So you’ve now discovered, that after accepting Jesus Christ, that God is actually real. You want to follow him and give him your life but you’re not exactly sure where to start. You understand the importance of prayer, fasting repentance, fellowship and even deliverance, but you’re still not sure what exactly He has called you to do with your life, and how He wants you to do it. Safe to say, you know God enough for Him to have taken you out of the place you used to be, but now, you simply don’t now where you are going or where you ought to be.
John 14:1-6 - AMP
“DO NOT let your hearts be troubled (distressed, agitated). You believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely on God; believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely also on Me. In My Father's house there are many dwelling places (homes). If it were not so, I would have told you; for I am going away to prepare a place for you. And when (if) I go and make ready a place for you, I will come back again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also. And [to the place] where I am going, you know the way. Jesus the Way to the Father. Thomas said to Him, Lord, we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by (through) Me.”
There might be times as a born again believer and a creative where you feel a lack of direction after having come to the Lord, in your life generally, and in your creativity. On top of that, what most creatives know is what the world has taught, is the way to navigate, operate and function with our skills. Now wanting to submit your gifts to God, has turned all that you are familiar with on its head, every goal, ambition, relationship and desire looks completely different when exposed under the light of the truth, that is the word of God, bringing almost everything in your life to a screeching halt. Now need to the way navigate forward.
The Road To the ‘Promised Land’.
The next few articles will outline the creative’s journey/process of alignment with the will of God for their lives, gifts, talents and skills, through encounter, salvation and relationship with Jesus Christ. One may find, that through reading through the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy and Joshua chronologically. God reveals an eternal prophetic picture of how His intention to separate and consecrate us to Himself came with a process that resembled the sequence of events that Moses and the Israelites experienced upon their deliverance into the land the Lord had promised them.
We live in a time that is almost completely dominated by a the ways of the world. This has resulted in the oppression of our minds (similar to the Egyptian enslavement of Israel). The Lord heard their cries and set them free from their bondage. God has seen bondage we’re in and wants to set us free.
So what is the way forward? You may ask, the Israelite had the cloud by day,the pillar of fire by night, Moses and Joshua to lead them, so what will lead us? More importantly, who will lead us? Jesus Christ of course, through the Holy Spirit and his word, and I know you saw that coming, but think about it for a moment...who better? Think of this journey as more than just physical and outward means of navigating this complex world whilst serving God, but a deeper work that’s taking place inside us, the body, soul and spirit.
It is a deeply intimate and transparent relationship with the God Father through his Son, where we allow him to heal or hearts, deliver our bodies, renew our minds with his word. This way Jesus through the Holy Spirit, is essentially training us for a life of son-ship and serving in the Kingdom, as well as the opportunity to be eternally reunited with the Father.
The journey prepares you for the destination.
After we encounter of the the burning bush, we follow the instructions that lead the ‘the promised land’. This involves repenting from our old ways and submitting all areas of our lives to Christ, including creativity, where we are now being lead by the Holy Spirit and not the flesh. In between these two Egypt and ‘the promised land’, however, lies the wilderness. The most gruelling yet essential and inevitable connector of the two, put simply, you cannot skip the wilderness.
God is raising an army of creatives that are bold enough to turn from the ways of this world and create solely for Him. The goal is for Called Craftsmen to worship and honour God through our art and creativity, to inspire and teach other creatives to do the same.
In closing, we want to leave with the following questions. That is, firstly, now that there’s a clearer picture of what lies ahead, do you still want to go? Secondly, does fear of discomfort and the unknown will of God entice you to continue to live in the familiar, undefined, disorganized labyrinth you’ve lived before? Lastly, are you start the journey?
Shalom.
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