DAY 4: Two Imaginations
“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.” 2 Corinthians 10:5 KJV
“Imagination is the canvas of the heart. The question is not whether something is being painted there, but who is holding the brush.” — Dr. Daniel LeBlanc
Two Imaginations
Yesterday we discovered how God’s Word can become a picture within us. As we meditate upon truth, the Holy Spirit begins illuminating the Word and changing the way we see God, ourselves, our circumstances, and our future. But if God’s Word can paint a picture upon our imagination, we must also recognize that other voices are attempting to paint there as well.
Imagination itself is not evil. God created us with the ability to see inwardly, remember, dream, anticipate, meditate, and envision things that are not presently before our natural eyes. The issue is not whether we have an imagination. The issue is what is filling it, governing it, and directing it.
From the beginning, the enemy has understood the power of an inward picture. In the Garden of Eden, the serpent approached Eve with a question: “Has God indeed said?” Genesis 3:1 NKJV. Notice where the attack began. Before there was an act of disobedience, there was an attack against the Word of God and the picture Eve carried of God.
God had created humanity in His image and given mankind dominion in the earth. Adam and Eve were never intended to exercise authority independently of God. They were created to rule under His rule, exercising delegated authority while remaining submitted to Him.
When humanity rebelled against God, something devastating happened. Sin separated humanity from the life and fellowship God intended, but humanity also surrendered its God given position of authority by submitting to the voice of another. Instead of ruling under God, Adam and Eve allowed the serpent to influence them, and the one who had been called to exercise dominion came under the influence of the very enemy over whom he should have exercised authority.
Jesus came to deal with both problems. Through His death and resurrection, He dealt with the power of sin and defeated the powers of darkness. Scripture declares that He “disarmed principalities and powers” and “made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them.” Colossians 2:15 NKJV. We are no longer called to live as slaves to sin, fear, temptation, or the powers of darkness. In Christ, we are called to live from the victory He has already won.
This brings us to a challenging question. How can we expect to exercise God given authority in the earth if we are not even exercising authority over our own thoughts, desires, temptations, and imaginations? We speak about taking dominion, but many believers are still allowing fear to dominate their minds, lust to dominate their eyes, offense to dominate their relationships, addiction to dominate their choices, and condemnation to dominate the way they see themselves.
This must change. Scripture says that Christ has made us “kings and priests to His God and Father.” Revelation 1:6 NKJV. We are the only creation on earth made in the image and likeness of God, and we were created with a purpose. God's ultimate plan is not simply getting us out of the earth and into heaven. He created humanity to represent Him and exercise His authority in the earth under His reign.
The serpent understood that if he could influence the picture within, he could influence the choices without. He did not change God. He did not change God’s Word. He did not even change the tree. Instead, he began changing the way Eve saw what was already there.
The serpent presented God as though He were withholding something good, and he presented disobedience as though it would produce something desirable. The temptation became powerful when Eve began seeing the tree differently. Before she reached for something with her hand, something had already changed in the way she saw it within her heart.
This is how deception often works. A lie does not have to change reality if it can change the way you see reality. If the enemy can distort your picture of God, your identity, your circumstances, your desires, or your future, he can begin influencing the choices you make.
This is why Paul tells us to cast down imaginations that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. Notice that Scripture does not tell us to cast down imagination itself. It tells us to cast down imaginations that contradict the knowledge of God.
There are two very different directions our imagination can take. A God Imagination agrees with God’s Word, His character, His Kingdom, and His purposes. An evil imagination moves us away from truth and toward fear, deception, accusation, lust, bitterness, pride, unbelief, condemnation, and disobedience.
We see the phrase “evil imagination” very early in Scripture. Genesis tells us, “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.” Genesis 6:5 KJV. The imagination God had given humanity had become filled with pictures, desires, and thoughts that were contrary to His heart.
We need to understand that same battle today. We live in a world constantly attempting to capture our imagination. Images, advertisements, entertainment, social media, opinions, temptations, fears, political messages, cultural values, and countless voices compete for the opportunity to tell us what to desire, what to fear, what to believe, and even who we should become.
But the world does not get to decide what is painted upon the canvas of your heart. Neither does the devil. You have been given the responsibility to guard your heart, discern what you are hearing and seeing, and decide what you will continue to behold. God did not save you so that you could excuse your sin. Jesus came to deliver you from the power of sin so that sin would no longer rule over you.
Thoughts can arise from memories, wounds, habits, emotions, circumstances, wrong beliefs, our own reasoning, ordinary temptation, or spiritual opposition. Regardless of where a thought originates, however, we are responsible for what we do with it. We can ask a simple question: Does this thought, and the picture it is producing within me, agree with the Word and character of God?
Perhaps you have lived with the picture, “I will always be this way.” You may have failed repeatedly, struggled with the same addiction, fallen into the same sin, or carried the same destructive habit for years. Eventually, repeated failure can paint an inward picture so strong that you stop expecting freedom. But your history does not have the authority to determine your identity or your future.
If you are in Christ, sin does not own you. Your past does not own you. Addiction does not own you. The devil does not own you. Scripture declares, “For sin shall not have dominion over you.” Romans 6:14 NKJV. You may have participated with sin, but you do not have to remain in agreement with it.
Perhaps the old picture says, “This is just who I am.” The Word says you are a new creation in Christ. Perhaps condemnation says, “God must be tired of you.” The Word reveals a Father who has received you through Christ. Perhaps temptation says, “You cannot resist me.” The Word says God has provided a way of escape. Perhaps fear says, “Something terrible is going to happen.” The Word tells you that God has not given you a spirit of fear.
The question is not whether competing pictures will present themselves. They will. The question is which picture you will continue to behold and which picture will receive your agreement.
We must stop making agreements with pictures that contradict what God has said. An evil imagination may begin as a whisper, but if we continue meditating upon it, that whisper can become a thought. The thought can receive our agreement, agreement can form an inward picture, the picture can create an expectation, and that expectation can begin influencing our actions.
There is a progression we need to recognize:
Whisper → Thought → Agreement → Imagination → Expectation → Action
Once you recognize that progression, you also begin to recognize where the battle can be interrupted. You do not have to wait until a destructive imagination has become an action and then wonder how you arrived there. Through Christ, you can interrupt the progression much earlier.
A thought can come, and instead of automatically agreeing with it, you can discern it. You can bring it before the truth of God’s Word, reject what contradicts God, and replace the lie with truth. Then you can allow the Holy Spirit to paint a different picture within you.
That gives us a completely different progression:
Thought → Discernment → Truth → God Imagination → Faith → Obedience
This is what it means to begin taking dominion over your inner world. Dominion does not mean that you will never experience temptation, fear, or an unwanted thought. It means you no longer have to bow to everything that enters your mind. You have a choice concerning what receives your agreement and what is permitted to remain upon the canvas of your heart.
You cannot always control the first picture that enters your mind, but you can decide which picture you will continue to behold. The enemy may whisper, but he does not hold the brush. Temptation may knock, but you do not have to open the door. Fear may speak, but you do not have to come into agreement with it.
There is another Kingdom speaking, and His Kingdom is greater. God is speaking through His Word, and the Holy Spirit is living within you. You have been given the mind of Christ, and you have received the gift of righteousness. You are not helpless against every thought, temptation, emotion, or spiritual influence that attempts to enter your inner world.
Today, begin paying attention to the pictures you have been carrying. Ask yourself, “Does this picture agree with what God says about Himself, about me, and about my future?” If it does not, stop giving it permission to remain on the canvas of your heart.
There are two imaginations competing for your agreement, but they do not possess equal authority. God’s truth has the final word. You are not begging God to make you an overcomer someday. Scripture says you are “more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Romans 8:37 NKJV. Therefore, arise from the position Christ has already given you, choose the God Imagination, and let His Word hold the brush.
Prayer
Father, thank You for giving me the ability to think, dream, meditate, and see beyond what is presently before my natural eyes. Teach me to recognize the difference between a God Imagination and every imagination that contradicts Your truth. I come out of agreement with fear, lust, condemnation, bitterness, unbelief, addiction, and every lie I have allowed to paint pictures within me. I bring my thoughts under the lordship of Jesus Christ and choose to agree with Your Word. Holy Spirit, govern my inner world and paint Your truth upon the canvas of my heart. Teach me to live from the victory Jesus has already won and to exercise the authority You have entrusted to me. Amen.
Today’s God Imagination
My imagination belongs to God. I do not have to accept every thought, believe every whisper, or continue beholding every picture. I cast down every imagination that contradicts the knowledge of God and bring my thoughts under the lordship of Jesus Christ. Sin is not my master, fear does not rule me, and the enemy does not hold the brush. I am more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ. God’s Word is painting the picture within me, and I choose the God Imagination.
