The Sanctified
Imagination/Taking Back What's Yours!
by Teresa Dalton
10/30/2010
Before I start, I have to explain a few things. I do not by any means
want to glorify the enemy, but we must understand his cunning.
He is not one to waste time or action. Everything he does has a
purpose behind it and that purpose is to make you believe lies
that keep you from a life of simplicity in Christ, full of happiness,
joy, peace, understanding, knowledge, health and wholeness.
He wants you to believe that the things you have already been
freely given are things that are only attained through hard work
and religious ritual. He knows he is defeated, but he, the word says,
was left alive and he is tormented by your destiny because he
can't have it!
I have a question for you and don't lie when you answer it! How
many times have you enjoyed a scary movie, a pornographic
movie, or you may even just be hooked on Disney movies! Do
you know why? They take you to a place that you enjoy. They take
you away from maybe an otherwise mundane life and give you
adventures you wouldn't have otherwise. The enemy understands
how you are made and how your mind works to bring things alive
in your spirit. That is why he so elaborately counterfeits the use
of your imagination.
Jesus taught in parables, not only so that the unbelieving would
not get it, but so that your mind would have a picture that would
bring understanding you otherwise could not grasp, or maybe
it would just take you longer to grasp it.
Jesus is the maker of your imagination. He created sex...AAHHH...
did I say that? Yes, everything that is good, He made it for His
creation to use and enjoy! You yourself were His dream from
His imagination! After becoming a believer, there are many religious
teachings out there that want you to believe that there are things in
this world that are taboo to you now, because they are bad. Do you
understand that the devil's creativity is no more? He can only imitate
and corrupt what is good and he is very good at that. He can even
make things that look good to us as believers continue to look good
to us to keep us in the error of our ways! An example of that would
be a lot of the religious things we stay stuck doing for so long in the
name of Jesus...like judging people and deciding certain people are
not worth your prayers, much less your time or attention because
of sins you see in their lives. You received your salvation by grace,
but you want everyone else to work for theirs! Thank you Lord that
greater are YOU in me, than he who is in the world!
Back to my point...at salvation you were not made over again or
fixed, you were made NEW. You, at that time, received the mind of
Christ, also. He now lives in you and will NEVER leave you or forsake
you! Do you really believe that? I think many are afraid to believe it
because you can't believe it and stay the same...in that comfortable
place where you'll never venture out of for fear of being embarrassed
or made fun of, or maybe even rejected by those who don't understand
what they see you doing.
Many, many believers have the Holy Spirit enslaved inside of them.
They keep Him as a hidden treasure...they keep Him in one little room
in the temple of their body and never talk to Him, never acknowledge
Him, never do anything but maybe once in awhile tell Him they love Him
and sing Him a song, but He is kept as a love slave, safely tucked away
where they don't have to pay attention to Him...but they take comfort in
the fact that He is there. Oh, and if they need something, they will
occasionally go ask Him for it.
I want to now turn this from the negative to the positive...to the glorious!
You are a NEW creation, you have GOD living inside you FOREVER, you
have the MIND OF CHRIST, you are seated in the heavenlies with Him
already according to the Bible, and you have all things that pertain to life
and godliness. I want you to KNOW that God wants to LIVE with/in YOU...
He has amazing things to SHOW you, right NOW! I am just beginning to
understand this myself, so bear with me as I share what I now see.
In my ministry school the other night we listened to Bill Johnson's
secretary, Judy Franklin, teach on encountering God's love. She is so
easy to listen to...so real and honest...you can't help but be drawn into
all that she is saying and hang on every word. She mentioned that it had
been spoken over her that she would have 3rd Heaven experiences.
She explained that when she had her first one, she realized she had
been having this all along...she was in a familiar place and she told God,
"I've been here before!" He said, "I know." When I heard that I got SO
excited, because I understood that I, too, have been there before!
I'll try to explain that now.
Many of you have had dreams and some even have had visions. Where
did they take place? In your sleep...in your mind, your thoughts...your
imagination! Imagination is the act or power of forming a mental image
of something not present to the senses, or never before wholly perceived
in reality. It also means creative ability. Do you remember when you first
heard a parable of Jesus? You understood it because of the picture He had
just painted in your mind. Those movies you may have been hooked on,,,
Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia...some maybe good,
some possibly very bad. You were drawn to them because of the places
they took you...the thrill, the adventure!
I want you to know that the God who created EVERYTHING by His WORDS,
and holds it all together by the same, wants you to let Him out of the closet!
He wants you to come away with Him on an adventure meant only personally
for you! He wants you to SEE what "being seated in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus" means! He wants to love on you in such a real way that you feel His
hugs, his kisses, and you dance with Him!
I have written, in my journaling, of a time many years ago when my husband
and I had had a fight before bedtime. I fell asleep in tears, feeling so alone and
so lost. Sometime in the night I found myself on a beach, I was held in the arms
of the most amazing man. I could feel His love permeate my entire being! He was
SO gentle and He truly KNEW who I was (Remember, "I SEE YOU" from the Avatar
movie? That was it!). I felt so at home in His arms and the FEELING...the
feeling was better than ANY romantic time you've ever had with your spouse...(sorry
if that thought offends anyone...just being real). We danced and twirled and the
waves of the sea danced with us. I remember the waves swirling around us...it was
all blue and white and frothy...and not scary at all...just natural it seemed, creation
dancing with us. We were both dressed in white flowing clothes that moved with our
dance. I remember waking up and the FEELING was still there! I went back to sleep
and for the first time ever I actually went right back into the dream. He was still there!
I have revisited that place in my mind many times over the years and it always
comforts me.
I am going to offend some people now. I now realize that He came and got me
and took me to a place where He could show me how much He loved me no matter
what was happening here in the world. I believe that place is as real as what I
can see and touch here. I believe that as important as it is for me to remember
and be comforted by His written Word, that my experiences with His living Word,
His Son, are just as important. I believe that we don't have to wait to experience
Him or Heaven. I believe that when I live from there, everything else is under my
feet and I cannot fail or fall, no matter what it looks like here. I believe that what
happens in Heaven and around me that I can't see with my eyes, is more real
than what I see here and is forever, for eternity!
If you have ever heard my testimony of my speaking in tongues experience, you
know that God gave me a word in Turkish on a scroll in a dream/vision. It was
"goo loom". On the treasure hunt that He took me on, I found that it
was the Turkish word Gulum...with two dots over each "u" that I'm not sure how
to type out in this Wordpad program. It is pronounced as if the "u's" are long as
in the word "united". I found someone who spoke Turkish and asked what it meant. It is a
term of endearment as when you call someone "sweetie, honey, or my flower/rose".
God loves me so much that He calls me that. He gave me that in a time of turmoil,
because He is fun and He is love, and He wants so much for me to KNOW it.
I tell you that YOU, my friend, are as special to God as anyone else is. There
is love that He has for YOU that He has for no one else, because He is THAT BIG!
If you don't believe it, you have made the enemy of your soul bigger than God and
you need to STOP IT!
When Judy Franklin said what I mentioned before about finding that she had already
been to the 3rd Heaven with Jesus, all of my past dreams came alive for me again,
and as much as I believed they were Him before, something was cut off of me that
made them even more precious to me! Not only that, but I know that I can go there
whenever I want and He is right there waiting for me! I know that He will also come
and get me to take me on adventures!
RECLAIM what the enemy has taken from you! You have a sanctified
imagination. You have a special way of seeing/hearing that you have shut off out
of fear. You know how strong a force it is in the hands of the enemy...TAKE IT BACK!!
I have to tell you that after hearing Judy speak that night and going through the
exercise she walks you through, I just wanted to stay there...so I did...and I was
speaking words of love to Him and He was twirling me around (I am most always a
little girl there....come as a little child.) I could feel his clothes against my cheek as
he hugged me! I was so enamored in His love and all of a sudden He looked at me
and said, "lighten up"! You see I was weeping for joy, but He wanted to laugh with me!
That I did...the most healing, freeing laughter...amazing! He is SO LOVE and SO FUN!
Don't miss out...the invitation is there for you, too, to go and let Him love on you! He
wants your "movie", your "destiny" with Him to start NOW. Don't believe the liar
or the Pharisees who would rob you of this! Remember, "there is no fear in love,
perfect love casts out fear" and His is PERFECT LOVE!
If you want some really good teaching on this, go here:
http://www.ibethel.org/store/p2457/HeavenCan2339tWait/product_info.html.
The MP3 download (2 are included and both are important), is worth a million
bucks to me...just sayin'...LOL.
Love, Joy and Peace!
Teresa
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