For a little about me and my background in working with colour I have used this interview with Connie Lanyon-Roberts on God’s use of colour in worship and ministry that she has posted on her website.
www.praise-and-worship.com
Connie: I know that you have worked for many years using colour in ministry for the Lord God. How did it all start?
Lynda: The journey began for me in 1986 when I started a worship group for children called The Young Disciples. I was given the name and purpose for this group by the Lord. His desire was for me to build them up in their faith, and then give them an outlet for ministry. Together with my daughter we taught dance, tambourines and the use of ribbons and banners. Our stage presentations were always set to Gospel music and the work grew and spread from the Gold Coast across Australia and into other nations.
Connie: So how did your understanding of the specific use of colour in praise and worship begin?
Lynda: It began with the use of coloured ribbons on the tambourines. In earlier years when we had been part of the Salvation Army, we learned that the ribbons used had a specific meaning. Then we were given a book that had similar ideas that linked the use of colours to scriptures from the Bible. With these seeds of thought the Lord started speaking to us about the specific use of colour in our costumes, ribbons and banners. In particular, God used the way that He had given detailed instructions to Moses on the use of colour in the Old Testament tabernacle to encourage and teach us.
Connie: Can you give me some examples?
Lynda: One of the early colour sets we received from the Lord God was given to my daughter. As an encouragement to her during a time of difficulty with fear, He quickened to her the words of Zechariah 2:5 ' For I, says the Lord, will be a wall of fire around you and I will be the glory in your midst.' Later, He gave her tambourine movements to this Bible scripture and a set of colours to use to represent it. They simply reflect the aspects of fire and glory in this verse and use a mix of yellows, apricots and reds, together with orange and gold.
Connie: It is easy to see the association of these colours with this scripture. However, you have some colour sets in your book called “Experiencing God through Colour” which don’t seem so obvious. Can you tell me, for example, how you arrived at the colours for the set “Triumphant King” from your book?
Lynda: In Revelation 6-8 from which this came, the colours are related to the picture that is given in these verses. The royal purple represents the Lord our God the Almighty, coming as King. The gold yellow and gold speak of His glory, and white is for the bride who has made herself ready.
Connie: This is also easy to understand now that you have explained it. Can you give me one more example of a colour set where it is harder to find an association with the colours used?
Lynda: Some of the scripture related colours from the Bible used in this book were given in a vision or a dream. It is harder to verify the connection and has to be accepted by faith. However, to encourage us that we are truly receiving these things from the Lord God, He often gives confirmation through others. In the very early days of Young Disciples when my daughter was still at school she came to me to show me a combination of colours that she kept ‘seeing’ in her mind while at the same time hearing the song: “Lord, make me an instrument of worship”, but she had no scripture verse to go with it. Eventually, as I waited on the Lord, He gave me the following verse to go with it from the Good News version. Romans 12:1 Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him, this is the true worship that you should offer. Years later, while on a ministry trip in Holland a man came and asked us why we used those particular colours to represent ‘Instrument of Worship’. When we told him, he had tears in his eyes. He told us that he was an artist. The Lord had inspired him to do a simple painting of steps leading up into heaven, and to title it ‘Worship’. The amazing thing to all of us was that he had used the same colours.
Connie: How amazing is our God! Do you have any stories to tell of how God uses colour to minister to people?
Lynda: I have had many experiences and also have collated testimonies from others around the world who have seen the Lord use colour to ‘speak’ to, and minister to peoples needs. These testimonies are in my book 'Experiencing God through Colour.' There are too many personal stories to relate – even for my book, but I will share two with you here. The year was 1996 and I had a team with me ministering at a praise and worship conference in America. During a time in worship and prayer in which the Lord was moving by the power of His Spirit; one of the children came to me and asked if he could take one of the ribbon sets and pin it on the blouse of one of the ladies. Because I sensed it was the Lord’s leading I said “yes”. This was soon followed by another child with a similar request who wanted to lay a coloured cloth on the shoulders of someone and pray for them. When the time of prayer and worship came to an end, we gathered around to share what the Lord had been saying. Those to whom the children had ministered to with the use of coloured ribbons or cloth had either been healed or set free from some difficulty. For example, the first child to use the ribbons had used the “Victory” set of colours from my book. Without any knowledge of their meaning, the lady shared how she had experienced victory in prayer in an area she had been struggling with for some time. This set of colours was given to a child in our group some years earlier. She had simply seen the colours of red and gold together in a dream and the scripture came to mind from Luke 10:19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Another instance was a physical healing that happened during a time when I was ministering in Sabah, Malaysia. I had instructed the people there to connect with Jesus in faith for their needs, as the woman did who touched the hem of Jesus garment. I had an array of coloured cloths in the room and one lady spent time in prayer at a green cloth and was healed of a long standing back ailment.
Connie: Thank you so much for sharing this for my website. Do you have any encouragement for my readers who may want to learn more about this subject?
Lynda: My book is a wonderful resource for those serious about learning more about this subject. However, the best teacher is the Lord God Himself. Colour is one of God’s languages and He can teach us how to understand it if we are open to Him. I would simply suggest praying before reading the Bible and asking Him to guide you. As with all languages, it takes a time of first hearing a new language, then beginning to understand it, and then finally being able to communicate with it ourselves. An understanding of God’s use of colour is especially useful to those who minister to others in the areas of prayer, praise and worship in dance and movement. For those who use banners, ribbons, cloths and tambourines; and for artists of every kind.