February 11th.
IS YOUR HOPE IN GOD FAINT AND DYING?
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose imagination is stayed on Thee." Isaiah 26:3 (R. V. marg.)
Is your imagination stayed on God or is it starved? The starvation of the imagination is one of the most fruitful sources of exhaustion and sapping in a worker's life. If you have never used your imagination to put yourself before God, begin to do it now. It is no use waiting for God to come; you must put your imagination away from the face of idols and look unto Him and be saved. Imagination is the greatest gift God has given us and it ought to be devoted entirely to Him. If you have been bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, it will be one of the greatest assets to faith when the time of trial comes, because your faith and the Spirit of God will work together. Learn to associate ideas worthy of God with all that happens in Nature - the sunrises and the sunsets, the sun and the stars, the changing seasons, and your imagination will never be at the mercy of your impulses, but will always be at the service of God.
"We have sinned with our fathers; . . . and have forgotten" - then put a stiletto in the place where you have gone to sleep. "God is not talking to me just now," but He ought to be. Remember Whose you are and Whom you serve. Provoke yourself by recollection, and your affection for God will increase tenfold; your imagination will not be starved any longer, but will be quick and enthusiastic, and your hope will be inexpressibly bright.
This little essay unlocks many doors in my thinking. Instead of imagining road blocks, I can use the gift of imagination to reveal God's perspective. If all things work for good, then I can expect that my imaginings are more than just wishful thinking. The larger self that Chambers often describes is set free by imagining God's will instead of my will. On the other hand, when I use my imagination to picture events that I am afraid will happen, I am using my imagination powerfully against His Kingdom.
The problem with "realists" is that they are bound by what the world says is common sense. Imagination is locked up as a tool for creating. By choosing this perspective, reasonable thinkers of this type scoff at the claims of those who have flown higher than people are supposed to be able to fly. Because they won't allow their imaginations to join you, they insist that you are making it all up. There isn't any dissuading them from this perspective because, once they have chosen this perspective, they are unable to see anything else. C.S. Lewis describes this phenomenon beautifully at the end of the last Chronicle of Narnia. A group of dwarfs have reached paradise but because they don't believe paradise is possible, they are unable to see anything other than the inside of a dark and smelly barn. No discussion is possible because the thinking of those who have chosen to tap into the power of the universe as manifested in their larger selves becomes nonsense to anyone who stands in a different place. "It's all make-believe," they say.
Therefore, arguing is pointless. There is no proof that will persuade someone who stands in a different place. There is no basis for discussion. The usual outcome is that one or both parties will become frustrated and defensive and will start to call names or resort to ridicule. Neither side makes sense to the other but both sides are prone to take the position that no reasonable person could possibly believe what the other side believes.
For example, to a believer--especially one whose imagination is free to soar to new perspectives without fear--the world might have been created by an artistic gardener who still tends the garden and, while giving us the freedom to pout and be fearful, helps us learn to unlock ourselves if we are willing. The more the imagination is allowed to consider such thoughts, if the thoughts are true, the more sensible they seem. Not only that, power is unleashed by such thinking that makes going back to the original doubting, fearful perspective seem absurd. Why would anyone do that? Hence the umbrage taken by sensible doubters who feel put out by such a position.
Once I begin to imagine in a new direction, I can tell when I'm on the right track because the Holy Spirit begins to aid my thinking. Ideas flow more quickly and my mind jumps to joyful outcomes instead of to fearful ones. Imagination unlocks the gift of prophecy and I can see where the Lord wants me to go instead of where I would go if seized by fear:
"The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever."
Psalm 23
These words become true as you say and think them! Unspeakable power!
IF . . . You are unlocked.
Thinking in this manner allows one to re-frame problems into opportunities. This sort of re-framing unlocks the power of possibility. Rosamund and Ben Zander describe it this way in their book, "The Art of Possibility:"
Here is an example of a leader, framing possibility, offering a new way for us to define ourselves. Nelson Mandela is reported to have addressed these words of Marianne Williamson to the world at large.
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate,
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous—
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people
Won’t feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some of us: it is in everyone,
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously
Give other people Permission to do the same.
The doubter would say, "How can you assume such a position? How can you make yourself brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous just by imagining it?"
The believer will say, "How can I ignore the wonderful power that rushes through me when I hear or read these words? How can I ignore the resonance of my larger self?"
The doubter: "How can you even prove that you have a larger self?"
The believer: "I can just feel it. Why can't you feel it too?"
And so it goes.
No comments:
Post a Comment