The Power of Imagination
The devil can only take what God creates and pervert it because he is not a creator nor is he omnipotent.
When I was growing up, I was told that I had a vivid imagination. Later in life I would hear about people who had a vain imagination. Certainly there are extremes to any truth that comes our way. If there is an evil imagination it must have started after the fall of Adam. At that time God said His creation was good except for man being alone. Adam must have had an imagination that was God-like.
When God created Adam, He said "Let Us make man in our own image" (Genesis 1:26) The word for "image" here (stehlem) means the resemblance or the shadow of something. We could even say we're part of God's imagination or foreshadow of what He was us expecting to become.
Jesus said in John 5:19 that He was not able to do anything unless He saw His Father doing it. This tells me Jesus was in view of what God the Father was doing. Through Jesus sacrifice on the cross, the veil has been removed so that we are also able to envision the calling of God for our life.
As a young child, I remember coming up with ways to entertain myself while my siblings were away at school. I would gather all of my sisters' dolls and stuffed animals that I could find and line them up on the bed as my "congregation." Though I couldn't read, I held a huge Webster's Dictionary in both hands and imagined preaching to the dolls and other assorted critters. I made the same gestures I had watched my pastor use when he was intent on making a point stick. I would pretend I was speaking to large crowds and I could even feel the passion for what I was doing. Though I had not told anyone, I knew I wanted to be a preacher. The teddy bear in my estimation was the most rebellious of my congrgation so I would always get the bear saved at the end of the meeting. That really doesn't seem strange for a five or six year old, but I know it planted a seed of faith inside me so that when I started teaching, it wasn't a large leap for me. From those abstract beginnings I have not had trouble believing God for the supernatural in my life.
Imagination is powerful. Genesis 1:1 gives the account of when the whole world spoke one language. The Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men had built. Due to the unity of language, the Lord said there was nothing impossible that they could imagine. In this case, imagination was used for self.centered purposes - for the sons of men to make a name for themselves. The power to imaginie and the unity of language would enable them to achieve their vision. Just think how powerful it would be for someone who is Messiah-centered in his or her imagination.
In Ephesians 1:18 Paul prayed the following Apostolic prayer: " I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints." (NASB). The word Paul used for "enlightened" is key to understanding imagination. Enlightened is translated photizo, from which we get the word "photograph". We would read this passage as saying, "The eyes of your heart will take a picture so you can understand the hope of His calling."
The addictive nature of pornography works in the same way. The picture of the perversion is a direct opposite of the image of God's nature. The pornographic images fastens itself to a person like a billboard. The image keeps replaying in the mind and for most it brings with ita sense of condemnation and shame - a type of entrapment.
In Matthew 5:27 - 28 Jesus said, " You have heard that it was said, to those of old, "You shall not commit adultery." But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." If lusting or using imagination in one's heart becomes reality in the eyes of God, then we should also be able to fix our heart upon the goodness of God and His beauty. We should be able to consider the Word of God as a book of reality. The more we think on what He has in store for us, the more it can become a reality.
Job said, " The thing I greatly feared has come upon me." (Job 3:25) There are people who dwell on doctors' resports and all day long think about how bad their life has become. Proverbs 23:7 tells us that as one "thinks [ ponders] in his heart, so is he." If one could turn the fallen nature of imagination around and consider and consider what the Lord wants to do and agree with the Word and meditate on what will happen to those who are faithful in blessing and honoring the Word above their own opinions, there is no end to the miracles he or she could receive.
The Lord wants us to have an eternal perspective that trumps the temporal world. When God wanted Abraham to wrap his thoughts around how big the promise was going to be to his descendants, He said, " Look toward the heavens, and count them... So shall your descendants be." (Genesis 15:5 NASB). God was inviting him to imagine that his generations could be as many as he dared to look at. There are times when words won't calculate the enormity of what our Father wants to do so He lets us see what He wants, because a "picture is worth a thousand words." Words will paint pictures and pictures lead to destinies.
There are some who have received words that have given the wrong picture or image of what God intends for those who set their heart on Him. Some of you may have grown up in an enviroment where you were devalued and heard demeaning things such as "You are stupid." and "You are never going to amount to much." Those words can create an imagination that is not true. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth. Jesus said that when the Spirit of Truth would come after He ascended, the Spirit would take those things that belong to Jesus and give them to us - His Bride - to see the truth about ourselves and the way He sees us through His eyes. He sees us not through the eyes of vain imagination, but through what He has already imagined for us.
May you be filled with the same imagination as Jesus "who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him." (Acts 10:38)
Thank you for visiting my blog: For more information Click Here Related You Can Hear God's Voice!
When I was growing up, I was told that I had a vivid imagination. Later in life I would hear about people who had a vain imagination. Certainly there are extremes to any truth that comes our way. If there is an evil imagination it must have started after the fall of Adam. At that time God said His creation was good except for man being alone. Adam must have had an imagination that was God-like.
When God created Adam, He said "Let Us make man in our own image" (Genesis 1:26) The word for "image" here (stehlem) means the resemblance or the shadow of something. We could even say we're part of God's imagination or foreshadow of what He was us expecting to become.
Jesus said in John 5:19 that He was not able to do anything unless He saw His Father doing it. This tells me Jesus was in view of what God the Father was doing. Through Jesus sacrifice on the cross, the veil has been removed so that we are also able to envision the calling of God for our life.
As a young child, I remember coming up with ways to entertain myself while my siblings were away at school. I would gather all of my sisters' dolls and stuffed animals that I could find and line them up on the bed as my "congregation." Though I couldn't read, I held a huge Webster's Dictionary in both hands and imagined preaching to the dolls and other assorted critters. I made the same gestures I had watched my pastor use when he was intent on making a point stick. I would pretend I was speaking to large crowds and I could even feel the passion for what I was doing. Though I had not told anyone, I knew I wanted to be a preacher. The teddy bear in my estimation was the most rebellious of my congrgation so I would always get the bear saved at the end of the meeting. That really doesn't seem strange for a five or six year old, but I know it planted a seed of faith inside me so that when I started teaching, it wasn't a large leap for me. From those abstract beginnings I have not had trouble believing God for the supernatural in my life.
In Ephesians 1:18 Paul prayed the following Apostolic prayer: " I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints." (NASB). The word Paul used for "enlightened" is key to understanding imagination. Enlightened is translated photizo, from which we get the word "photograph". We would read this passage as saying, "The eyes of your heart will take a picture so you can understand the hope of His calling."
The addictive nature of pornography works in the same way. The picture of the perversion is a direct opposite of the image of God's nature. The pornographic images fastens itself to a person like a billboard. The image keeps replaying in the mind and for most it brings with ita sense of condemnation and shame - a type of entrapment.
In Matthew 5:27 - 28 Jesus said, " You have heard that it was said, to those of old, "You shall not commit adultery." But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." If lusting or using imagination in one's heart becomes reality in the eyes of God, then we should also be able to fix our heart upon the goodness of God and His beauty. We should be able to consider the Word of God as a book of reality. The more we think on what He has in store for us, the more it can become a reality.
Job said, " The thing I greatly feared has come upon me." (Job 3:25) There are people who dwell on doctors' resports and all day long think about how bad their life has become. Proverbs 23:7 tells us that as one "thinks [ ponders] in his heart, so is he." If one could turn the fallen nature of imagination around and consider and consider what the Lord wants to do and agree with the Word and meditate on what will happen to those who are faithful in blessing and honoring the Word above their own opinions, there is no end to the miracles he or she could receive.
The Lord wants us to have an eternal perspective that trumps the temporal world. When God wanted Abraham to wrap his thoughts around how big the promise was going to be to his descendants, He said, " Look toward the heavens, and count them... So shall your descendants be." (Genesis 15:5 NASB). God was inviting him to imagine that his generations could be as many as he dared to look at. There are times when words won't calculate the enormity of what our Father wants to do so He lets us see what He wants, because a "picture is worth a thousand words." Words will paint pictures and pictures lead to destinies.
There are some who have received words that have given the wrong picture or image of what God intends for those who set their heart on Him. Some of you may have grown up in an enviroment where you were devalued and heard demeaning things such as "You are stupid." and "You are never going to amount to much." Those words can create an imagination that is not true. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth. Jesus said that when the Spirit of Truth would come after He ascended, the Spirit would take those things that belong to Jesus and give them to us - His Bride - to see the truth about ourselves and the way He sees us through His eyes. He sees us not through the eyes of vain imagination, but through what He has already imagined for us.
Thank you for visiting my blog: For more information Click Here Related You Can Hear God's Voice!
Mark Khan
Life Coach / Inter-Networker
Skype ID: ageofseth
Life Coach / Inter-Networker
Skype ID: ageofseth
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