EPISODE 675 – HEARING GOD’S VOICE 24 – THE VOICE OF GOD Versus YOUR IMAGINATION 1

Nothing is done outside of faith and faith is cultivated through the administration of the Word of God.

As part of hearing God’s Voice, one important question we have to answer is the difference between the voice of God and your imagination.

There are times when people hear the Lord and also begin to wonder if it was just their imagination or not.

The voice of God in your heart is the voice of the Holy Spirit.
The Bible did not replace the voice of God in our lives. The Bible is the revelation and articulation of God’s thoughts and intentions to mankind.

The scriptures or the Bible is the constitution of divine thoughts. The voice of the Lord does not disagree with the scriptures. I have firmly established this throughout this series.

Whatever, the Holy Spirit will say to you reflects the character and nature of God as revealed in the scriptures.

For example:
The Holy Spirit will not tell you to destroy someone’s life; because that is not in the character and nature of God. God does not destroy lives, He builds lives.

The Holy Spirit will not tell us not to forgive and not to show kindness. God is kind and forgives. He is love.

God’s voice will always lead you to love and serve others. It doesn’t make you self-centered.

Clearly, you can tell that, there are times you find yourself imagining evil and destruction. That can’t be God speaking to you.

Throughout this discussion “Hearing God’s Voice”, I have clearly explained what the voice of the Lord is; now to have a proper understanding of the answer to this question, we must first answer the question:

What is IMAGINATION?

In a general sense, it is the ability to form a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in human development. It is the conception of an idea.

It is the capacity to creatively formulate concepts with unique representations in the mind.

Imagination is a powerful matter in human existence. Whatever mankind had ever experienced from antiquity to the present civilisation came through an imagination.

Imagination is not necessarily evil. Imagination is a powerful tool of the mind. A person’s imagination is highly influenced by the things, situations, experiences or thoughts which shape the mind.

Imagination is an activity of a person’s mind. 

God proves and deals with people based on their own imagination.

“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”. 1 Chronicles 28:9 (KJV)

In the verse above you will find three words:
Heart, Imagination and Thoughts.

These words are related and have a lot to do with IMAGINATION.

1. The heart in the verse is “lêb” in Hebrew which speaks of the will and the intellect; the centre or the core of your being and the mind. It speaks of the part of a person’s being where imagination finds expressions.

2. Imagination in the verse in Hebrew is “yêtser”, which means “conception” or “to purpose”: “to frame a thing, imagination or mind work”.

3. Thought in the verse is also, “machăshâbâh”, in Hebrew, which means, a “contrivance”, it is the same word for a texture machine or intentional plan a plot, to device or a good or evil advice; a cunning work, imagination, means, purpose or thought.

These words are similar and related in their meanings. Especially yêtser and machăshâbâh. They all give detailed pictures and an extensive view of the word IMAGINATION.

God didn’t give man the ability to imagine just to plotting or device evil. 

He gave man the ability of imagination, to re-echo His eternal intention and work through all creation, for the continuous growth and expression of His Life.

The imagination of man was never designed to be a device for evil.

Imagination is like a texture machine. It operates to design patterns according to how it has been programmed. When God made man in His own image and after His likeness. The goal was for man to multiply and replenish the earth according to His original patented design.

But through the deception of the adversary, man turned away from his originality or identity. He re-oriented himself and lost the touch of the heavenly pattern. Man now developed the ability to conceptualize ideas which are generated by deception.

This is why there is a struggle between the voice of God and the imagination of man.  

Man’s imagination was to resound the intentions of God.

Selah.