Imagination – Part 4

We’ve discovered our imagination is the home of our dreams; the place where we create our destiny.  Right there in the pictures of your mind.  The Spirit guides us to think like God and the imagination brings the pictures to life. That’s why it’s very important we use our imagination with the mind of our spirit, not the mind of our flesh. Today we will practice this principle.

Scriptures:

Genesis 1: 26:  Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”^{NIV image: resemblance; representative figure; likeness: like mannered; similitude}

Genesis 1:28a:  God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it;  ^{Berean   subdue-kabash-bring into subjection; govern}

John 15:8:   This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, proving yourselves to be My disciples.  ^{Berean Study}

 

Matthew 11:12:   And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.  ^NKJ

Matthew 11:12: and the violent lay claim to it.  ^Berean

Luke 16: 16:  “The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.  ^NKJ

Luke 16:16:   everyone is forcing his way into it.   ^NAS

James 1: 2-4:  ² Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴  Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.     ^{Berean Study}

John 10:10:  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.  ^KJ

John 10:10:  and have it in all its fullness.   Berean

1 John 5:4:  For everyone having been born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory having overcome the world: our faith.  ^{Berean Literal}

1 John 5:4:    For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.   ^NLT

Romans 4:17:  As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the presence of God, in whom he believed, the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being what does not yet exist.  ^{Berean Study}

Romans 4: 18-21:   ¹⁸ Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”¹⁹ Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. ²⁰ Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ²¹  being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. ^{NIV hope-anticipate with pleasure; expectation   unbelief – disbelief;  without faith; heathen}

EXERCISE #1:  Using your imagination with faith focused on the Spirit not flesh.  We will imagine our bodies healed.

Like Abraham at age 100 imagining he had a child, let’s imagine we are healed. Follow the principle. Do not waver in your faith by focusing on how you feel, or what you have been told.  Instead, decide to be fully persuaded to believe God, who is Scripture.  Jesus is the Word, so Scripture is Jesus and Jesus is Scripture.  Let’s practice by imagining ourselves completely well as I read Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:24.   Instead of focusing on the flesh, focus on the spirit.  Close your eyes, and form the image of you healed with your spiritual mind.

 

Isaiah 53:5:   But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.   ^NKJ  

1 Peter 2:24:  He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”  ^{Berean Study}

1 Peter 2: 24:  By his wounds you are healed.  ^NLT

Exercise #2:   The Father told us to bring our tithes into the storehouse so there is meat in His house.  He said we should prove Him to pour blessings on us we could not receive.  Jesus told us to give, and it would be given to us, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over. Jesus fed 5000.  He lifted the seed up before God and asked Him to bless it.  God created His disciples to be fruitful and bear fruit. Close your eyes.  As I read Malachi 3, Luke 6 and Mark 6.           Imagine yourself fruitful and multiplying, as God multiplies your seed.  Imagine being His disciple bearing much fruit. See yourself this way always.  (Ref:  Gen. 1:28; John 15:8)

Malachi 3:10:   Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure.  ^{Berean Study}

Luke 6:38:   Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”  ^{Berean Study}

Mark 6: 41-44:  ⁴¹ Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, Jesus spoke a blessing and broke the loaves. Then He gave them to His disciples to set before the people. And He divided the two fish among them all. ⁴² They all ate and were satisfied, ⁴³ and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. ⁴⁴ And there were five thousand men who had eaten the loaves.    ^Berean