Casting Down Imaginations Series: I Can Only Imagine
Updated: Aug 16, 2019
Yesterday, we shared on how the imagination takes the unsaved into sin, but today, we want to focus on the power of a righteous imagination. When a person gets filled up with the Holy Spirit, it means that the man Christ Jesus has come to live in them, and He has destroyed all the work that satan did in their body, soul and spirit. That evil imagination, which constantly lusted to rebel against the commandments of God, was removed in the moment that we got saved; and we were filled up with the mind and emotions of Christ. Hallelujah! But there was something else to be excited about: receiving the Holy Spirit made us one with Him, meaning, His Spirit joined or merged us with Him to form one new creature (1 Corinthians 6:17; 2 Corinthians 5:17). It is this oneness that allows us to relate to God as children. We can understand His will, purpose, and ways from within Him, rather than as outsiders trying to figure Him out.
This great mystery is taught in scripture:
1 Corinthians 2:9-10
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God
The natural man has never seen, heard, or perceived the things that God has made available to those who love the Lord, but God reveals these things to His children. Only the sons of God can even interpret God’s speech, and only they can know the mysteries of God. Their eyes are the only eyes that have seen, and their ears are the only ears that have heard, and only their hearts have been awakened to the deep things of God. But where does this all take place? In the imagination! Our imagination is the place in our hearts / souls that God created to unveil the mystery of Christ to our souls. As sons, we are given glimpses and encounters with God’s kingdom through our imagination. We hear God’s voice so audibly that it resonates in our memory. It allows us to taste and see into the spiritual realm and sometimes gets all of our natural senses involved. The imagination of the sons is the place where we see God Himself!
This is why God commands us to keep our hearts pure:
Matthew 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
If we remain pure, we will not see God with our natural eyes but He will reveal Himself to our imagination. But if we allow any form of lust, we defile our imagination, and fill it with darkness. Lust is a strong craving for anything that God has forbidden. If there is lust in our hearts, we will not appreciate the knowledge of God being revealed to our imagination, because that knowledge will fight against what we want; so we will reject that influence and ponder on the things that we want. Our imagination will be used to devise ways and means to achieve our lust.
Saints, if we just simply agree with the Lord’s word, and offer no resistance, His mind will be in us, just as it was in Christ Jesus. He will control our lives, and use them for His glory. Our imagination would no longer be a battleground where we have thought wars to try to accomplish our will. It would be a place of revelation of God. I can only imagine!
----------------------------------------------------------
Tomorrow we will conclude this series, which is being taken from the book, “Fingerprints on the Mind”:
For more blogs like this get the Sunrise with Jesus App - www.sunrisewithjesus.com/swjapp