Imagination — Hope
When imagination and excitement are mixed together, you will either not notice obstacles or they will be largely diminished—and, therefore, your courage will increase! This is important to remember as you pursue your God-given purpose.
Now, let’s jump into a short study on “imagination” and “hope.” Why? Because we believe you can take ALL the scriptures on “hope” and relate them to a “positive imagination.” We believe as you move along in this study, that you will begin to realize that imagination is the part of our mind where we give birth to or conceive things.
Imagination can be used both positively and negatively. As we move on in our study, we will discover that the word “imagination” in the Bible is used almost exclusively in a negative way. But, the word “hope,” while defined similarly, is the Biblical definition of a “positive imagination.”
Think about this: the imagination is the part of our mind where we give birth to ideas. That’s why it’s important to keep our imaginations focused on the Lord. This will help keep us in perfect peace. Let’s look at the notes on Isaiah 26:3. You’ll find them below.
Now let’s look at the definition of imagination. Imagination is “the power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses.” (Merriam-Webster). It’s the ability to see things in your heart that you can’t see with your eyes. Hope is seeing things that can’t be seen. It’s seeing on the inside what you can’t see on the outside. Both definitions are talking about seeing something that is not visible to your 5 senses.
Now, let’s look at Paul. Paul was faced with many challenges because of the abundance of revelation he’d received (2 Cor. 12:2). How did Paul handle these challenges? Paul shrunk his problems down to a manageable size.
How? By (1) realizing all his problems here were temporary, (2) recognizing there were rewards awaiting him for enduring hardship in this life, and (3) focusing his attention away from carnal thinking toward spiritual thinking. He didn’t focus on the physical, temporary things of this world. He was more focused on the eternal, intangible things of the spiritual realm. That’s the difference between Paul and many Christians and other people today.
This is an important key. We can never be truly happy or effective if we are focused on this physical life only. Face it: carnal life is terminal. Life can be hard. But when we factor in eternity and all the wonderful things God has awaiting us, this physical life becomes a stepping-stone to something awesome! Let’s allow this knowledge to permeate everything we do and think upon. Why? Read on.
God made man with six senses: our 5 physical senses plus a spiritual sense: a direct spiritual connection called faith! Unsaved people have all degenerated since the fall to where this sixth sense of faith is similar to their appendixes. But in the new birth, this faith is once again quickened – made to come alive – and as born-again believers, we can walk by faith.
Moving along in this study, Paul spoke of the glory that is in each and every believer in Rom. 8:17. A day is coming when we will all receive our glorified bodies and renewed souls! That’s exciting! These new glorified bodies and renewed souls we will be receiving are because we are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ as Paul stated.
This is the hope to which Paul was referring to in Romans 8:24. And as long as we are alive in these bodies we will see varying degrees of the complete manifestation of this wonderful hope! That’s powerful! It’s our “blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation!…”
Now, let’s get a little taste of what we will be studying as we move along. That’s Isaiah 26:3. This scripture clearly links our peace to keeping our minds stayed on and trusting in God. Think about it. Peace is an emotion. So, this is revealing to us that our emotions follow what we are thinking about.