If you had one question to ask God what would it be? What profound thought would you desire to be answered? I'm frequently caught in deep thought pondering about God and his ways. I lose myself over and over again in his greatness. Sometimes as I begin to travel deeper in thought about God I begin to ask questions, questions that lay buried within my heart for quite some time, questions that I thought were placed away forever in the corner closet of the attic within me. In Matthew chapter 22 the Pharisees united together to come up with what they thought was an exceptionally complex question so that they may try to trap Jesus in his words. After agreeing on a question they sent an expert in the Law to Jesus asking him more or less; “Out of all the things that God has ever said, which is the most important?” Jesus replied; “Love the lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with your entire mind and the second is like it; love you neighbor as yourself.”
I believe that three universe exist; the universe that we live in, the universe of God, and the universe within us. The universe within us or our “inner universe” comprises entirely all of our thoughts, our imaginations and everything that intertwines through us. But more importantly it combines two universes together: our inner universe and the universe that we live in. The object of successful living is to learn to live abundantly by combining all three universes together. When a person can utterly overflow their inner universe and their outer universe with the universe of God, then and only then will they finally live life to the fullest.
The Proverbs say; “as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Our imaginations are not just a place where we can day dream or a place where we can lose ourselves to a mystical world; it’s so much more than that. Our imagination is a gift given to us by God and its part of the human essence that allows us to dream and create inside of us an inner universe that actually has an effect on our outer universe. Jeremiah 33:3 says; “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” God is saying; “if you just come and have a conversation with me, if you just invite me into your daily life, if you call to me, I will tell you things that go beyond your wildest imaginations, things that people dream to know.” I love this cause it tells us that once we allow God to converse with us in every aspect of our lives he begins to expand our minds and begins to teach us his ways. He is saying that if you invite him in your every thought HE will erase the boundaries of everything that you have ever thought was possible or probable and allow you to see life in an entirely new way… the way HE sees it. By allowing God in your conversations he will begin to expand your mind with understanding and knowledge of love, hope, faith, truth and ALL that partakes of the spirit.
There is a parallel verse to Jeremiah 33:3 and its found in Ephesians 3:20, it says; “now to him who could do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generation, forever and ever amen.”
I think that the human imagination was created by God, designed in us so that God can in a sense have a playground or maybe a workroom where he can begin to speak within us and give us a picture of our lives and of humanity. I also believe that he gave us our imagination so that we may see a picture of the future or what the world would look like if we just connect with him or affiliate with him and his power so that he can create that particular reality through our hands? The truth is that when we allow God into our minds and into our hearts he broadens our imagination and views on everything, allowing us to see through his perspective… is it possible that there are things going on around you that you simply can’t see because you just don’t have the eyes to see them? Is it possible that what God wants to do in your life is not only to expand your imagination, your dreams, faith, and hope but is it possible that he also wants you to see more as well? Is it possible that He just wants you to begin to see the invisible as the visible? Is it possible that God has been and still is actively working all around you every second of your life but you have not developed the capacity to see him? It’s through the human imagination that God gives us the capacity to connect the visible to the invisible.
A part of the human brain is to create imaginations but the other part is the will. In psalms 73 Asaph says; “and the evil imaginations of their hearts and minds know no limits…” the problem with all crimes or wrong doings is that the people who committed the wrong, let that ‘wrong thought’ evolve within their imagination. Maybe there were times in your lives where you trusted and loved someone but they brought so much pain and hurt, so much betrayal and disappointment to you but what hurt you the most was that you never imagined them to do anything like that... the problem is that before it ever even happened, it was imagined.
Whenever God gives us a gift of great value and essence it can always become a curse… Part of the dynamic of the human imagination is that we can choose which way to go within it. You can take your imagination to destruction, violence and evil, you can take it to places that are seemingly unimaginable. We have been given the choice on how to live our lives.
The universe that you create in your imagination is the universe that will hold you captive. Our imagination holds us responsible to do what we want with our WILL. But there is this difficulty between imagination and WILL; believe it or not every time you imagine, it’s actually your WILL choosing where it wants to go… it’s completely engaged in this internal universe. Scriptures tell us so as a person thinks in their hearts that’s who they are because when you are inside your heart, your mind, imagination and your dreams, you are creating not just the world that you will live in but also you are creating the YOU that will live in this world. And inside this created universe your WILL is the creative agent. And as you create this world your ‘WILL’ will choose what to take into the world of reality. Your ‘WILL’ determines what to take from the invisible to the visible… Genesis 4 gives us a conversation found within the life story of Cain and Able. I think that this passage is some of the greatest insight from God on what happens when we allow our minds to go wild. God said to Cain; “why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door, it desires to have you but you must master it.” The human imagination is the playground or workroom where we can create our universe. But our will is what God has given us to ensure that we can have mastery over our imagination and it’s what our imagination steers into reality. God was saying to Cain, “Cain why are you angry, why are you letting yourself get upset? Cain why are you acting like you do not have a choice?!! If you do what is right, it’s not too late for you. You know what to do; you know how to do it and your capable of it. You must choose to be the master of your imagination.
