"When are you going to decide to be an artist, and not just someone who occasionally paints?"
Is what my wife said to me one evening while annoyed at my attitude towards my vocation at the time. And even though it wasn’t a fun conversation - I understood what she meant, at some point the phrase "decide to become!" jarred me into a place where I could no longer run from myself in that area of my life.
I can remember the first time I began to paint as a child sitting in front of the TV on Sunday mornings trying to render the same image Bob Ross was painting on the screen. With burnt umber and greens on a paper pallet as I attempted to create the same pine tree design he seemed to lay out so effortlessly. Even at such a young age I took an interest in art. I didn’t realize that I had a gift till later years when my doodles in class didn’t seem to compare to everyone else's, and my art teachers recognized my talent.
Finding your gifting is an amazing thing and it marks the beginning of Gods Journey with us, because ultimately, no matter what you end up investing your gift into - It originally came from him in the first place. In a conversation with a friend about artistic gifting, I was explaining the difference between someone who does art and someone who is an artist, someone who plays music, and someone who is a musician. The difference is that anyone can learn to paint, but being an artist is an ability and gifting from God. Being a musician is a gifting and any true musician knows that it becomes a lifestyle.
There are certain things that come naturally to us all in different and unique areas. There are many different gifts that we posses that can give greater skill, ability or understanding from one person to the next. There are specific things in our life that define who we are, and often are things that flow naturally to us. I have observed that purpose resides in who we are, and not in what we do. When someone is gifted and inherits a true gift from God, they become that gifting, and that gifting becomes them. Just as when we get saved and begin to walk in the Word, eventually we become that Word and that Word becomes us as we see it begin to manifest in the world around us. The problem is that we tend to only define ourselves in what we do when God wants to develop who we truly are, and who he has made us to be.
Purpose begins with the will of God, and within every gift we posses there is purpose and intent. I've learned that God never creates anything void of purpose. When God builds, designs or creates something, he has blueprints, plans, purpose and potential already laid out in the details of that thing! When God desires to move in the world he looks for men and women to move through, and our gifts, talents and abilities provide places for him to enter into every arena of life.We live in a generation where souls have gotten lost within the culture of society and God is looking to reach in to those places and pull the lost out - he intends to use our gifts that associate us with each arena. What unique gifting has God given you that can touch the lives of people in areas no one else may be able to reach? I believe that attached with each gift that we posses is a calling, a calling from God to first submit our Gifts as a sacrifice to be used by him, and with that we are making a deposit for a multiplied return.
A few years ago God released a word to me saying "I am calling Creative Prophetic Voices in the creative arts to rise up in the midst of a perverse generation to combat the negative influences of world culture!" It was a call to prophetic artists. And today we can see a generation of prophetic artists rising up like never before, more and more gifts are seeking to touch the heart of God. As a collective we can paint the picture of what God is saying to the world, to the church and to us individually as every source of inspiration from Christ is needed in this time! So it is imperative that we discover Our Gifts and with that discover what God is calling us to do.
In the beginning of this article I quoted what my wife said to me that caused me to realize that I was delaying a process in my life.
"When are you Going to decide to become!"
I think those words alone are powerful for us in our search for purpose. I believe that many of us already have discovered that Gift and heard that calling, yet it seems that fear and insecurity has delayed us from possessing our inheritance that lies within claiming our gift. "We must decide to become!" it highlights the power in our own will and decision. God is not going to force you to grab hold of his plan for you, neither is he going to force you to step out into your dream or gifting. You must get to a place of decision - a place where you begin to accept who he has made you to be, what he has given you, and begin to walk in who you are in Christ. From out of that position "In Christ" can flow, not just what you want to do - but what you are SUPPOSED to do!
God wants to use every unique and creative gift within us on this journey! I pray that he will do just that within discovering uniquely who you are and what you are being called to do!
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