Category: Encouragement for Creators

Inspiration for Creative People

Handel’s Muse (Encouragement for Creators)

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George Frederick Handel

We often hear of the writer’s muse, a personal source of inspiration that guides his or her creativity. A muse can be a person, a memory, or an ideal that informs an artist’s work, and we’re reminded of certain classic depictions of poets and painters as frustrated souls who are stirred by old melodies, or haunted by the faces of lost loves. Can’t you just imagine Edgar Allan Poe scribbling away by candlelight as a raucous raven screeches outside his window? Never More!

In Ancient Greek Mythology, the Muses were nine goddesses of inspiration in literature, science, and the arts. Each one had jurisdiction over a particular branch of creativity, and together were sort of like the patron saints of their day. Poets and sculptors were known to invoke the Muses at the start of any new works, in the hopes that these spirits would spark their creativity and guide them in their artistic endeavors. How nice to have a god directing your creative steps, right?

Do you have a muse? The great composer George Frederick Handel did. The Baroque composer was born in Germany in 1685, trained in Hamburg, honed his craft in Rome, and eventually relocated to England, where he became a naturalized British citizen in 1727, and where he created his greatest works, including Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks.

Throughout his long and industrious career, Handel was both critically and popularly acclaimed. And He died extremely rich and respected. We should all be so blessed. Uh, to be rich and respected, that is! But what was the great composer’s secret? As with most artistic geniuses, it was his creative muse.

Handel’s original handwritten manuscript of the opening bars of Messiah.

In 1741, Handel was tasked with composing an oratorio to accompany “a meditation of our Lord as Messiah in Christian thought and belief.” The composer realized the text he’d been given was both scripturally-authoritative and “a work of genius”; so he cloistered himself and, in a fevered burst of creativity, composed the monumental Messiah — in just 24 days!

Composers of Handel’s time were known to write music at a furious pace, but finishing Messiah in 24 days is an astonishing, nearly miraculous feat of creative energy. The manuscript, which is now proudly exhibited in the British Museum, contains crossed out lines, smudges and inkblots, all of which attest to the composer’s haste. And yet, given its length and complexity, there are  remarkably few errors. When it was completed, Handel signed the masterpiece “To God alone the glory.”

Given the speed of its composition, its magnificence, and Handel’s sobering inscription, many believe the composer wrote Messiah in a fervor of divine inspiration. So who was Handel’s muse? Why, none other than the Holy Spirit of God! “[For] there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration (breath) of the Almighty God gives them understanding.” (Job 32:8 AKJ)

Through God, all things were created, and the Holy Spirit is essentially the breath of God. In fact, the term spirit comes from the Hebrew word ruach, meaning breath and life. The Holy Spirit performs many roles in our world: He revives us spiritually, comforts us in times of need, and guides us into all truths. But the Holy Spirit also brings perspective and direction; He inspires us, gifting believers with fresh creativity.

Indeed, our Heavenly Father announced, “I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.” (Joel 2:28 NIV) Of course, the Holy Spirit’s ability to bless us with creativity should be a no-brainer, because He actively participated in the creation of the universe (Genesis 1:2) — and He dwells in each and every person who puts their faith in God through the redeeming work of His son Jesus Christ! That’s good news for writers, artists, and anyone else who hopes to “create” something lasting.

Most assuredly, Handel’s Muse accompanied the great composer when he traveled to Dublin several months later, where he performed Messiah for the first time ever, to a packed house of 700 music-lovers, in a concert the sole purpose of which was to raise money for charity. Messiah was unanimously praised following its premiere, with the newspapers of the day reporting, “Words are wanting to express the exquisite delight it afforded to the admiring and crowded audience”; “[It] far surpass[ed] anything of that Nature which has been performed in this or any other Kingdom”! Together Handel and his muse raised enough money to fund three charities, including a local hospital, and secured the release of 142 men and women from debtors’ prison!

Today, more than 250 years later, Handel’s Messiah is still being performed to packed houses of appreciative listeners — who quickly, and in one accord, rise to their feet at the majestic “Hallelujah Chorus”! It’s become an annual Christmastime tradition — one of our personal favorites — and stands as a heartfelt acknowledgment of the greatness of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; as well as a testimony to the wonderful creative fruits that can be birthed when a talented artist calls on the Heavenly Muse.

Dear fellow creators, have you tapped into the power of THE Creator? The Holy Spirit can be your muse, too! Ask God to inspire and equip you. Ask your Heavenly Father to grant you His Holy Spirit!

“God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.”  (Hebrews 2:4 NIV)

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The Light of a Dream Fulfilled (Diet for Dreamers)

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Many of us dream of achieving great things in life, of seeing our fondest hopes and wishes come true, but often, of simply making it through the various storms of adversity that sometimes blow in our direction. And there are still many places in our world where people dream of just being free: to live, unhindered, according to their customs; and to worship, without persecution, in the way they choose.

History is filled with accounts of men and women who longed for civil and religious freedoms. One such piece of history dates back to the second century B.C., and is distinguished by a miraculous event that took place in Ancient Judea. It occurred in 164 B.C., when God fulfilled a long-held dream of the Jewish people: of reclaiming their Holy Temple in Jerusalem, and of once again being able to worship their Lord in peace.

The Jews had lost their religious freedom when Judea came under the control of Antiochus III, the King of Syria, whose Seleucid Empire then encompassed all the Middle Eastern provinces. Antiochus was both vicious and intolerant of anything he felt hindered his own personal agenda, the social “modernization” of the world. Antiochus planned to accomplish his goals by imposing the Greek culture and religion upon all his subjects, and in the process, to systematically destroy Judaism.

Antiochus ordered every known copy of the Torah, the Holy Word of God, to be burned. Anyone found in possession of the Scriptures — or observing the Sabbath, or honoring the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel in any way — was put to death. And as evidence of his thoroughness and the extent of his cruelty, whenever Antiochus learned of a woman who’d had her child circumcised in accordance with her Jewish faith, he’d have the mother and ALL of her children put to death!

But even these atrocities didn’t appease Antiochus. He ordered that the Temple in Jerusalem, the nexus of the Jewish faith, be desecrated. This he accomplished by sending Syrian soldiers into the Temple to sacrifice pigs and other ritualistically-unclean animals upon the alter of God. Afterwards, a statue of the Greek god Jupiter was placed in the “heart” of the Temple, the Holy of Holies.


Despite religious persecution to the point of death, despite the defilement of their most sacred place, the “home” of their God, the Jews kept their faith. But historians believe that, had Antiochus succeeded in his agenda to wipe out Judaism, he would have transformed the face of modern civilization into something totally unrecognizable today; had Judaism been eradicated, Christianity and Islam never would have come into existence.

God’s people, however, had rebelled against the Syrians beginning in 167 B.C. What followed were three desperate years of guerrilla warfare waged by a Jewish resistance group under the leadership of an elderly priest and his sons, the Maccabees. The resistance fighters eventually became such a thorn in the side of the empire that the Syrian government ultimately sued for peace! The Jews regained their religious freedom and the control of their Temple, now defiled and in ruins.

Following several days of mourning, the Jews started the work necessary to repair and restore the Temple. Once the work was completed, the Temple needed to be ceremonially cleansed and rededicated. Crowds of Jewish worshippers flooded into Jerusalem to celebrate the rededication, bringing sacrifices to honor God. There was just one problem: the Temple menorah, a lamp stand with six branches and seven flames, had to be kept lit, but there was only enough oil to keep the wicks burning for a single day. The Jews had dreamed of worshipping in the Temple for years, but only a single sealed cruse of consecrated olive oil was available; the seals on the other cruses had been broken by the Syrians and the oil “contaminated”! So what happened? Nothing short of a miracle: God multiplied the oil in that tiny cruse, which was used to replenished the menorah and kept the flames burning for eight days! Why eight days? Because that was how much time the Jews needed to prepare and purify additional oil.

Each year since, to commemorate God’s fulfillment of their dream to see the Temple restored, as well as His miraculous provision demonstrated by those eight days of illumination, the Jewish people celebrate the holiday known as Chanukah, the Festival of Lights! They light a special menorah with eight branches and nine wicks — the ninth wick (elevated at the center) represents God — and they pray and eat delicious oil-based foods. In the U.S. and other countries where Christmas is celebrated, Hanukkah is often an occasion to exchange gifts and play traditional games, too. Hence, Jewish children enjoy Yule-time festivities similar to those experienced by families observing the Christian holiday.

Do you have a special dream? If so, “…The Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your Glory.” (Isaiah 60:19 NIV) Do you need a miracle? Remember: “I am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for Me?” (Jeremiah 32:27 NLT) The God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel is still in the miracle-making business. For “Jesus Christ (Yeshua) is the same yesterday, today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)

Hanukkah begins today, so… HAPPY HANUKKAH, DEAR FRIENDS!!!

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