The Amazing Gift of Your Imagination - Russ Rochler
Many followers of Jesus have been taught to be suspicious of our imagination. In the talk I gave on July 23rd, I started by looking carefully at this in the Bible: Romans 1:21, 2 Corinthians 10:5 as well as Isaiah 26:3. I encourage you to learn more about this on Blazing Fire’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdr4LNBT9Ec starting about 1 hr 50 minutes.
I believe our capacity to imagine is from our Creator. When we connect with revelation from the Holy Spirit, when we engage with the mind of Jesus, this involves our right brain (imagination, emotions, joy, love, and playfulness) as well as our left brain (logic, reasoning, words, historical context, etc.) I believe revelation from Holy Spirit as well as perceptions and memories from our soul and spirit - can all be displayed and interacted with on the “white board” of our imagination.
Creatives use the gift of their imaginations to envision remarkable artistic expressions using the visual arts, music, and words. Scientists and inventors use the gift of their imagination along with their knowledge base to develop new solutions to needs or problems. One famous example are Albert Einstein’s “Thought Experiments” which he used to investigate physical truths through his imagination. Einstein would then seek mathematics that could precisely express these dynamics. You can read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein's_thought_experiments
Like other profound gifts from the One who created and loves us, our imagination can also be hijacked and misused. When we’re motivated by lusts and pride, we fall under evil influences. Or, when we engage our imagination to “future trip” - to project into the future bad things that could happen. This robs us of being in the present with the Trinity. And worry will not magically prevent bad things in the future!
Here are some helpful “guardrails” that can help us affirm or correct what our imagination is displaying.
Love Father God’s love for us and love for others. Are the images, ideas, daydreams, etc. we are imagining motivated or led by love? 1 Corinthians 13 is a key guide to help us. Also, living in and from God’s love for us: Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV) “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind (yetzer - imagination) is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”
Scriptures Read and meditate about what Jesus is like, what Father God and Holy Spirit are like. Savor the varied and sometimes startling imagery in the Psalms, Daniel, Ezekiel, etc. There are many beautiful images that help us recognize when the real Jesus is revealed in our imagination. And, the seemingly strange visions of in the books of Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation help us to not automatically dismiss what our imagination is displaying to us.
Discernment If something appears “right”, but feels off in your imagination, you are empowered to “test the spirit” behind that being . One way is to ask the One True God to reveal the true nature of the spirit behind the image. 1 John 4:1 ESV “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world”
People Who Know Jesus Sometimes its very helpful to share what appears to be a revelation from God with people who know Jesus well. Even Paul the Apostle checked with a few trusted apostles about the revelation of the Gospel he received. See Galatians 1:15 - 2:2
How do we protect this amazing gift of our imagination? And how do we nurture and engage with it?
Protecting Your Imagination Consider what you are “taking in”: videos or images of horror, violence, sexual lust, occult, etc. Tune in with Holy Spirit about what you are considering watching or hearing.
Reading and entering in with your imagination into Bible Stories.
Be open during worship (and other times) to images, thoughts, ideas, or understandings that may be coming from Holy Spirit. Sometimes we need to resist what are truly distractions from worship. Yet, surprisingly often we may receive a download from Heaven and/or an answer to something we asked God about previously. Sensing the presence of Holy Spirit and paying attention what comes into our mind is an important part of “life in the Spirit”.
When praying/ministering to others. You may get a “word of knowledge” where you “see” body part or feel a pain in your body or just “know” what to agree with God for this person.
Towards the end of the talk I gave, we did a fun exercise with our imagination. If you’d like to experience it too, you can find it at about 2:15 (the 2 hour, 15 minute point) in the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdr4LNBT9Ec
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