January 1, 2010
In addition to memorizing the Word, we need to learn to visualize it. What would a safe place in God look like? There is one description I like in Exodus regarding Moses. God said, "There is a place by me and you will stand upon a rock. I will put you in a cleft of the rock and I will cover you with my hand while I pass by." I can easily picture that in my mind. I see a high cliff with a special place carved out for me in the side where I can stay as long as I want. I can make it be anything I want it to be. It could be like a little cave-like house there in the side of the cliff. There is a giant hand over the opening shielding me from anything that would try to come against me to destroy me.
It is in our mind that the battle rages. If we can stay in peace and calm in our mind, we can remain in the presence of the Lord, for he is peace. It is only by his presence that I can experience peace and by visualizing Scripture, his presence is strongly with me. It is much more than just a mind thing, it actually brings his presence to us.
Oswald Chambers wrote of the importance of using our imagination with his comments regarding Isaiah 26:3, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind (imagination) is stayed on thee:”
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. (Chambers February 11)
In another entry, Chambers again speaks of the imagination as related to a passage in Isaiah 40:26, “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things:”
The people of God in Isaiah’s day had starved their imagination by looking on the face of idols, and Isaiah made them look up at the heavens, that is, he made them begin to use their imagination aright…
The test of spiritual concentration is bringing the imagination into captivity. Is your imagination looking on the face of an idol? Is the idol yourself: Your work?...If your imagination is starved, do not look back to your own experience; it is God Whom you need. Go right out of yourself, away from the face of your idols, away from everything that has been starving your imagination. Rouse yourself, take the gift that Isaiah gave the people, and deliberately turn your imagination to God.
One of the reasons of stultification in prayer is that there is no imagination, no power of putting ourselves deliberately before God…Imagination is the power God gives a saint to posit himself out of himself into relationships he never was in. (Chambers February 10)
The Bible has much to say about the imagination. For example, Paul prayed in Ephesians 1:18 that the eyes of our understanding would be enlightened. The Greek word for “understanding” used here is dianoia, which also can be translated “imagination.” The Greek word for “enlightened,” photizo also means “made to see.” So Paul is actually praying for the eyes of our imagination to be made to see. Paul goes on to state what it is he is praying for us to see, “that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power…”
We are to visualize our self becoming all that Christ called us to be. He wants us to imagine the riches and glory of heaven and His power flowing out into our lives and the lives of those to whom we minister. We are daily bombarded with false images straight from the pit of hell via the newspapers, radio, TV, movies, etc. We must purposely push those images out of our mind and use our imagination to focus on The Real. We become that upon which we focus our mind and imagination.
Jesus says in John 14, "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know."
Jesus has a place for each of us right now in heaven. Heaven is not far away. It is very near to us but out of our sight, but the Bible says we are even now seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We are strangers and pilgrims on this earth but we are citizens of heaven right now. Our spirit is there with Jesus now. We can begin to visualize that mansion that is ours even now in heaven. I am not interested in a building. I am interested in Jesus. However, by visualizing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that heavenly building, it gives me a place to meet in my mind with Jesus. It is a place of relationship, of deep conversation (prayer) and a place of safety.
To be in the secret place is to be in a covered place. The Bible tells us we are to put on Christ. The Greek word for put enduo means to put on like a garment. When we put on clothing, we are covering our self. When we put on Christ, we cover our self with him and we are in the secret, covered place.
Colosians 3 tells us how to put on Christ. First we are to seek spiritual things rather than earthly, temporal things. We are to love and desire these higher spiritual things. How do we know whether or not we are seeking the higher spiritual things and just what are these higher things? To sum it all up, if we want to be like Christ and be in his presence more than anything else, then we are "setting our affections on things above rather than things on the earth" (Col. 3: 2). If we are doing this, then this passage goes on to say, we are dead and our life is hid with Christ in God.
There is a price to pay to be covered over with Christ and dwell in the secret place. We have to be dead to the things of this earth. If my thoughts, actions and priorities are centered in earthly things, then I am not dead to these lower things. If my priority list leaves no time for God, I can't be in the secret place.
If we profess to love Jesus more than anything else, but can't find the time for prayer and Bible study we are deceived. If something always comes up to keep us out of church and the small Christian groups to which we have professed commitment, there is probably something wrong with our priorities. If we have set our affections on things above rather than things on the earth, then our actions will demonstrate that this is true. Even though our salvation is a free gift from God, living in the secret place of the Most High, having my life hid with Christ in God, will cost me something…my very life. But there is a heavenly paradox here…as we die to self we find everlasting and abundant joy!
The Bible tells us we are to "put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual sin, impurity, lust, and shameful desires. Don't be greedy for the good things of this life, for that is idolatry. God's terrible anger will come upon those who do such things. You used to do them when your life was still part of this world. But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. Don't lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old evil nature and all its wicked deeds. In its place you have clothed yourselves with a brand-new nature that is continually being renewed as you learn more and more about Christ, who created this new nature within you…Since God chose you to be the holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. You must make allowance for each other's faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony" (NLT).
This passage from Colossians gives us a clear picture of what it means to put on Christ. We are putting on a new nature…the very nature of Christ. As we do so, we are in a covered place, a safe place. The more we become like Christ, the more secure we become as peace and joy flood our soul even in the midst of chaos. Picturing our self with Christ as we learn to use our imagination to focus on him, will help us come into that secret place of the Most High where we can dwell continually in the shadow of the Almighty.
May God bless you in this coming New Year as you focus the eyes of your heart upon him and learn to live in the