“DEVELOPING THE EYES OF OUR HEART”

With

Bishop Ronald K. Powell

Visions/visualization

• God gave Abraham a vision of the stars of the sky and told him he would have that many children (Gen. 15:5)
• Genesis 15:5 New King James Version 5 Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
• Genesis 15:6
• 6And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.
• So here we have an example of godly imagery which produced faith in the man who is called “the Father of Faith” (Rom. 4:11). That is a powerful concept.
• That would indicate that if I wanted faith in my heart which moves mountains, then I would need the same ingredients which God gave to Abraham.

Visions / visualization
Genesis 22:17

• 17 I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies. 18And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

Godly Imagination / Visualization

• We define “Godly Imagination” as picturing things the Bible says are true.

Hebrews 11:6 New King James Version (NKJV)

• 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Jeremiah 29:12-13 King James Version (KJV)

• 12Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
• 13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 33:3

• 3Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

Preparation

Colossians 3:2-10 New King James Version (NKJV)

• 2Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
• 3For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
• 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
• 5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
• 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience,
• 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.
• 8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.
• 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds,
• 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,

John 16:12-17 Contemporary English Version

• 12I have much more to say to you, but right now it would be more than you could understand. 13The Spirit shows what is true and will come and guide you into the full truth. The Spirit doesn’t speak on his own. He will tell you only what he has heard from me, and he will let you know what is going to happen. 14 The Spirit will bring glory to me by taking my message and telling it to you. 15 Everything that the Father has is mine. That is why I have said that the Spirit takes my message and tells it to you.

Godly Promises / Godly Imagery

• A spoken promise (Gen. 12:1, 2)
• A divine picture (Gen. 15:1, 5, 6)

Time Passed – 25 years later

• Then as I hold this promise and picture in my heart, meditate on it and ponder it, God produces a miracle in the fullness of time.
• For Abraham, a child was born 25 years later.
• God has created us with eyes in our hearts with which we can see, picture and visualize.

Hebrews 10:35-37 King James Version (KJV)

• 35Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.
• 36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

God wants to fill these eyes with His dreams, visions and images (Acts 2:17).

• 17‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
  That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
  Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
  Your young men shall see visions,
  Your old men shall dream dreams.

Jesus lived in pictures continuously (Jn. 5:19,20,30).

• 19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.
• 20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.
• 30 I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

Jesus filled the eyes of His listeners by constantly teaching with parables (Matt. 13:34)

• 34All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them,

We are commanded to meditate on the Word, which involves prayerfully rolling it around in our hearts and minds.

• Since the Bible is full of picture stories, we will by necessity be picturing as we meditate upon Scripture (Josh. 1:8).
• 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

When we reason together with God, He uses imagery (Isa. 1:18).

• 18 “Come now, and let us reason together,”
  Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet,
  They shall be as white as snow;
  Though they are red like crimson,
  They shall be as wool.

A picture is worth 1000 words, so when I see something, it has the power to change me much more greatly than when I simply think a thought.

• That is why God says we are transformed (changed) “while we look” (2 Cor. 3:17,18; 4:16-18).
• When I see myself clothed with Christ’s robe of righteousness (Gal. 3:27), it appears to influence me more greatly than when I simply recall the Scripture verse that “I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:9).
• God counsels us at night through our dreams (Ps. 16:7).

Closing & Prayer

• Summary Concerning Godly Use of the Eyes of Your Heart

 I personally use imagery in all the above ways, and find it extremely beneficial in my Christian walk.

• God has told me that whatever I fix my eyes on, grows within me, and whatever grows within me, I become.
• So instead of fixing my eyes on my sin, or my self-effort to become righteous, I fix my eyes on Jesus, and I discover that I become Christ-like, and find myself radiating His goodness and His glory!