Imagination

Greetings Friend.

My suggestion is to meditate through the below in an atmosphere of quietness.

Regarding your Imagination: Does your imagination serve your godly passions and desires or do you often (it may seem) awaken to yourself and find that you’ve been on a road of imaginative thoughts which, in and of themselves, could be identified as unholy, earthly, of the flesh, or even demonic? Friend, you and I need not be subject to an ungodly imagination, but we often remain so for long periods of time. Recognize this and change. Force your imagination to serve you, to lift you into God’s presence, to behold the glories and graces of God, to manifest to your mind—by the Spirit—the inheritance of the saints. Do not live as a slave to your corrupt imagination, whereby the bulk of your idle time consists in nurturing unholy contemplations, when you’ve been made a child of the King!

Consider the following hymn and how godly imagination works for you and presents to you the objects described.


“Now let our souls, on wings sublime, rise from the vanities of time,
Draw back the parting vail, and see the glories of eternity.

Born by a new, celestial birth, why should we grovel here on earth?
Why grasp at vain and fleeting toys, so near to heaven’s eternal joys?

Shall aught beguile us on the road while we are walking back to God?
For strangers into life we come, and dying is but going home.

Welcome, sweet hour of full discharge, that sets our longing souls at large,
Unbinds our chains, breaks up our cell, and gives us with our God to dwell.

To dwell with God, to feel his love, is the full heaven enjoyed above;
And the sweet expectation now is the young dawn of heaven below.”

(Rev. Dr. Thomas Gibbons, d. 1785)


Imagination can work for you and present to you. Perhaps while reading the above hymn one verse or another attracted your thoughts above the others. The first? Maybe the second? Perhaps imagination lifted up to you an idea instead, such as the difference between “vanities of time” and “heaven’s eternal joys,” or “walking back to God” or “dying is but going home.” Friend, permit me to ask, do you have times during each day where your mind and heart employ imagination’s craft for a journey into “the expectation of entering” into God’s full presence when your life here is done? Consider the below and let imagination serve you.


“COURAGE IN THE DAY OF JUDGMENT”

“Have we not often imagined that redeemed souls must have a strange meeting at the judgment, when the secrets of hearts shall be revealed? Is the prospect of it altogether welcome to us? It has been said that, if in this world every man’s heart could be open to the gaze of every other man, no two could ever again be friends, for no two could look each other in the eye. How, then, will our self-respect bear the last ordeal? The beloved apostle gives us the answer. ‘God dwelleth in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. We know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is so are we.’ If we indeed know this, why should we not be bold?

In that day, we shall revere in others the clear image of God, wrought by God’s own hand. They will revere the same in us. We shall meet each other without a blush. Some of our departed kindred have been glorified so long before us, that we are apt to think of them as vastly our superiors. Their distance from us, which years are lengthening, disheartens us. But we shall overtake them, and that will be no crestfallen meeting. We shall receive their welcome without confusion. We shall not fear their secret contempt when they take us by the hand. Their greetings will have no hollow sound. The salutations of angels will not abash us. The morning stars, which exult in a sinless history of thousands of years, will not look chillingly upon us. Gabriel, Michael, the seven spirits before the throne, will not recognize us haughtily. Even the eye of the Infinite One will not close itself in disgust at our appearing. It shall search us,—He that formed the eye, shall not he see?—it shall search us indeed, but as light searches a prism. It shall find only itself reflected at every angle, and in a radiance of beauty which nothing but itself could evoke.

(Austin Phelps, The New Birth: or, The Work of the Holy Spirit, 1867, p. 227-229)


Does what you just read prompt you to consider (Imagine) any possibilities for your first moments in God’s presence after your earthly life ends, when you depart this world and join the heavenly community, when you become fully aware of yourself in the way God knows you, when you cannot escape the realization of all God has been to you? Give room for your imagination to roam above earth’s dusty ways to spheres where all is filled with nothing less than divine praise! Do you ever go there? Would going there even briefly each day make any difference for your life now—the anticipation of joining the heavenly throng?

Imagination can work for you and present to you. But, imagination can also make the godly expressions of saints from times past yours in times present. Imagination can help you see differences for your life now and lift you into the life to come. Imagination can let you see and share in what another has seen. The hymn below can be yours. As you read it, read it from your perspective, not the author’s. Be the subject. Use your imagination to see what another has seen and go where it leads.

Once you experience the cherished benefits of godly imagination, you’ll not again submit yourself (for long) to the wiles and ways of that which can easily enslave you to corruption. Use your imagination to your advantage and God’s honor.

God’s best to you.


“How bright these glorious spirits shine! Whence all their white array?
How came they to the blissful seats of everlasting day?

Lo! These are they from sufferings great who came to realms of light,
And in the blood of Christ have washed those robes which shine so bright.

Now, with triumphal palms, they stand before the throne on high,
And serve the God they love, amid the glories of the sky.

His presence fills each heart with joy, tunes every voice to sing;
By day, by night, the sacred courts with glad hosannas ring.

The Lamb that dwells amid the throne, shall o’er them still preside,
Feed them with nourishment divine, and all their footsteps guide.

In pastures green he’ll lead his flock, where living streams appear;
And God, the Lord, from every eye, shall wipe off every tear.”

(Isaac Watts, d. 1748)

Acknowledging And Mending The Drift

We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. (Heb 2:1) See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. (Heb 3:12) For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. (Heb 4:2, 14-15)


Drifting. We can drift. God’s word informs us to be on guard for this. Drifting away from God is a fact. The movement would be hardly noticeable; lost in the confusion and business of our daily lives. It would seem to happen without our choice. We would fault business and distraction, anything but ourselves. But, I fear, it is because we make certain choices and because we have not paid careful attention that we actually drift. What does your life tell you? Have you drifted? Do you and I care for and safe guard that which God has bestowed on us, what we have heard from Him? How could we tell? What would you and I use to know? Are you in any way adrift right now?

Unbelieving. If you have drifted, thus no longer believing and living as you once might have (especially regarding foundational aspects of the Christian faith and their influence on your life), perhaps you’ve drifted to the point where there has even been an unfortunate, yet defining, turn away from God Himself. If honest, I trust you would see and confess this. Reader, do you believe you have drifted from God and now evidence aspects of an unbelieving life? To what degree? Have you drifted so far that the shore of God’s presence is no longer even in sight? What does your life say? Are you in any way unbelieving?

Friend, I, like so many others, waiver in my love for God and my love for people, my relation to God’s word, and actually living God’s word. Living by principles other than God’s love (generally, the alternative is self-interest) my heart is not always toward God or His word. Thus, I’m adrift. My mooring is undone. I move across the sea of my emotions, fears, memories, self-interest, finding in every place the world’s affirmation that “this way” of moving through life is valid and justified. Yet, drifting on the world’s currents leads to compounding confusion created by ungodly thoughts and passions, thereby fostering and strengthening my life of unbelief. It is an ugly and completely ungodly place to expect to find one’s self and try to live life from. My heart grows colder this way. I feel further separated from God and others, and I as a natural course take greater refuge in the citadel of my fleshly soul (alone, yet perversely comforted that I’m with me). I’m left to myself and the world’s spirit (which can also, and only, be cold). God does not redeem people to live adrift, to live in unbelief, to live separated to self. This is not why He gave His Son.

You and I are weak, friend, with respect to our paying attention, safeguarding godly beliefs which become godly lives, and living out godly love. We are not careful. We so commonly do not combine what of God we hear with the faith we’ve been granted as a gift, thus we don’t experience true godly life. Neither do others through us. We need to confess this sad condition when we find it. Then again, perhaps I am alone on this. Perhaps it is only me who experiences these unfortunate states. But, I believe otherwise. I believe both you and I are together subject to unbelief, to drifting, to turning away from God. We are casualties of all these conditions, because of our insufficient care and concern for our hearts, we don’t believe God, and we do not live from the principle of God’s love.

But Jesus knows you are tempted to live in ways that cool your godly affections and ignite fleshly fires. You must be aware that Jesus continually knows your condition. He knows you better than you know yourself. And He cares. If you have been reconciled to the Father through Christ, He is not your enemy. When we are faithless, He remains faithful. Thus, you and I should be easily compelled to live constantly on guard, and know when drifting and unbelief have occurred, then seek Christ, confessing to Him what He already knows about us. Again, there are no grounds for fear at this point, unless one is not being truly honest with God or has never encountered His grace.

Father above, where Christ Your Son is stationed at Your side, You love me and those reconciled to You through Your Son. You gave us Your Son and Your word, so we can know You and sufficiently know ourselves and preserve the wonder of life with You throughout our earthly days. You’ve warned me to watch my heart. You’ve told me I’m subject to doubting You. You’ve clearly told me I can drift, become totally turned away from You through my unbelief and sin, my alternate desire then being to live by self-rule or that of the world. But I have a confidence, Father. My confidence is in Your Son, the very one seated to Your right. You see Him, hear Him, and You love Him. Lord Jesus, as my great high priest, as my confidence, as my advocated before Your Father and my Father, You always know my condition. Turn me back toward You. Take me away from that which I have set as god for myself. Restore the notion and reality of Your love to me and let that reality anchor my soul sufficiently to prevent the drift again. Restore Your word as light for my life. May Your word always find union with faith in my heart and may my life thus bear lasting fruit to Thee and benefit others. Forgive me Father for not believing You. May I pay more careful attention and honor all You have provided me through Your Son. Thanks be to You Father, Lord Jesus, and Spirit of God. Amen.


“Jesus, seek thy wandering sheep;
Bring me back, and lead, and keep;
Take on thee my every care,
Bear me, on thy bosom bear;
Let me know my Shepherd’s voice,
More and more in thee rejoice;
More and more of thee receive;
Ever in thy spirit live,--

Live till all thy life I know,
Foll’wing thee, my Lord, below;
Gladly then from earth remove,
Gathered to thy fold above:
Oh, that I at last my stand
With the sheep at they right hand,
Take the crown so freely given,
Enter in by thee to heaven!”

(author believed to be Charles Wesley)

Your Goodness

“How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you. In the shelter of your presence you hide them.” (PS 31.19-20)

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.’” (Rev 21.3; see Eph 2:19-22, Jn 14:23)

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” (Jn 14.16-17) “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (14.27)

“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” (Jn 15.11) “I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.” (Jn 16.20, 22) "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (33)

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (Jn 17.20-21)


Father, Your word and Your Son speak encouragements to me. The world could never fill my ear nor set my heart with such wonderful words! O Lord, I trust in Your goodness. You are my refuge. Your presence is my peace. You are with me. You assure me. As it was with the apostles, so it is with me. You have graciously and freely given me your Spirit of Truth. The world knows him not. You understand me. The world does not. You are my peace. The world is not. The world rejoices to see you gone, but for me you are ever present and your joy I know and keep. These blessings they cannot know. These they do not want to know. Thank You, O God, for permitting me to know You, to experience Your presence, Your joy, Your peace.

I am encouraged and strengthened. Jesus, you prayed for me when you prayed for your disciples. You had me in mind. I rejoice and am grateful for your love and care, and for your faithfulness to the Father. Because of your life with and in me, you say the world, as blind and evil as it is, can know the Father sent you. Thus my prayer. This is my heart’s desire confessed to you. Without you I am nothing and can do nothing worthy of your name. Father, Lord Jesus, Spirit of God, as I rest in You, and You abide with me, may I realize Your presence and goodness more consistently and fully day after day, and may some from the world come to know, Father, that Jesus is your Son and that he was sent by You into the world as Your revelation to humanity. In gratitude for all You are to me, may my life please bear witness to You in this world. Amen