To facilitate intimacy in prayer we have been given the unique ability of imagination. To see and perceive in our mind’s eye is not just child’s play but is an equipping unto simple prayers, camaraderie alongside the Lord, and is exceptionally useful as we advocate God’s heart on behalf of each other.
Imagination is not make believe. It is the power of the mind to envision and to perceive. If you are a visual person it is like a drop-box in the sky where we meet the Lord in rich interactive 3-d visuals. If you are not particularly visual then imagination is the drop-box whereby you perceive words or Bible verses, where you see colours or perceive emotion, or have a simple knowing, all in the context of revelation.
Outside of the context of prayer, imagination is your ability to imagine, for instance, how you want to rearrange your living room, or the ability to imagine a certain colour painted on the walls of your bedroom.
Imagination is the tool you are using to ‘see’ these things in your mind before you do them. It is a way to test out your thoughts and plans.
Imagination is also the mechanism used to see into the future and to consider how a choice today might work out years down the road. We all do this, we consider into the unknown future a possible course of action and this helps us to make decisions in our day to day lives.
Within the context of prayer, imagination is a key tool at our disposal to advocate and declare God’s heart over others. For instance, let me tell two stories to illustrate this.
I’ve been a minister of prayer for more than a dozen years now and in that time I’ve come to trust and follow what the Lord shows me and instructs me through my imagination, my mind’s eye (I am a very visual person). Some years ago I was meeting with a woman for prayer ministry.
This particular day I was leading this gal through breaking a stronghold of a heart of stone and of then receiving a heart of flesh.
Recall the verse in Ezekiel,
“And, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26 ESV
I had walked her through the healing prayers steps of confession, repentance, renouncing, breaking, and cancelling and was praying in agreement the same thing over her and as often happens the Lord led me into praying in tongues. Now I’ve learned and come to trust that when I pray in tongues the Lord is at work doing something. And often I must just pray in tongues until that particular work is complete.
This day as I began praying in tongues I saw in my mind’s eye an image of this woman’s heart with the new fresh blood (from the heart of flesh that she had just received) making its way through all of her veins to the other parts of her body, not in a rush but slowly advancing. And I just had to keep praying in tongues until this new blood had made it to her fingertips and toes.
Once this new blood got to the full extent of her body I stopped praying and we finished off the session. And like most times with clients I never told her what I was seeing while I was praying in tongues. I just trusted that the Lord had indeed done a work in her being.
At little later she said to me, “You know, when you were praying in tongues I had this image in my mind’s eye that there was new healthy blood flowing from my new heart all through by body to the tips of my fingers and toes.”
We had both been seeing the same thing in our mind’s eye!
The Lord was affirming and confirming his work to both of us. And what is so interesting and cool for her is that before that day I had never prayed in tongues with her because she was unsure and fearful, but this day she had allowed it and the Spirit of the Lord just flowed in and did a great work for her and then doubly confirmed it with this shared vision that he gave to both of us.
As a minister of prayer I trust imagination because it is a tool and ability given us by the Lord to encourage us, teach us, and to instruct us. My own advocacy of prayer for people is often nothing more than agreeing to and speaking out loud what I see in my mind’s eye. I have many numerous stories and testimonies just like this one, but let me share just one more.
My very first trip to Uganda I was with a number of gentleman and we were going to the homes of the elderly to give out medicines and to pray over them. It was a rich, rich day of being welcomed into home after home, of sitting on mats just enjoying the company of these beautiful elderly folk and then declaring blessings and the Lord’s love over them.
Near the end of the day we came to a woman’s home and as we sat down next to her one of the fellows I was with began speaking with her (I of course didn’t know the language). As they chatted I saw in my mind’s eye numerous, a great many, arrows lodged in her chest. I silently, in my mind’s eye, asked the Lord for a bit more discernment, “Tell me more about this Lord.” And to my understanding was the thought that maybe these arrows represented many bad things that had happened to her all in a short period of time.
I asked my companion to ask her this question, “Was there ever a time when you had many bad things happen to you all at one time?”
She answered, “Yes.”
My prayer for her became this, “God I lift this woman to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the power of my Lord Jesus Christ I remove every single arrow lodged in her. We leave none behind and we send all of these arrows, these assignments and attacks of the enemy, to the place where the true Lord Jesus Christ chooses to send them. Today I soothe these wounds with the oil of the lamb and I remove all hurt and harm that these attacks left in her being. Today I speak peace and healing over her heart, mind, spirit and body in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”
I do not remember the remainder of our conversation with her, but I trust that the Lord did something for her that day. What I do know is that when I pray in this way for my clients here at home, that person after person testify,
“When you were praying I felt this weight, thing, and heaviness leave off of me.”
All I am doing is following the instruction of God as I understand him through my imagination.
I leave this lesson for today. There is still some things to discuss in terms of harnessing our imaginations for the Lord. I’ve some warnings and directions for reclaiming our imaginations from the darkness of the enemy and from evil. But we will save these for another day.
Today, simply take what I’ve shared and consider that God wants to communicate with you through your imagination. It is why we have it after all. Be blessed today in your quiet place, in your mind’s eye before the Lord.
NOTE: All of the work I do is freely offered to the Body of Christ around the world. If you have been blessed by what we are doing here please head over to Capturing Courage International Ministries website and contribute your DONATION impacting thousands around the world.
40 Days - How To Pray 