If I Could Draw...

…Your seed will possess the gate of His enemies.  Gen. 22:17-18

I wish I was an accomplished artist.  I wish I could draw some of the things I see. 

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  Out of Himself, God released a joyful intentionality that manifested as a womb for mankind.  Then He fashioned mankind from the dust of the earth.  He took some of the finest particles and fashioned them into His earth man; the fleshly counterpart to glory.  This earthman was made in His own image and likeness.  He was the self-same substance, the mirror version of the Divine nature reflecting the attributes of God.  God was so satisfied with what He created, He rested.  He enjoyed.  He feasted on what He saw; His image and likeness in a flesh suit.  He named him Adam.  Among other things, Adam speaks of earth, soil.  This was a hint of the fruit to come.  It takes soil to produce fruit.

God wanted this flesh mirror image to experience the same pleasure He had in creating, so He put Adam into a deep sleep and reached within him to form a counterpart; a co-creator.  Both halves coming together would now be able to create like Him, because God is infinitely creative and expansive.  He breathed into them the breath of lives; the Trinitarian kiss releasing the Father heart, the creative redemptive heart and the nurturing and sustaining heart;  the breath of all lives of to come.

These two could now reproduce His image in the world, each reproduction containing and releasing a unique facet of His nature and likeness.  No two beings the same.  And God saw it all and knew it as good.

If I could draw, I would show Jesus gazing at a mirror surface on the facet of an extremely large diamond.  I would show Jesus gazing at mankind in all his variety inside the diamond and seeing Himself.  I would paint Jesus with a huge grin on His face, in total enjoyment  and connecting with what He saw there. 

I would picture procreation as an act of the recreation of the image of God in the earth, each person a facet of His being and each one also having the ability to co-create with Him.

The scripture “ye are like gods” would be played out, because I would show mankind fulfilling the commission to fill the earth enabling His image to replace the distortion.  The womb of our beginning restored to vitality.

If I could draw, I would show the Lamb was within this people from the beginning.  Somewhere in the center of the diamond, I would show the Lamb, slain before the fall of the world.  It would be the center of the seed of life, planted in soil that was necessary for the eventual fruition of a plan so mysterious that we are only able to catch a portion and a facet at any one time.

That’s some of what I would do, if I could draw.

Identity-the Art of Self-discovery

I hesitate to put down on paper definitive thoughts about an ongoing experience, but in the interest of exploration, I thought I would take a stab at a sharing what is unfolding in me.  It will not only help me process, but I invite others to contribute their own thoughts.

We have heard that “Identity is the Key to Transformation”.  I absolutely believe this, and have been engaged in going after the identity I have as God has spoken it to me in prophetic words, scriptures and prayer.  First and foremost, my identity is a child of God who is loved unconditionally by my Father.  Secondly, my identity is as a son of God fully endowed with the rights and privileges as the son of a king and able to act with His authority. 

In addition to that, I believe my identity is more fully realized and able to be applied, as I discover what my calling and assignments are for my life.  It is in walking out my calling and assignments that I discover the areas of my greatest joy and fulfillment, as well as my greatest challenges and stretching.  As I have considered my calling and have begun to execute my assignments, I have discovered areas of identity that were not fully developed.  This has required me to draw courage and strength, wisdom and fortitude from the Spirit of God within

I have been encouraging others to keep moving, using real stories from my own life to give a picture of what it looks like as we go together.  The inspiration to keep going after what God says about us, engaging in areas of insecurity and putting them under our feet, allows us to get to know God in a greater way.  We get to take on board those qualities that will equip us for what is ahead.  The experience of expanding horizons, gives more room for God to come and fill those places that are opening up in us.  We are filled with more of Him and therefore have more to give others.  We become the show and tell of the goodness of God.  We actually become a “taste and see” people who whet the appetites of those around us for something of God.

What I did not realize is, there are hidden doors we know nothing about that only become accessible as we continue in our journey, proceeding through the doors that are opening.  In my case, I stumbled upon a door because someone issued me an innocent challenge.  I knew the door was there for others, but I never perceived it having anything to do with me, nor did I want it to.

The door I chose to peek through was creativity; art, craft or capturing a feeling in the form of a two or three dimensional object.  After completing the first challenge, which I considered craft, I went on to create another in the form of a painting.  It came out much better than expected.  This caused me some consternation.  While I was delighted in some ways and even amazed, I also was a bit horrified.

I wanted to shut the door and never go there again.  I did not want to accept that this type of creativity was part of my identity.  I am challenged enough in the areas I am already aware of.  I am already in over my head.  I felt that this optional door would take time away from what I was really called to. I did not like the feeling of not knowing anything about this area, or having to explore, or of being a beginner at something I did not want to do in the first place.  It took me two days to work through my feelings with the Lord.  Believe it or not, I was actually crying and saying, “I don’t want to go there!”  Finally though, I realized I had to practice my own preaching in this area also. 

If God wanted me to walk through the door of creativity and experience the feeling of being totally inadequate, in an area that I have no interest in developing, I knew my willingness would be making more room for Him to fill those places and help me know Him in a way I had never known Him before.  That would enable me to identify with others and have something to give them.

So, here I am a few weeks later, still at the beginning of a process that will last the rest of my life, but I want to share some of what has already happened. 

1.        It has totally changed how I see nature.  I have actually received new lenses.  I was never a nature lover.  Didn’t mean anything to me.  I am happy to be an indoor girl. I felt guilty about that, and even prayed about it.  If God’s glory is supposed to be reflected in Nature, I just wasn’t getting it.  I could appreciate a beautiful sunset or notice the gorgeous fall foliage, but that was it.   So, the world around me was just one great big picture until I undertook this exploration of art.  I had only attempted a few watercolors when I was riding in the car one day.   While looking out the window, everything became a snapshot.  I could see colors and shadows.  I could see how something could be painted.  I saw shades of colors where there was only one before.  My eyes were clicking snapshot after snapshot and picture within picture. What had been all one scene became a moving happening in front of my eyes.  It continued that evening when I had to go to a meeting.  There was a glorious sunset like I hadn’t seen in a long time.  It filled the entire sky.  It became animated as the sun set.  I could not get enough of watching it and noticing the subtleties of the light changing. I think there were three points when I thought it was going to fade and just go dark as the sun went behind the hills, but it only became altered in emphasis.   Each stage had a unique quality that was equally brilliant, but could have been breathtaking on its own if it had happened on three separate days.  I almost went off the road while watching.

2.       The second thing that happened was a magnetic pull to create something.  I now feel it every day.  I have ideas coming all the time and I have no training, so it is frustrating.  I watch art tutorials and try to teach myself how to do what I am seeing in my mind.  My next project is to try some mixed media having to do with a key theme.  However, art is messy.  I like order, so it is a struggle to find the place of giving in to the pull, and my desire for neatness.  Mess makes me feel uneasy. 

3.       Lastly for now, someone offered me $100 for a mixed media picture I created which I call The Eyes of G-d.  This has served to give me a direction to narrow this new pursuit.  I have always admired three pictures that are in this form which were done by a friend.  I even paid her to make one for me, so I am going to try my hand at this art form and put my own fingerprint on it.  We will see where we end up.

So, in conclusion, what I am trying to say is…we have NO IDEA who we were really created to be until we begin the journey of discovering how God sees us.  As I have followed the breadcrumbs of His hints, I have walked through doors I never thought I would walk through.  Behind these doors are worlds to explore leading to more opportunities.  There are even invisible doors in these rooms that are beyond anything we could have hoped for or even desired for ourselves.  They only become visible as we progress on our journey.  It is a totally AMAZING adventure of the self-discovery of the Nature of God He has put within each one of us.  I am really only accessing the Divine Nature within and releasing it for an experience of the goodness of God for me and though me.  Think of it…mankind is the only creature that has the ability to co-create with God.  I am overwhelmed with possibility.

The Communion Connection

God made a covenant with a nation and a people.  Since there was no one greater to swear by, He swore by Himself.  He called heaven and earth to witness this covenant.  They were to stand as permanent partners with Him in something He initiated, which would unfold over time.  He also appointed them as signposts and examples of His faithfulness and intention.  As long as heaven and earth remain, they are the “persons in interest” standing to inherit something when the covenant is fulfilled.

At the Passover Supper, Jesus ratified the Covenant God made with Abraham and the prophets of old.  He acknowledged the legitimacy of the Covenant; took the general promise and made it personal.  Jesus ratified the Covenant, not the Law.  To ratify a contract means to approve of it.  The party ratifying the contract does not necessarily have any personal obligation to do so.  It is a voluntary binding of oneself to the agreement as previously drawn up.  The agent takes personal responsibility for fulfilling the terms.  In doing so, one accepts the liabilities and the benefits of the contract in totality, as the agent upon whose fulfillment those conditions now rest.  Jesus also fulfilled the Law; those hidden clauses that were added and which no one could ever keep in totality.

Jesus, as the God-man, willing to be the sacrificial lamb, initiated a New Covenant in His blood.  In the shedding of His blood, He gave formal consent to the covenant, making it officially valid through His life; through His sacrifice.  Jesus died, releasing the promises of the last will and testament, making the promises readily available.  It took God to give God what he needed, to release what He promised.  As we enter communion and drink the cup of the New Covenant in His blood we, as beneficiaries but also participants, are invited to continue the work.

Salvation is not a static event.  It is not something that happened to us when we accepted Jesus.  It is an ongoing process; an organic experience we enter, that joins us to the covenant.  It allows us communion with the Father’s heart, through our relationship with His Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

At the Passover Supper, in this place of communion, Jesus said, “This is My blood of the New Covenant, which (ratifies the agreement and) is being poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.  His blood was his signature; his imprimatur on the covenant.  As He raised the Cup of Redemption, He made the Covenant personal.  He took personal responsibility for its fulfillment.  

It was in the forgiveness of sins, that the possibility of Abraham’s promise of being the father of nations could be fulfilled.  How can Abraham be the Father of Gentile nations, except that they recognize His paternity with the link to the covenant and allow themselves to be grafted into those promises?  The grafted in ones need to allow the life flow of the promises inherent in the covenant, to bring understanding of the Jewishness of scripture.  We do not become Jewish, but we become AS them, sharing in inheritance, but only if we remain vitally linked.  Each of us must also personally choose to ratify the covenant, giving it formal consent, making it officially valid by our voluntary participation in the ongoing story.

As we are linked, we can ask to be shown our part in the living drama.  We then have the opportunity to shape history just like Jesus did, by making our connection personal.  What does AS one with the Jewish people mean to me and for me?  And…what must I do?

A salvation experience, apart from recognition of God’s Covenant with the Jewish people, and an acceptance of the responsibility that goes along with it, is incomplete. 

Evangelists need to know that there are scriptures that talk about God beckoning to the Gentile nations and calling them to carry His sons in the bosom of their garments and their daughters on their shoulders.  They need to know the scriptures that Gentile kings will be their foster fathers and queens their nursing mothers. That is part of why we evangelize; to bring understanding to a culture, so that we will be rightly positioned to step into history and take our place in the big picture.  

Teachers need to know the scriptures about Zion and Jerusalem so that we can bring understanding of what the Bible has in mind when there are 800 references to Jerusalem.  The zeal of the Lord’s heart is anchored there.

Pastors need to have some inkling of what the big picture looks like concerning the land of Israel and the Jewish people, so that there is a connection that enlarges individual salvation and positions us to move into the future.  This will then give meaning for living out a faith that is larger than our church or even our community.  God’s promises in His Covenant become something worth dying for when we understand God’s desire for a nation and a people.  

Prophets need to see where we are going; the scope of the ultimate intention of God, so they can rightly interpret the times and seasons.  When things look dark, as it did for Jesus just before the cross, they will be able to prophesy, “Look up for your redemption draweth nigh!  The glory of a kingdom is crowning and about to be birthed in reality! 

Apostles need to weave a true kingdom picture, with a Jewish King, into every work they are called to establish.  This will give the framework for an end time move of God where the participants have been prepared ahead of time to recognize where God is going and what He is doing.  It will also allow maximum facilitation for what He wants to do.