OUR HEARTS CAN BE BROKEN, AND GOD USES OUR IMAGINATION TO FIX IT
Our hearts can be broken. Our hearts can be misled and betrayed. Our hearts can be offended and crushed. But it’s also in our heart and our imagination that we CAN SEE and imagine every kind of GOOD, even when there is no evidence of GOOD.
Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the ASSURANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR, the conviction of things not seen."
In our imagination, we SEE HOPE; we SEE with our heart.
Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."
It’s in our imagination that we SEE past the persecution and pain and betrayal, and instead, despite what we see in the natural world, we CHOSE TO SEE Jesus’ finished work AND our revival, restoration, and redemption simultaneously.
John 12:40 “He has blinded their eyes and He HARDENED THEIR HEART, so that they would NOT SEE with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and be converted AND I HEAL THEM.”
WE ARE MADE IN GOD’S IMAGE
Using the law of the first mention, in Genesis, we find the first mention of God’s AND man’s hearts BEING ONE WITH THE FATHER’S IMAGINATION.
Genesis 5:1 "This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, HE MADE HIM IN THE LIKENESS OF GOD."
The Bible draws this conclusion about God’s heart and man’s heart, that they WERE ONCE ONE. We were made in GOD’s IMAGE. Image and imagination are one.
Genesis 6:6 "The Lord WAS SORRY that He had made man on the earth, and HE WAS GRIEVED IN HIS HEART."
And,
Genesis 8:21 "The Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, FOR THE INTENT OF MAN’S HEART IS FOR EVIL FROM HIS YOUTH; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done."
The first mention of man’s heart in the New Testament is found in Matthew, as Jesus says the pure in HEART will SEE God.” See means imagine, and we imagine in our imagination, which is our heart. We are made in God’s likeness.
Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the PURE IN HEART, for they SHALL SEE GOD"
God’s heart reveals His intent. His intention is His heart’s desire (imagination) fulfilled.
2 Thessalonians 2: 16-17 "Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, COMFORT AND STRENGTHEN YOUR HEARTS IN EVERY GOOD WORK AND WORD."
It’s not our “heart” AND our “imagination. No, because they are one and the same. According to the Word of God, our “heart” is synonymous with our “imagination.”
Romans 10:9-10 "that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and BELIEVE IN YOUR HEART that God raised Him from the dead, YOU WILL BE SAVED; for WITH THE HEART A PERSON BELIEVES, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, RESULTING IN SALVATION."
In our imagination (heart), we BELIEVE and then confess our salvation. We confess from our imagination. Our heart and our Imagination are ONE in Christ, leading to our SALVATION. And it’s all a free gift of Grace. If you receive this truth, it's YOUR Grace Awakening!
2 Corinthians 4:6 "For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has SHONE IN OUR HEARTS to give the Light of the KNOWLEDGE OF THE GLORY of God in the face of Christ."
God’s Glory is His absolute goodness, His heart, which He freely gave us as a gift we didn’t deserve and could never earn.
Ephesians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,”
And then, if that wasn’t enough, God Himself, in all His goodness, now dwells (resides, lives) within us, within our hearts which is one with our imagination.
Ephesians 2:4-10 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
WOW! Do you SEE this, and can you imagine what it means? If you can, where did you imagine it? In your heart? Can you imagine?
Ephesians 3:20 “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,”
RESTORING OUR SANCTIFIED IMAGINATION
The Father’s purpose, in part, is to restore HIS imagination IN US, which is the fullness of His absolute goodness. When we pray, study the Bible, or sing worship songs, we engage our imagination PURE and SIMPLE.
Jeremiah 30:24 "The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back Until He has performed and until He has accomplished The INTENT OF HIS HEART; In the latter days you will understand this."
In our sanctified imagination, we encounter the LOVE OF GOD that leads us to SEE our FULL Salvation, SHALOM peace! Do you realize what this means?
1 Peter 5:10-11 “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
That’s mind-bending and way too big for our brains to comprehend, but in our hearts, we receive it, and we rejoice! Why? Because God made us and gave us His heart which is His imagination. That’s YOUR Grace Awakening.
Ephesians 1:17 "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him."
The Pharisees KNEW everything about the coming Messiah in their head, but they missed Jesus because they did not receive HIM by faith.
1 Corinthians 2:16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.”
The Pharisees were lawyers and experts in the law, yet they hated Jesus so much that they conspired with the Romans to crucify one of their own, a Jew in bloodline to be King.
Ephesians 4:22-24 “that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”
BELIEVERS live from the spirit of their mind (imagination), but the Pharisees live from their mind, factual knowledge, and self-righteousness.
2 Corinthians 4:4 “in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
The Pharisees were religious and pious and mean-spirited and cruel. They were arrogant and insecure and insensitive because they were dead inside.
Matthew 12:34 “You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.”
Consequently, the Pharisees were selfish, cold, rigid, and judgmental.
Matthew 23:27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.”
Their hearts were dead. They were blind and could not SEE, deaf and could not hear.
Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
When it comes down to it, the Pharisees had no imagination, no heart, therefore no wisdom, no discernment, no profitable knowledge. No doubt they KNEW the law in their mind but since they had NO LOVE in their hearts, they crucified the King of Glory, God’s anointed Savior. “Glory” means God’s absolute unmeasurable goodness. Can you imagine missing that one?
Hebrews 10:22 "Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, HAVING OUR HEARTS SPRINKLED CLEAN from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."
Your Grace Awakening will happen in YOUR HEART; if you don’t lose heart, it will eventually renew your mind and head to.
Galatians 6:9 "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary."
2 Corinthians 4:16 "Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day."
John 14:1 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.
This article is the first of four parts. Find convenient access to all four articles below:
About the Author:
Craig Rogers
Grace Coach
Craig Rogers has been a Christ-centered leader in the...
Craig Rogers has been a Christ-centered leader in the behavioral health industry for the past 25 plus years. Craig Rogers is an...
