By Andrew Wommack
I’ve met many Christians who want to see more of God in their lives. What they often don’t realize is that their experience of His power and presence is tied to their imagination. Now, when I say “imagination,” most Christians think I’m talking about make-believe or mind over matter. I’m not talking about either one. Did you know that Scripture has a lot to say about the imagination? When it’s used in a positive sense, Scripture calls it hope!
For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Romans 8:24
The part of you that hopes is a result of the part of you that imagines. How? Because when you hope, you’re creating a mental picture of what you’d like to see happen. There are many scriptures on this topic. Let’s start with a verse in Hebrews:
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1
You could say it this way: faith is the substance of your positive imagination, the evidence of things not seen. According to this verse, faith brings into reality the things that you positively imagine. Imagination is like your spiritual womb. It will conceive what God’s Word says, and then faith brings to birth the things that you’ve conceived.
This is so important, because there are a lot of people who look at hope as a non-issue. As a matter of fact, many faith people have downplayed the role of hope. It says this in 1 Corinthians 13:13:
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
People in the faith crowd will emphasize faith. And they understand the importance of love and how it’s the greatest of all. But did you know that hope should be right up there as one of the greatest forces, with faith and love?
When I’ve heard people use the word hope when talking about receiving from God, I’ve heard others criticize them, saying, “You don’t need to hope; you need to believe!” They don’t realize that without hope—without a positive imagination—you can’t believe! If there’s nothing hoped for, faith doesn’t have anything to give substance to.
It’s not just believe and receive. You have to conceive the Word, then you believe what it says, and then you receive what it promises. You might ask, “How do you conceive the Word of God?” Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
What you think or meditate on is how you conceive things, whether good or bad. If you meditate on your circumstances, that’s what you’ll conceive. It’ll be a self-fulfilling prophecy! But if you meditate on what God’s Word has to say, you’ll conceive what God’s Word says. It’ll change everything about you—how you see yourself, your circumstances, everything.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
Isaiah 26:3
The Hebrew word translated “mind” in this verse is “yetser,” which means “conception” (Strong’s Concordance). This same Hebrew word was also translated “imagination.”
Your heart is like soil that’ll grow whatever thoughts are sown into it (Mark 4:26–28). What goes into your heart is what you imagine happening. Your imagination will go in the direction of your dominant thoughts. That’s why you have to guard your heart (Prov. 4:23)! Think on godly things.
I hope this teaching helped you understand the importance of positively using your imagination. To receive anything from God, your thoughts and hope must be aligned with His. You’ve got to have hope before you ever have faith!
If you enjoyed this, visit my website at awmi.net, where you’ll find additional free teachings and resources. If you need prayer, I encourage you to call my Helpline at 719-635-1111, where one of my trained prayer ministers would love to pray with you.
We love you,
Andrew and Jaime
