Creativity and the Prophetic

There are few things so phenomenal as to hear God speak and reveal something of His nature or what He is doing on earth. When I met Lana, the prophetic was a mystery to me. I was raised in a very conservative church in a small country town; to many in the church the prophetic was too far outside of their experience of Christian life for them to embrace it.

Despite not knowing much about the prophetic, I had even unknowingly seen glimpses of it in my own life while I was young. I would be going about life and see glimpses of things—things yet to come—and putting it down to deja-vu… or even my imagination. Then, it got more intense after I started speaking in tongues. Each time I would pray over someone, I would see pictures… but again, I didn’t know what was happening, though my imagination was distracting me while I prayed. Later, when I began to learn about the prophetic, I understood what I was actually seeing and began learning the difference between sight and imagination.

I am something of a creative, and imagination is essential to the creative process. Yet, often God speaks to me through visions and pictures, and sometimes they can be similar. Learning the difference is essential; we must not find ourselves investing our own creativity into the prophetic. However, the more I create while living a prophetic lifestyle, the more I find myself prophetically inspired in my creativity.

The ability to create is remarkable; humans do it in a unique way. Every invention and discovery follows and builds on thousands of years of creative thought. While other creatures may have some rudimentary use of tools, there are none that do it quite like humans do. To me it seems miraculous and is woven as deep as our creative purpose.

“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Gen 1:26

The first manifestation of God’s power at the beginning of time was creation. And his final act of the creation narrative was humanity, which he made in His image.

The word translated to “in His image” is “tselem” (strongs 6754). It occurs 17 times in the Hebrew OT, and when you consider the ways it is used, it does not just mean a likeness; it can also mean a symbolic representation. When we consider that, we can see the ways that we humans can act in ways that reflect (often poorly) His nature, albeit in a lesser and even corrupted way. The fact that we are made in His likeness is certainly attested to in the human power to create. To perceive something that is not there is a glimpse of God’s nature; we should all consider it an honor to reflect God’s creative nature, although not everyone does.

It may surprise some that the first person to be recorded to receive the Holy Spirit was not Noah, Abraham, or Moses—but Bezalel… an artisan and tradesman among those who travelled from Egypt to their promised land. It was only through the creative that God’s vision could be made reality, as it took someone to be inspired before the physical could manifest.

When I make something, be it out of steel, wood, or even digital, I feel His presence. I understand why some people paint during worship services, because I too feel worship as I embrace the creativity. I ask Him for solutions when I come to a roadblock, and I’ve heard some amazing responses when I do.

Our imagination is a powerful tool that God has inspired throughout time, and an important way that we can reflect something that is largely unique to Him and us. I believe that we all have the ability to imagine, as well as we can hear God speak – in whatever way He will speak to you. He does not always use words. There is a difference between imagination and divine conversation, learning the difference is important. I encourage you to find someone who knows you, knows God and His voice well to help you in that journey. 

Either way, celebrate your imagination, and even ask God if He wants to say something through it. When you are are creating, just know how amazing it is to do something that is so unique and divine. Be sure to always create well, and never to corrupt.