The voice of God comes most often as a spontaneous thought which
lights upon one’s mind and heart. The vision of God comes as spontaneous
pictures which light upon one’s mind and heart. The emotions of God
come as spontaneous emotions which light upon one’s mind and heart. The
key idea here is spontaneity, as opposed to analysis. To capture divine
flow, one is shifting from left hemisphere functions to right hemisphere
functions. He is shifting away from analytical reason and to intuition.
Now, many artists are already right-brain to begin with, so they find
themselves naturally living in the right hemisphere of their brains
(assuming the left-brain educational experience has not damaged them too
severely).
Quiet your mind.
The flow of intuition and
vision is purified and enhanced through several means. First, one would
want to quiet himself down from the distractions of the world and of his
own rational mind. Each person finds the best ways to do this. They may
include going to a quiet place, assuming a relaxed posture, having no
distractions, and making a choice to shift internally from the left side
of one’s brain to the right side.
Visualize in your mind.
There
are several internal triggers which can help one make this shift. One
can begin by looking for vision. Since vision is a right-brain function,
this will immediately shift one to the right side of his brain. Perhaps
the apostle John is painting or imagining the first scene in Revelation
4:1. Revelation 4:1 says that “he looked” and that he “saw a door
standing open in heaven.” The next verse (Rev. 4:2) says that
“Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold....”
John creates
and image which acts as an internal trigger to connect him with the flow
from God’s Spirit. The Spirit then takes control of the image and
proceeds to show John an amazing vision. This is not just the image
getting a life of its own or John’s mind continuing to create images. It
is the life of God granting an ongoing series of pictures, or music, or
creativity in response to the prayerful and positioned heart of the
believer. This is also not just something for John, but for every
believer.
How can I know it is God who gives the vision and creativity?
Well,
the Bible says that if we ask for the Spirit we will not get a snake or
a stone, but we will receive the Spirit (Matt 7:10; Luke 11:11). So,
since I am asking for the Spirit, and since I know it is His will to
give vision and revelation (Acts 2:17; Num. 12:6), and I know that when I
ask according to His will, He hears me and gives me that which I have
asked for (1 Jn. 5:14,15), I have every right biblically to believe that
the flow of pictures and ideas and music and creativity which light
upon me as I come before God in prayer, positioning myself before His Holy Spirit, is coming from Him.
Yes,
it is a step of faith, but without faith it is impossible to please
Him, for those who come to God must believe that He is and that He is a
rewarder of those who seek Him (Heb. 11:6).
Of course, in the
mouth of two or three witnesses every fact is confirmed (Matt. 18:16),
so I will present what I have received in the Spirit to two or three
spiritual counselors whom I respect, and ask if they can confirm that
what I have received has indeed come from God.
In summary,
triggers which one can use to connect with the divine flow within
include: quieting himself down, fixing his eyes on Jesus (Heb. 12:1,2),
and tuning to flow.
Mark Virkler is with Christian Leadership University. CLU is a Christian University and Online Bible College offering Christian education including Christian counseling and Christian theology seminaries and offers certificates, undergrad, Masters, and Doctorates in the various Christian colleges of CLU.