Painted in live worship at ‘Faith Strong’ World Changers Church conference, Gold Coast, 5 August 2022
I always quote Bill Johnson, saying “When you walk with God, you forfeit the right to understand”. In the afternoon before the conference kick-off, the Holy Spirit reminded me of the quote, saying, ‘You know that’s faith, don’t you?’ and prompted me with an image of a river or perhaps a path leading behind a mountainous barrier – I could not see the destination but knew this was a ‘faith walk’ to go beyond intimidation.
As we set up in sound check for the World Changers Church Faith Strong conference, I painted the word ‘faith’ across the canvas and I instantly realised that I would be turning the canvas on its side, and back, on its side, and back, as I painted – a prophetic act to show that things get all messy and sometimes we don’t know which way is up – but we still keep walking in our faith.
Then a weird thing happened.
I didn’t finish the painting during the worship. That has only happened twice in 18 years of worship painting. So, I knew the Lord had more to say! I asked Him, ‘Okay Lord, what is this for?’
As I sat in the congregation, Pastor Kyle Self preached and spoke out “God is in control of where you’re going” and I laughed, thinking “and it doesn’t matter what it looks like”. The more the pastor spoke, the more I realised I had painted his message. He spoke of sudden unknown turns and unexpected obstacles.
He said, “God shows up in the middle of your doubt” and I realised not finishing the painting was part of the prophetic word on the work. The Lord is saying, “Walk by faith, not by sight”. In the midst of your journey, not only can you not see what is around the obstacle, but the terrain can also be unidentifiable. Things just do not follow a neat A-Z.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Heb 11.1
The Lord is good, no matter what. Do not be surprised when things don’t look as you imagined! Walking in faith means keeping your eyes on the Lord and His promise, even when you can’t see around the bend.
