The Power of Imagination

When we think of meditation, a lot of us think of chanting and things affiliated with other religions--but at its core, that's not what it is. Meditation can simply be calming the mind by disciplined focus on some external stimulus, like your breath, your heart, or the ambient sounds around you... and if your mind is scattered and flitting from topic to topic, there is certainly great physiologic value in this, as it will get you out of "fight or flight" and into the parasympathetic "rest and digest" state. Also, if your mind is too loud, it makes it all but impossible for you to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit--so quieting your mind through this form of meditation is valuable for that reason as well.

Biblically, though, meditation is more than just quieting your "monkey brain." That just gets you back to neutral. Rather, biblical meditation involves focused thought upon an idea long enough for you to get a picture in your mind of what you're contemplating. We all do this all the time; it's just a matter of what we're thinking about. Andrew Wommack likes to say that if you know how to worry, you know how to meditate. Worry is meditation upon something negative. Paul tells us what we should be meditating on in Philippians 4:8: "whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things."

The reason this is so important is because scripture tells us that our thoughts determine what we believe, just like planting seeds will determine what kind of harvest we get. Proverbs 23:7 says, "for as a man thinks in his heart, so is he." We can act contrary to what we truly believe for a short period of time, but what we think in our hearts is who we really are, and it will come out eventually. This is why Jesus said that the most important parable He ever taught was the Parable of the Sower (Matt 13:3-23). In the parable, the "seed" is the Word of God, and soil is the hearts of the listeners. It's the state of the soil which determines how well that seed will grow and produce a harvest. There are other possible seeds besides God's word, though--in the parable, there were thorns and tares in one type of soil, too. Jesus later defines these for us as "the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches" (Matt 13:22), which can choke the Word such that it becomes unfruitful. Those sound like typical sources of worry to me.

Think of thoughts in general--any type of thought--as a potential seed that can eventually bear a harvest if you plant it and cultivate it (or meditate upon it until you can see it in your mind). A stray thought here or there can't do this any more than a seed can without the right environment for it to grow--which is why we're told in scripture to take our thoughts captive (2 Cor 10:5). Think of this like weeding the 'garden' of your heart. If you don't want the harvest, then pluck up the plant before it can bear fruit--or, better yet, avoid exposing yourself to the seed in the first place, if you can control it. This isn't always possible, but we can choose what we watch, what we listen to, what kind of church we go to (one that preaches faith or unbelief), and what kind of people we spend time with. "Bad company corrupts good character" (1 Corinthians 15:33)--so if you surround yourself with people who are negative, complaining, undisciplined, or any other negative character trait, most likely it'll rub off on you eventually. Those people influence how you think, and unwittingly this plants "seeds" in your heart that will eventually bear a harvest, if they are allowed to do so.

It takes discipline to control our imaginations, of course. Just like the Second Law of Thermodynamics describes entropy in the universe (which means that left to themselves, all systems go from order to disorder), so the tremendous power available in our minds will accomplish nothing if we don't focus it appropriately. Worse, if we use our imaginations for an actively destructive purpose like worrying, we might end up with exactly what we're essentially "believing" for. A medical example of this is the placebo versus the nocebo effect: about 30% of people (probably those who are most "suggest-able") in clinical trials will typically get better even if they're given a sugar pill rather than the actual medication being tested, because they believe it will help them. Their minds make it work. The nocebo is the same principle in reverse: if you believe something will make you worse, it very well might, even if the substance itself is neutral.

This is the whole concept behind affirmations, or positive confessions: say something long or often enough, and eventually it'll sink down into your subconscious mind, and you'll start to believe it--even if you don't at first. Not what we superficially say, but what we truly believe, determines how we will act. Other religions and spiritual traditions jump onto this too, in books like "The Secret"--because it's a neutral principle which can work for us or against us. It's just part of the way God set up the world. In Genesis 11:6, speaking of the Tower of Babel, God says, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, now nothing they imagine to do will be impossible for them." This was a negative story, but it illustrates the principle as God made it. Jesus said the same thing on the flip side when the disciples were amazed that the fig tree withered when he cursed it: "Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe you receive them, and you will have them." (Mark 11:23-24). When I was a kid, I read this verse, took it at face value, and commanded the mountain outside my bedroom window to be cast into the sea. Nothing happened, of course... but I also didn't expect anything to happen. That's the 'caveat'--you have to actually believe what you're saying, like Jesus did.

And that's why it's so important for you to "guard your heart with all diligence"--because out of it literally "spring the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:20-23). But not immediately; as with any plant, harvests come "first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head" (Mark 4:28). Gardening is hard work; you have to constantly plant not just what you want, but you have to prepare the soil, water the seed, and pluck up competing weeds that might steal the nutrients from your fledgling little plant and choke it. It's just like that with our minds. That's why biblical meditation--using a positive imagination to picture what we want, to visualize God's promises coming to pass--is so important.

Here's an overview of some of the Hebrew and Greek words in scripture translated to meditate (or to imagine, speak, ponder, etc), their context, and how they help to back up this idea.

• HAGAH: meaning to meditate, speak, imagine, study, mutter, utter, muse, devise
  • Joshua 1:8: "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate H1897 therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."
    • Notice that God didn't tell Joshua to just read the book of the law. He told him to meditate on i