I’m excited to share something that’s been burning in my heart for years. Where artistic expression collides with God’s inspiration, something magical happens—a doorway opens between heaven and earth. This thing we call “prophetic creativity” isn’t some churchy concept or a fancy artistic technique. It’s a life-changing way of partnering with God that lets His presence, power, and purpose flow through you into every corner of your world.
The Kingdom Works Through Creativity
I’ve come to believe that creativity isn’t just a nice little side hobby—it’s literally how the Kingdom of God works! This isn’t just about being artistic or musical (though that’s awesome too). It’s about the actual process through which heaven breaks into earth through ordinary people like you and me. Whether you’re rocking out on a guitar, painting with oils, building a business, preaching a sermon, or raising kids—creativity is the pipeline that lets God’s presence flow from heaven, through us, right into the world around us.
When you boil it all down, prophetic creativity follows this beautiful pattern: “seeing and agreeing”. We sense what God is saying, feel where He’s moving, and tune into what’s on His heart. Then? We simply agree with that in our hearts. Finally, through our unique design—all those specific gifts, talents, passions, quirky perspectives and graces He’s planted in us—we get to release God’s nature and presence into every place we go.
Let’s get something straight—this creative process isn’t some extra credit assignment for super-spiritual Christians. It’s the fundamental operating system of the Kingdom!
Creativity as the Essence of Faith
I stumbled onto something incredible years ago while studying the connection between creativity and faith. The Holy Spirit prompted me to try something: just take the word “faith” in scripture and replace it with “creativity” or “art.” Stay with me here!
“Without creativity, it’s impossible to please God.” If creativity is this process of seeing and agreeing with heaven, then absolutely! Otherwise, we’re just religious worker bees performing for God.
“Creativity is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Think about that! When you create a song, a worship moment, a painting, or whatever God’s called you to make, aren’t you literally creating evidence that what God showed you in the spirit is actually real? Come on now! You’re bringing heaven to earth through your creative expression!
This all starts in our spirit and imagination. The Hebrew word used throughout scripture for imagination is “yetser”—which literally means a womb, a studio, or a seedbed where things are formed. It’s like this sacred creative space inside us.
I don’t believe God is stingy with revelation. He’s constantly pouring it out! It’s like those old-timey church folks used to say, “Get close to the spout where the glory comes out!” I want to be under that flow of heaven in everything I do. Jesus said, “It’s the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). As sons and daughters who create, we have this incredible opportunity to connect with what the Holy Spirit is saying—not in some weird, churchy way, but in a beautiful, authentic, relationship-based way.
Mountains Move Through Creative Expression
Have you ever noticed how people get delivered, set free, and brought to the Lord more easily in creative contexts? You can witness to somebody for 10 years, but then they hear one song and BOOM—God breaks through! Why is that?
What about that Scripture where Jesus says, “With faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move,’ and it would be moved and cast into the sea” (Matthew 17:20)? What if we reframed it like this: “With the creativity of a mustard seed…” With just a tiny bit of your creative expression, with just a little piece of yourself in the context of your creative gifting—seeing and agreeing with the Holy Spirit’s power in that moment—mountains get moved! People get delivered and set free!
And it’s not just because you’re talented. God’s not looking for more talented orphans, right? He’s looking for sons and daughters who can see and agree with Him and are willing to make room for Him in these moments.
I love what Jesus said when the Pharisees were hassling Him about healing people on the Sabbath. He simply said, “I just do the things I see the Father doing” (John 5:19). Isn’t that what it all boils down to? Let’s put aside our debates about style and preference and technique. In whatever creative moment we find ourselves, aren’t we just supposed to be doing what we see the Father doing and responding to that?
The Exhilaration and Challenge of Prophetic Living
Can we all agree there’s NOTHING better than being in that creative moment when you sense the Holy Spirit moving in, on, and through you? When you see God moving in the room and touching others through what He’s giving you? Wow! There is nothing better than that. I’d sell it all for those moments!
When we enter this collaborative dance with the Holy Spirit, we’re making room and yielding to Him on purpose to give Him freedom and power to move. But here’s the biggest challenge for living prophetically in creative environments: prophetic living is an invitation to those willing to make room for the Holy Spirit to move in freedom and in power.
One of my mentors in the Kingdom, Jack Taylor used to say, “I’m not anti-church, but I’m pro-kingdom!” Sometimes church can be the hardest place to allow true prophetic creativity to flow. Why? Because we get so married to form and structure that we forget the Holy Spirit is there in every moment, inviting us to take a breath, to feel, and to say, “Lord, where is the wind of Your Spirit moving? What do You want to do right now?”
My dear friend and mentor Vivien Hibbert once said something that’s stuck with me for 15 years: “We’re the doorkeepers of His presence.” Think about that! We get to go before others and open the door to God’s presence and say, “Come on in.” When we respond in faith and take a chance on that nudge we feel from the Spirit, when we step out on that prompting and open the door to what God is doing, He promises to inhabit the praises of His people.
Doorkeepers of His Presence
Creative leaders function as doorkeepers to God’s presence. When we respond in faith—stepping out on the unction we feel, taking chances, opening doors to wherever God is moving—He promises to inhabit the praises of His people. When we open faith-doors, His light and life are released, transcending our talents and techniques, transforming everyone present.
The prophetic spirit provides evidence that the supernatural realm is real. When we operate prophetically, our creativity becomes the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Our worship, art, and leadership literally testify to Jesus—providing tangible evidence that the spiritual realm is genuine.
Jesus’ Model for Prophetic Creativity
When I think about prophetic creativity, I have to look at Jesus. In Revelation, it says “the Spirit of Prophecy is the testimony of Jesus” (Rev 19:10). That word “testimony” there is like a legal term—it’s talking about providing evidence or bearing witness.
When we operate prophetically, we’re providing evidence that the supernatural realm is real! We’re saying, “The thing the Holy Spirit is speaking to me right now, the thing He’s confirmed in my spirit, the thing He’s moving on me to release through my worship, dance, art, or leadership—that’s providing evidence that the spiritual realm is real!“
So who is Jesus? What did He say? What’s He saying now, in this moment? How did Jesus do things? Though He was fully God, Jesus also operated as fully man, having to see and agree with heaven through faith just like we do. “I’m just doing the things I see the Father doing. I’m just trying to stay in step with my Daddy,” Jesus said.
Jesus didn’t have some secret ability we don’t know about! He was fully God and fully man, and chose to limit Himself in His flesh to walk this earth without sin—to be a model showing us how we can do this too. He even said we’d do “greater things” when the Holy Spirit came upon us in power!
Here are some practical things Jesus did that we can apply:
- He regularly pulled away from crowds to be with the Father. You absolutely cannot live prophetically or worship prophetically without a regular habit in the secret place. As they say, you can’t lead where you’ve never been, and you can’t give what you don’t have.
- He operated from the overflow of relationship. Did you ever see Jesus have someone come up asking to be healed, and He said, “Oh, I didn’t have my quiet time today. Let me go pray about that and get back with you”? No way! He was always operating out of the overflow of His relationship with the Father. When the Bible says we’ve got to be ready “in season and out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2), that’s huge for creatives. We’ve got to be ready to respond in those unexpected moments when God decides to move!
- He made room in mundane moments for supernatural manifestation. Jesus was walking down the road, seeing a woman at a well, noticing hungry people who needed feeding, helping a disciple who didn’t have tax money—He was right in the middle of ordinary life, but He paused and made room for the supernatural. And when He did, signs and wonders followed. The Bible says signs and wonders will follow those who believe!
Filled and Skilled: The Balance of Prophetic Creativity
In Exodus 31, we read about Bezalel being appointed by Moses. The Bible says he was “filled with the Spirit of God” and “skilled in every manner of workmanship.” This is our model for operating as healthy, empowered creatives in the Kingdom: being both filled AND skilled.
Here’s the deal: You can be filled with the Holy Spirit—bursting with anointing, power, passion, vision, and all that good stuff—but if you don’t have the skill to actually step out and express what God is showing you… what happens? Disappointment, right? The Bible says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick” (Proverbs 13:12).
My dear friend and mentor Ray Hughes says it perfectly: “Impression without expression leads to depression.” In other words, if God gives you an impression but you can’t express it through your life and creativity, you’re going to end up depressed and frustrated. Why? Because you’ve got all this vision with no way to work it out.
On the flip side, church world is full of people who are skilled to the max! Incredible pianists, organists, drummers, dancers, artists, writers—you name it. But many have never made room for the Holy Spirit to move in the context of their creative gifting. So what happens? They have all this impressive skill, but no life and no power.
Look at 1 Chronicles, where it talks about the sons of Asaph, Jeduthan, and Heman. It says they “taught the musicians how to play skillfully and prophesy.” Notice it doesn’t just say they taught them to prophesy. It says “play skillfully AND prophesy.” Why? Because playing skillfully without the prophetic unction of the Holy Spirit just produces good music.
And I don’t know about you, but I don’t need any more good music! I was tired of going to church 30 years ago just to hear another nice song and get a little encouragement for my flesh. I want to know that I KNOW that I KNOW that I’ve met with God! And if I’m in leadership, I better know that my job isn’t just to tickle people’s ears—I’m there to be a doorkeeper to God’s presence and power.
The Three Dimensions of Worship
In Ephesians, Paul tells believers to encourage each other with “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” (5:19). This isn’t just a random list—it’s a complete picture of how worship was meant to work:
- Psalms: Those powerful scriptural declarations and historical Psalms straight from the Bible
- Hymns: The composed songs of the church—both the classics and the new ones – that declare who God is, what He has done, and what He will do.
- Spiritual songs: Those spontaneous, Spirit-breathed expressions (from the Greek “pneumatikos”) that come from the overflow of our spirit in worship.
This isn’t about choosing one or the other—it’s about embracing all three! Within our carefully planned services and song lists, we absolutely must leave room for pneumatikos—those spontaneous, Spirit-breathed expressions that often carry the very heartbeat of heaven.
My Brownsville Revival Experience
Let me tell you about something that completely transformed my understanding of this. Back in ’97-’98, I was a Methodist worship leader who had been baptized in the Holy Spirit but didn’t have much context for what that looked like in worship. Someone told me, “Man, you sound just like Lindell Cooley when you lead worship! He’s the worship leader down at this revival in Brownsville. You need to go down there.”
I said, “Revival? Yeah, we have a spring revival and a fall revival.” They laughed and said, “No, you don’t understand what this is.”
So I went down to the first worship conference that Brownsville had, and I was completely out of my depth. I’d never heard words like “intercessor” before. I’d never seen banners in worship. It was all so foreign to this lifelong Methodist!
What absolutely blew my mind was that people would wait in line for 10-12 hours in the sweltering Pensacola sun just to get into the building. Once inside, worship—just the music part!—would go for two and a half to three and a half hours every single night, seven days a week, for years.
We’d sing hymns and psalms and all these songs that everyone knew. But then something supernatural would happen. The songs never really ended, but continued in a flow, one after another. As the written song would end, people would start to singing spontaneously in the Spirit – some in english, some in tongues. As we did, waves of glory—real, tangible waves of God’s presence—would sweep through that place. I’m telling you, for 10-15 minutes between songs, people were just basking in the presence of God. Why? Because somebody in leadership chose to make room for the Holy Spirit to move.The Heart of Prophetic Creativity
At its essence, prophetic worship and creativity require a willingness to embrace the unexpected and the uncomfortable. It means being at peace with not knowing exactly how things will unfold, while maintaining complete confidence that when we make room for the Holy Spirit within our authority and gifting, God will show up. He will never leave His children begging for bread.
Practical Applications for Creative Leaders
- Balance Form and Freedom: I love this picture: a river is just a flood without banks! The structure, preparation, and skill development in your creative practice form the banks that make the river of God’s presence life-giving and powerful.
Think about it—psalms, hymns, spiritual songs. Honoring leaders. Understanding fundamentals. Respecting people’s time. These “banks” provide context and healthy boundaries for the Holy Spirit to flow through. But always be ready for that moment when the Spirit might just flood beyond those banks!
I used to tell my bands over the years (God bless them!): “If you’re going to ride with me, you’ve got to be able to play any song in any key at any time. My bass player was always on my left because I’d tell him, ‘I’m not sure where I’m going, but you’ve got to be able to follow my left hand!’” Why? I want to operate out of the overflow, and I refuse to be bound by a set list. That doesn’t mean I don’t have a plan—of course I do! But in the moment, I’ve got to be ready to respond. - Cultivate Community: When God gave me the vision for raising up an army of artists, the first thing I did was gather people around me who would pray and walk with me through it. I didn’t know how it would look, but I believed in hearing from the Lord together. God brought pieces of the vision through others that I never would have gotten by myself!
There’s wisdom in the counsel of many, and every word should be confirmed by two or three witnesses. No prophetic journey succeeds in isolation. - Develop Both Anointing and Skill: I’ve found in my life that skill creates room for freedom. Anything God speaks to me creatively goes through not only the filter of my understanding but also through the filter of my skills.
God could be showing you the hottest guitar lick or the most incredible dance move, but if you can’t technically pull it off, it’s not going to work! The more skill we develop while intentionally making room for the Holy Spirit to flow through that skill—that’s where the magic happens.
I read this beautiful book called “The Sound of Life’s Unspeakable Beauty” by Martin Schleske – a German violin maker who’s also a physicist. He talks about “harmonious opposites”—things that seem like they’d conflict but actually need each other to make music. Skill and freedom are like that. Technical ability and spiritual sensitivity. Neither can fully exist or make music without the other. - Educate Your Community: If someone says, “Your performance was wonderful today” after you’ve danced prophetically and people were touched by God, don’t feel like a failure! It’s a matter of education.
The New Testament model is never just teaching or just doing—it’s doing and then explaining. It’s demonstrating and then teaching about it. If your church wants to bring the arts in as more than decoration, be intentional about explaining what’s happening.
When I was on the preaching team at a church in Asheville, we did an eight-week series on creativity and walking in the prophetic. We talked about practical things like “What do you do when the worship leader starts singing spontaneously and you don’t know what that means?” and “How do you engage with that?” - Create Culture Intentionally: I can’t fix anyone’s baggage or background. Only Jesus can do that. But what I can do as a leader is create opportunities where we can get on the same page. Some things are better caught than taught! When people see a culture of intimacy with God and prophetic creativity, one of two things will happen: they’ll either lean into it or they’ll leave. And both are actually great outcomes, because we’re not trying to control or manipulate anyone into this way of living.
- Creativity as Kingdom Language: My friend Vivien Hibbert likens our creative skills as a spiritual language explaining “If I’m trying to speak Spanish but only know 15 words, I’m not going to get very far in communicating something profound! It’s the same in the Spirit. If we only know two chords on the guitar or can barely point our toe in dance, we won’t be able to fully convey what the Holy Spirit is trying to say through us“.
Our skill development is like expanding our spiritual vocabulary—it gives us more language to express what God wants to say through us. Martha Graham, the famous dancer, talked about the importance of technical precision—that toe needs to be pointed! As worship artists, we all want to see dancers who can actually use ballet or jazz or modern dance technique and incorporate that skill into their spiritual expression. Because skill truly does create room for freedom.
Prophetic creativity isn’t just for worship teams or professional artists—it’s how God designed the Kingdom to operate through every single believer. Whether you’re in business, education, healthcare, or raising kids, this principle of seeing and agreeing with heaven is your birthright as a son or daughter of God.
As you develop both your spiritual sensitivity and your technical skill, and as you make room for the Holy Spirit’s freedom in your life, you become a conduit for heaven to touch earth right where you are. Your creative expressions—whether songs, dances, paintings, businesses, environments, or relationships—become tangible evidence of God’s reality, power, and presence in our world.
In this world that’s starving for authentic encounters with the living God, your willingness to create prophetically might just be the doorway through which someone experiences His transformative presence for the very first time. And there’s nothing—absolutely nothing—more rewarding than that!
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