using your imagination

Fresh Manna
by Pastor Tim Burt

If you missed Part One of this, you can read it online at my website.

Sometimes people appear to be “self-motivated.” The truth is, self-motivated people are not just that way. They are motivated by inward desires that may be invisible to those observing. You may not see that they are motivated by such things as thoughts of a better life or financial success. They may be motivated by a desire to have influence on others or on society as a whole. They may be motivated by a desire to love others or by the desire for people to love them. Whatever the reasons, there is something within that motivates them. This means that they aren’t really “self” motivated. It means they have been “set” from within and that desire drives their motivation. It appears to just happen naturally, but it is fueled by an inward-desired outcome. Self-motivated people are people that are fueled by this pursuit of a desired outcome.

Desires from within you are what shape you, good or bad. Having the right desires—having good and godly desires are the images painted within your heart and mind that begin to motivate you in your actions as to how you walk out your life. Asking God to form good and right desires within you and then spending time imagining yourself executing them will begin to stir and steer your motivation. Psalm 37:4 says, “Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires.” Taking delight in the Lord is taking delight in the instruction of His word to you. When you begin to delight in what God desires and pray that God help form desires in you that you know would be good, it’s amazing what can happen to you!

If you don’t seek God for good and godly desires, I assure you, you will be meditating on something. “Somethings” can be a whole lot of garbage. They can be worries and cares; they can be sinful lusts; they can be sinful cravings that take you to the wrong places. You will meditate on something. In the book of Genesis we read the story of the tower of Babel. The people had imagined working together to build a tower that reached into the sky—in their minds, into the “heavens.” They wanted to build something so great that it gave them a reputation as a great people and brought them glory. But their inward desire was evil and the Lord knew it. Genesis 11:6 “The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they imagine and plan to do will be impossible for them.” Did you catch that? “Nothing they imagine…”

The strength behind their ability to succeed was “imagining” and unifying around their desired outcome. Imagining is what visionaries do. They begin to get a clear mental image of something in their heart. They don’t stop with that image. They continue meditating until they see a blueprint in their mind that they can then execute. Your imagination is a gift from God and it was given to you to imagine those things He leads you by His Spirit in. When it is used this way, you will do more with your life. If you let the devil trample your imagination and fill it, it will erode your life.

When it comes to making changes in your life, it all begins with desires and imaginations. You have to ask yourself, “What does God want for me?” “What is it you want me to begin doing?” Let the good things squeeze out the unprofitable. Don’t rush to begin the things the Lord shows you. Instead, take what He shows you and pray over them. Ask the Lord to help prepare your heart to do them right. Meditate on it. Let your imagination fill up with you doing it. One day you will get so filled up with desire to do them, you won’t be able to hold yourself back. That is what desires do. They create motivation to do!

Tomorrow, the plan to execute those desires…

Proverbs 23:7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…”

In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt