“…the thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (Jn 10:10)
Creativity?
How do you define creativity? Has anyone or anything deterred you from creating? Do you believe that experiencing abundant life includes being creative? After reading this post, you will see why Creator God has given you creative ability, how your creativity blesses God, and why Satan hates creativity.
Jesus promises abundant life for all Christians. But there is a thief who tries to steal, kill, and destroy. That thief is Satan. Did you ever wonder what Satan is trying to steal, kill, and destroy? Have you thought about how he tries to steal, kill, and destroy? Jesus did not provide any detail about what or how the thief tries to steal, kill, and destroy. For the sake of this post, I want to explore how Satan attempts to steal, kill, and destroy Christian creativity.
General facts about Satan:
- Satan hates God. There is hostility and hatred between Satan and God and His Messiah (Gen 3:15). The Messiah’s heel will be crushed but Satan’s head will be crushed. *
- Satan hates God’s glory. He tried to get Jesus to worship him and violate the first commandment. I will be like the Most High (Isa 14:14) **
- Satan hates humans who are made in God’s image (Eph 6:11-13; Jn 10:10)
- Satan hates human creativity:
which reflects God’s creative power
brings glory to God
brings God good pleasure
Spiritual Warfare Against Creativity?
The list of books below highlight the forces against creativity, but were not written from a Christian perspective. I was struck by the terminology used in the books – it was as if the authors were describing spiritual warfare without specifically mentioning it. I was surprised by this and began to ask God why human creativity was so difficult to produce for so many people. Another book, Creative Confidence, was written “to help individuals and organizations unleash their full potential – and build their own creative confidence.” (p. xv) I have included quotes from these books below that illustrate this battle against creativity.
The Artist’s Way – A Spiritual Path To Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron (1992)
The War Of Art – Break Through The Blocks And Win Your Inner Creativity Battles by Steven Pressfield (2002)
Big Magic – Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert (2015)
Steal, Kill, And Destroy
Then I realized that Satan is behind so much of the difficulty that humans have in expressing creativity. He attacks human creativity, including non-Christians. The following three verses highlight the destructive nature of Satan, the enemy [of creativity]. Satan is very active in hindering Christians and Christian creativity.
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1Pet 5:8)
“You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer (anthropoktonos) from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” (Jn 8:44)
“He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” (1Jn 3:8)
I would like to reiterate: Satan hates God; he hates God’s glory; he hates humans; he hates the saints. Therefore, if humans reflect God’s image by creating, Satan hates human creativity.
You Are Made In God’s Image
Creativity reinforces His image put into you. God made humans in His image. God is Creator. God has a mind. God has a will. God has emotions. God has a personality. Humans were created with a soul, which is comprised of a mind, will and emotions. Often, Christians do not think about glorifing God with their emotions, passion, and mind. Christians think of doing God’s will. As a Christian, you should love God, please God, and obey Him. Jesus told an inquiring person (which applies to you and me) “you shall love the Lord your God will all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” (Mk 12:30) Notice the terms heart, soul, and mind. These were put into you by God, in His likeness and image. Creativity involves these same attributes of God in your life: your passions (heart), your will (motivations), your mind (thoughts), and your strength (using your gifts, talents, and skills).
What Does Human Creativity Mean To God?
God has given each person creative abilities: gifts, talents and skills. As each person expresses his/her creativity, God is glorified and as Creator, His image is made known. But most people do not acknowledge God as their source of creativity. Since God “makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust”, He gives creative abilities to all. For those of us who are Christians, we do acknowledge God as the source of our creativity and actively worship Him while we create. I mentioned in a series of podcasts that your creativity as a Christian has significant meaning to God. The following verses do not just apply to Christian service but to all that a Christian does.
- Creativity brings God good pleasure
“…for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Phil 2:13) - Creativity brings God glory
“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1Cor 10:31) - Creativity is service (doing His will) to God as a bondservant, with all your heart and soul
“…not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart…” (Eph 6:6)
“And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;…” (Col 3:23)
Whatever You Do
The words Paul used are all-encompassing: “to do”, “whatever you do”, and “whatsoever you do.” There are no restrictions in what we do for God, including being creative. This is an important point to emphasize because Jesus told us that we need to love the Lord “with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” The soul can include the mind, will, and emotions. Creativity is definitely a way to love the Lord with your soul, specifically your passions and emotion.
The Adversary Hates Your Creativity
Therefore, Satan is an enemy of your creativity. just as he is an enemy of your soul, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Church, and of course, God. In a very real sense, he will try to steal your creativity, kill your creativity, and destroy your creativity. He will use negative self-talk, comparisons, criticisms, fear, practicality, slander, accusations, lies, unrefined or crude gifts, talents, and skills, seeming failure, oppression, and direct spiritual warfare to stop Christians from being creative.
God’s Enjoyment For Creating You
God’s glory is unique to Himself. “My glory I will not give to another.” (Isa 42:8; 48:11) Satan tried to be like the Most High (Isa 14:14) and he still tries to take God’s glory today. Satan tempted Jesus to “fall down and worship me,” to which Jesus replied, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” (Matt 4:9-10; Lk 4:5-8)
- God created you for His glory (Isa 43:7) You actually bring God glory and good pleasure.
- You are His workmanship (Eph 2:10) He was intentional in creating you.
- You are His special treasure (Ex 19:5; Deut 7:6; 14:2; 26:18; Ps 135:4; Tit 2:14; 1Pet 2:9) You are special to God.
Strategies To Defeat Satan And Become More Creative:
- Ask God to identify a limiting belief or a hindrance to your creativity.
- journal about your transformation to using your gift, talent, or skill for God’s good pleasure
- Submit this to God and confess God’s truth about yourself and God.
- “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (Jm 4:7)
- “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” (Eph 6:11)
- “…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ…” (Phil 1:6)
- “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made…” (Ps 139:14)
- “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all…” (1Cor 12:7)
- “…because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1Jn 4:4)
- “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” (Rom 8:37)
- “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Phil 4:13)
- Thank God for giving gifts, talents, and skills to bring Him glory
- Take an action to start this creative endeavor.
- Repeat steps 1-4 until you are creating, doing God’s will from your soul.
Your Creativity Demonstrates Your Love To God
“And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” (Mk 12:30)
- Creativity brings God good pleasure
“…for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Phil 2:13) - Creativity brings God glory
“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1Cor 10:31) - Creativity is service (doing His will) to God as a bondservant, with all your heart and soul
“…not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart…” (Eph 6:6)
“And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;…” (Col 3:23)
Author quotes:
The Artist’s Way – Julia Cameron
“Your Enemy Within: Core Negative Beliefs” (p. 30)
“Internalized negativity is the enemy within, what follows is some very effective weaponry.” (p. 33)
“…blocked creative energy manifests as self-destructive behavior.” (p. 206)
Big Magic – Elizabeth Gilbert
“Let me list for you some of the many ways in which you might be afraid to live a more creative life.” (p. 13)
“It’s a bottomless list, anyhow, and a depressing one. I’ll just wrap up mu summary this way: SCARY, SCARY, SCARY!” (p. 15)
“You can battle your demons (through therapy, recovery, prayer, or humility) instead of battling your gifts – in part by realizing that your demons were never the ones doing the work, anyhow.” (p. 41)
The War Of Art – Steven Pressfield
“To begin Book One, Pressfield labels the enemy of creativity Resistance…” Forward by Robert McKee
“If you believe in God (and I do) you must declare Resistance evil for it pevents us from achieving the life God intended when he endowed each of us with our own unique genius.” (p. v)
“The warrior and the artist live by the same code of necessity, which dictates that the battle must be fought anew every day.” (p. 14)
“When we fight it [Resistance], we are in a war to the death.” (p. 15)
“How many of us have become drunks and drug addicts, developed tumors and neuroses, succumbed to painkillers, gossip, and compulsive cell-phone use, simply because we don’t do that thing that our hearts, our inner genius, is calling us to?” (p. vi)
Verses Describing Satan:
* a murderer (Jn 8:44), thief (Matt 13:19; Mk 4:15; Lk 8:12), a liar (Jn 8:44), an accuser (Rev 12:10; Job 1:11; 2:5), deceiver (2Jn 1:7; Rev 12:9), blinder (2Cor 4:4), and the adversary (1Pet 5:8). The dragon (Satan) tried to devour Christ and prevent Him from being born (Rev 12:4; Gen 6:13; Ex 1:16; Matt 2:16), will command the world to worship the dragon and beast (Rev 13:4), will make war with Church (Rev 12:17) and persecute it (Rev 12:3). Satan was not interested in God but in man (Matt 16:23; Mk 8:33). Satan tried to prevent Jesus from dying for the sins of the world (Matt 16:22).
** Satan will get the world to worship him and the beast in the tribulation period (Rev 13:4).