CHRISTIAN FINE ART GALLERY > PRAISE AND WORSHIP SERIES > There is Joy in The Presence of Jesus
PURCHASE THIS PRINT – Print Code: PW4
Print Sizes: S, M, L | Greeting Cards | Original Artwork: SOLD, Watercolor Pencil, Colored Pencil, Acrylic Paint, Gel Medium
God’s presence is the only place we’re ever meant to be. We were created to worship God and to be in union to Him through Jesus Christ. There is fullness of joy in the presence of Jesus because he is our heart’s delight!
Artist’s Reflection:
“You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” (Psalm 16:11)
“Surely you have granted him eternal blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence.” (Psalm 21:6)
I got the idea for this drawing out of 2 different experiences in worship.
The first was a time of powerful corporate worship. We had been highly exalting and magnifying Jesus, and his presence had become very thick and manifest in the room. “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel” (Psalm 22:3 KJV). The presence of Jesus overflowed us with joy, and that joy was so strong that it moved us to dance before the Lord. I actually felt the Spirit (not solely my own desire) compelling me to dance before him. This drawing partially tries to illustrate that experience. (See “Holy Spirit Fire” (Praise and Worship Series), which was also inspired out of this same experience.)
The second experience that inspired this piece was a time of private worship. For several days I had felt a spiritual oppression and a mysterious depression come over me and weigh down my soul like a thick, wet blanket. It came on slowly, so I didn’t really notice the effect it was having on me until days later. However, once I came to my senses and realized how heavy, disturbed and aggravated my soul had become, I turned on some powerful live prophetic worship.
As I began to worship, immediately I felt the oppression begin to come off me. The more and more I worshiped, the more I felt the presence of Jesus tear off and stamp out the blanket of spiritual oppression. Very soon, the oppression was beneath my feet, and it felt like the higher I lifted Jesus up and the more I focused on him, the more the oppression was being crushed and was rapidly disappearing. “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Romans 16:20).
Within a very short space of time, I had gone from being heavy-laden, depressed and oppressed to soaring in lightness of spirit on wings of worship and being enveloped with the joy of the presence of God. Praise is a powerful weapon!
In this drawing, the gold piercing the black oppression beneath the dancers’ feet is symbolic of this experience. Jesus’ hands, which are symbolic of his presence, reach down to commune with the worshiping children of God. The rainbow colors are symbolic of praise and God’s presence (Revelation 4:3). The gold symbolizes God inhabiting their praises.
“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me [Jesus], because the LORD has anointed me to…bestow on them [believers]…the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” (Isaiah 61:1, 3)
“You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.” (Psalm 30:11-12)
See also:
Casting Off The Cloak of Mourning (Praise and Worship Series)
The Power of Praise (Spiritual Warfare, Victory, Freedom, Healing Series)
You Have Turned My Mourning Into Dancing (Psalm 30:11) (Believer’s Road Series 2)