Your Imagination: The First Step Into the Miraculous

Imagination is the dynamo, the power source of life. But most people don’t understand its importance. They don’t understand that God built imagination into our makeup. Psalm 103:14 says:

For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

The same Hebrew word that was translated “frame” in this verse was translated “imagination” or “imaginations” five times in the Old Testament (Gen. 6:5, 8:21; Deut. 31:21; 1 Chr. 28:9, and 29:18). Our imagination is the frame or spine of our existence. It’s the doorway to our potential and affects the way we view life (Prov. 23:7). But people relegate imagination to the realm of childhood fantasy. They underestimate its influence in their lives and try to receive from God without first activating their imaginations.When Jamie and I started out in ministry, the Lord gave us a vision of reaching multitudes—of touching people all over the world. And though we knew that this was God’s will for our lives, there was very little evidence suggesting it would come to pass. People stayed away from our meetings by the thousands. We struggled to find traction. It was frustrating. Then, in 2002, the Lord spoke to me from Psalm 78 and told me I was limiting Him by my small thinking. You see, even though I knew God’s will for my life, I could not see myself doing it. I couldn’t see myself standing in front of thousands of people or influencing millions on television. I couldn’t imagine people speaking my name in the same breath as other ministers who had impacted the world. And because I couldn’t see it, I didn’t. The Lord showed me that in order to fulfill His will for my life, I had to change the way I thought. I had to start using my imagination.

Your imagination is like your spiritual womb. It’s your creative center. Genesis 11 records the account of the tower of Babel. As the ancient population grew and began spreading out upon the earth, the people gathered on the plains of Babylon. There, they devised a plan to make a name for themselves (Gen. 11:4) and to reach heaven.

And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. (Genesis 11:5-6)

That’s amazing! The imagination of this unregenerate people so threatened God’s plan for mankind, He had to put a stumbling block in front of them—by dividing their language—to slow them down and give His plan time to work out. God saw their imagination as a threat to His plan for man. Wow!Imagination is powerful. It is the first step in doing. If you can imagine something, you can do it. Yet many Christians don’t understand this. Believers all over the world pray for healing and never experience it. They pray for prosperity but never receive it. Why? Because they don’t know how to use a godly, positive imagination. They don’t see themselves healed. They don’t see themselves prosperous.If you want to see God’s will for your life come to pass, if you want to reach your full potential, you need to understand both the power of your imagination and the correct way to use it.