Power of Right Thinking! Overcoming Negative Thoughts Through God’s Word
“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7 KJV).
God created man in His own image.
In Hebrew, the word for image means “likeness or copy.” God did not create us to be dominated by an adversary or by anybody else. He created us with inalienable rights, so that means we’re free moral agents. We can decide for ourselves what we will think, and the Lord will always protect our free moral agency.
Our creative abilities are a direct gift from God, and we find their expression primarily through our imagination. You will either use your imagination effectively or your imagination will use you. And the spiritual warfare that takes place over our imagination is very intense. The apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 made it very clear that imaginations are in fact spiritual warfare. Whatever gets your attention is going to get you.
That’s why the Bible says to guard your heart with all diligence (Proverbs 4:23). The Hebrew word for diligence means “twice the amount.” Keep your heart twice the amount you would anything else because whatever gets into your heart will begin to produce.
Your heart is a lot like soil. The soil never argues with the farmer about what seed goes in it. The same ground that brings forth life-giving food can also bring forth poison. That’s why you must be the guardian at the gate of what you allow in your mind. Whatever you allow in your mind can drop down into your spirit, and then it’s basically on its way to coming to pass.
For example, most of the time you drive your car it’s at a subconscious level. You don’t get in your car and say, “I need to put the key into the ignition, start the engine, put my foot on the brake, put the car into reverse, etc.” You can be carrying on a vigorous conversation on your phone, get in the car, fire it up, and head out. You’re driving down the road, putting on the brake, and pressing the accelerator. You’re watching your speedometer and stopping at red lights. You’re going when the light turns green and making turns. Then you end up at your destination and realize you were so preoccupied in your conscious mind on the phone, you don’t even know how you got there. You did it on autopilot. Habits eventually register in our subconscious until certain actions become effortless.
Think about the movie industry today. If you go back far enough in our nation’s history, there was a code of ethics over media, and Christians gave the thumbs up or thumbs down. We were very articulate about what we allowed on the silver screen because if it got into the hearts of people, it would affect us radically as a nation. And we’ve seen that happen in the movies, on television, and in music. There are things that we are seeing and hearing that were unthinkable just a few decades ago because the enemy has seized the sphere of influence called Celebration—which consists of arts, entertainment, and sports—and also the sphere of Media. The enemy knows if he can plant seeds in the hearts of people, true or false, they are going to start producing.
So what is imagination? Here’s a simple definition from Webster’s Dictionary: “the act or power of forming mental images of what is not actually present.” It’s a series of image formations.
Paul said “though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh” (2 Corinthians 10:3 KJV). That means other people are not our enemies. In reality, it’s the forces that operate through them. We need to take our thoughts captive and cast down any imaginations or anything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Imagination is a creative force, and that’s what we see going on around us.
For instance, when the automobile was first invented, it was revolutionary. And then they found ways to improve it. Think about Wilbur and Orville Wright. They were bicycle mechanics, and they imagined the flying machine. It was laughable to some people. This was an era when they said, “If man were meant to fly, God would’ve given him wings!” But the Wright brothers kept imagining things. Think about how far aviation has come since the early 1900s. I think the first flight was less than a minute or so, and now we have reached supersonic speeds.
Progress doesn’t happen overnight. You may have all sorts of adversity and spiritual warfare going on against you, but the important thing is for you to write down the future you desire to see. And it all starts in the imagination. The power of imagination is far beyond what I think we can fully grasp. The building I’m sitting in right now first started in my wife’s mind.
Although she’s not an architect, I call her a visual architect. She is so good. She designed one of the houses we lived in, and according to our builder, it was one of the nicest, if not the nicest house he’d ever built. He actually tried to hire her twice!
In Matthew 12:35 (NKJV), Jesus said, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.” The key to this scripture is the word treasure. It’s the Greek word deposit.
It’s like a deposit made. Jesus said a good man, out of the good deposits of his heart is going to bring forth good things. But even a good person can allow evil things to be deposited in their heart, and they can start bringing forth things that are not good in their life.
I’ve seen born-again Christians who don’t guard their hearts, and they allow their imaginations to be filled with unforgiveness, bitterness, vengeance, doubt, and all those kinds of things. This will begin to wreak all sorts of havoc in their lives. Nature abhors a vacuum, so if you don’t fill your mind with good things, the enemy will most certainly fill it with bad things. Even a good person can bring forth a bad harvest if they don’t guard their heart.
The last part of Proverbs 4:23 (KJV) says, “For out of it [the heart] are the issues of life.” The Hebrew word for issues means “boundaries, borders, or the springs of life.”
Somebody doesn’t go rob a store and in the middle of the robbery think, My goodness, how did I get here with a gun in my hand, pointing it at somebody demanding money? They thought about it and meditated on it; they imagined it until it dropped down in their spirit and at that point it was on its way in coming to pass.
The power of imagination can be used for great good or great evil. The same airplane that can be used to transport ministers all over the world for disaster relief, planting churches, and preaching the gospel can be used by forces of darkness to crash into buildings and drop bombs on innocent people.
Genesis 6:5-6 (KJV) says:
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
Notice it says “every imagination of the thoughts.” When you have a thought, it’s going to produce an imagination or an image formation. For instance, if I say “dog,” you don’t think of the letters d-o-g. You probably thought of your dog or your neighbor’s dog or any dog. Because thoughts produce imaginations, we must take every thought captive unto the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3-5) and cast down imaginations that are contrary to God’s Word and His will for us.
Spiritual warfare is a battle of the mind, and you can’t just try to get rid of the negative. You must embrace the positive, which is God’s Word. The Bible is the mind of Christ and tells us how we should think:
Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things (Philippians 4:8 KJV).
To illustrate the power of imagination, as you read each of the following words, write down what comes to your mind:
Mouse
Ponytail
Cheesecake
Chocolate Chip Cookie
You may be thinking, What in the world is he talking about? Every one of these words ultimately created fortunes for people because they applied the power of vision to it. Take the mouse for instance. A man named Walt Disney applied the power of vision to a little rodent and created a cartoon character named Mickey Mouse, and the rest is history. It’s a multi-billion-dollar industry! The other three things created fortunes for the individuals who applied the power of vision to them, yet none of them, to my knowledge, were born-again Christians. How much more should born-again, Spirit-filled Christians be able to apply the power of vision in their lives and see the Lord glorified and people come to know Him!
You may look at your life right now and think there is nothing of value in it. But God is waiting for you to seek Him diligently for the heavenly vision He has crafted and designed for your life. Let Him inspire you and breathe into you what He wants to accomplish through your life.
In case you have never been assured of your salvation, it is critical that you do that right now. Jesus died on the cross for you and paid the eternal penalty for your sins and for mine. He will come into your life at your invitation and will be Lord of your life as you submit to His will daily. Pray this prayer, and receive Him now:
Lord Jesus, I repent of my sin and ask You to forgive all my sins. Wash me in Your precious blood. Save me, heal me, and deliver me from evil. I thank You that I am born again. Now baptize me in Your Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name, amen.
