GOD gave you the ability to imagine...

counterfeit is proof that something exists and that it has value.

it bothers me that satan has robbed many believers from the joy of intimately knowing GOD in a personal way by getting them to believe that all meditation and visualizing is new age and that's just not true. GOD thought it up first and anything that GOD creates can be perverted or misused.

sex is a good example. GOD meant for sex to be a wonderful expression within the bounds of a committed marriage. satan comes along and perverts it, misuses it, counterfeits it but that doesn't mean that the real thing doesn't exist. it does.

i'm simply saying this: GOD gave you the ability to imagine. don't let the devil take it away from you.

you withdraw and then you wait and then you watch and you watch for the real thing. what does that mean?

ephesians 1.18 (niv), i pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know the hope to which HE has called you.

HE is saying, "i pray that the eyes of your heart will be opened." i thought the eyes were in my head?

HE's not talking about physical eyes. HE's talking about spiritual eyes. spiritual senses.

now when you were born physically you got a set of physical senses. hear, taste, smell, feel. when you were born spiritually, you got reborn and got a set of spiritual senses: spiritual eyes, spiritual ears.

have you ever been reading the bible…you've read a verse a dozen times but all of the sudden it pops out at you? GOD just opened your spiritual eyes.

the scripture says in john 3, except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of heaven. there is an unseen part of reality that we don't see that you can only see with your spiritual eyes, but it's just as real.

none of you sees GOD where you are but HE's more real than the building you are in which you do see. the building will eventually decay but GOD's not going to. GOD is saying, i want you to learn to see from my perspective, from my viewpoint.

just a thought from the front porch…