Childlike Imagination With God

Have you ever watched a child or children just playing and thought, “oh to have the imagination of a child again.”

Why don’t you? What stopped you from imagining?  What happened to that childlike imagination? I would like to encourage you to come back to that and use your childlike imagination with God again!

So have you really stopped imagining? 

Think about all the ways you use your imagination. Do you cook supper for your family? Sometimes you have to be very creative there- (Moms, am I right?) Sometimes you have a pound of hamburger or a dozen eggs and you need to make dinner for everyone!! How do you do that? Well.. you create something that feeds them all. 

How about you crafters? Do you imagine in your mind before that project ever comes to be? Or maybe you use your mind to help you understand how the project is supposed to look and you come up with ideas to make it happen. Even if you follow the directions sometimes you have to use your imagination to help you understand how to do something. 

Lets get a little more personal. 

Ever have relationship troubles? I have and I can imagine a thousand scenarios and not one of them is accurate. The only thing that is truly accurate is imagining a reconciliation conversation. One that could feasibly be done and truly accounts for the other person. I can imagine a whole lot of ways a person could be told off or left out. But what I really need to be doing is imagining how they can be loved, cared for and reconciled with. 

(Let me be clear, sometimes the other party is not interested and thats ok. Letting them go to do what they need to do is perfectly fine and acceptable.)

I want you to see all the ways you do indeed use your imagination in your life. 

Are you there yet? 

Ok great. 

Defining Imagination:

Take a look at the definition of imagination and realize that imagination is not just playing make believe games like children do. It encompasses so much of what we do every day. Playing make believe games as children is just the beginning, the learning process of how we use our imagination. 

So now lets take that just one step further. 

If I am reading a book, any book, Often the characters come alive in my mind. I picture what they have been described to look, or make them look like I think they should look. I picture the story happening and how it all unfolds. Maybe some of you do that as well. 

I think many people still read books whether its on a reading app or actual books. 

Imagination with God

Lets take that into the Bible now. When I read the Bible, often I am picturing the scenes as described in the Bible accounts. On occasion I will take some portion of scripture and just imagine what it looks like. I imagine what people are there with me or what sort of place I am at in the passage. I imagine what it might feel like, sound like or even, if possible, taste like. My heart is open to hearing and seeing what God has for me.

That is using your imagination with God, as a beginning place. It brings scripture to life for me. 

When I pray, I can picture God or Jesus listening what I am talking about. I picture the person I am praying for. Sometimes I picture the person’s problem and I pray about it with the words and images that God gives me during my prayer. 

I know that God is giving me words and pictures while I am praying because I am connected to God during that time and He is listening to me and adding to my prayers via words or pictures that I would not, or might not have thought about before. 

If I’m not sure, I ask questions until I know how I am to pray. I picture in my mind the words or pictures that help me be effective in my prayers.

I have come to realize that what I asked for God WANTS to give me! So often I would have second guessed myself right out of that thought, but now I just ask God questions and trust that what I am seeing truly is from Him. There is a verse that I am continually reminded of when it comes to that and that is this: we like to give our kids good gifts. We wouldn’t give them a stone if they ask for bread or a snake if they ask for a fish. God is an even better Father than that so He will give us what we need when we ask. (Of course that is my paraphrase.)

How do you Imagine with God?

Now after reading all that, how do you imagine? I would love to hear how your mind works when it comes to imagination. If you already have been praying and hearing God for yourself, how does God talk to you? Do you hear? Do you just “know” stuff? When you use your imagination with God, what does that look like for you?

I would also love to hear if this was helpful for you. Did I give you any new information? I hope I helped you a little bit. If you would like to experience a meeting with me personally and see for yourself, message me. I would love to meet with you!

Blessings!