Deception

4-24-06

The LORD has revealed to me that part of what got me into trouble is that satan convinced me that everything I have experienced with the LORD was due to my imagination. It wasn't real. I just imagined it all.

All I know is this, God created mankind (Adam and Eve) in His image. And He called it good. God created me just the way I am, and He doesn't create junk or imperfection. Being created 'in His image' is more than appearance, we obviously don't all look alike. However, we all have 2 arms, 2 legs, a head, a body, a mind, a spirit, etc. More than that, we all: have emotions, smile when we're happy, cry when we're sad, dream dreams, love our children to the point of death, and much more.

God revealed His character to us through the prophets and His written Word. He created this whole universe with His Word. Read Genesis chapter 1. As we investigate and study this existence, we discover new things everyday. Whether they were there all along, or brand new is irrelevant. It merely confirms this truth: our God is a highly imaginative being. God is a trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are a trinity: body, soul, and spirit. I am proud to be created in His image. I am glad to have an imagination. It bridges the gap between what we see and what we feel. It bridges the gap between the material world and the spiritual.

Jesus said we must become like little children to enter the kingdom of God. Children have highly developed imaginations. It is no problem for them to take as fact the spiritual truths they are told. They are very trusting, believing their mothers and fathers unconditionally. This is how we are to be. We must trust our Father God implicitly. We are to believe that what He tells us is true, that it is for our own good. That takes imagination.

How many times do we treat our loving Father like rebellious teenagers instead? We say by our words and deeds: 'I don't need you!" "You don't love me!" "I can do things better on my own!" "All you care about are rules, rules, rules!" "Leave me alone!"

If you are the parent of a teenager or have ever been in charge of one, you recognize the words, and the hurt it inflicts. We also hurt our Father God by our thoughts, words, and deeds. He only wants what is best for us.

Matthew 23:37 (NKJV) ". . . How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!"

What looks like restrictive rules are part of God's plan to protect us and love us and mature us. It makes one wonder where these rebellious thoughts come from. (Hmmmmm.)

Proverbs 3:11-12 (NKJV) "My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor detest His correction. For whom the LORD loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights."

Job 5:17 (NKJV) "Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty."

And these are facts (not imaginations): 1.) He healed my broken leg in the car wreck with my dad in 1978. 2.) He healed my father of lung cancer in 1979 because he grew in faith after seeing what happened to me. 3.) He has helped me out of depression many times. Depression is also physical. The last time was February 13, 2006. 4.) He healed me of addiction to nasal spray in 1973. 5.) He healed me of alcoholism in 1976 and 1992.

These are actual events. satan can't do anything about them. I didn't imagine these things. And about the tings I have imagined like the vision I have had, God said young men will see visions, and old men will dream dreams. And if my imagination strengthens my faith because faith uses imagination, then do be it. My faith gives me peace with God.

Lack of imagination takes all the color out of life. Lack of imagination brings the depression. After all, what is worth living for? God said at the tower of Babel there isn't anything man cannot do because he can imagine it.

I am created in the image of God! I am adopted, grafted in because of Jesus. And if I'm okay with God, who else dares to hold an opinion on that? They will have to argue with God, not me.

Genesis 1:31 (NKJV) "Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good."

1 John 1:1-3 (NKJV) "that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life--the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us--that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ."

Galatians 4:6 (NKJV) "And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, 'Abba, Father!' "

1 John 4:13-15 (NKJV) "By this we know we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God."

Matthew 18:3 (NKJV) ". . . and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.' "

Matthew 19:13 (NKJV) "Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.' "

Mark 10:14 (NKJV) "But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, 'Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of God.' "

Genesis 11:6 (NKJV) "And the LORD said, 'Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose (imagine) to do will be withheld from them.' "

Romans 8:15 (NKJV) "For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father!' "

Ephesians 1:3-6 (NKJV) "Blessed be the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved."