show at a Real Life special event. I feel what I did for this event—showed pictures from travels and wrote an accompanying piece—is a seed for what my future might hold. And while some have told me that traveling around taking pictures and writing about my experiences is a dream of most people—and one that requires the person to be independently wealthy—I’m confident that were God guides, God provides. And if there is a growing outpouring of the Holy Spirit’s anointing on artists and creatives to help prepare the Bride, sign me up :)