I remember the warm breeze comforting us while midday heat. This was again one of these days, all of us felt so alive and touched by the presents and awareness of God. We had a good worship session, means hours and hours of “jamming” together, dancing, shouting, singing, laying down. God whispered to the one, showed visions to another, healed the next, he simply poured out his love to us and we to him.
Soon I was about to find out Wayne is going to share with me the vision he had. He didn´t yet fully understand what it all was about in every detail, but he was sure it needs to be painted so he asked me if I would do it for him. I remember him sharing how it looked like the best way he could describe. The presence of the Lord still radiated from his face and I could tell, this is special.
I sketched it out, placed it in my Bible, and a lot of time would pass until I would finde time to dedicate myself to go for it.
Wayne didn´t know then where I was at with my artistic journey, didn´t know about my struggles, and how “fresh” it was, that God opened up my eyes to see all these things he is showing me.
Like Mary moved the words spoken about Jesus in her heart, I moved the picture in my heart.
After Mozambique came Madagascar, after Madagascar came Australia, after Australia, we came back to Germany but we had no means and no “home”. We lived for several months with people we didn´t know before which whom we briefly chatted while still on our journey. Finally, we moved in an apartment but it was a total mess, constructions went bad, so we were still on a constant move until we finally arrived at the place we are currently living. As if like a pregnant woman knowing it is time to give birth, I knew I cannot hold it any longer and I craved so much to manifest the painting as if it would be the last thing I´ll do on earth. Very strange feeling.
So I started my search for the perfect reference pictures. I looked what the shape of Africa is like, tried to find a footstep in the sand – not easy! That´s right. People share photos of footsteps in wet sand, not of in the desert. And if so, guess what, you don´t see toes, but there was an importance for the toes, but it was not wet sand in the picture. So I needed to just try and rely on Holy Spirit guiding my hand. I more often reached out to Wayne and asked him about more details (should have done it while being present in Mozambique right after the Vision). He encouraged me over and over that he trusts in the artistic gifting Jesus has given me. I wanted to make it perfect as he saw it, but he let loose and placed this trust in me like a father would. In the end actually that would open my eyes to see the vision myself I guess. I started to see details, I saw the Loin, I saw the Lioness, I knew she needs to be on his right side, to be his helper, I saw their faces and their look.
I found a perfect reference for the Loin. Majestic! Just perfect, like I saw him. But the Lioness was to become a frustrating process. Over the account of several months I was on the search for a reference. I was so frustrated that I was about to take a camera and go to a zoo which has lions. Any Lioness I found just didn´t had that facial expression I was looking for. So I pinned many lioness pictures to my wall. Those which where most alike the one I was looking for, were really blurry and I didn’t see details. I was like “okay, then you will need to be formed while painting”. As I already had painted the Lion, he became reference for many details of the Lioness. As if like the more she walked side by side with him, the more she became like him. I wanted her to look brave as well but supportive and not dominating, being equal but still in submission in a sense. While I was painting her, I felt as if the Lord spoke to me about the two.
Being made perfect
While I was forming her it spoke to me how the Lion represents Jesus, as the Lion of the tribe of Juda and how the Lioness represents his bride (which is the church). As long as until his return she will be in the process of being made perfect, that is why she is blurry to my eyes because her glory is yet to come. The bride will be transformed by the Word of God by revelation, which is beyond understanding, of who Jesus is. The more she beholds of him, the more she becomes who she is meant to be, what is to be like him. It is not head knowledge it is walking together, like Jesus and his disciples did, so she would recognize him by the way he breaks the bread and won´t be, by no means deceived. It is nothing someone can teach you. You need to get to know him yourself.
Beside them being Jesus and his bride, they are meant to represent all the couples in total twelve which lived in Mozambique together, an in this way even Wayne and his precious wife Dawn. Later I was to find out, that the Lion and Lioness are as well representatives of the Spirit and the Word, but I let Wayne explain more about that.
While I saw them come out of the desert over sudden I saw a track of flowers behind them, and they were so many. They grew so fast, the gras and trees didn´t yet appear. It spoke to my heart, that where ever they went together, fruit will grow, no matter how dry the land, no matter how solid the soil, no matter how oppressing the heat of the day. It is by the unity as if it is a law of nature above many other natural laws of physics.
I was a bit insecure about it, because Wayne never mentioned such elements in his picture. I shared what I saw and Dawn really encouraged me to go for it, as it matches some *prophetic words spoken over the two of them. So I did.
*a prophetic word for someone means in its basic sense to speak the word of God and the truth of God over that individual. It will not contradict the word of God, or the nature of God. There is more to it, but it would be a whole blog article in itself.
A Word for today
In Africa Mozambique we lived together in the couples` area. In total 24 persons, means 12 couples. Either no children yet, or grown up children not there present. It was such a precious time and shaped all of us forever. The Bible tells us that marriage is a picture of Jesus and his bride. Unity is the key.
Jesus himself came out of Africa and by his Spirit into all the nations. After his ascendance into heaven the Holy Spirit came down in exchange to unite himself with anyone who is willing to walk with him as a team. By this unity all of us who are in Christ are called out of Africa to all the nations. Jesus promised us, to be with us until the end of the earth. He promised us, that if we stay connected with the wine, that fruit will grow. As we walk with him, we will be shaped into his likeness, like it was meant to be right from the beginning.
The time ahead might look like dry land, like a dessert. But we put our trust in his promises. He walked Israel through the dessert and provided water and food. He sheltered them in Egypt and no plague reached them. Like Abraham we will be sojourners on this earth until we arrive in the promised land over the Jordan. We came with nothing and leave with nothing, but at the end of the day, we can look down and God will point his finger on all the “Flowers” that grew out of our faithfulness to him, flowers we might overlook while still present, because we are still on the way, having no omnipresent observation with understanding of all causalities. But one day we will arrive in the fullness of rest and look and see how everything turned out very God. Like God never passed forward to the eighth day, he stayed in the 7th. So we will arrive in the 7th day and together we will look at creation and see everything in perfect light.
From Waynes` Heart
This was after he saw the Painting finished:
“Two days before I had the vision I walked with Mel Tari on a beach in Mozambique where he spoke of “coming out of Africa.” A lot of what he spoke was prophetic. There were words spoken over us during our time in Mozambique from people like Mel, Tinika and all the couples which are all coming to pass and I believe some are still coming to pass. Part of the story is the painting of the vision itself. The vision: I saw a footprint that looked like Africa. Within the footprint of Africa were two lions, a lioness and a lion. The footprint had the five toes and two lions which totaled seven. Prior to this vision I had seven dreams and in those dreams the common theme was the number seven. Seven skydive jumps, seven airplanes, seven harvest fields, seven couples, and seven countries were all in my previous dreams. This vision was of two lions leaving Africa and behind them, a footprint over Africa. I could see the toes and the footprint at the same time, as if they were one. The five toes and two lions were significant because I had the seven dreams before Africa. Dawn and I were leading others around the world as Christian leaders, maybe missionaries but more along the line of Leaders of people. This was part of the dream of the total of 7.
I saw us leaving Africa as lions and as a team. Lions leave one territory to establish another territory and expand their pride or tribe. What follows is strength in numbers. The jewels (-Wayne refers to the flowers as jewels -) that are left behind, I believe, represent those who we raise up everywhere we go. They are hidden jewels; they are revealed by the sand as they too are ready to go out as lions. I felt the Lord say this vision was to be made into a painting and was difficult for me to express as a painting because I am not an artist. After praying about this the Lord showed me that Kathy was an artist and that she was the one who should paint the vision. This story is how one person can have a dream and another can creatively interpret it how Holy Spirit can give one person the vision and how another can bring it to pass. We are all one body in Christ. The two lions are not just a vision but a reality between “The Spirit and The Word”. We become the lions in “The Spirit” as our journey progresses from one place to another. We progress in “The Word” of God and we leave behind jewels in the Spirit, not for our own possession but for others. This painting is part of that path revealing.”
Something about the numbers
“The vision I had is what you Kati prophetically painted on canvas, bringing it to life. We went to Africa as jewels hidden in the sand searching for the destiny God had for us. While in Africa God made us into lions! When we left Africa, he gave us a territory to find. Our journey is filled with jewels like each person in HOL (House of Love – which was the Name given to where we couples lived), and others who we influence daily to become lions. The story of Daniel revealing the dream to the king is what comes to my mind. In a very similar way you brought the vision I had into the light revealing many things.
I see several numbers in the vision and painting. The numbers 7, 9, and 10 come from 5 toes, 1 footprint, 1 continent and the 2 Lions and the jewels.
The number 7 represents...Resurrection; Spiritual completeness. The Hebrew number 7 is “Zayin” meaning “Sword, completeness/Perfection, Rest, wholeness, completeness, being ripe, order, stability, and holiness.” Shvah [f.], sheevah [m.] Rest, wholeness, completeness, being ripe, order, stability, and holiness.
Also, the number of the Temple, Adonai’s House. We rest (7) in the finished work (6) of the Messiah. There are seven days of creation, seven days for Temple dedication, seven Spirits of God, seven feasts of God, seven churches or assemblies in Revelation, seven stars in Yeshua’s hand, seven golden lampstands, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls, seven thunders that speak, seven eyes of the Lord, seven horns & eyes on the Lamb, seven abominations (wicked lamp spirits Pr. 6:16-19), the priest of Midian (Moses’ father-in-law) had seven daughters, Joshua had the people along with seven priests march around Jericho before the Ark for seven days. On the 7th day, seven priests blowing seven shofarim along with the people circled the city seven times. On the 7th circuit, the shofars sounded long and the people shouted and the walls fell. Sampson had seven locks of hair in which were the source of his strength (Holy Spirit). Elijah sent his servant to look for the indication of rain seven times. Elisha had Naaman wash in the Jordan seven times to be cured of his leprosy. Elisha laid upon a dead boy; he sneezed seven times and rose. King Joash began to reign at age seven; he began to rebuild the Temple of YHWH. King Hezekiah reinstated the observance of Passover (1st feast) and Unleavened Bread (seven-day-festival). The people were so excited they celebrated an additional seven days. Pure, white light refracts into seven colors (iris, prism, rainbow).
On day seven of creation, God rested from His work. He set the seventh day apart as holy, and gave it a name: Shabbat. Seven transcends the natural and moves into the supernatural. We begin every week (and even every day as the day begins at sunset) by RESTING. First, we rest in the finished work of God, then we go to work (perform good deeds). This has been G-d’s pattern from the very beginning. “Six is the revealed creation of the physical world… seven or Shabbat reveals the spiritual within the physical. The Sabbath seven exposes the spirit that moves inside the physical garment of the six.” (Alewine) According to the ancient near eastern (ANE) culture and understanding of the cosmos (this includes ancient Israel), seven was the normal operation and order of G-d’s House/Temple. Thus, all the seven’s in the Bible have to do with Temple building, inauguration, and dedication. (Obviously, the negative side of this is wickedness that destroys this imagery.) For example, the seven days of creation are the seven days of Temple dedication, with Shabbat being the inauguration or rest. In this case, the Shabbat signifies the Creator’s rule of heaven and earth and His Temple/presence being the ultimate means of stability and order in the world. In other words, the completeness pictured in the number seven is qualified in ANE thought by TEMPLE building/dedication/inauguration. Without the Temple (G-d’s rule), there is chaos and a lack of order in the world. Knowing this should broaden our perspective on the spiritual implication of the number seven. (For more information, see Dr. Dinah Dye’s book, The Temple Revealed in Creation.)
Counting the Footprint and the shape of Africa I come to the number 9. The number 9, represents divine completeness from the Father; see the Fruit of the spirit. The Hebrew number 9 is “Teth” meaning “New Life, Fruit, to surround, signifies finality, judgment, harvest, fruitfulness, the womb, duality (good/evil), concealment, truth, loving-kindness, fruit of the Spirit, turning to look upon/gaze, hour of prayer” Tehshah [f.], teeshah [m.] Last and largest single digit. Signifies finality, judgment, harvest, fruitfulness, the womb, duality (good/evil), concealment, truth, loving-kindness, fruit of the Spirit, turning to look upon/gaze, hour of prayer, etc. When nine reveals what it conceals inside, there is fruitfulness, multiplication, and the building of the House.
I can also see the number ten in there if I say the jewels are another aspect. The number 10, Testimony; Law and responsibility. The Hebrew number 10 is “Jod” meaning “Hand, Higher level of responsibility, Divine order, completed cycle, measure, or group (congregation) whether for good or evil, blessing or judgment” Esehr [f.], ahsahrah [m.] Divine order, completed cycle, measure, or group (congregation) whether for good or evil, blessing or judgment. A tenth part represents the whole in a tithe. Thus, ten represents a complete congregation, body, or kingdom, whether good or evil.
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”‘” (Zec. 8:23 NASB) Reference: https://graceintorah.net/2015/06/15/hebrew-numbers-1-10/
There is so much more... The Lions are ‘The Spirit and The Word.” We do our battles in the Spirit and we stand on the Word. “The Spirit” is the Lioness and “The Word” is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Jesus. The name of the Painting is...“The Spirit and The Word”. The Spirit and the Word are one but two and rely on each other. We as a couple then become one in the Spirit and the Word while planting little jewels everywhere. In turn those jewels become complete and perfect as in the five toes and two lions (the number 7) but we have the footprint and continent which brings us to 9 and then the jewels make 10. I’ve been meditating one this now for some time but the lord will continue linking it together. We all have a part in it and you both are part of the jewels of this journey. The Lord has His timing, I think Now is His time.”
And now?
Now we will continue to see how much more will be unfolded of the meaning of the painting. As you are beholding the painting, and as our God is a living God ready to answer our calling unto him, you simply can ask him what else he might say to you about it or what he likes to say trough it about you.
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