Today’s New Covenant nugget is from Isaiah 26:3 (TPT)
“Perfect, absolute peace surrounds those whose imaginations (yêtser) are consumed with You; they confidently trust in You.”
According to the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, the Hebrew word yêtser means “imagination” that forms and frames up. Imagination frames up one’s reality. Our imagination must be set apart for God and continually be made holy… to be holy is to belong to God exclusively
Our imagination is God given, it is our visualization center… our imagination is a God given tool that enables us to visualize things and perceive things as God sees them. How do you see yourself? Can you see yourself doing the works of Jesus, blessed with every blessing, prosperous and anointed to reign in this life with Christ? The bible talks about renewing our minds, but it also talks about renewing the spirit of our minds, or renewing our imagination.
THERE IS A COUNTERFEIT FORM OF VISUALIZATION TAUGHT IN EASTERN RELIGIONS AND IN NEW AGE PHILOSOPHY
FOR EVERYTHING THAT IS REAL, THERE IS A COUNTERFEIT
TODAY I WILL TEACH YOU THE WORD, NOT PHILOSOPHY, NOT A CONCEPT, AND NOT MY IDEAS.
GOD GAVE US AS HIS CHILDREN THE ABILITY TO ENVISION THINGS, TO SEE THINGS WITH OUR IMAGINATION, OR TO VISUALIZE THINGS WITH THE EYES OF OUR IMAGINATION.
The Webster dictionary defines ‘imagination’ as, “The act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality.”
VISUALIZATION IS A VITAL ASPECT OF FAITH
FAITH PERCEIVES BEFORE THE NATURAL EYES SEES!
Hebrews 11:1 (AMPC) - Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].
Hebrews 11:1 Paraphrase - Faith sees and perceives what the natural eye does not see, it confirms as real and legitimate what is not yet revealed to the senses.
I have practiced scriptural visualization since I was a child. When I was fourteen years old, I attended a youth event where the speaker encouraged us to start praying for our future spouses… speaking the Word over them and praying in the Spirit for them. I prayed for my wife for seven years until the day that I finally met her.
As I prayed, I stood on the scripture, he who finds a wife, finds a good thing… as I prayed, I began to visualize. I let my imagination run as I prayed and thought about the wife that I would spend my life with… as I visualized, the Lord opened the eyes of my imagination and I saw a beautiful girl… 5ft 2in… blonde… blue eyes. I saw her with light shining on her, but almost in a mist. Seven years later, I met a young lady, a few days later, as Esther opened her front door… the light from the setting sun fell upon her… the exact same vision that I had been seeing for seven years… I instantly knew, this is the girl that I have been praying for, for seven years… this is my wife!
My faith saw and perceived what my natural eye did not see for seven years, it confirmed as real and legitimate what was not yet revealed to my senses.
VISUALIZATION, OR SEEING THINGS IN A VISION IS PROPHESIED TO INCREASE IN THE LAST DAYS…
Acts 2:17 - ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.
The Greek word translated as ‘visions’ is ‘hórasis’, literally meaning ‘divinely inspired sight’.
The Greek word for ‘dreams’ is ‘enoop'neeon’ – ‘a vision which presents itself to one in sleep’
YOU HAVE TO SEE IT, OR VISUALIZE IT BEFORE YOU CAN WALK IN IT.
AN ARCHITECT HAS TO VISUALIZE, THEN DESIGN A STRUCTURE BEFORE IT CAN BE BUILT!
Ephesians 1:18 - I pray that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints
The word translated as ‘understanding’ is ‘diánoia’, literally meaning ‘imagination’, referring to the eyes of your imagination.
The Passion Translation says, “I pray that the light of God will illuminate the eyes of your imagination, flooding you with light, until you experience the full revelation of the hope of His calling—that is, the wealth of God’s glorious inheritances that He finds in us, His holy ones!”
VISUALIZING YOUR INHERITANCE, OR SEEING IT WITH THE EYES OF YOUR IMAGINATION HELPS YOU TO RECEIVE IT AND WALK IN IT.
TWO KINDS OF VISUALIZATION…
RECEIVING REVELATION & PROACTIVE VISUALIZATION
A REVELATION IS WHEN THE LORD OPENS THE EYES OF YOUR IMAGINATION TO SOMETHING HE IS TEACHING YOU OR GIVING YOU.
PROACTIVE VISUALIZATION IS WHEN YOU PROACTIVELY VISUALIZE YOURSELF WALKING IN THE PROMISES OF GOD
TAKE A SCRIPTURE… MARK 16:18 - “YOU WILL LAY HANDS UPON THE SICK AND THEY SHALL RECOVER…” NOW, SEE YOURSELF LAYING HANDS ON SICK PEOPLE, AND SEE THEM RECOVERING!
SEE YOURSELF HEALED
SEE YOURSELF PAYING OFF YOUR BILLS AND WALKING FINANCIALLY FREE
SEE YOURSELF WRITING MILLION DOLLAR CHECKS
SEE YOURSELF RAISING THE DEAD
A RENEWED IMAGINATION
HAVE YOU LOST YOUR ABILITY TO VISUALIZE, OR HAS YOUR IMAGINATION BEEN CORRUPTED?
Ephesians 4:17-23
17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the unbelievers walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 having their understanding ‘diánoia’ (their imagination) darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; 19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20 But you have not so learned Christ, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
BEING RENEWED IN THE SPIRIT OF YOUR MIND IS BEING RENEWED IN THE AREA OF YOUR IMAGINATION
THE DEVIL CORRUPTS PEOPLE THROUGH VAIN IMAGINATIONS HOLINESS COMES THROUGH RENEWED IMAGINATIONS
2 Corinthians 10:5 - 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
2 Corinthians 10:5 (TPT) - We can demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God and break through every arrogant attitude that is raised up in defiance of the true knowledge of God. We capture, like prisoners of war, every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the Anointed One.
CONFESSION
“I declare by faith that I am being renewed in the spirit of my mind
I cast down every ungodly imagination, in Jesus Name!
Holy Spirit, open the eyes of my imagination that I may know what my inheritance is
By faith I see visions, in Jesus Name!
I see myself living in Your promises
I see myself pain free and in divine health
I see myself walking in your favor
I see myself prospering in every area of life according to your Word
I will say what your Word says, I will see what your Word says with the eyes of my imagination, then I will see what your Word says with my natural eyes, in Jesus Name!”
In His amazing love, Nick
