You Are My Dancing Rhythm

https://jnesbit.com/products/you-are-my-dancing-rhythm

This is a Art Reflection that I wrote and presented at the Gathering House Church in Spokane Washington on March 3rd, 2019. Here is a link to where sermons are posted. 

From the Philippians Series Titled Abounding Love. As a church we purchased a copy of this image to use in our service. I have put a watermarked image here with a link back to the artist website. I highly recommend art work  of James Nesbit to you. 

You Are My Dancing Rhythm 

an Art Reflection by Margot Cioccio 

You Are My Dancing Rhythm is a prophetic art piece by James Nesbit. He is one of the leading prophetic artists of our time. He feels a portion of his assignment from God comes from Habakkuk 2 to write the vision and engrave it so plainly (through digital imagery).  He follows the prophetic words being spoken to the “church” at large by seasoned prophetic ministers and makes visual representations of those prophetic words.

The beautiful ballerina makes the dance look so effortless as she dances on the eternal stage to the rhythm of the masters melody. She reaches up as if to touch the strings as the rhythm, melody and harmony seem to rain down upon the earth where she dances for His glory on the world stage of her life. 

In Philippians the Apostle Paul states, It’s no wonder I pray with such confidence, since you have a permanent place in my heart! You have remained partners with me in the wonderful grace of God even though I’m here in chains for standing up for the truth of the gospel. 

We are all in our own ways invited into the great dance of love between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Paul did not let the chains or the conditions of prison steal his joy. He did not allow his circumstances to be an excuse for not finishing His race. I am sure that he must have worshiped and sang during the long hours much as he had done with Silas years before. This time there is no earth quake and his physical chains are not removed in yet another astounding miracle that paved the way for the Gospel to enter into Europe. Not this time. Paul was not chasing miracles. Miracles followed him. The miracle of his imprisonment is perhaps a bit harder to see this side of heaven. As he sat chained to different guards 24 hours a day, he told them the stories of his encounters with Jesus. The prisoner literally had a captive audience. The guards sat as he dictated letters and watched as people would come and go to minister to this rugged looking old man. They could see that he had been through a lot in his time. I can only wonder at the transforming power at work in their lives. Perhaps you and I are part of their family lines. They remain nameless guards so we many never know the lives effected because one old man in chains told stories of his beloved Jesus rather than griping. We must train themselves to be thankful no matter what the circumstance 

Much like a dancer who wants to perform on pointe there are a variety of conditions that must be met to accomplish such a goal. 

Training starts at a young age so that form, strength and alignment are achieved as the dancers feet and bones grow and harden. At age 12 if a dancer has a foot where the toes are all about the same length and she has ankles that are flexible she may be considered as a potential candidate for dancing on point. It isn’t a task for the immature or those who want the easy path. To dance on pointe requires emotional maturity to be able to deal with the pain of practicing at least three times a week. The dancer has to be responsible to take care of her shoes. Her shoes are extremely important to hard and they make too much noise, too soft the feet are not supported. A dancer may go through 3 or more pairs of shoes in a nights performance. They wear out and have to be replaced by new ones. Each dancer has to hand sew elastic and ribbon ties to her shoes and break in the shoes during rehearsals so they are ready for performance. 

Paul also started training early. He studied the scriptures as a child. He was later tutored by Rabbi Gamaliel. He might have even gone on to be a candidate for the position of High Priest.  Many dancers never make it to pointe. Their foot structure, emotional maturity, work ethic and commitment to responsibility all play a role in determining if a dancer will dance on pointe. Paul was fiercely committed to keeping the purity of God’s Holy Word. His passion lead him to persecute and kill Christians. Yet one day the Lord looked at Pauls formation and decided it was time to move him to a new level of revelation. It was the day he had an encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. It was the day his life changed forever. God knew he would be able to withstand the anger of the Jew,  shipwrecks, beatings, name calling, trials, hardships jail and finally a martyrs death. God knew that He would not cave because of the difficulties and the riggers of being like the lead ballerina on pointe on the world stage.

“James Nesbit writes the following about this image. “Arise and dance with the King. Your dance may be moving in the beauty of auto repair, or a mother seeing her children well tended to, releasing the rhythm of the eternal song with in them.”

In Philippians, Paul goes on to say “I continue to pray for your love to grow and increase beyond measure, bringing you into the rich revelation of spiritual insight in all things. This will enable you to choose the most excellent way of all - becoming pure and without offense until the unveiling of Christ.  And you will be filled completely with the fruits of righteousness that are found in Jesus, the Anointed One - bringing great praise and glory to God!

Will you wake up and arise and join in His great dance of love to be who he uniquely created you to be for His glory. Will you let the rain of Heavens song touch you like this dancer and move in and through you to be all that He created you to be.  No one else can dance the dance that God has designed for you. Will you join the dance abounding in His great Love.