Your imagination is a very powerful thing. It can bring good or bad things into your life. When I was still single I wanted to be married more than anything else. I was tempted to give up on my plan to remain sexually pure because my wife to be was nowhere in sight. What kept me encouraged was imagining myself married. I would imagine myself happily married and having kids. I imagined myself outside on a nice spring day mowing the lawn and my wife bringing me lemonade while my little kid was playing around the house. One day a few years ago, my wife and I had bought our first house and I was out cutting grass and all this came back to me that I had imagined all this before.
The word “Imagination” is used over a dozen times in the Bible. Most of the time it’s referring to when people have used imagination for sin and evil. This is often true, however, your imagination can also be used for good. Here is a verse that the Bible uses the word “Imagination” in a positive light.
1 Chronicles 29:18 (KJV)
O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee
The author of this verse, Ezra is writing about a prayer that David had wrote. In the prayer, David is thanking God for all the amazing things He had done for the people of Israel. He prayed that they would keep these things in their imagination, so they wouldn’t forget.
Your imagination is a powerful thing. Its so powerful, that you can’t do anything until you have imagined it first. Anytime you sin, you imagined it first. You see yourself doing it and you associate with the good feelings it might bring if you did it.
Just like this verse says however, you can imagine good things. Anytime the Bible says you can do something even when you don’t feel like you can, imagination plays a part in helping you do it. For example, if you see in the Bible that you can pray and someone will be healed but you’re shy, you need to imagine yourself doing just what the Bible says until you see yourself doing it. Remember you can’t do it until you first imagine it in your mind.
I know a minister who was in the middle of a major building project. He was believing God would help provide for a building for his Bible college and growing staff. The building would costs several million dollars and he felt that God wanted Him to build it without borrowing any money. This minister said that during the building process, he would go to the empty site and imagine it finished. He would go as far as taking empty paint cans and would tie rope from can to can to mark the walls of rooms in the building. He imagined himself opening doors and going into the next room. He wouldn’t allow himself to step over one of the ropes on the ground because in his imagination that was a wall. Several years later the project had been completed and his Bible college was having an opening celebration ceremony. Someone asked him if he was excited to see the finished building. He said he was actually more excited back when he was imagining it because it had become just as real to him then.
You use your imagination everyday. However, challenge yourself to use it positively for God. Imagine yourself doing things we see in the Bible. When it seems like the dreams in your heart are far off and you could never accomplish them yourself, begin to use your imagination for good.