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In part 1 last week, I wrote about the power of visualization — how your mind shapes your reality and how visualization can be a tool for practicing the presence of God. A quick recap:
Christ-centered, biblical visualization invites us to fix our minds on what is true in Christ.
- When you think about problems repeatedly, that’s worry.
- When you think about God’s Word repeatedly, that’s meditation.
A simple and potent practice is to read Scripture and picture yourself walking in that truth over and over.
We CAN and MUST redeem visualization as a powerful practice for presence with God and people.
Christ-centered visualization is seeing with spiritual eyes what is already true, what is happening now, and what is to come.
There’s the setup from last week. And now, to part 2:
2. Visualizing what is happening now
2 Kings 6:17 holds an insane story. To jump into the scene, Elisha’s servant is terrified when he sees the enemy army surrounding their city.
Elisha prays for his eyes to be opened, and the servant sees that God’s heavenly army of chariots and horses of fire is actually present!
God is showing him that there is an unseen, spiritual realm that coexists with empowers the physical world.
One of my daily "Presence Practices" is walking around our property at home. We have an almost perfect 400-meter track around our yard.
I’ll take several laps a day to get steps in and walk our Australian Shepherd, Bogey. And to pray.
As I walk, I’ll hear the kids playing in the backyard or see my wife in the kitchen through the window - and I will visualize God’s presence “hovering” over our house. (Genesis 1)
I’ll envision God’s loving, light and easy presence filling the windows and doors, going into the kids’ rooms and our bedroom.
I’ll also picture Jesus walking next to me around the yard, listening to me and nodding his head smiling as I pray out loud.
I can’t tell you how much this practice of visualizing God’s presence has subsided my anxiety, the pressure within me to control and provide for my family on my own.
I can’t tell you how much it has reshaped my prayer for camp, too. I’ll walk around and envision the Holy Spirit hovering and filling cabins and buildings, the Father’s protection surrounding all the activities.
“God is above, but He’s not pushed up. He’s beneath, but He’s not pressed down. He’s outside, but He’s not excluded. He’s inside, but He’s not confined.
God is above all things presiding, beneath all things sustaining, outside of all things embracing and inside of all things filling.” - AW Tozer
3. Visualizing what is to come
There are so many incredible stories in the Bible where God gives people dreams and visions.
In Genesis 15:5-6, we see God telling a very old Abraham that he’s going to have a lot of kids and he’d be pretty important to what God would do on earth in the future.
"He took him outside and said, 'Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.' Then he said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.' Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness."
God gave Abraham a visual image to strengthen his faith in the promise.
And I believe He’s still doing this in wonderful ways for us today. We just need to ask. And keep asking.
Jesus says in Mark 11:24, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."
Jesus is inviting and expecting (possibly commanding) us to ASK ANYTHING. In faith. According to THE FATHER’S will.
(I write a whole chapter about this in my newest minibook “Everyday Presence”!)
I do want to say: Visualizing the future is healthy - until it’s not. Thinking about the future over and over can and often does lead to worry and anxiety. That’s not what I’m saying here.
What I'm saying is that we must stay “in step with the Spirit” at all times (Galatians 5:25). We must keep God’s will as our foundation and only goal.
"Imaging is faith at work—seeing in advance what God is bringing into being."
- Norman Vincent Peale
Believing God is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do is a biblical “Presence Practice”.
The world says, "Manifest whatever you want."
The Bible says, "Have faith in what God is doing, can do, and will do as you align with His will."
Yes, visualizing the future is powerful - but visualizing the present is transformative.
Your mind aligned with the Holy Spirit is limitless.
It is a practice and way of life where we bring Heaven to earth!
"Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." - Psalm 37:4
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