Recognizing God's Voice // Learn to Encounter HimShembull

Imagination and Going Deeper

Holy Spirit in us, this is what we heard for you:

It may not be slow, the way I come to you. It may not be gentle—and definitely not the way you expect. For there is so much more of me I want to show you, you see. There is a place, so much deeper, where I want to take you. There are things I want to reveal to you—and it is not your eyes that will be able to see what I want you to see. For here is how I use your imagination, if you’ll let me. 

First, remember that it was not in light that I created you first. So imagine darkness. And then imagine light . . . You existed before I formed you physically. And what I want to show you exists, even now—and always—even though its form is not necessarily in the physical world. The physical, you see, is made tangible to you through your experience with it in your mind, your heart. You can see and smell and feel and experience, in your mind, what I have given you to experience with me. And what you see, what you experience with me, will reveal to you more of who I am.

Yes, you can read about me. Yes, you can hear my voice in your heart. Yes, you can pray and follow and respond to the wisdom I give you, but do you want more? Do you want to see what you haven’t yet imagined? Do you want me to pour myself into your mind so that you experience what you have never imagined before? Do you want me to help you imagine?

Close your eyes, dear one. Let me quiet you. Here we go . . . deeper now. Let me take you deeper. Here now, here is my hand. Do you feel it? I help you feel it. See now, not with your eyes. See with your heart. See with your mind. What makes sense doesn’t have to make sense any longer. I am a new paradigm. Let me break open, wide open, what you believe about me, who you understand me to be. 

You believe I am good? Let me show you how. You believe I am powerful? Let me show you a bit of what I can do. You believe I am with you, that I bring healing, that I hold the stars and the moon and more universes than you can count--that I hold them in my hands? I want to take you on an adventure then, just you and me. But you are going to have to trust me—and place any cynicism and skepticism on the floor for a moment. Keep your eyes closed . .  Or not . . . I can work with your eyes open too. . .  Let’s go.

Exercise:

You, my friend, are being invited to go on an adventure, right now.

You’ve been asked some questions: 

Do you want Holy Spirit to pour himself into your mind so that you experience what you have never imagined before? Do you want him to help you imagine what your eyes cannot yet see?

To do this, you must be willing to open your mind and heart. You must be willing to be open to seeing and hearing and experiencing what you have never experienced before . . . Are you willing to let Holy Spirit open up your mind to more . . . more love, more wonder, more beauty, more joy, more peace, more more?

He has so much more for each of us . . . more to hear, to experience, to know, to love. . . And we gets tastes of it, glimpses of it . . . of his glory, his beauty, his love in this life. But our experience is limited. Our wisdom is limited. Yet our God, in his power and his love and his creativity, is not limited. And here He is, asking us if we, right now, are willing to surrender our imagination to him . . . if we, right now, desire to experience more of who He is in our lives, beginning today, this very moment!

Holy Spirit, be our eyes right now. Be our ears. Be our senses of smell, of taste, of touch. We want more of you. We want you to turn around any false beliefs we have about you, to flip any misconceptions about who you are and what you are able to do. And we want you to break open wide our hearts and minds and imaginations so we can see you, feel you, experience you with the eyes of our heart that can do more, so much more, with you, than merely see.

Father, bring us deeper into wonder and majesty and beauty. Let us experience your immense love. In these moments we wait, in expectation and excitement, on you.