Imagination of the Heart, Part 2 of 2.

I'll not post any of my devotionals again until February 24th. Enjoy the continued study on the imagination of the heart.
Nate
Part 2 of 2.

Surround yourself with encouraging people…people who believe in you. Use your unique gifts and talents for His glory.

• As Steve pointed out in our first lesson, “Your problem is, you keep telling your imagination to the wrong people. See if you want to kill a big dream, tell it to a small-minded person. It’s dead. How many times…have you had a tremendous idea? Something you thought was the one, and you went and told it to your loved ones and your so-called friends and they shot it down. I mean you was convinced that it was just, oh man, it just came to you, and you told it to them and they shot it down. And you thought since they was your loved ones and your friends and they got your best interest at heart you believe them, you was wrong…you let them talk you out of what God got for you.”
• In Henry Drummonds book The Greatest Thing in the World, he states that, “You will find, if you think for a moment, that the people who influence you are people who believe in you. In an atmosphere of suspicion men shrivel up; but in that atmosphere they expand, and find encouragement and educative fellowship…And if we try to influence or elevate others, we shall soon see that success is in proportion to their belief or our belief in them. The respect of another is the first restoration of the self-respect a man has lost; our ideal of what he is becomes to him the hope and pattern of what he may become.” (page 34).

 
For further study on the Imagination…
Growing up we’ve all been encouraged by teachers and parents to use our imagination.
In athletics we use our imagination during the off season, practices, pregames, etc.
Here are some examples of Free Time where our imaginations tend to kick in most often: On Computers, On Phones, Time at the Pool / Beach, Watching Movies, Listening to Music / watching Music Videos, Binging on TV Series, Involved in Art (posters, t-shirts, etc.), Parties coming up, Anything that involves “doing” (an activity) has the potential for our minds to aimlessly wander away from our goal of bringing Glory to God.
School: Studying for tests, working on projects, etc.
What can we fill our minds with? What ideas can occupy our minds?
So what do you think of when you hear the term “imagination”?

• Here are a few definitions from The American Heritage Dictionary…
  • Image- A reproduction of the appearance of someone or something; especially, a sculptured likeness.
  • Imagine- To form a mental picture or image of; create in the mind.
  • Imagination- The formation of a mental image or concept of that which is not real or present…fantasy…imagination given free rein; especially to elaborate mental representation having little similarity to the real world.

Below are some Cautions and Facts about the power contained in the Imaginations of mankind:

• Be sure that your imagination is in line with God’s preferred will for your life.
  • What you dream or fantasize about may very likely be completely out of His will for any of His followers. So just because you imagine something doesn’t mean it must be God’s will for you. Again, take ever thought and imagination captive.
  • 2 Corinthians 10:5 (KJV) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
  • Align your desires with His desires (Proverbs 10:24; Psalm 20:4; Psalm 21:2; Psalm 37:4;  Psalm 145:19).
  • Ariticle: How can I know if the desires of my heart are from God?
• Resist excuses for not using your imagination.
  • Many a people are full of excuses, lazy, and live in fear of failure. It’s easier to not try, then it is to explore what God has for them.
  • Moses using his lack of eloquent speech as an excuse not to accept God’s will for him. Moses asked God to use his brother Aaron instead. Moses missed out (Exodus 4:1-17).
  • The masters servants were entrusted with his property. The unfaithful/disobedient servant chose to hide / bury his talents (Matthew 25:14-30).
• Don’t walk by sight. Step out in Faith (the unseen).
  • 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV) For we walk by faith, not by sight.
  • Doesn’t mean that we can’t be discerning.
  • Allow your continued perseverance, availability and faithfulness to Him to prepare you for what He has for you in the days, months and years ahead.
    • Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
    • Isaiah 6:8 (NLT) Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.”
    • Hymn: I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go (Lyrics)

It may not be on the mountain height
Or over the stormy sea,
It may not be at the battle’s front
My Lord will have need of me.
But if, by a still, small voice he calls
To paths that I do not know,
I’ll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in thine:
I’ll go where you want me to go.
(Chorus)
I’ll go where you want me to go, dear Lord,
Over mountain or plain or sea;
I’ll say what you want me to say, dear Lord;
I’ll be what you want me to be.
Perhaps today there are loving words
Which Jesus would have me speak;
There may be now in the paths of sin
Some wand’rer whom I should seek.
O Savior, if thou wilt be my guide,
Tho dark and rugged the way,
My voice shall echo the message sweet:
I’ll say what you want me to say.
(Chorus)
There’s surely somewhere a lowly place
In earth’s harvest fields so wide
Where I may labor through life’s short day
For Jesus, the Crucified.
So trusting my all to thy tender care,
And knowing thou lovest me,
I’ll do thy will with a heart sincere:
I’ll be what you want me to be.
(Chorus)

• Imaginations are connected to the heart in Scripture. Heart and mind mean the same thing.
  
• Imaginations are seen and known by the One who created the heart (mind)…God. He is our Creator and nothing about us is a secret to Him. He understands and knows that the imagination is evil in nature. He knows our every thought and intent. He even knows when our evil imaginations are used against Him.
  • Genesis 6:5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. KJV
  • Deuteronomy 31:21 And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware. KJV
  • 1 Chronicles 28:9 And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever. KJV
  • Job 21:27 Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me. KJV
  • Nahum 1:9 What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time. KJV
  • Nahum 1:11 There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the LORD, a wicked counsellor. KJV
•  Imaginations can be placed and prepared in our hearts by God. He can cause this to happen by way of placing thoughts and circumstances in our lives.
  • 1 Chronicles 29:18 O LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee: KJV
• Imaginations are developed at a young age.
  • Genesis 8:21 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. KJV
• Imaginations can be distorted and confusing. What we allow our eyes to see affects our imagination. Imaginations can enter our mind by what we see.          
  • Proverbs 23:33 Your eyes will see strange sights, and your mind will imagine confusing things. NIV
• Imaginations develop through premeditation.
  • What does it mean to premeditate?
    • Premeditation to do that which is evil/wicked and mischievous in nature.
    • Genesis 50:20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. ESV
    • Psalm 140:2 Which imagine mischiefs in their heart; continually are they gathered together for war. KJV
    • Proverbs 6:18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, KJV
    • Psalm 38:12 They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day long. KJV
    • Psalm 62:3 How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? ye shall be slain all of you: as a bowing wall shall ye be, and as a tottering fence. KJV
  • Premeditated imaginations are limitless.
    • Genesis 11:6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. KJV
    • Psalm 73:7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity ; their evil imaginations have no limits. NIV
  • Premeditation to do evil against just our ememies.
    • Psalm 21:11 For they intended evil against thee: they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform. KJV
  • Premeditation to do evil against our brothers and sisters in the Lord.
    • Zechariah 7:10 And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart. KJV
    • Zechariah 8:17 And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the LORD. KJV
  • Most disgustingly, premeditation to do evil against our Creator.
    • Job 21:27 Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me. KJV
    • Nahum 1:9 What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time. KJV
    • Nahum 1:11 There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil against the LORD, a wicked counsellor. KJV
    • Lamentations 3:60 Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me. KJV
    • Hosea 7:15 Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me. KJV
• Imaginations can be self-created.
  • Jeremiah 23:17 They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you. KJV
• Imaginations can be deceitful and misleading…that which is contrary to peace and joy.
  • Psalm 38:12 They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day long. KJV
  • Proverbs 12:20 Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil: but to the counsellors of peace is joy. KJV
  • Jeremiah 7:24 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward. KJV
  • Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? KJV
• Imaginations can become of way of living/acted out.
  • Isaiah 65:2 All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations— NIV
  • Jeremiah 11:8 Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do: but they did them not. KJV
  • Jeremiah 18:12 And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart. KJV
  • Lamentations 3:61 Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their imaginations against me; KJV
  • Does my mind have a “delete forever” option in it? Therefore, what I accept/enter into my mind holds a place there while in our unglorified bodies. We don’t so easily grow out of our imaginations. They can haunt us spiritually for a very long time.
  • Committing the impossible. Something you said you’d never give into has now become a single act or an everyday way of living for you.
• Imaginations can block out wisdom.
  • Jeremiah 16:12 And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me: KJV
• Imaginations can get us off the spiritual track.
  • Jeremiah 13:10 This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing. KJV
• Imaginations can lead to idol worship.
  • Jeremiah 9:14 But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them: KJV
  • The imagination without discernment can cause some to join cults, accept false beliefs, and accept false religions, which have incorrect views of God and salvation.
  • Image- Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” NIV
  • Exodus 32:1-4 story of The Golden Calf 1 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” 2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” NIV
  • Created in His image (character) yet we use the mind our Creator gave us to create images/idols/imaginations contrary to our Creator.
• Imaginations can be worthless/empty (in vain).
  • Psalm 2:1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? KJV
  • Acts 4:25 Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? KJV
  • Romans 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. KJV
• Imaginations can backfire on us.
  • Psalm 10:2 The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined. KJV
• Imaginations lead to destinations.
  • Luke 1:51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. KJV
• Imaginations should be self-examined on a regular basis.
  • Deuteronomy 29:19 And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: KJV
  • 1 Kings 8:38…each one knows the plague of his own heart…NKJV 
• Imaginations that are evil can be left behind (dealt with/taken care of).
  • Jeremiah 3:17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. KJV

How can I train or control my imagination? Or, with so much going on around us how can we prevent feeding our fleshly/evil imaginations?

• Hebrews 12:1 (NLT) Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.
  
• 2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; KJV
  
• Deuteronomy 6:5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. NIV
  
• Deuteronomy 13:3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. NIV
  
• Mark 12:30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ NIV
• Psalm 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer. NKJV
• First Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing. KJV
• Second Timothy 2:22 Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts. NLT
• Bouncing eyes and ears - Proverbs 4:27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil. KJV
• Read and Study God’s Word - 2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. KJV
• 1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: KJV
• Acts 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. KJV
• Become heavily involved in ministry (if qualified…some responsibilities are menial for a reason).
• Church attendance - Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. KJV
• Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Ephesians 6:16-17 - Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
• Titus 1:15 Everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure. But nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, because their minds and consciences are corrupted. 2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. NLT 2 Peter 3:3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. NIV
• Ephesians 4:17-23 (ESV) The New Life 17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,

Does my heart/mind/thoughts/imagination reflect / align with my father’s (God or Satan) heart/mind/thoughts/imaginations?
Song: “I can only imagine” by Mercy Me (Here’s a wholesome thought/song to think on).
Hymn: Nothing between (www.hymnsite.com)
1.            Nothing between my soul and my Savior,
               naught of this world's delusive dream;
               I have renounced all sinful pleasure;
               Jesus is mine, there's nothing between.
Refrain:
               Nothing between my soul and my Savior,
               so that his blessed face may be seen;
               nothing preventing the least of his favor;
               keep the way clear! let nothing between.
 
2.            Nothing between, like worldly pleasure;
               habits of life, though harmless they seem,
               must not my heart from him ever sever;
               he is my all, there's nothing between.
3.            Nothing between, like pride or station;
               self or friends shall not intervene;
               though it may cost me much tribulation,
               I am resolved, there's nothing between.
 
4.            Nothing between, e'en many hard trials,
               though the whole world against me convene;
               watching with prayer and much self denial,
               I'll triumph at last, there's nothing between.

Hymn: Search me O God (www.cyberhymnal.org)
Search me, O God,
And know my heart today;
Try me, O Savior,
Know my thoughts, I pray.
See if there be
Some wicked way in me;
Cleanse me from every sin
And set me free.
I praise Thee, Lord,
For cleansing me from sin;
Fulfill Thy Word,
And make me pure within.
Fill me with fire
Where once I burned with shame;
Grant my desire
To magnify Thy Name.
Lord, take my life,
And make it wholly Thine;
Fill my poor heart
With Thy great love divine.
Take all my will,
My passion, self and pride;
I now surrender, Lord
In me abide.
O Holy Ghost,
Revival comes from Thee;
Send a revival,
Start the work in me.
Thy Word declares
Thou wilt supply our need;
For blessings now,
O Lord, I humbly plead.