Is Your Imagination Blocking The Lord's Voice?

"Since you have heard about Jesus

and have learned the truth that comes from him,

throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life,

which is corrupted by lust and deception.

Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.

Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy."

Ephesians 4:22-24

Stop Creating False Narratives!

There's a reason there are so many scriptures that tell us to keep our mind fixed on Christ.  It's because we need to!  True peace, true holiness, true joy, comes from keeping our whole body in the Word.  There's no other way to have lasting peace, joy, patience, kindness, goodness and self-control!  Jesus is the only answer to every problem.

The devil is after our mind.  There are so many amazing books out there about the warfare for our mind.  What we believe and what we think is crucial in winning the battle.  If we keep our eyes focused on Jesus and our mind in the Word, Satan won't have a foothold into our lives.  But when we take our minds off Christ, that's when trouble arises.

There's a comedian out there, I can't remember which one, but he has a bit about his wife having a bad dream that he's cheated on her.  So she wakes up mad at him for cheating in her dream-state.  They get up and go to work, and all day she's stewing on this dream that happened while she was asleep, and her anger rises at him.  They get home and she's steaming and barely speaks to him.  He's like, "What did I do? "  Finally after dinner he approaches her again and she yells, "You cheated on me!"  And he's like, "What? I have not!"  She literally spent all day creating an argument against him before he even entered into the argument with her at home - over nothing! 

Now if I'm being honest, I think early in our marriage we had a similar scenario.  And Mikael said to me, "That didn't happen! Get it out of your head!"

This is what's happening when we create negative scenarios in our mind.  If we're angry with someone or mad about something, and then we spend all day rolling negative thoughts and images around in our minds regarding what we're angry about - we're actually choosing to live in our sinful flesh in our heads.  Every time we create a new imagination or have negative arguments with someone, we're choosing the flesh!  Ephesians 4 in the NLV states it this way, "put away the old person you used to be. Have nothing to do with your old sinful life. It was sinful because of being fooled into following bad desires."

There's a reason the Lord tells us to take every thought captive.  I am thankful for the work the Lord did in my mind, renewing it to conform to His words.  Much of the work was done in my 20's, but every once in awhile new arguments arise - and nothing about it belongs in my new way of life.  I could feel Satan throwing every fiery dart he could to keep me from putting that old self away - and that's how many of us can be deceived or fooled into following a bad desire. 

There are times when we desire to create false narratives in our mind.  There are times when we want to walk down that path in our head.  But that isn't who we are anymore!  We are new creations, seated with Jesus in heavenly places, made righteous by the blood of the lamb, and there's no reason for us to be fooled into following our old, sinful nature anymore.  So rid yourself of false narratives.  Turn away from negative arguments with people in your mind.  And tell yourself the truth: It's Not Real!

End The Evil Imaginations And False Imagery

A few months ago I saw an Instagram video of a woman saying, "Who are these people who are focused on their to-do lists before falling asleep?  Is no one else living in their imaginary world with their dream man?"  The comments were what got me though.  Comment after comment stated things like, "I feel so seen!  I spend every night in my imaginary life with me and The Rock.  We're married and have a great life."  Or, "I waffle between imaginary relationships with these actors..."  "I have a decade long imaginary relationship with so-and-so!" 

I mean, truly I can't tell you how many comments were of women stating who they were in an imaginary relationship with in their mind.  And all celebrities of some kind, that these women had created a relationship with in their head.  Immediately the Lord brought this verse to me: "The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart." (Genesis 6:5-6 NLT)

I put the NLT verse down because of how it's written: "everything they thought or imagined was consistently evil."  These women, who think they are doing something innocent by carrying on an imaginary relationship in their minds, are actually committing adultery in their heart.  The Lord doesn't differentiate between actual adultery, and adultery of the heart and mind - as Jesus clearly laid that out for us during His ministry on earth.  It's a sin if you commit it, but it's also a sin when you think on it.

What's truly fascinating about this verse in Genesis (which is the first time we see the word imagined in the Bible), is that it's what was in the hearts and minds of the people of the earth that caused God's heart to break - not what they actually acted upon.  Because what you think about often proceeds what you are willing to do.  Thinking about adulterous relationships for many years, very well could lead to committing adultery physically.  What we think about precipitates what we do in our actions. 

The original Hebrew states the verse this way: "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."  Imagination here is the Hebrew word yêtser, which means a form, conception (that is purpose), form, framing, purpose, framework; graven image.  It's idolatry to create an evil imagination of this kind!  Not only that, but these women who are creating a false relationship in their mind, they are conceiving, giving birth, to evil thoughts.

What you think about it is entirely a choice given to you by God.  But what we do with our minds is so vitally important in our walk with the Lord.  Now I'm not accusing anyone of what these women were commenting on in this video- I'm only pointing out what an evil imagination looks like in the context of the Bible.  But the Bible also states that as the days of Noah (which is where we first see the word yêtser), so will the days be right before the end.  We're coming into that place, and it's becoming evident and even celebrated to have evil thoughts in the heart.

But the most important thing about what we think is that if we are not focused on Christ, we won't be able to hear from Him.  If our minds are filled with evil and false images, we can't hear God's voice!  He speaks in a still, small voice, and only the mind that has taken thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ will hear the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking. 

Do you wish to hear from God?  Put away any thoughts, imaginations, or false 'arguments' from your mind, and the Lord will have a place to speak.

Quit The Arguments

"We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God.

We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.."

2 Corinthians 10:5 (NLT)

I don't even need to go into this one - as it was my introduction!  But it's still important to note that when we create false arguments with people, we are forming thunderstorms in our minds and hearts.

Next time you create a false argument in your head, I want you to note how you treat your children, husband, coworkers, or anyone else around you afterwards.  Has your anger arisen?  Is your temper quick?  Is your tongue untamed?  Because this is the result of an untrained mind - it comes out in our emotions, words and actions.  That's why we must capture our rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ!  Our thoughts must be taught!

I feel a surge of hope when I read this verse in the New Living Translation - because I know that I can be taught anything.  I don't always know or have wisdom in all things, but I know I can be taught by Christ to have wisdom.  I know I can be taught by Jesus to be obedient.  I know that with the proper training, I can be taught!

The Bible says the Holy Spirit is our teacher, He is our wonderful counselor.  So if you struggle in this area, let hope arise in your heart that you can be taught something different than what you are thinking today!  Rebellious thoughts can be trained to be Christ thoughts.  All you need to do is ask the Holy Spirit to help you!

“And when you are brought to trial in the synagogues

and before rulers and authorities,

don’t worry about how to defend yourself or what to say, 

for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what needs to be said.”

Luke 12:12 (NLT)

Jesus knew how the disciples' minds worked; He knew they would be creating arguments in their heads when they ended up in tough situations.  And this verse was included in the Bible because the Lord knows we are all like this.  We like to create 'arguments' in our heads, defending ourselves to our enemy.  But you know what this does?  It doesn't leave any room for the Holy Spirit to work in and us through us.  It leaves no room for the Spirit to teach us what to say.

Walking in the Spirit means quitting arguments in our heads against our enemies, so that He can be free to speak to us and through us at the proper time.  It will take discipline to quit these arguments.  It requires us being obedient to the words written in the Bible to stop what we have a habit of doing.  But!  If you want to hear God's voice, the arguments need to end.  Negative scenarios prevent God's voice from breaking through the noise.  And all this does is create thunderstorms in our minds and hearts that cause us to treat people poorly around us.

Stop Reliving The Past

Is there a situation or scenario from the past that still haunts you today?  Is there a memory that you struggle to let go of because of shame and embarrassment? 

Well, I have good news for you: The Lord has already forgiven you for it.  In His mind, it's dead and done and completely forgiven.  But if there's something that you keep reliving in your mind, or maybe it's not frequent but it pops up here and there- then you need to forgive yourself.  I wrote an entire article on this topic: because when we know we've committed a wrong or did something embarrassing in our past, it can be hard to let it go.  And Satan doesn't want us to let it go.  The devil is quite the lawyer, he wants to keep you buried in shame and regret, not remembering that the Lord's Word says, "I remember your sins no more!"  Read: Jesus Says You Are Forgiven!

I've had to let go of quite a few past mistakes.  Because I've done this in my own heart, I'll share what I did to let it go.

1 - Start by admitting everything you did wrong in this thought/past memory that keeps coming up.  Often Satan brings up the past because we haven't truly acknowledged what we did wrong, and he knows that.  He knows that if we try to bury the part that we did, that we're still trying to live in a lie.  If we want to receive true forgiveness from Christ, then it starts by admitting what we did that needs forgiving! 

2 - Once you know and acknowledge your part in this past situation that keeps arising, open your hands and receive the Lord's forgiveness for your part in the wrongdoing.  Let the forgiveness of Jesus wash over you.  Tell Him, "I receive your complete forgiveness for my past wrongdoing."  It seems simple, and it is.  But if we want the devil's accusations to stop coming, it starts with us admitting we messed up and receiving God's forgiveness.  Satan can't argue with the death of Jesus - and the death of Jesus bought us our complete forgiveness for every mistake we have ever made.  But we have to receive it.  And we can't receive it if we don't admit what we did that needs forgiveness.

3 - After receiving Jesus' forgiveness, then you need forgive yourself.  Look yourself in the mirror, admit what you did and that Jesus forgave you, and then tell yourself, "I forgive you.  I forgive you for messing up without thinking about the consequences.  I forgive you for acting in error.  I forgive you for doing wrongdoing before you knew that it was wrong."  Sometimes, we mess up in ignorance, and we know now that it's a sin but back then we didn't.  Forgive yourself for ignorant mistakes.  Jesus paid for our ignorant mistakes too. (See Leviticus 5 & 6)  But sometimes we mess up and we know what we did wrong.  Either way, every mistake requires us forgiving ourselves for the wrongs we did. 

Once you receive Jesus' forgiveness and forgive yourself, the weight and power of the past sins will lose their power.  Satan won't have the same ability to remind you of the mistakes in the same way he used to.  Part of the power of the mistakes is us not acknowledging that we did them.  When we put words to it, the power of our mistakes will seep away.

4 - Bring any part that others did against you to the Cross.  If there's any anger or unforgiveness you have in your heart toward someone else in your past scenarios, forgive them (as often as you need to) and bring them to Jesus.  Let Jesus deal with them, and He will.  But He can't deal with them fully until you let them go into His hands.  Bring them to Jesus, and Jesus will deal justly with all of those involved.  If true wrong was committed on the other person's part, the Lord will discipline them. 

You need not carry anger, bitterness or unforgiveness in your heart any longer.  God will do what He does, which is perfect justice on your behalf.  But in the meantime, let it go!  Not doing so only harms you.

5 - Move on.  When Satan brings it up again (and he'll try), just remember this day.  Remember the day in which you received forgiveness and let it go.  Once it's done, it's done in the eyes of the Lord.  Don't give any room for him to come against you with any kind of sophisticated argument.  He's a loser and a liar, just move on.

Once you deal with some of these past situations that keep coming up, you'll notice that your heart is lighter and your thoughts freed up to hear from the Lord.  His voice will become clearer.  We can't hear Him through the clutter - and past mistakes are just clutter in our minds keeping His voice from coming through.  So take out the trash, and suddenly His voice will be easier to hear without the baggage that blocked it out.

End The Noise, And Hear Him Speak

It's in this newly created space of your mind that God can speak.  Dealing with the false arguments and narratives, ending evil imaginations, letting go of the past, is what gives you the freedom to hear from Him.  And we need that freedom, because all that the past mistakes are is bondage.  The evil imaginations are chains that keep us imprisoned.  The false arguments and narratives aren't real, but they create real negative emotions that Satan uses to entrench us in spiritual warfare.  If he can get our mind actively working against us, then we won't step out as the warriors in Christ we truly are.

Our birthright, bought by the blood of Jesus, is to walk in the Spirit and take an offensive stance against the enemy.  But if the enemy can keep us in chains and bondage in our minds through his tactics, then we'll never hear what the Lord wants to do with our lives.  We won't hear Him speaking truth to us.  We can't when we're bogged down by lies and baggage. 

Deal with the past.  End the false imaginations and scenarios, and go spend time in God's Word.  Take those thoughts of yours captive to Christ.  Ask Him to teach you about His ways, His plans, and He will.  Ask Him to make His voice clear to you.  End the noise and hear Him speak.

And don't be discouraged if it takes time.  Depending on how long you've been letting your thoughts have their way in your mind without reigning them in, likely depends on what kind of time it will take to capture them.  Ask Jesus to redeem the lost time, and to speed up the process. 

And don't stop just because it takes a few weeks, or a few months, or perhaps years. It's so worth the time it takes to have that wonderful, amazing ability to hear Him speak.  The beauty of His voice and Him speaking to you will totally, and 100% outweigh the pain of being retrained for Him.  I promise you.  He has retrained me, and now I hear Him clearly and often.  And wow, wow.  I have never once thought since I've arrived to this place, "I wish the struggles had never happened."  No.  Now with confidence I can look back and say, "Thank you Jesus for sticking it out with me.  Thank you for teaching me Your ways.  For now I hear you clearly, and I so so love Your Voice above all else."



With joy,

Jessica