Spirit Guided Imagination

About 30 years ago, I had the good fortune of meeting a wonderful bible teacher, Buddy Peake, who became my first pastor. He was part of a group of bible teachers and in association with Ron Adema, who taught the bible from the original languages, considered the historical context of the writings and divided the bible into categories. I have found this method of teaching to be immensely superior to any other I have seen.

The pastor in the 20th century who made this method widely known was R.B. Thieme Jr., who taught categorical bible doctrine to his congregation. His highly effective ministry published by tapes and books became a source of knowledge and inspiration to many pastors and churches. His emphasis and also the emphasis of the pastors who were influenced by him was the consistent and daily perception of the word. The focus of these pastors was knowledge of the word enabling believers to understand the plan and will of God and make decisions that are compatible with His will. These great ministries emerged in a time of weak churches full of emotionalism and empty church programs. The teaching of the word was like fresh air to many believers who were suffocating in these dead churches. When the church at large refused to accept the in depth teaching of the word, tape groups and bible churches formed all over the country.

As vital and helpful as these pastors and ministries have been to my life, this article is intended in part to take issue with a teaching that was misleading to me. The idea as many understood it (including me) was that if we learned enough bible doctrine, our knowledge would bring about the resolution of every problem in our lives. The piling up of knowledge itself was emphasized as the divine means of resolving deep seated spiritual problems. While I will never de-emphasize the daily perception of doctrine or the gaining of understanding of the truth, it is imperative that we understand that there is more to the Christian life than just perception. Perception produces only the potential for impact, blessing and glorification of God. It is the actual use and application of these principles that brings blessing and glory to God. It is the application of God’s word where I have focused for 20 years and it is the application of the word that is the focus of this article. This article explains how the Holy Spirit uses our human imagination to enable us to envision the absolute good that God is seeking to bring about in our lives. Our natural tendency is to imagine everything that can go wrong and how hard and bad everything might be. We need to discuss the divine methods for enlightening the soul and enabling us to use what God has promised.

God’s promises are guaranteed by His essence. His veracity guarantees their validity and His omnipotence guarantees that He will be able to do what He promised. God honors His word, not when we know it but when we do it. James, the pastor of the First Church of Jerusalem saw his congregation struggling with great adversity from persecution. He also saw that what they had learned they were failing to use. They were good hearers of the word but not faithful doers of the word. His passionate plea is as applicable today as it was then:

Jam 1:21-25 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the hatefulness that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it– he will be blessed in what he does.

While it seems like James begins his discussion of doing the word in vs 21, it is actually the theme of the whole book. He actually begins his discussion of doing the word in vs 2, when talking about the great adversity they were facing, he speaks to them about what is going on in their minds and especially their imaginations.

Jam 1:2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face different trials

James uses the Greek word hegeomai, which literally means to guide/lead the imagination/mind. Hegeomai comes from 2 Greek words, the first is ago which means to lead/guide; the second is oiomai which means the mind or the imagination. What James told his people who were struggling with being doers of the word in adversity was to allow the Spirit to guide their imagination to see adversity as an opportunity for God to do good. The word means to take the pieces of your personal puzzle, the situational pieces and the biblical principles and combine them in new and creative ways. Hegeomai means to envision your situation under the management of God and visualize all the good things that God is going to bring about. Rather than imagine all the negatives possibilities that might come about or visualize all that might be lost in these adversities, the Spirit leads our minds to see the good that God is doing.

So, James tells us that application of the word begins in the mind and is a function of the Holy Spirit impacting our imagination. He says that when adversity comes, guide your imagination to visualize the good that God is seeking to bring about through it. Visualize the growth, the increase of inner strength, the increased capacity to endure future difficulties and the peace of mind that God is bringing about in your soul. It is normal for our old belief system to hate losses in the material world or the loss of an important relationship. Yet it is these very losses that God uses to enable us to shed our materialism and embrace spiritual ideals.

Let’s  outline application of the word as it occurs in our souls:

The first move toward application of the word is to reject the negative possibilities that immediately come into your mind related to the events of your life. As you begin to write a sad story about all the losses you will endure, tell yourself that these negatives are a lie. Decide to look at these negative possibilities and reject them as the important issue at hand. Second, use your imagination to explore all the wonderful blessings of growth that might happen out of this event. Throw away your fearful images and words and embrace the possibilities that might occur if an omnipotent God were at the helm of your life. If God was in control of your life (and He is) what good could possibly happen?
Third, visualize yourself entering into these possibilities and see yourself enjoying total victory rather than total defeat.

Once you have rejected the negative images of loss and fear that enter your mind, then having imagined the right images given to you by the Holy Spirit, then when you have embraced these right images by believing them and finally when you have imagined yourself actually experiencing the benefits of these possibilities, you are ready to take a mental position about the event and take appropriate action in response to the event. This is how application happens and how the Holy Spirit leads you to be a doer of the word.

Hurricane Ike recently roared through the coastal city of Galveston and brought massive flooding. Many people stayed behind instead of evacuating. Imagine a man, in his home as the water was rising and he is beginning to wonder if he will live through this. As the water continues to rise, imagine that a bible floats by and the man decides to pick it up. As he picks it up, it flops open to the book of John and he reads John 3:16. Then the wind blows, the page turns to Ephesian 2:8-9 and the man reads the passage. As he considers what he has read, he puts his faith in Christ and is eternally saved. Even though he is losing every material thing he owns, he has just secured his eternal soul. Can you visualize the eternal good that came from this temporal disaster?

If you followed this story in your mind, using your imagination to visualize what happened in the story, then you have just used the word hegeomai. This is exactly what James was telling these believers to do in regard to their hurricanes. You have visualized the good that God intends to bring out of every difficult event of life. It is this function of imagining the good that our loving God is bringing about that enables us to enter into the life of power and victory He has prepared for us. It is this proper use of our imagination that prepares us to reach spiritual conclusions and take spiritual actions.

Now that you can see the good God is bringing about instead of cringing in fear from what you might lose, you can begin to strategize about the most effective action to take that will bring you blessing and God glory. Your mind has been guided into the truth and now you are ready to take effective action.

Knowledge of the truth is necessary for the Holy Spirit to be able to give you truthful images of divine intentions. Without accurate knowledge, you have limited what the Spirit can reveal to you. Consistently filling your soul with truth opens up incredible options for the Spirit to empower your imagination to visualize the will of God. It is when we commit to rejecting the lies we often imagine about adversity, commit to allowing the Spirit to show us all that God is doing and allow Him to show us entering into these great blessings that we are actually at the beginning of doing the word of God. It is from this place of absolute conviction and confidence that we can move into doing God’s will and experience the victory he desires for us.

Allow God to show you what he wants to do with you and for you. Imagine yourself doing what He has called you to do even though it will be hard. Imagine that hard is not impossible and that He will enable you to perform what He promised.