Giving youth pastors the tools they need to make and shape disciples.

Quiet Time Creativity

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God is a creator. He created the world and human beings who also create things. We have his DNA and his imagination for creating things.

God our creator

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1

God spoke and things were.

God did not have to use color but he did.

God did not have to offer texture but he did.

God do not have to include smells but he did.

The reason? He knew the crown of his creation, mankind, would have eyes to see, hands to feel and noses to smell with.

God did not have to be creative but he was.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10

workmanship – poiéma – from where we get poem and poetry

God created us with skill, creativity and imagination

Jesus the Co-Creator

but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. Hebrews 1:2

God did not create alone, he collaborated with His Son and the Holy Spirit which mean they are creative too.

After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. John 9:6

Why did Jesus use spit and mud? Is there a reason? According to Got Questions, “Several Roman writers and Jewish rabbis considered saliva to be a valid treatment for blindness.” The mud, on the other hand, is is left to your imagination.

And He directed the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, He spoke a blessing. Then He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.… Matthew 14:18

Jesus used a creative way to feed 5,000 people, he multiplied the food. He probably remembered this was something his Father did with manna in the wilderness and put his own twist on it.

The Holy Spirit The Creative Helper

Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Genesis 1:2

In the 14th century a french artist attributed his work to his muse and a muse was believed to be one of the nine daughter of Zeus.

If you are a Christian, you most likely do not believe in the nine sister of Zeus, some representing the arts, have inspired great works of Christian art. If the none of the daughters of Zeus helped create great works of art during the Middle Ages and The Renaissance (Last Supper, God Creating Adam) then it must be the Holy Spirit the same Spirit the God breathed into Adam.

If we are to be creative, we need time alone, without distraction so that the Spirit can inspire what He wants us to create

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made. John 1:1-3

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us John 1:14

And how did Christ become flesh? Through the creative power of the Holy Spirit to make a baby not using conventional methods.

If the Holy Spirit was a part of the creative process then, He is a part of the creative process now

Using Your Imagination in Your Quiet Time

When I am, as it were, completely myself, entirely alone, and of good cheer–say, traveling in a carriage or walking after a good meal or during the night when I cannot sleep–it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best and most abundantly. – Mozart

If God is creative and Jesus is creative then we must be creative, all in our own way.

Devotions can feel spiritually claustrophobic for new believers, at times so allow me to suggest some creative quiet-time ideas to breakthrough the mental block “what am I supposed to do?”

There is nothing wrong with fun. God created fun. I would suggest God is fun. If all we have is a sour face that looks like we’re trying to poop out a revelation, what’s the point of our quiet time?

Take time in the shadows to create, imagine and dream; not outside of scripture to make it say something it does not but to bring the passage you’re reading to life.

Quiet Time Ideas

Random God Encounter

Create A Half Day Retreat

5 Senses

Take Photos

Draw a picture

Write a poem

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