PROPHETIC DECORATING IN THE CHURCH
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Alaska Claire
Dec 18, 2007, 8:43:51 PM12/18/07
to Art Friends
PROPHETIC DECORATING IN THE CHURCH
I thought this was a good time to write on this subject since it's
almost Christmas and you might be interested in it. It's too late for
this year but maybe not for another holiday you might be thinking
about decorating for.
I'm not sure how well known Prophetic Decorating is. About a year
after I taught on Prophetic Art in the Church I was asked to teach
another class on whatever subject I wanted to. Hence, Prophetic
Decorating in the Church.
This is great if you have someone with a prophetic give of art in your
church. And if you're not having a play etc. at Christmas or it could
be for another holiday that you want to do something special for.
I wrote this in the same way that I wrote about Prophetic Art in the
Church, question and answer form.
************
PROPHETIC DECORATING IN THE CHURCH
1. What is it?
Prophetic decorating is different from Prophetic Art. (painting etc.)
For this you must not only have a word from the Lord, but also the
okay from your Pastor. In prophetic painting you can go ahead on your
own at home and paint whatever the Lord gives you for it belongs to
you, but you are subject to the Pastor in prophetic decorating because
even though the church belongs to God, the Pastor has the say of the
decorating as this is his domain and privilege. So be sure to check
with him before you decide to go on your own to do it. You may have a
word from the Lord, but if the pastor says no, then no it is.
2. What is it for? It's purpose?
Prophetic decorating is to bring not only a message to the church from
the Lord but to bring and atmosphere and beauty as well. What you are
trying to do is to create and atmosphere using the word you have from
the Lord in a visual form. You want to create an atmosphere in the
sanctuary, foyer or wherever you are doing the decorating that goes
along with the message you have from the church.
3. Why not just use the same seasonal decorations all the time?
Regular traditional decorating is good if you haven't received a word
from the Lord as to what He wants you to do. But at different seasons
of the year, instead of just putting up your normal Christmas or
Easter decorations that you have probably used the previous year or
years, you want a fresh word from the Lord for your church. The
anointing won't be the same if you use the same things year after
year, or it won't be there at all. Each new seasonal decorated word
brings new life to that holiday season and to the church.
4. How do you know it's from God.
Ask the Lord to give you something for a particular holiday. If you
have a ministry in prophetic art, you will know when He gives you your
answer. Don't be afraid to step out with what you have, show it to
your pastor and explain it to him. Tell him that it's a new kind of
decorating and see what he thinks. After all, it's going up in his
church anyway.
Another sure way to know it's the Lord is if it has a positive
message. Most generally you will not get anything negative to decorate
your church with. On the other hand even though the word you receive
may seem negative, the Lord will have you interpret it into
decorations so that you will see the beauty of the message instead of
the negative side. It gives you hope, it blesses you - BUT -make sure
you've heard from the Lord as you could put up some terrible things
thinking it's a word. That's why you take it to your pastor FIRST!!!
Get confirmation on it if it's negative in any way or you're not sure.
MOSTLY YOU WILL ONLY GET POSITIVE WORDS. SHOOT FOR THAT!
5. Sometimes the message doesn't seem to go with the season, -
what
then?
See how the Lord wants it portrayed. Sometimes the portrayal of the
word is seasonal even if the word isn't.
Example:
If you have the scripture for Christmas, "Though your sins be as
scarlet, they will be white as snow." NOW THAT DOESN'T SEEM LIKE
CHRISTMAS AT ALL!!! - but - if portrayed with winter as a theme it
will fit. Also using snow as a winter theme with red birds it goes
along with the scripture and is perfectly acceptable, and also, this
is a great example of what seems negative but is portrayed in beauty,
peacefulness and the message comes across as positive. You know, the
message could be for only one person who happens to be in church that
day and will speak to them.
*****
I remember one year that the Holy Spirit had given me the words
"Emmanuel, God with us." I really wanted to get started on it. I felt
to use purple and gold for it. But the pastor kept stalling and I
couldn't understand why as he's the one who would always ask me every
year what I was going to do and was always pleased with whatever it
happened to be. But this year was different. I had been going to make
two banners for the front of the sanctuary. On one side of the
baptistry would be Emmanuel and on the other side God with us, but it
wasn't to be. I knew that I was to make them but felt that they
wouldn't be used so I reluctantly put all thoughts of it away. But the
Holy Spirit kept at me anyway. I never did make them but I should have
because just a couple of weeks before Christmas our pastor and
assistant pastor just quit and we had no one. We didn't know what to
do for a couple of months. - but the Lord, knowing what was going to
happen had wanted the church to have the banners to let them know that
no matter what was taking place that He was there in the middle of the
people all the time. Emmanuel, God with us!!!
6. Why do this kind of decorating?
You do this to bless the people. You are doing this as a gift to the
church, the people. It is a word from the Lord to them and not just
putting up Christmas decorations. It is a Christmas (or any holiday)
gift from God.-----
It's the Lord saying:
MERRY CHRISTMAS CHURCH!!!
It's like a Christmas card from Him to us.
(Since Christmas is coming soon I'm using that holiday as an
example.)
7. What do the Christmas colors mean? How did we get them? Meaning, of
course, red, green and gold, which are the traditional Christmas
colors.
I really didn't know where they came from. I was talking to one of my
daughters, Wendy, on the phone one day, and as we talked this is what
the Lord gave her:
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the Kings who were traveling to see
Him stopped to see Herod at his palace, Herod asked them to stop on
their way back home and tell him where this new baby who was supposed
to be a king was. (All the while planning to have him killed.) The
kings went home another way and didn't stop to see Herod again. Herod
was very angry that he had been tricked and decided that since he
didn't know which was the child he wanted to kill, that he would just
kill all the young ones, two years old and younger to make sure he got
the right one. In the meantime Joseph, Jesus' father saw in a dream,
that he should go to Egypt, which he did, there by saving Jesus from
Herod's killing rampage, but the other children did not fair as well,
and all died.
These were the first Christian martyrs. They died in His place. It was
their blood that our Christmas color red comes from. Because they died
for Him they received new life in Him, as we do when we receive Jesus
as our savior. Green is the color for new life, and Gold, since He is
the King.
So now with this story, you can see how the Lord can give you the
exact meaning of things. Isn't God great?!!!
8. What if the colors are different from the usual red, green and
gold?
Look at the word that the Lord has given to you and see how the color
fits in. Sometimes He gives you the color or colors first instead of a
word. For instance, If for some reason the Lord has showed you pink,
turquoise and white, and the pink you saw was a rose,-- the pink and
the rose both stand for Jesus' nativity, the turquoise is for the
night sky and also since turquoise is a form of blue, it is also the
color for Mary, Jesus' mother and the Holy Spirit. White is for the
star of Bethlehem. - so - go-ahead with those colors. Make sure you
explain all this to your Pastor so that he will understand and keep
up with what you are doing. - don't run out ahead of him.
9. What do you tell people about something so different?
Make sure that you write the story about what everything is and have
it given out to the congregation, or have someone read it from the
microphone.
DON'T MAKE IT COMPLICATED!
MAKE THE DECORATIONS EASY TO UNDERSTAND.
10. What are the different types of Prophetic decorating?
A. TRADITIONAL DECORATING - These are your regular Christmas, Easter,
Thanksgiving, etc. decorations.
B. ONE TIME DECORATING - When you have gotten a word from the Lord,
and it stays up all month, and is to be used only once.
C. PROGRESSIVE DECORATING or STORY TELLING DECORATING - This starts
about three weekends before the holiday. You do this type of
decorating to tell a story. Using the story of the three Kings coming
to see the baby Jesus as an example.
The first weekend you could have a banner up that says, 'Seeing His
star in the east' (I usually make these from freezer paper using
acrylic paint and put them up across in the front of the sanctuary,)
Then having three crowns in the front of the sanctuary somewhere and a
christmas tree with a gold star on it and a white and gold model of
Bethlehem under it, You could do this anyway you want without a tree.
I use the tree for a prop for the story more than for a Christmas
tree. (I don't have a problem with Christmas trees but some people
do.)
The second weekend another banner along with the first one saying
'they brought gifts, gold frankincense, and myrrh.' Put gold gifts
with the gold crowns that week.
For the final week just before Christmas another banner along with the
first two saying something like, 'and came and worshiped Him.' That
week you could also have Jesus in a Manger, (everything in white and
gold) instead of Bethlehem under your tree or wherever you had it.
This is a good way to decorate if your church isn't having a Christmas
play.
In the decorating I've just described with the three kings we used
gold and white only except for the lettering on the banners which was
black. I got the color gold first and then went to see a friend that I
did some decorating with to bat the color around to see what we came
up with, and we felt the Lord was saying to use the story of the three
kings who came to see the baby Jesus as the story line, and gold is a
precious metal that only Kings could afford.
MAKE SURE TO CHECK WITH YOUR PASTOR AS TO WHAT PROGRAMS WILL BE GOING
ON IN THE SANCTUARY DURING ANY SEASON YOU MAY BE DECORATING.
You don't want to be decorating at the same time a play is going on,
-- NOW THAT'S CONFUSION!!!.
Only ONE THING can go on at a time. You wouldn't be decorating in your
home for a child's birthday party and a wedding at the same time in
the same room. So make sure that nothing else will be going on that
month in the sanctuary, or whatever you are decorating. It would be a
real mess! Trust me, I know! It's happened to me! (I had made special
banners for Easter and had lilies and other things up for Easter one
year. I came in to find the unused space full of banners flying for a
missions convention that wasn't even supposed to be till a week or so
after Easter. I couldn't believe it! It was no small thing to arrange
to have all of them taken down with no hurt feelings. The man who put
them up had a free day and just thought he'd go ahead and hang them,
all around the top of the sanctuary which was very high. What a mess
that could have been avoided if they had just checked first. Even at
that it was plane to see that something else was going on in the
sanctuary. Enough said, just make sure you check first.)
11. How does the word or vision come?
Sometimes it's just knowing in your knower is all it will be. You just
know that you know. At other times the Lord could give you a color -
or a couple of colors like white and gold.
What does gold suggest to you? Glory, Gold, frankincense and Myrrh,
Kings, position, power, wealth.
How about white? Purity of a new baby, righteousness etc.
So you could do the Kings traveling to see the baby Jesus in a manger.
It could come from seeing certain materials to use and it being
quickened to your spirit by the Holy Spirit.
Let the Lord inspire and speak to you anyway He chooses. Remember,
atmosphere, beauty and lining up with the word is important.
12. How do you know how to decorate the sanctuary? How to convey
what the Lord showed you into something for your sanctuary or foyer.
Our Sanctuary is large and high. Working in this large space is a
challenge as you could loose the effect and atmosphere if things are
made too small. You need to learn to work in BIG. Anything small will
be lost in all that space. Just look at the sanctuary, pick out a spot
that you would like to decorate or the whole thing if that's what you
want. Then figure what it will take to fill that place and look great.
***
At this point I want to mention three different things you need to
know:
1 Chain of command
2 Have a friend of like mind.
3 The anointing can be caught.
*********
Exodus 31:2-5
See, I have called by name BEZALEL the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of
the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in
wisdom, in understanding, in workmanship, TO DESIGN ARTISTIC WORKS, to
work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in
carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanhip.
And I, INDEED I HAVE APPOINTED WITH HIM AHOLIAB the son of Ahisamach,
of the tribe of Dan......
Chain of command
There is something called "Chain of Command" that I learned from
my husband when he was Sergeant on the Sheriffs Dept. in Palm Beach
County, Florida, and that is this: - you have only ONE person in
charge. Others are helpers. You can put them in charge of certain
areas, and they in turn can have others who help them, but they must
check with you before they do anything that was not in the original
plan that you gave them. (When you are doing regular decorating in
your church all this isn't necessary, but with prophetic decorating
it's VERY necessary.) They cannot do something just because it seems
like a good idea at the time. They in turn must make sure that those
who are helping them come to them first with ideas, and then they
bring it to you. You will only get things done right if you follow
this rule. Chain of command is VERY important. This means that only
one person is in charge - the one the Lord has spoken to in the first
place is usually it. It seems like control but it's just trying to
keep things the way the Holy Spirit told you in the beginning. You
can't use everyone else's ideas, only what the leader feels is from
the Lord. The leader isn't a tyrant, this is all to keep confusion out
and to keep the original vision or word clear and no ones feelings get
hurt. Make this all clear at your first meeting.
Having a friend of like mind:
Having a friend of like mind means someone having the same or similar
anointing or gift as you. You can go to that person and just bounce
ideas off them to get a feeling of what the Lord wants and how you
should do the decorating. They help you put it all together. Someone
without the same anointing or gift can give good ideas but it's not
the same as someone who is anointed in the same area as you.
The anointing can be caught:
Yes, the anointing can be caught. If you stay around the one who has
the anointing or gift and work with them long enough, you can actually
have the anointing/gift rub off onto you. Be a servant, be there to
help them all the time, and remember the chain of command. They know
more than you do. They did it first.
13. Finally, What do you do after you have the idea or vision for
the decorating:
Make sure you have a word from the Lord.
Bounce it off a friend of like mind.
Get an ok from your pastor.
Ask the Lord how He wants it portrayed, all at one time or the
progressive story.
The colors if you have them.
What to use. The kind of materials, etc.
Set aside a couple of months (if it's Christmas) to make everything,
or buy them if that will work. Get as much as you need or think you
will need. It's a good idea to start this when the children are back
in school in Sept. or Oct. It gives you a lot of time before you have
to put it up, usually the first week of December.
Either you and a friend can do all the work and get helpers to help
put it up, - or - Have a group help make the decorations and put them
up. Either way, remember the chain of command.
14. Last:
Don't be afraid to spend some money on the decorations as this is
going to the Lord and it blesses the people which is the whole point
of it anyway. Make it as beautiful as possible with the amount of
money you have to use. The decorations don't have to be elaborate in
order for them to be anointed, - also - Don't use what you've used
other years over and over again (unless you are doing traditional
decorating.) You want a fresh word each year. Old decorations can
become stale very quickly when used over and over again. Use them
only once if possible.
When the Holiday is over, see what other church you can bless with it
next year.
Remember, the Lord will always give you something new as long as you
give what you have away.
Give and it shall be given to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken
together and running over.
PROPHETIC DECORATING IN THE CHURCH
I thought this was a good time to write on this subject since it's
almost Christmas and you might be interested in it. It's too late for
this year but maybe not for another holiday you might be thinking
about decorating for.
I'm not sure how well known Prophetic Decorating is. About a year
after I taught on Prophetic Art in the Church I was asked to teach
another class on whatever subject I wanted to. Hence, Prophetic
Decorating in the Church.
This is great if you have someone with a prophetic give of art in your
church. And if you're not having a play etc. at Christmas or it could
be for another holiday that you want to do something special for.
I wrote this in the same way that I wrote about Prophetic Art in the
Church, question and answer form.
************
PROPHETIC DECORATING IN THE CHURCH
1. What is it?
Prophetic decorating is different from Prophetic Art. (painting etc.)
For this you must not only have a word from the Lord, but also the
okay from your Pastor. In prophetic painting you can go ahead on your
own at home and paint whatever the Lord gives you for it belongs to
you, but you are subject to the Pastor in prophetic decorating because
even though the church belongs to God, the Pastor has the say of the
decorating as this is his domain and privilege. So be sure to check
with him before you decide to go on your own to do it. You may have a
word from the Lord, but if the pastor says no, then no it is.
2. What is it for? It's purpose?
Prophetic decorating is to bring not only a message to the church from
the Lord but to bring and atmosphere and beauty as well. What you are
trying to do is to create and atmosphere using the word you have from
the Lord in a visual form. You want to create an atmosphere in the
sanctuary, foyer or wherever you are doing the decorating that goes
along with the message you have from the church.
3. Why not just use the same seasonal decorations all the time?
Regular traditional decorating is good if you haven't received a word
from the Lord as to what He wants you to do. But at different seasons
of the year, instead of just putting up your normal Christmas or
Easter decorations that you have probably used the previous year or
years, you want a fresh word from the Lord for your church. The
anointing won't be the same if you use the same things year after
year, or it won't be there at all. Each new seasonal decorated word
brings new life to that holiday season and to the church.
4. How do you know it's from God.
Ask the Lord to give you something for a particular holiday. If you
have a ministry in prophetic art, you will know when He gives you your
answer. Don't be afraid to step out with what you have, show it to
your pastor and explain it to him. Tell him that it's a new kind of
decorating and see what he thinks. After all, it's going up in his
church anyway.
Another sure way to know it's the Lord is if it has a positive
message. Most generally you will not get anything negative to decorate
your church with. On the other hand even though the word you receive
may seem negative, the Lord will have you interpret it into
decorations so that you will see the beauty of the message instead of
the negative side. It gives you hope, it blesses you - BUT -make sure
you've heard from the Lord as you could put up some terrible things
thinking it's a word. That's why you take it to your pastor FIRST!!!
Get confirmation on it if it's negative in any way or you're not sure.
MOSTLY YOU WILL ONLY GET POSITIVE WORDS. SHOOT FOR THAT!
5. Sometimes the message doesn't seem to go with the season, -
what
then?
See how the Lord wants it portrayed. Sometimes the portrayal of the
word is seasonal even if the word isn't.
Example:
If you have the scripture for Christmas, "Though your sins be as
scarlet, they will be white as snow." NOW THAT DOESN'T SEEM LIKE
CHRISTMAS AT ALL!!! - but - if portrayed with winter as a theme it
will fit. Also using snow as a winter theme with red birds it goes
along with the scripture and is perfectly acceptable, and also, this
is a great example of what seems negative but is portrayed in beauty,
peacefulness and the message comes across as positive. You know, the
message could be for only one person who happens to be in church that
day and will speak to them.
*****
I remember one year that the Holy Spirit had given me the words
"Emmanuel, God with us." I really wanted to get started on it. I felt
to use purple and gold for it. But the pastor kept stalling and I
couldn't understand why as he's the one who would always ask me every
year what I was going to do and was always pleased with whatever it
happened to be. But this year was different. I had been going to make
two banners for the front of the sanctuary. On one side of the
baptistry would be Emmanuel and on the other side God with us, but it
wasn't to be. I knew that I was to make them but felt that they
wouldn't be used so I reluctantly put all thoughts of it away. But the
Holy Spirit kept at me anyway. I never did make them but I should have
because just a couple of weeks before Christmas our pastor and
assistant pastor just quit and we had no one. We didn't know what to
do for a couple of months. - but the Lord, knowing what was going to
happen had wanted the church to have the banners to let them know that
no matter what was taking place that He was there in the middle of the
people all the time. Emmanuel, God with us!!!
6. Why do this kind of decorating?
You do this to bless the people. You are doing this as a gift to the
church, the people. It is a word from the Lord to them and not just
putting up Christmas decorations. It is a Christmas (or any holiday)
gift from God.-----
It's the Lord saying:
MERRY CHRISTMAS CHURCH!!!
It's like a Christmas card from Him to us.
(Since Christmas is coming soon I'm using that holiday as an
example.)
7. What do the Christmas colors mean? How did we get them? Meaning, of
course, red, green and gold, which are the traditional Christmas
colors.
I really didn't know where they came from. I was talking to one of my
daughters, Wendy, on the phone one day, and as we talked this is what
the Lord gave her:
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the Kings who were traveling to see
Him stopped to see Herod at his palace, Herod asked them to stop on
their way back home and tell him where this new baby who was supposed
to be a king was. (All the while planning to have him killed.) The
kings went home another way and didn't stop to see Herod again. Herod
was very angry that he had been tricked and decided that since he
didn't know which was the child he wanted to kill, that he would just
kill all the young ones, two years old and younger to make sure he got
the right one. In the meantime Joseph, Jesus' father saw in a dream,
that he should go to Egypt, which he did, there by saving Jesus from
Herod's killing rampage, but the other children did not fair as well,
and all died.
These were the first Christian martyrs. They died in His place. It was
their blood that our Christmas color red comes from. Because they died
for Him they received new life in Him, as we do when we receive Jesus
as our savior. Green is the color for new life, and Gold, since He is
the King.
So now with this story, you can see how the Lord can give you the
exact meaning of things. Isn't God great?!!!
8. What if the colors are different from the usual red, green and
gold?
Look at the word that the Lord has given to you and see how the color
fits in. Sometimes He gives you the color or colors first instead of a
word. For instance, If for some reason the Lord has showed you pink,
turquoise and white, and the pink you saw was a rose,-- the pink and
the rose both stand for Jesus' nativity, the turquoise is for the
night sky and also since turquoise is a form of blue, it is also the
color for Mary, Jesus' mother and the Holy Spirit. White is for the
star of Bethlehem. - so - go-ahead with those colors. Make sure you
explain all this to your Pastor so that he will understand and keep
up with what you are doing. - don't run out ahead of him.
9. What do you tell people about something so different?
Make sure that you write the story about what everything is and have
it given out to the congregation, or have someone read it from the
microphone.
DON'T MAKE IT COMPLICATED!
MAKE THE DECORATIONS EASY TO UNDERSTAND.
10. What are the different types of Prophetic decorating?
A. TRADITIONAL DECORATING - These are your regular Christmas, Easter,
Thanksgiving, etc. decorations.
B. ONE TIME DECORATING - When you have gotten a word from the Lord,
and it stays up all month, and is to be used only once.
C. PROGRESSIVE DECORATING or STORY TELLING DECORATING - This starts
about three weekends before the holiday. You do this type of
decorating to tell a story. Using the story of the three Kings coming
to see the baby Jesus as an example.
The first weekend you could have a banner up that says, 'Seeing His
star in the east' (I usually make these from freezer paper using
acrylic paint and put them up across in the front of the sanctuary,)
Then having three crowns in the front of the sanctuary somewhere and a
christmas tree with a gold star on it and a white and gold model of
Bethlehem under it, You could do this anyway you want without a tree.
I use the tree for a prop for the story more than for a Christmas
tree. (I don't have a problem with Christmas trees but some people
do.)
The second weekend another banner along with the first one saying
'they brought gifts, gold frankincense, and myrrh.' Put gold gifts
with the gold crowns that week.
For the final week just before Christmas another banner along with the
first two saying something like, 'and came and worshiped Him.' That
week you could also have Jesus in a Manger, (everything in white and
gold) instead of Bethlehem under your tree or wherever you had it.
This is a good way to decorate if your church isn't having a Christmas
play.
In the decorating I've just described with the three kings we used
gold and white only except for the lettering on the banners which was
black. I got the color gold first and then went to see a friend that I
did some decorating with to bat the color around to see what we came
up with, and we felt the Lord was saying to use the story of the three
kings who came to see the baby Jesus as the story line, and gold is a
precious metal that only Kings could afford.
MAKE SURE TO CHECK WITH YOUR PASTOR AS TO WHAT PROGRAMS WILL BE GOING
ON IN THE SANCTUARY DURING ANY SEASON YOU MAY BE DECORATING.
You don't want to be decorating at the same time a play is going on,
-- NOW THAT'S CONFUSION!!!.
Only ONE THING can go on at a time. You wouldn't be decorating in your
home for a child's birthday party and a wedding at the same time in
the same room. So make sure that nothing else will be going on that
month in the sanctuary, or whatever you are decorating. It would be a
real mess! Trust me, I know! It's happened to me! (I had made special
banners for Easter and had lilies and other things up for Easter one
year. I came in to find the unused space full of banners flying for a
missions convention that wasn't even supposed to be till a week or so
after Easter. I couldn't believe it! It was no small thing to arrange
to have all of them taken down with no hurt feelings. The man who put
them up had a free day and just thought he'd go ahead and hang them,
all around the top of the sanctuary which was very high. What a mess
that could have been avoided if they had just checked first. Even at
that it was plane to see that something else was going on in the
sanctuary. Enough said, just make sure you check first.)
11. How does the word or vision come?
Sometimes it's just knowing in your knower is all it will be. You just
know that you know. At other times the Lord could give you a color -
or a couple of colors like white and gold.
What does gold suggest to you? Glory, Gold, frankincense and Myrrh,
Kings, position, power, wealth.
How about white? Purity of a new baby, righteousness etc.
So you could do the Kings traveling to see the baby Jesus in a manger.
It could come from seeing certain materials to use and it being
quickened to your spirit by the Holy Spirit.
Let the Lord inspire and speak to you anyway He chooses. Remember,
atmosphere, beauty and lining up with the word is important.
12. How do you know how to decorate the sanctuary? How to convey
what the Lord showed you into something for your sanctuary or foyer.
Our Sanctuary is large and high. Working in this large space is a
challenge as you could loose the effect and atmosphere if things are
made too small. You need to learn to work in BIG. Anything small will
be lost in all that space. Just look at the sanctuary, pick out a spot
that you would like to decorate or the whole thing if that's what you
want. Then figure what it will take to fill that place and look great.
***
At this point I want to mention three different things you need to
know:
1 Chain of command
2 Have a friend of like mind.
3 The anointing can be caught.
Chain of command.
There is something called "Chain of Command" that I learned from
my husband when he was Sergeant on the Sheriffs Dept. in Palm Beach
County, Florida, and that is this: - you have only ONE person in
charge. Others are helpers. You can put them in charge of certain
areas, and they in turn can have others who help them, but they must
check with you before they do anything that was not in the original
plan that you gave them. (When you are doing regular decorating in
your church all this isn't necessary, but with prophetic decorating
it's VERY necessary.) They cannot do something just because it seems
like a good idea at the time. They in turn must make sure that those
who are helping them come to them first with ideas, and then they
bring it to you. You will only get things done right if you follow
this rule. Chain of command is VERY important. This means that only
one person is in charge - the one the Lord has spoken to in the first
place is usually it. It seems like control but it's just trying to
keep things the way the Holy Spirit told you in the beginning. You
can't use everyone else's ideas, only what the leader feels is from
the Lord. The leader isn't a tyrant, this is all to keep confusion out
and to keep the original vision or word clear and no ones feelings get
hurt. Make this all clear at your first meeting.
Having a friend of like mind:
Having a friend of like mind means someone having the same or similar
anointing or gift as you. You can go to that person and just bounce
ideas off them to get a feeling of what the Lord wants and how you
should do the decorating. They help you put it all together. Someone
without the same anointing or gift can give good ideas but it's not
the same as someone who is anointed in the same area as you.
The anointing can be caught:
Yes, the anointing can be caught. If you stay around the one who has
the anointing or gift and work with them long enough, you can actually
have the anointing/gift rub off onto you. Be a servant, be there to
help them all the time, and remember the chain of command. They know
more than you do. They did it first.
13. Finally, What do you do after you have the idea or vision for
the decorating:
Make sure you have a word from the Lord.
Bounce it off a friend of like mind.
Get an ok from your pastor.
Ask the Lord how He wants it portrayed, all at one time or the
progressive story.
The colors if you have them.
What to use. The kind of materials, etc.
Set aside a couple of months (if it's Christmas) to make everything,
or buy them if that will work. Get as much as you need or think you
will need. It's a good idea to start this when the children are back
in school in Sept. or Oct. It gives you a lot of time before you have
to put it up, usually the first week of December.
Either you and a friend can do all the work and get helpers to help
put it up, - or - Have a group help make the decorations and put them
up. Either way, remember the chain of command.
14. Last:
Don't be afraid to spend some money on the decorations as this is
going to the Lord and it blesses the people which is the whole point
of it anyway. Make it as beautiful as possible with the amount of
money you have to use. The decorations don't have to be elaborate in
order for them to be anointed, - also - Don't use what you've used
other years over and over again (unless you are doing traditional
decorating.) You want a fresh word each year. Old decorations can
become stale very quickly when used over and over again. Use them
only once if possible.
When the Holiday is over, see what other church you can bless with it
next year.
Remember, the Lord will always give you something new as long as you
give what you have away.
Give and it shall be given to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken
together and running over.
I thought this was a good time to write on this subject since it's
almost Christmas and you might be interested in it. It's too late for
this year but maybe not for another holiday you might be thinking
about decorating for.
I'm not sure how well known Prophetic Decorating is. About a year
after I taught on Prophetic Art in the Church I was asked to teach
another class on whatever subject I wanted to. Hence, Prophetic
Decorating in the Church.
This is great if you have someone with a prophetic give of art in your
church. And if you're not having a play etc. at Christmas or it could
be for another holiday that you want to do something special for.
I wrote this in the same way that I wrote about Prophetic Art in the
Church, question and answer form.
************
PROPHETIC DECORATING IN THE CHURCH
1. What is it?
Prophetic decorating is different from Prophetic Art. (painting etc.)
For this you must not only have a word from the Lord, but also the
okay from your Pastor. In prophetic painting you can go ahead on your
own at home and paint whatever the Lord gives you for it belongs to
you, but you are subject to the Pastor in prophetic decorating because
even though the church belongs to God, the Pastor has the say of the
decorating as this is his domain and privilege. So be sure to check
with him before you decide to go on your own to do it. You may have a
word from the Lord, but if the pastor says no, then no it is.
2. What is it for? It's purpose?
Prophetic decorating is to bring not only a message to the church from
the Lord but to bring and atmosphere and beauty as well. What you are
trying to do is to create and atmosphere using the word you have from
the Lord in a visual form. You want to create an atmosphere in the
sanctuary, foyer or wherever you are doing the decorating that goes
along with the message you have from the church.
3. Why not just use the same seasonal decorations all the time?
Regular traditional decorating is good if you haven't received a word
from the Lord as to what He wants you to do. But at different seasons
of the year, instead of just putting up your normal Christmas or
Easter decorations that you have probably used the previous year or
years, you want a fresh word from the Lord for your church. The
anointing won't be the same if you use the same things year after
year, or it won't be there at all. Each new seasonal decorated word
brings new life to that holiday season and to the church.
4. How do you know it's from God.
Ask the Lord to give you something for a particular holiday. If you
have a ministry in prophetic art, you will know when He gives you your
answer. Don't be afraid to step out with what you have, show it to
your pastor and explain it to him. Tell him that it's a new kind of
decorating and see what he thinks. After all, it's going up in his
church anyway.
Another sure way to know it's the Lord is if it has a positive
message. Most generally you will not get anything negative to decorate
your church with. On the other hand even though the word you receive
may seem negative, the Lord will have you interpret it into
decorations so that you will see the beauty of the message instead of
the negative side. It gives you hope, it blesses you - BUT -make sure
you've heard from the Lord as you could put up some terrible things
thinking it's a word. That's why you take it to your pastor FIRST!!!
Get confirmation on it if it's negative in any way or you're not sure.
MOSTLY YOU WILL ONLY GET POSITIVE WORDS. SHOOT FOR THAT!
5. Sometimes the message doesn't seem to go with the season, -
what
then?
See how the Lord wants it portrayed. Sometimes the portrayal of the
word is seasonal even if the word isn't.
Example:
If you have the scripture for Christmas, "Though your sins be as
scarlet, they will be white as snow." NOW THAT DOESN'T SEEM LIKE
CHRISTMAS AT ALL!!! - but - if portrayed with winter as a theme it
will fit. Also using snow as a winter theme with red birds it goes
along with the scripture and is perfectly acceptable, and also, this
is a great example of what seems negative but is portrayed in beauty,
peacefulness and the message comes across as positive. You know, the
message could be for only one person who happens to be in church that
day and will speak to them.
*****
I remember one year that the Holy Spirit had given me the words
"Emmanuel, God with us." I really wanted to get started on it. I felt
to use purple and gold for it. But the pastor kept stalling and I
couldn't understand why as he's the one who would always ask me every
year what I was going to do and was always pleased with whatever it
happened to be. But this year was different. I had been going to make
two banners for the front of the sanctuary. On one side of the
baptistry would be Emmanuel and on the other side God with us, but it
wasn't to be. I knew that I was to make them but felt that they
wouldn't be used so I reluctantly put all thoughts of it away. But the
Holy Spirit kept at me anyway. I never did make them but I should have
because just a couple of weeks before Christmas our pastor and
assistant pastor just quit and we had no one. We didn't know what to
do for a couple of months. - but the Lord, knowing what was going to
happen had wanted the church to have the banners to let them know that
no matter what was taking place that He was there in the middle of the
people all the time. Emmanuel, God with us!!!
6. Why do this kind of decorating?
You do this to bless the people. You are doing this as a gift to the
church, the people. It is a word from the Lord to them and not just
putting up Christmas decorations. It is a Christmas (or any holiday)
gift from God.-----
It's the Lord saying:
MERRY CHRISTMAS CHURCH!!!
It's like a Christmas card from Him to us.
(Since Christmas is coming soon I'm using that holiday as an
example.)
7. What do the Christmas colors mean? How did we get them? Meaning, of
course, red, green and gold, which are the traditional Christmas
colors.
I really didn't know where they came from. I was talking to one of my
daughters, Wendy, on the phone one day, and as we talked this is what
the Lord gave her:
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the Kings who were traveling to see
Him stopped to see Herod at his palace, Herod asked them to stop on
their way back home and tell him where this new baby who was supposed
to be a king was. (All the while planning to have him killed.) The
kings went home another way and didn't stop to see Herod again. Herod
was very angry that he had been tricked and decided that since he
didn't know which was the child he wanted to kill, that he would just
kill all the young ones, two years old and younger to make sure he got
the right one. In the meantime Joseph, Jesus' father saw in a dream,
that he should go to Egypt, which he did, there by saving Jesus from
Herod's killing rampage, but the other children did not fair as well,
and all died.
These were the first Christian martyrs. They died in His place. It was
their blood that our Christmas color red comes from. Because they died
for Him they received new life in Him, as we do when we receive Jesus
as our savior. Green is the color for new life, and Gold, since He is
the King.
So now with this story, you can see how the Lord can give you the
exact meaning of things. Isn't God great?!!!
8. What if the colors are different from the usual red, green and
gold?
Look at the word that the Lord has given to you and see how the color
fits in. Sometimes He gives you the color or colors first instead of a
word. For instance, If for some reason the Lord has showed you pink,
turquoise and white, and the pink you saw was a rose,-- the pink and
the rose both stand for Jesus' nativity, the turquoise is for the
night sky and also since turquoise is a form of blue, it is also the
color for Mary, Jesus' mother and the Holy Spirit. White is for the
star of Bethlehem. - so - go-ahead with those colors. Make sure you
explain all this to your Pastor so that he will understand and keep
up with what you are doing. - don't run out ahead of him.
9. What do you tell people about something so different?
Make sure that you write the story about what everything is and have
it given out to the congregation, or have someone read it from the
microphone.
DON'T MAKE IT COMPLICATED!
MAKE THE DECORATIONS EASY TO UNDERSTAND.
10. What are the different types of Prophetic decorating?
A. TRADITIONAL DECORATING - These are your regular Christmas, Easter,
Thanksgiving, etc. decorations.
B. ONE TIME DECORATING - When you have gotten a word from the Lord,
and it stays up all month, and is to be used only once.
C. PROGRESSIVE DECORATING or STORY TELLING DECORATING - This starts
about three weekends before the holiday. You do this type of
decorating to tell a story. Using the story of the three Kings coming
to see the baby Jesus as an example.
The first weekend you could have a banner up that says, 'Seeing His
star in the east' (I usually make these from freezer paper using
acrylic paint and put them up across in the front of the sanctuary,)
Then having three crowns in the front of the sanctuary somewhere and a
christmas tree with a gold star on it and a white and gold model of
Bethlehem under it, You could do this anyway you want without a tree.
I use the tree for a prop for the story more than for a Christmas
tree. (I don't have a problem with Christmas trees but some people
do.)
The second weekend another banner along with the first one saying
'they brought gifts, gold frankincense, and myrrh.' Put gold gifts
with the gold crowns that week.
For the final week just before Christmas another banner along with the
first two saying something like, 'and came and worshiped Him.' That
week you could also have Jesus in a Manger, (everything in white and
gold) instead of Bethlehem under your tree or wherever you had it.
This is a good way to decorate if your church isn't having a Christmas
play.
In the decorating I've just described with the three kings we used
gold and white only except for the lettering on the banners which was
black. I got the color gold first and then went to see a friend that I
did some decorating with to bat the color around to see what we came
up with, and we felt the Lord was saying to use the story of the three
kings who came to see the baby Jesus as the story line, and gold is a
precious metal that only Kings could afford.
MAKE SURE TO CHECK WITH YOUR PASTOR AS TO WHAT PROGRAMS WILL BE GOING
ON IN THE SANCTUARY DURING ANY SEASON YOU MAY BE DECORATING.
You don't want to be decorating at the same time a play is going on,
-- NOW THAT'S CONFUSION!!!.
Only ONE THING can go on at a time. You wouldn't be decorating in your
home for a child's birthday party and a wedding at the same time in
the same room. So make sure that nothing else will be going on that
month in the sanctuary, or whatever you are decorating. It would be a
real mess! Trust me, I know! It's happened to me! (I had made special
banners for Easter and had lilies and other things up for Easter one
year. I came in to find the unused space full of banners flying for a
missions convention that wasn't even supposed to be till a week or so
after Easter. I couldn't believe it! It was no small thing to arrange
to have all of them taken down with no hurt feelings. The man who put
them up had a free day and just thought he'd go ahead and hang them,
all around the top of the sanctuary which was very high. What a mess
that could have been avoided if they had just checked first. Even at
that it was plane to see that something else was going on in the
sanctuary. Enough said, just make sure you check first.)
11. How does the word or vision come?
Sometimes it's just knowing in your knower is all it will be. You just
know that you know. At other times the Lord could give you a color -
or a couple of colors like white and gold.
What does gold suggest to you? Glory, Gold, frankincense and Myrrh,
Kings, position, power, wealth.
How about white? Purity of a new baby, righteousness etc.
So you could do the Kings traveling to see the baby Jesus in a manger.
It could come from seeing certain materials to use and it being
quickened to your spirit by the Holy Spirit.
Let the Lord inspire and speak to you anyway He chooses. Remember,
atmosphere, beauty and lining up with the word is important.
12. How do you know how to decorate the sanctuary? How to convey
what the Lord showed you into something for your sanctuary or foyer.
Our Sanctuary is large and high. Working in this large space is a
challenge as you could loose the effect and atmosphere if things are
made too small. You need to learn to work in BIG. Anything small will
be lost in all that space. Just look at the sanctuary, pick out a spot
that you would like to decorate or the whole thing if that's what you
want. Then figure what it will take to fill that place and look great.
***
At this point I want to mention three different things you need to
know:
1 Chain of command
2 Have a friend of like mind.
3 The anointing can be caught.
*********
Exodus 31:2-5
See, I have called by name BEZALEL the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of
the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in
wisdom, in understanding, in workmanship, TO DESIGN ARTISTIC WORKS, to
work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in
carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanhip.
And I, INDEED I HAVE APPOINTED WITH HIM AHOLIAB the son of Ahisamach,
of the tribe of Dan......
Chain of command
There is something called "Chain of Command" that I learned from
my husband when he was Sergeant on the Sheriffs Dept. in Palm Beach
County, Florida, and that is this: - you have only ONE person in
charge. Others are helpers. You can put them in charge of certain
areas, and they in turn can have others who help them, but they must
check with you before they do anything that was not in the original
plan that you gave them. (When you are doing regular decorating in
your church all this isn't necessary, but with prophetic decorating
it's VERY necessary.) They cannot do something just because it seems
like a good idea at the time. They in turn must make sure that those
who are helping them come to them first with ideas, and then they
bring it to you. You will only get things done right if you follow
this rule. Chain of command is VERY important. This means that only
one person is in charge - the one the Lord has spoken to in the first
place is usually it. It seems like control but it's just trying to
keep things the way the Holy Spirit told you in the beginning. You
can't use everyone else's ideas, only what the leader feels is from
the Lord. The leader isn't a tyrant, this is all to keep confusion out
and to keep the original vision or word clear and no ones feelings get
hurt. Make this all clear at your first meeting.
Having a friend of like mind:
Having a friend of like mind means someone having the same or similar
anointing or gift as you. You can go to that person and just bounce
ideas off them to get a feeling of what the Lord wants and how you
should do the decorating. They help you put it all together. Someone
without the same anointing or gift can give good ideas but it's not
the same as someone who is anointed in the same area as you.
The anointing can be caught:
Yes, the anointing can be caught. If you stay around the one who has
the anointing or gift and work with them long enough, you can actually
have the anointing/gift rub off onto you. Be a servant, be there to
help them all the time, and remember the chain of command. They know
more than you do. They did it first.
13. Finally, What do you do after you have the idea or vision for
the decorating:
Make sure you have a word from the Lord.
Bounce it off a friend of like mind.
Get an ok from your pastor.
Ask the Lord how He wants it portrayed, all at one time or the
progressive story.
The colors if you have them.
What to use. The kind of materials, etc.
Set aside a couple of months (if it's Christmas) to make everything,
or buy them if that will work. Get as much as you need or think you
will need. It's a good idea to start this when the children are back
in school in Sept. or Oct. It gives you a lot of time before you have
to put it up, usually the first week of December.
Either you and a friend can do all the work and get helpers to help
put it up, - or - Have a group help make the decorations and put them
up. Either way, remember the chain of command.
14. Last:
Don't be afraid to spend some money on the decorations as this is
going to the Lord and it blesses the people which is the whole point
of it anyway. Make it as beautiful as possible with the amount of
money you have to use. The decorations don't have to be elaborate in
order for them to be anointed, - also - Don't use what you've used
other years over and over again (unless you are doing traditional
decorating.) You want a fresh word each year. Old decorations can
become stale very quickly when used over and over again. Use them
only once if possible.
When the Holiday is over, see what other church you can bless with it
next year.
Remember, the Lord will always give you something new as long as you
give what you have away.
Give and it shall be given to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken
together and running over.
PROPHETIC DECORATING IN THE CHURCH
I thought this was a good time to write on this subject since it's
almost Christmas and you might be interested in it. It's too late for
this year but maybe not for another holiday you might be thinking
about decorating for.
I'm not sure how well known Prophetic Decorating is. About a year
after I taught on Prophetic Art in the Church I was asked to teach
another class on whatever subject I wanted to. Hence, Prophetic
Decorating in the Church.
This is great if you have someone with a prophetic give of art in your
church. And if you're not having a play etc. at Christmas or it could
be for another holiday that you want to do something special for.
I wrote this in the same way that I wrote about Prophetic Art in the
Church, question and answer form.
************
PROPHETIC DECORATING IN THE CHURCH
1. What is it?
Prophetic decorating is different from Prophetic Art. (painting etc.)
For this you must not only have a word from the Lord, but also the
okay from your Pastor. In prophetic painting you can go ahead on your
own at home and paint whatever the Lord gives you for it belongs to
you, but you are subject to the Pastor in prophetic decorating because
even though the church belongs to God, the Pastor has the say of the
decorating as this is his domain and privilege. So be sure to check
with him before you decide to go on your own to do it. You may have a
word from the Lord, but if the pastor says no, then no it is.
2. What is it for? It's purpose?
Prophetic decorating is to bring not only a message to the church from
the Lord but to bring and atmosphere and beauty as well. What you are
trying to do is to create and atmosphere using the word you have from
the Lord in a visual form. You want to create an atmosphere in the
sanctuary, foyer or wherever you are doing the decorating that goes
along with the message you have from the church.
3. Why not just use the same seasonal decorations all the time?
Regular traditional decorating is good if you haven't received a word
from the Lord as to what He wants you to do. But at different seasons
of the year, instead of just putting up your normal Christmas or
Easter decorations that you have probably used the previous year or
years, you want a fresh word from the Lord for your church. The
anointing won't be the same if you use the same things year after
year, or it won't be there at all. Each new seasonal decorated word
brings new life to that holiday season and to the church.
4. How do you know it's from God.
Ask the Lord to give you something for a particular holiday. If you
have a ministry in prophetic art, you will know when He gives you your
answer. Don't be afraid to step out with what you have, show it to
your pastor and explain it to him. Tell him that it's a new kind of
decorating and see what he thinks. After all, it's going up in his
church anyway.
Another sure way to know it's the Lord is if it has a positive
message. Most generally you will not get anything negative to decorate
your church with. On the other hand even though the word you receive
may seem negative, the Lord will have you interpret it into
decorations so that you will see the beauty of the message instead of
the negative side. It gives you hope, it blesses you - BUT -make sure
you've heard from the Lord as you could put up some terrible things
thinking it's a word. That's why you take it to your pastor FIRST!!!
Get confirmation on it if it's negative in any way or you're not sure.
MOSTLY YOU WILL ONLY GET POSITIVE WORDS. SHOOT FOR THAT!
5. Sometimes the message doesn't seem to go with the season, -
what
then?
See how the Lord wants it portrayed. Sometimes the portrayal of the
word is seasonal even if the word isn't.
Example:
If you have the scripture for Christmas, "Though your sins be as
scarlet, they will be white as snow." NOW THAT DOESN'T SEEM LIKE
CHRISTMAS AT ALL!!! - but - if portrayed with winter as a theme it
will fit. Also using snow as a winter theme with red birds it goes
along with the scripture and is perfectly acceptable, and also, this
is a great example of what seems negative but is portrayed in beauty,
peacefulness and the message comes across as positive. You know, the
message could be for only one person who happens to be in church that
day and will speak to them.
*****
I remember one year that the Holy Spirit had given me the words
"Emmanuel, God with us." I really wanted to get started on it. I felt
to use purple and gold for it. But the pastor kept stalling and I
couldn't understand why as he's the one who would always ask me every
year what I was going to do and was always pleased with whatever it
happened to be. But this year was different. I had been going to make
two banners for the front of the sanctuary. On one side of the
baptistry would be Emmanuel and on the other side God with us, but it
wasn't to be. I knew that I was to make them but felt that they
wouldn't be used so I reluctantly put all thoughts of it away. But the
Holy Spirit kept at me anyway. I never did make them but I should have
because just a couple of weeks before Christmas our pastor and
assistant pastor just quit and we had no one. We didn't know what to
do for a couple of months. - but the Lord, knowing what was going to
happen had wanted the church to have the banners to let them know that
no matter what was taking place that He was there in the middle of the
people all the time. Emmanuel, God with us!!!
6. Why do this kind of decorating?
You do this to bless the people. You are doing this as a gift to the
church, the people. It is a word from the Lord to them and not just
putting up Christmas decorations. It is a Christmas (or any holiday)
gift from God.-----
It's the Lord saying:
MERRY CHRISTMAS CHURCH!!!
It's like a Christmas card from Him to us.
(Since Christmas is coming soon I'm using that holiday as an
example.)
7. What do the Christmas colors mean? How did we get them? Meaning, of
course, red, green and gold, which are the traditional Christmas
colors.
I really didn't know where they came from. I was talking to one of my
daughters, Wendy, on the phone one day, and as we talked this is what
the Lord gave her:
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the Kings who were traveling to see
Him stopped to see Herod at his palace, Herod asked them to stop on
their way back home and tell him where this new baby who was supposed
to be a king was. (All the while planning to have him killed.) The
kings went home another way and didn't stop to see Herod again. Herod
was very angry that he had been tricked and decided that since he
didn't know which was the child he wanted to kill, that he would just
kill all the young ones, two years old and younger to make sure he got
the right one. In the meantime Joseph, Jesus' father saw in a dream,
that he should go to Egypt, which he did, there by saving Jesus from
Herod's killing rampage, but the other children did not fair as well,
and all died.
These were the first Christian martyrs. They died in His place. It was
their blood that our Christmas color red comes from. Because they died
for Him they received new life in Him, as we do when we receive Jesus
as our savior. Green is the color for new life, and Gold, since He is
the King.
So now with this story, you can see how the Lord can give you the
exact meaning of things. Isn't God great?!!!
8. What if the colors are different from the usual red, green and
gold?
Look at the word that the Lord has given to you and see how the color
fits in. Sometimes He gives you the color or colors first instead of a
word. For instance, If for some reason the Lord has showed you pink,
turquoise and white, and the pink you saw was a rose,-- the pink and
the rose both stand for Jesus' nativity, the turquoise is for the
night sky and also since turquoise is a form of blue, it is also the
color for Mary, Jesus' mother and the Holy Spirit. White is for the
star of Bethlehem. - so - go-ahead with those colors. Make sure you
explain all this to your Pastor so that he will understand and keep
up with what you are doing. - don't run out ahead of him.
9. What do you tell people about something so different?
Make sure that you write the story about what everything is and have
it given out to the congregation, or have someone read it from the
microphone.
DON'T MAKE IT COMPLICATED!
MAKE THE DECORATIONS EASY TO UNDERSTAND.
10. What are the different types of Prophetic decorating?
A. TRADITIONAL DECORATING - These are your regular Christmas, Easter,
Thanksgiving, etc. decorations.
B. ONE TIME DECORATING - When you have gotten a word from the Lord,
and it stays up all month, and is to be used only once.
C. PROGRESSIVE DECORATING or STORY TELLING DECORATING - This starts
about three weekends before the holiday. You do this type of
decorating to tell a story. Using the story of the three Kings coming
to see the baby Jesus as an example.
The first weekend you could have a banner up that says, 'Seeing His
star in the east' (I usually make these from freezer paper using
acrylic paint and put them up across in the front of the sanctuary,)
Then having three crowns in the front of the sanctuary somewhere and a
christmas tree with a gold star on it and a white and gold model of
Bethlehem under it, You could do this anyway you want without a tree.
I use the tree for a prop for the story more than for a Christmas
tree. (I don't have a problem with Christmas trees but some people
do.)
The second weekend another banner along with the first one saying
'they brought gifts, gold frankincense, and myrrh.' Put gold gifts
with the gold crowns that week.
For the final week just before Christmas another banner along with the
first two saying something like, 'and came and worshiped Him.' That
week you could also have Jesus in a Manger, (everything in white and
gold) instead of Bethlehem under your tree or wherever you had it.
This is a good way to decorate if your church isn't having a Christmas
play.
In the decorating I've just described with the three kings we used
gold and white only except for the lettering on the banners which was
black. I got the color gold first and then went to see a friend that I
did some decorating with to bat the color around to see what we came
up with, and we felt the Lord was saying to use the story of the three
kings who came to see the baby Jesus as the story line, and gold is a
precious metal that only Kings could afford.
MAKE SURE TO CHECK WITH YOUR PASTOR AS TO WHAT PROGRAMS WILL BE GOING
ON IN THE SANCTUARY DURING ANY SEASON YOU MAY BE DECORATING.
You don't want to be decorating at the same time a play is going on,
-- NOW THAT'S CONFUSION!!!.
Only ONE THING can go on at a time. You wouldn't be decorating in your
home for a child's birthday party and a wedding at the same time in
the same room. So make sure that nothing else will be going on that
month in the sanctuary, or whatever you are decorating. It would be a
real mess! Trust me, I know! It's happened to me! (I had made special
banners for Easter and had lilies and other things up for Easter one
year. I came in to find the unused space full of banners flying for a
missions convention that wasn't even supposed to be till a week or so
after Easter. I couldn't believe it! It was no small thing to arrange
to have all of them taken down with no hurt feelings. The man who put
them up had a free day and just thought he'd go ahead and hang them,
all around the top of the sanctuary which was very high. What a mess
that could have been avoided if they had just checked first. Even at
that it was plane to see that something else was going on in the
sanctuary. Enough said, just make sure you check first.)
11. How does the word or vision come?
Sometimes it's just knowing in your knower is all it will be. You just
know that you know. At other times the Lord could give you a color -
or a couple of colors like white and gold.
What does gold suggest to you? Glory, Gold, frankincense and Myrrh,
Kings, position, power, wealth.
How about white? Purity of a new baby, righteousness etc.
So you could do the Kings traveling to see the baby Jesus in a manger.
It could come from seeing certain materials to use and it being
quickened to your spirit by the Holy Spirit.
Let the Lord inspire and speak to you anyway He chooses. Remember,
atmosphere, beauty and lining up with the word is important.
12. How do you know how to decorate the sanctuary? How to convey
what the Lord showed you into something for your sanctuary or foyer.
Our Sanctuary is large and high. Working in this large space is a
challenge as you could loose the effect and atmosphere if things are
made too small. You need to learn to work in BIG. Anything small will
be lost in all that space. Just look at the sanctuary, pick out a spot
that you would like to decorate or the whole thing if that's what you
want. Then figure what it will take to fill that place and look great.
***
At this point I want to mention three different things you need to
know:
1 Chain of command
2 Have a friend of like mind.
3 The anointing can be caught.
Chain of command.
There is something called "Chain of Command" that I learned from
my husband when he was Sergeant on the Sheriffs Dept. in Palm Beach
County, Florida, and that is this: - you have only ONE person in
charge. Others are helpers. You can put them in charge of certain
areas, and they in turn can have others who help them, but they must
check with you before they do anything that was not in the original
plan that you gave them. (When you are doing regular decorating in
your church all this isn't necessary, but with prophetic decorating
it's VERY necessary.) They cannot do something just because it seems
like a good idea at the time. They in turn must make sure that those
who are helping them come to them first with ideas, and then they
bring it to you. You will only get things done right if you follow
this rule. Chain of command is VERY important. This means that only
one person is in charge - the one the Lord has spoken to in the first
place is usually it. It seems like control but it's just trying to
keep things the way the Holy Spirit told you in the beginning. You
can't use everyone else's ideas, only what the leader feels is from
the Lord. The leader isn't a tyrant, this is all to keep confusion out
and to keep the original vision or word clear and no ones feelings get
hurt. Make this all clear at your first meeting.
Having a friend of like mind:
Having a friend of like mind means someone having the same or similar
anointing or gift as you. You can go to that person and just bounce
ideas off them to get a feeling of what the Lord wants and how you
should do the decorating. They help you put it all together. Someone
without the same anointing or gift can give good ideas but it's not
the same as someone who is anointed in the same area as you.
The anointing can be caught:
Yes, the anointing can be caught. If you stay around the one who has
the anointing or gift and work with them long enough, you can actually
have the anointing/gift rub off onto you. Be a servant, be there to
help them all the time, and remember the chain of command. They know
more than you do. They did it first.
13. Finally, What do you do after you have the idea or vision for
the decorating:
Make sure you have a word from the Lord.
Bounce it off a friend of like mind.
Get an ok from your pastor.
Ask the Lord how He wants it portrayed, all at one time or the
progressive story.
The colors if you have them.
What to use. The kind of materials, etc.
Set aside a couple of months (if it's Christmas) to make everything,
or buy them if that will work. Get as much as you need or think you
will need. It's a good idea to start this when the children are back
in school in Sept. or Oct. It gives you a lot of time before you have
to put it up, usually the first week of December.
Either you and a friend can do all the work and get helpers to help
put it up, - or - Have a group help make the decorations and put them
up. Either way, remember the chain of command.
14. Last:
Don't be afraid to spend some money on the decorations as this is
going to the Lord and it blesses the people which is the whole point
of it anyway. Make it as beautiful as possible with the amount of
money you have to use. The decorations don't have to be elaborate in
order for them to be anointed, - also - Don't use what you've used
other years over and over again (unless you are doing traditional
decorating.) You want a fresh word each year. Old decorations can
become stale very quickly when used over and over again. Use them
only once if possible.
When the Holiday is over, see what other church you can bless with it
next year.
Remember, the Lord will always give you something new as long as you
give what you have away.
Give and it shall be given to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken
together and running over.
Gwen Meharg
Dec 25, 2007, 9:38:43 PM12/25/07
to Art-F...@googlegroups.com
http://mehargchristmas.weebly.com/
check out the Christmas website. Ruth created a website for this year's
Christmas card. We just could not squeeze it all into a card.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
There are more photos at www.flickr.com/photos/meharg
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