On Good Friday evening, we screened a movie at ICC Mombasa as our Good
Friday service. As I sat through the session with the rest of those
that had turned up; a big crowd for that matter, I began thinking through
how the idea had come about. I had imagined it. I had developed a
mental picture of the event and then begun to pray about it. I lost in my
thoughts, I wondered what we could be doing if I had ignored the thought
of a movie as my own imaginations? The people that gave their lives to
Christ would not have done so, those who recommitted their lives to
Christ might have missed their chance forever and in essence, we would
have missed out on God’s will for us.
How many times do we ignore our thoughts and imaginations and think
they are not important? To put it another way, let me ask: Are our
thoughts important? Does it matter what we think?
According to the Scriptures, our thoughts do matter. The Bible says,
"Be careful what you think because your thoughts run your life" (Prov.
4:23, NCV). Our thoughts are very important. In fact, what we think is
truly who we are. Whether we are tall or short, rich or poor, black or
white, male or female, young or old, our thoughts determine who we are
and what we do. Our thoughts are intertwined with what I call the
"imaginations of the mind." Imagination is an ability God has given us that
can be used for our good or for our harm. A simple definition of
imagination is "the image-making faculty of the mind." These mental images or
pictures powerfully influence our thoughts, our ideas and our attitudes.
Imaginations form a pattern of thinking and develop a whole mind-set
toward life that determines our creativity, our emotions, our outlook,
our self-discipline, our ability to solve problems and our ability to
handle the choices we make every day.
God does use our thoughts and thought patterns to speak to us and to
lead us in His will and when we learn to think inline with His word, we
are able to live fulfilling the things God would want us to fulfill. The
problem many times is that we are not careful with our thoughts; we
allow any “junk” to go through our minds and then when we find
ourselves held captive by the corruption of our thoughts, we beginning to cry
out for help.
The Scriptures teach that our meditations -- our imaginations - should
be filled with the Word of God. Psalm 1:2 says of the righteous man
that "his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates
[imagines or thinks] day and night" (NIV). Joshua 1:8 tells us, "Do not
let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate [imagine] on
it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written
in it." These verses stress the fact that all our meditations should be
focused on God. It is not an exercise to be taken lightly; it is one
that should be done diligently and continually. In the New Testament, the
apostle Paul tells us how we should direct our thoughts: "Whatever is
true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever
is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or
praiseworthy - think about such things" (Phil. 4:8). The true, the noble, the
right, the pure, the lovely, the admirable, the excellent, and the
praiseworthy: These are godly imaginations. When we are filled with these
holy imaginations, our actions will honor and glorify God.
Our attitudes, our inner imaginations, our inner state of peace or
anxiety, determine our actions and words. And our actions and words show
what we really are inside. Jesus said it bluntly: "For out of the heart
come evil thoughts [imaginations], murder, adultery, sexual immorality,
theft, false testimony, slander" (Matt. 15:19).
We will fall; we will fail, if we let the wrong thoughts direct our
actions. We must open our minds and hearts to the true imaginations of
life - God and His eternal promises revealed to us in His Word. Stay in
the word, meditating on it. It will help you in serving God daily and
lead you in fulfilling His will.
Blessings
Pastor Edward Munene
www.icc-mombasa.org
"ad rather have bad times with you, than good times with somoene else.(dedication to ma boys makwa..3 of them..)