May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
It is Easter – the primary date on the calendar for all Christians. We focus on the cross at Easter – it is the broken world’s only hope – however, the Lord reminded me today, Resurrection Sunday, that ‘It is Finished’. He is off the cross, the work done, the price has been paid for us to live in resurrected hope.
“We have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3)
This is the ‘happy’ of Happy Easter. This is the new life we are sharing when we give chocolate eggs, however weird and disconnected from the cross that feels, it is still the message of Christ’s love for all. The message is not one of condemnation for culturally twisting Jesus into the shape of a bunny, no, no, our message is new life, hope, and love. Yes, and amen!
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” (Romans 15:13)
Why is our purpose “to abound in hope”? As a prophetic artist, this is an essential question to ask yourself. We are called to abound in hope because hopelessness is a growing deadly evil. Hopelessness kills. Jesus confirmed victory over hopelessness. His resurrection – His love – assures forgiveness, joy and peace, and offers a new beginning in a secure hope.
That is our message every time we paint.
Christ has already done it all. So what can we do?
We are not meant to live a life of crucifixion – we have been crucified with Him (Gal 2:20) – we are meant to live the resurrected life, thriving in relationship with others. We love as Jesus loves, the way Jesus taught us, throughout His life.
We Love One Another.
We learn from loving each other, because while it sounds simple, loving each other isn’t that easy to do! Who knows relationships are not easy?! However, when we grow in our relationships with each other, we grow in relationship with Him. Mature faith understands the complexity of love and friendship.
It is not for nothing that we are taught, “if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, … first go and be reconciled” (Matthew 5:23,24; Mark 11:25) and “pray for each other” (James 5:16; Col 3:13) and “live in peace” (Romans 12:18; Hebrews 12:14). Living in a community contributing to the kindness and the goodness of the Lord is a sign of mature faith.
Bringing this thought specifically to our role as prophetic artists, the art is where we begin to grow, where we let go and let Him – where we surrender ourselves and what we think we know. Through the imagery on our sketchpads and canvases, we allow the Spirit to show us what the Lord is doing right there, right then, right now with the people we are with.
Prophetic art is a ‘now’ word. By all means, we paint scenes of Calvary for Easter because we know the bigger beautiful picture of salvation, but we are also aware of what the Lord is saying immediately to the person in front us. I’ve found the Lord starts with an intimate instance acutely personal for them so they know without a doubt that the Lord knows THEM and is paying attention to their situation.
What we can do is learn and grow the gifts we’ve been given. Prophetic art is a set of skills we learn as we grow in more than one way – prophetically, intellectually, spiritually, and artistically – it is not either/or but always both/and, always learning more than one thing at a time. Most likely this means connecting with like-minded people who are also on our journey. Whether openly in a large group like The Prophetic Artist, or more confidentially in The Prophetic Artist Community membership, we thrive in relationship with others.
We learn and grow where the Lord has placed us.
When I relate that to us as prophetic artists, I think of two aspects. Firstly, who we have around us to encourage and who encourages us, and secondly, I think about what message we are painting. Inside every painting is the opportunity for new life, to share Christ’s love and His hope.
Easter is when we give the world the hope Christ gave us.
The world is desperate for hope. I recently took the photo in this post at sunset over Seminyak Beach on a cloudy day. It had been raining a few hours before and I thought we’d miss the sunset on our last day. The first sight of the fiery sun reflected on the wet sand made me cry … He fulfilled a promise. He gives us so. much. hope. in every cloud.
Go forth and paint His love, new life, and hope.
