RIGHTEOUS IMAGINATION
- the righteousness which is by faith
(Gen 15:5-6 NIV) He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars–if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
(Gal 2:20-3:9 NIV) I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing–if it really was for nothing? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard? Consider Abraham: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
(Romans 10:1-11 NIV) Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: “The man who does these things will live by them.” But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ “(that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’ “(that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
The New Covenant is already established with sinful man through Jesus Christ. Life in the Kingdom is not a matter of doing to earn righteousness but believing that righteousness has already been given.
Trying to observe the law mocks human weakness- self effort is never enough.
The grace of God does not require us to do anything but simply believe … “And he [Abram] believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6)
The record of this type of faith righteousness is not just for Abraham’s benefit but ours:
23 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone,
24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness–for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. (Romans 4:23-25).
God credits righteousness upon the one who simply exercises faith in Christ Jesus. Upon believing he is delivered from the curse and the requirements of the law.
This also means that the believer is free from condemnation forever and guilt. The law could never make a man right with God, but grace and faith can. This grace is available to all who hear and believe in the word of God … ” 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2).
What does all of this mean practically?
Our struggle is in the area of belief – we war against unbelief if we war at all. What lesson can we learn from Abraham?
- Abraham – prophetic word of a son at 75 yrs of age – Sarah pass the age of child bearing
- Gen 15:5 – Abraham given a vision of abundance and increase – God used the stars to paint a picture – tell them – speech is involved
- Inner image formed – imagine Abraham talking to the stars
- As we speak our mind is being renewed through the power of words
- Go forward 24 years – Abraham only received two confirmations during this times from the promise to the product
- Even when he took matters into his own hands with Hagar he was not struggling with God’s promise but with God’s timing
- Before God could get Abraham into abundance He had to get abundance into Abraham – name change – Sarah, mother of a prince and Abraham, exalted father. (Daddy & Momma)
- God at work unlocking the power of Abraham’s righteous imagination – Romans 4:17 – calling those things that do not exist as if they did
- Imaginations – images – pictures painted on the canvas of our memories by thoughts – thought pictures
- Imagination is a God-ordained tool that should be used for the sake of righteousness
- Power hungry Pagans perverted this ability but your imagination is not an evil thing
- Devil is an imitator not an originator – mission is to steal righteous things and pervert them for his own evil purposes to import his deviation into a generation
- Supernatural ability of imagination not given by the devil but placed in man by God
- Genesis 1:26 – God made man in His own image – God had a mental picture of the finished product before He began the process
- Wrong imaginations exalt themselves against the knowledge of God
- When you submit to the knowledge of the will of God you have a right and responsibility to cooperate with the Holy Spirit and use your imagination for righteous purposes – this is how He fulfills His purpose for your life
- Our ignorance and lack of understanding about this vital aspect of faith keeps us from breaking forth into this reality of the Abrahamic Covenant.
- If you want to walk in the blessing of Abraham which has become ours in Jesus Christ, then you have to learn how to see it before you see it
- When you really begin to learn how to see it in the spirit before you see it in the natural then nothing that God desires for you will be kept from you
- Must spend the time that it takes in His Word and in His presence to affect what you see on the inside of you
- Not wasting time when you hear, memorize and confess the Word of God – when you do these things you are working on the inner image that God is working to create in your inner man
- God working to establish the inner image of victory so vivid and clear that when you close your eyes you see victory – when you awake in the morning it is to expectation of victory
- Abraham spent his life looking for something he had already seen – our imagination is the brush of faith
