God answered my prayer for fear of the Lord, then showed me to put on his armor and that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against a spiritual enemy. After seeing the benefits of the armor and the spiritual war, I wanted to warn others and share the knowledge of the benefits of the armor with others. In seeking God about this he showed me a picture. In the picture a Christian wearing the armor of God does battle against Satan who is portrayed as a seven-headed red dragon. They are fighting over people. The people have closed their eyes and are unaware of the battle.

I kept thinking about this picture and how much it would help others become aware of the battle and of the need for the armor of God. But I knew, that unless God worked a miracle, I didn’t have the talent to create the picture. Finally, one day I thought about hiring an artist. As I sought God he confirmed that I should.

We didn’t have Google back in 1984 so I looked through the yellow pages. There were a number of artists listed in the Ann Arbor, MI phone book. As I scanned through the list one name seemed to draw my attention more than the others. It wasn’t the size of the name or type of text. For some reason it just drew my attention.

“God, is that the artist I should call?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because she is a Spirit-filled Christian.”

It made a lot of sense that God would pick a Spirit-filled Christian. She would be best able to hear his instruction and understand what I saw - plus she would benefit from getting the job.

I called the artist and one of the first things she did was ask about the nature of the picture. “I don’t do just any pictures. I’m a Spirit-filled Christian.”

“Yes. I know. God told me you were.”

The night before I was to meet the artist and go over the details of the picture I had a dream. In the dream I was handing in an assignment to a young, blond-haired woman. She was very active and had a lot of nervous energy. She wasn’t pleased with the work I had done. I asked God the explain the dream.

“The young, blond-haired woman is the artist. She isn’t going to be happy with your work on the picture because you haven’t referenced the details well to scripture.”

I had plenty of time before meeting the artist so I worked at referencing the details of the picture to scripture. When I arrived at the artist’s place a young, blond-haired woman opened the door. She was the artist. 

I could trust God working with her to create the picture that pleased him. She added the detail of the Christian standing firmly on the rock. It was a great addition. She also did a great job finding a way to portray the dragon as spirit. It was a great joy having God’s help and witness in creating the picture. He is an awesome God.

I took another look at the painting several years ago. I noticed something I hadn’t seen before. In illustrating the current-day battle with the city buildings and people, the artist painted what appears to be a stream of people walking away from the World Trade Center. This is both amazing and sobering as this was painted in 1984.