Part 3
Romans 12:2 NLT Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
- Our greatest challenge as Christians is to change our thinking and thus change our behavior.
Proverbs 23:7 NKJV For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 KJV For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (4) (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds) (5) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Three Levels of Thinking:
- Thoughts
- Imaginations
- Strongholds
The first level of our thinking starts with our thoughts.
- You determine the thoughts that you take or reject.
- You take a thought by saying it.
- You make thoughts obey by speaking God’s Word which is contrary to that thought.
Your thoughts do not consist of words; they consist of pictures or images.
The second level of our thinking is our imagination.
Imagination – (Dictionary) the forming of mental images of what is not actually present to the senses.
In other words, our imagination was given to us by God so that we could “see” things that have not yet happened in our lives.
- Your imagination is your ability to see with your heart what you can’t see with your eyes.
- Whether you know it or not,your imagination is dictating how your life goes.
Genesis 11:1,4-6 AMP AND THE whole earth was of one language and of one accent and mode of expression. (4) And they said, Come, let us build us a city and a tower whose top reaches into the sky, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the whole earth. (5) And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. (6) And the Lord said, Behold, they are one people and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do, and now nothing they have imagined they can do will be impossible for them.
Why is this so very important?
- We can see from the Word that the Lord dealt with people according to the imaginations of their hearts.
1 Samuel 16:7 NLT But the LORD said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
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:
In the Scriptures, when referring to a positive imagination, the word used is “hope”.
In his article called “The Power of Hope”, Andrew Wommack said,
Hope is more powerful than people realize. Something the Lord shared with me that really made this truth come alive is that hope is a positive imagination.
Your imagination is like soil. Soil doesn’t care what kind of seed you plant in it; the moment it’s planted, the soil starts producing. It’s the same thing with your heart and your imagination. Your imagination will conceive something and automatically start making it come to pass, whether it’s positive or negative. It’s like your spiritual womb.
- You get to choose whether your imagination is positive—which is hope—or negative, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
- The imagination isn’t moral or immoral; it’s what you focus your attention on that determines whether it is good or bad.
Luke 21:26 NKJV men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth…
Isaiah 26:3 NKJV You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.
Hebrew word for “mind” can be translated “imagination.”
- You must stay in God’s Word and let it dominate you, or the unbelief of this world will extinguish your positive imagination.
How Do I Change the Picture?
In his book Visioneering, Andy Stanley says, “Everybody ends up somewhere in life. You can end up somewhere on PURPOSE!”
Joshua 1:8 NKJV This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Psalms 2:1 AMP WHY DO the nations assemble with commotion [uproar and confusion of voices], and why do the people imagine (meditate upon and devise) an empty scheme?
Psalms 1:1-2 NKJV Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; (2) But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.
- The way that you change your imagination is to meditate on or imagine God’s Word.
Imagine your life being lived out as God’s Word states it.