Hearing His Voice #356

Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying in bed. . . . “I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me.”

Daniel 7:1, 15, NIV

The mother sat at her son’s bedside. In her mind’s eye—that movie screen of the imagination that plays inside our heads—she saw Jesus walk into the hospital room, lay His hands on the child’s head, and mouth the words, “Be healed.” That had been her prayer, but she hadn’t “seen” it until now. Was it just her wishful thinking? Was she forcing her own desires on her imagination? Possibly. But from that day forward, the child began to improve. He was given a good report, his hair began to grow back after the chemo, and he was soon discharged to go home and live a normal life.

Where were Daniel’s visions? In his mind. If Daniel lived today, most of us would tell him not to trust what goes through his mind. If God wanted to give him a vision, He would do it openly, not in the context of human thought processes. We know our condition; our thinking gets distorted and we see through lenses colored with all sorts of biases and agendas. “No, Daniel,” we might tell him. “You can’t trust your imagination.”

But you can trust your imagination if the Spirit of God is guiding it, and He often does when we yield it to Him. All of our faculties can be distorted and deceptive, but they can also be used by God. In fact, He gave them to us for that purpose. If we ask Him to write on the screen of our imagination, we can expect Him to do so. That’s where life’s parables play out, where the Spirit draws profound images of redemption and restoration, and where our prayers and dreams are envisioned. God speaks even in our own minds.

Lord, I present my imagination to You for holy purposes. Fill it with pictures of Your purposes. Let me see the calling You have placed before me. Show me what You’re doing. And inspire me with my prayers or actions to step into the stories You present to me.