Power of Imagination and Power of Visualization.

I wanted to share today morning about the power of imagination or power of visualization. Okay, (0:09) so God’s word teaches us without faith it’s impossible to please God. Hebrews chapter 11 (0:19) verse 6. So without faith it’s impossible to please God.

God doesn’t move by your need or (0:27) by your tears. God doesn’t move by seeing your misery. There are plenty of miserable people all (0:33) around.

God doesn’t move by your suffering. Millions of people are suffering. We are fortunate (0:39) that we are in this shape what we are.

But God moves by faith. God loves the poor but Jesus said (0:48) you’ll always have the poor with you. Correct? Jesus never said the world will come to a place (0:54) there’ll be nobody poor, everybody will be blessed and wealthy and fairly treated.

No, there is no (1:00) such thing. This world is wicked, empty, pain, impure, it remains that way. But we are called (1:08) to be a light in the darkness.

Amen? So God moves by faith, only by faith. (1:20) So instead of praying, Lord I’m so poor, nobody cared for me, Lord everybody is ignoring me, I went to church, (1:29) nobody said hello to me, nobody see, he didn’t smile, pastor didn’t bother. (1:34) You know these are all miserable, these are all meaningless.

What do you need when you follow Jesus (1:42) is faith. Bible says faith can move mountains. When Jesus in his ministry, as he was walking with (1:51) the disciples and he saw a fig tree full of leaves.

Now that was not the season for figs. So Jesus (1:59) looked at the fig tree for some fruits, Mark chapter 11 verse 20 onwards and there was no fruit (2:06) and Jesus cursed the tree. Atheist people say that’s unfair, how can he curse a tree when (2:13) it’s not the season.

Now Jesus is the creator of every plant, every universe, every galaxy, every (2:20) planet or star or sun or whatever you call it. He used that particular fig tree to teach his (2:27) disciples a lesson. How many of you know that God expects us to bear fruits in season and out of (2:34) season? There is no seasons in God, every day is a good day, every season is a good day.

I was (2:42) studying in the Hindi church, my father was very, very, very, what is very, he used to look at all (2:51) these, I don’t know, all that good time, bad time, very superstitious. When he wanted to come out in (3:00) the morning, he don’t want to see my mother with a broom, it’s a bad omen. There are certain things (3:07) he don’t want to see and if he see, he get very angry and he go back to the house, he don’t go (3:12) because that’s a bad omen.

And he used to do a lot of miscraft, don’t bring all the stuff in the (3:17) house, our house become miserable. And people said there are certain season is a bad season, (3:25) certain days, you know, Tuesday and Friday you should not eat meat because this is a bad day. (3:29) Friday, even the Pentecostal, Friday is a devil chasing day.

Every Pentecostal church has a Friday (3:35) fasting and prayer, why? Because that’s the day the devil become very strong, 13th is the day that (3:41) the evil day, who told you that? It’s made by the Hollywood, it’s not real. Bible says every day is (3:50) a good day, do you believe that? See, when I was building this building, many buildings, people (3:58) say you need to do that, people come to say we need to do puja, I said get out, I don’t want any (4:02) puja here. People say you have to pray to lay the fountain, I said don’t worry, I already prayed.

(4:10) You have to wait for the good time. How many of you know that in God, every day is a good day? (4:17) And there is no good time, bad time, every time is a good time when you learn to walk with God. (4:25) Amen, God never created bad day, we made bad day, God never created good, bad day, God created (4:32) every day is a good day.

So don’t believe in all these superstitious (4:39) omens and signs, there are Christians who still read horoscope. (4:47) You know why? Because they’re so worried about their future, I’ll tell you it’s a deception. (4:54) If you think it’s right and you read, you feel it’s right, but people like us, we don’t read (5:00) any horoscope because our horoscope is already written in heaven, that I’m going to be blessed (5:05) and prosperous, I’m going to go all the moon, no matter how much you grind your teeth with (5:11) jealousy, your teeth will fall down, I’ll go up, amen.

You know when I was growing in the ministry, (5:20) some people got very disturbed and some of my trustees in UK, they said that we need to clip (5:26) Matthew, Matthew is flying too high, he’s going too fast. There’s some people who say be careful, be (5:30) careful, be careful, it’s not because they love you, they’re getting so insecure by your growth. (5:38) You know, when somebody says be careful, that’s the time you’ve got to be carefree.

(5:47) So Jesus said that tree, tree was cut the next day when they were returning (5:52) and Peter saw that tree is dried from the root to the top and Peter said, master, master, look (5:58) that tree you cursed us today, it’s dried overnight. You know what Jesus said to them? (6:07) If you don’t know, turn your Bible to book of Mark 11 verse 22. This is what Jesus said, (6:15) come on, somebody read, not suddenly, I know you know the Bible, I know, I want somebody who don’t (6:19) know the Bible to read.

Okay, come on, open your Bible. See, that’s what Jesus said, have faith in (6:31) God. That’s what we have to say to everyone every day, have faith in God.

Then he goes down the next (6:40) line, verse 23, he says that if you have faith and you tell this mountain to be moved from here and (6:47) cast into the sea and it shall be done, without doubting that, without doubting it, it shall be (6:56) done. Then in the next line he says that when you stand for prayer, whatever you speak, (7:05) believe and it shall be yours. So faith is not just believing, faith is about acting in what you (7:16) believe.

Now, faith becomes real when you learn to imagine through the faith. You know, some, (7:24) we are believers with a lot of unbelief. Faith becomes real when we believe and we take the step (7:34) of belief saying that this is going to happen.

I was talking to Pastor Thakur, I was telling him to (7:40) pray for a car. If you believe that God can give you a car, first go and learn driving. (7:47) And if you don’t learn driving, that’s what’s the sign, you don’t believe that God can give you a (7:52) car.

You know, you pray for your rented house, God I want a house, go and check some houses. (8:01) Dream some house, plan some house. You know, when I crossed 40 (8:07) and I said to God, I need a house because children, two children, one wife.

If you believe (8:12) that God is, you want a house, go look around the houses. Start dreaming about the house. I was (8:18) telling in the Indian church, when I crossed 40, I said, God I need a place to be my own.

I can’t (8:23) stay on rented all the time. You know, I said pray, I said pray for the house, I said dreaming (8:30) the house. You know, there is this one dimension, two dimension, three dimension, then the fourth (8:36) dimension.

Okay, fourth dimension is you see all four sides. So, you get from the first dimension (8:44) of hearing the word, you have to move to the second dimension, then from second dimension, (8:49) you have to move to the third dimension. When you cross third dimension, then you step into fourth (8:54) dimension.

There was a lady come to a church and she and her husband, they were serving God and (9:00) they have no house, they never made money because they’re always busy in preaching the gospel, they (9:04) had no house. And she was telling her testimony that one day, one rich man gave a nice beautiful (9:11) bungalow for them, free. He said, take it, it’s yours.

Without any money paid. A few months back, (9:19) she still comes to church. I said, see you believe, you got to believe in a God who makes (9:24) impossible possible.

So, when I said I need a house, I said praying, more than praying, I said dreaming (9:33) Sometime, you know, you go on praying like the old lady in the Catholic saying rosary, (9:37) keep on saying hail Mary, hail Mary, hail Mary, hail Mary, hail Mary, gone Mary and finally you’re (9:42) sitting in the same place. I was waking father and my sister, you people are from bead to the (9:48) cross and cross to the bead. We’re not reaching nowhere.

But our prayer has to be with faith. (9:57) You know, if you believe in something, you pray, then you act. You can’t go on rolling (10:02) in hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, making a note when having the guts to take (10:06) the step of faith.

So I started living in the house, and you know, I dreamed a house (10:12) with a semi-circle veranda with pillars, I want everything to be white, and two-floor (10:20) bedrooms. You know, I dreamed every part of the house. So when I, then supernaturally (10:26) one man walked in from whom I’d never seen in my life.

I went to the airport to pick him. (10:34) Within two hours, he said, I’ll build a house for you. Now, is it not God? One man who was (10:45) a going guy, sitting in America, God chased him from there to come here.

He didn’t become (10:50) my friend. We have no relationship out there. Sent all the way just to pay for the house.

(10:59) When I was building the house, I was not in need of an architect, because the whole house (11:04) was in my head. I sat with Duncan, we drafted. Then I got a structural engineer to metal and (11:13) all that part.

So I read a book by Derrick Prince called God the Matchmaker. I don’t (11:20) know if you’re old believers, you must have heard this book. So I read this book, and (11:24) this book says that you pray for your future, how to pray for the future partner.

Write (11:29) down what you want to see in the person whom you want to marry. You know, I wrote down this. (11:36) There are a few points.

She should have short hair. And I was thinking, what’s her name? (11:43) She should be called Julia. I’m not lying, I’m telling the truth.

And when I met many (11:51) girls, I didn’t like, they didn’t like all this kind of thing. Finally, I ended up marrying (11:57) Julia. And she had a, those who know Julia 20 years back, she had a boy cut.

She had (12:03) a short hair. And everything that I wrote down as a ten point, you know, it came to (12:08) pass. So why I’m trying to, why I said these two things, not to boast, I’m a hopeless (12:13) character.

Only God is my hope. And when you have faith, when God says something to you, (12:22) you must get on with the habit of visualizing what God is speaking to you. You know, visualization (12:32) is a muscle.

It’s like a muscle. The more you use, the more stronger it grows. I can (12:41) pick up 50 kilos, but if I’m not healthy, I can’t pick up 50.

You have to learn to visualize (12:49) yourself as God sees you. Now, the visualization, it can be a negative aspect or it can be a (12:58) positive aspect. If you read Genesis chapter 5 verse 6, you see a kind of visualization.

(13:07) God created man to be fruitful and productive and multiplied how domain over the earth. (13:14) Man got completely goofed up. Bible says God felt so sorry that he created man.

Why? You (13:27) read your Bible, you’ll come to know every intent and the thoughts of man was evil continuously. (13:37) God created man for a purpose is to be fruitful and multiply and have domain over the earth. (13:46) So that is God’s imagination about man.

That is God’s imagination about you. But I’ve been (13:55) in a very short period of time, man managed to get himself messed up. When we are born (14:02) again, we become royal people.

We become God’s own children. First Peter chapter 2 (14:10) verse 9 or many other verses, we are a kingdom of priests under God. Yes or no? We are the (14:18) royal priesthood, holy people, peculiar people called out for the power of darkness into (14:25) his marvelous light to declare his praises everywhere.

We were not the people of God (14:32) but now we are the people of God. Amen or no man? But do you live like a people of God? (14:40) That’s a challenge. When you read Romans chapter 1, God got disappointed with the people because (14:50) every thought of them was corrupt.

Bible says they become so corrupt in their thinking instead (15:02) of glorifying God, they start glorifying the devil. They turn to ungodly lustful behavior (15:10) because they turn away from God. So the power of imagination, if you connect your power (15:19) of imagination with your carnality, it brings disapproval from God.

You imagine things bad (15:27) within you. You say you are a man of faith or you are a believer but if you don’t learn (15:34) to visualize or imagine yourself the way God sees, then you start imagining the way the (15:42) Bible says. Now Genesis chapter 6, Romans chapter 1, 1, 29, these verses speak about (15:51) man’s thoughts are evil continuously.

What the Bible says, God felt sorry that he, now (15:59) let me ask you, does God feel sorry that he saved you or God is so excited that he saved (16:05) you? But what is your thoughts? Is it evil continuously? Sometimes. So you need redemption. (16:18) So power of the imagination, we have to learn to imagine ourselves as God sees us.

(16:29) Every day when you get up in the morning, you have to sit somewhere and ask yourself, (16:37) who am I? What am I? It is so important that you learn to take a stock of yourself before (16:47) you try to take a stock of other people. We are so worried about his behavior, her clothes (16:54) and his daughter is doing whatever her husband is doing. Why don’t you learn to mind your (17:00) own business? So, when you get up in the morning, sit somewhere, visualize what God has spoken (17:13) over your life in the past.

In the Old Testament, the word imagine, they used a Hebrew word (17:20) called etzer. Etzer means every thought of man, meaning is a form, frame and the purpose (17:28) of heart. That is what the meaning of the word etzer in the Hebrew.

You know, the etzer (17:35) of people in the book of Genesis chapter 6 was evil continuously and God regretted for (17:44) making them. But this one man found favor in the outside. His name was Noah.

And Romans (17:53) chapter 129, they were given into corrupt thoughts. Their thoughts became futile. They (18:03) start looking to idols and statues and immorality to bring happiness instead of looking to God.

(18:11) I was talking to some very, very rich people this week. Full of problems. All this, you know, (18:18) somehow we live in a very fancy world.

Somebody good looking says something, we believe that’s (18:24) true. That’s why media, all this advertisement, they use good looking people. Is it true? (18:31) Just because somebody looks good, what they say is true? No, it’s not true.

It’s not true. (18:37) You don’t focus on God’s word. Your own mind can become your worst enemy.

Focus on everything (18:45) negative. People can speak into your life negativity. If you are not a faith driven (18:51) person, what people say over you will affect you and you lose your faith.

So the New Testament (19:01) word for imagination or visualization is Dialogismos. Dialogismos means the reasoning (19:09) of inner dialogue. Visualization is you are having a dialogue within yourself to see (19:17) who you are.

Now, there are so many things I can say about power of visualization. It’s (19:26) the inner reality. What we look out is not the real, what’s inside is the reality.

Visualization, (19:34) imagination is you are looking within yourself, seeing yourself in reality without any lights (19:43) focused on you and then you have a choice to alter the reality into true reality or (19:51) still live in an illusion. Now, imagination, we all are imagining all the time. All the (19:59) time, all of us are imagining every day.

But unfortunately, a lot of people imagine everything (20:05) bad. Oh, I will not be blessed. This debt will take away.

Oh, I won’t get any job. I (20:10) will not get a good husband. My problem will never get solved.

He will never change. That (20:19) will be lost. I don’t think I’m capable.

Look at all the failures I made. Now, if you (20:24) want a faith-driven person, you know, faith gets formed by hearing the word of God. Amen? (20:32) Faith comes by hearing and hearing of the word of God again and again.

So if you want (20:36) your faith to grow, you must hear God’s word, number one. Number two, you must believe what (20:42) God says to you. You know, Sam was talking of the prophetical word, a prophecy.

Sam loves (20:47) to be a prophet, pray that one day he’ll be a powerful prophet, prophesy all over Goa (20:52) and India and Narendra Modi also. Amen? All things are possible. Visualize every day.

(21:00) But no negative thoughts. Not allowing what other people say to impact you. Now, God has (21:06) spoken to all of us.

Yes or no? We are promise keepers. I have promises from God. I’m 61, (21:16) next 15 years, I already planned my life.

Do you plan your life? See, when you have (21:23) a plan, praying becomes easy, giving up bad habits becomes easy. Why? Because you have (21:29) a purpose to live for. But when you don’t make a plan, when you don’t have a purpose (21:33) to live for, any life is okay.

Now, I’m trying my best to be healthy. When you cross 60, (21:40) if you want to live a long life and happy life, be careful what you eat. Eat nutritious (21:46) meal, don’t eat too much.

You know, you have to look after your health. So, because I have (21:53) a plan to live a long life, and I want to work every day, I want to build things in (21:58) my life, I have a lot of dreams in my life, and for coming 15 years, what I want to achieve, (22:03) I’m not going to waste my time looking back to what I have gathered. They are the history, (22:11) but I am looking for the future because there are more things I want to gather.

So, when (22:16) I have a clear vision, it’s so easy. Every time I get money, I don’t go to the shopping (22:22) mall with that money. You know why? Because I have a purpose for the money.

I don’t waste (22:27) my time talking to stupid people. You know why? Because I don’t want to take things from (22:32) them into my brain. Because my brain is my workshop, it’s my processor.

You know, RAM, (22:38) computer, you know, random access memory. So, I want to keep my RAM free so that the (22:44) thoughts can be processed, the word I hear becomes faith, and faith can be processed (22:50) into reality. But if I have no vision, if I have no lively promise from God, anything (22:58) you will eat, anybody you’ll talk, that could be any conversation.

As a result, you become (23:07) a completely useless, depressing, negative person. So, we all are imagining all the time (23:15) in our life, but what are we imagining? God wants us to learn to think along with Him, (23:23) with His presence, with His word, so that He can create things out of your life. Think (23:31) of it, if you don’t have a vision for your life, how can God give you a vision? If you (23:38) don’t take care of what you have, what’s the point of asking for more? You’re already (23:44) confused with what little you have.

If God won’t give you, why? Because He doesn’t (23:48) want to be messed up more. Now, what is faith? Hebrews chapter 11, verse 1, explains the (23:56) definition of faith. Now, faith is assurance, title deed, that’s what the bracket says, (24:03) title deed of confirmation.

All things hope are divinely guaranteed, and the evidence (24:10) of the things you have not seen, what is the evidence? Conviction of their reality, faith (24:15) comprehend as fact that we cannot be experienced by physical sense. Then He says, by this kind (24:23) of faith, our forefathers gained God’s approval. If you go home, read the book of Hebrews chapter (24:31) 11, you’ll see heroes of faith, and they all gained the approval of God, and went down (24:37) in the history as a legend, because they believed.

They walked by faith. Another translation (24:43) says, now faith brings our hope into reality, and becomes the foundation needed to acquire (24:50) the things we long for. I hope you’re listening carefully.

I’ll read again. Faith brings our (24:58) hope into reality, and becomes the foundation needed to acquire things we are long for. (25:06) It’s all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen.

This testimony of faith is (25:12) what previous generations were commended for. Another translation says, faith empowers us (25:18) to see that the universe was created beautifully, coordinated by the power of God. He spoke, (25:25) and the invisible realm gave birth to what is seen.

Fundamentally, fundamental fact of (25:31) existence that we trust in God, that’s faith, the firm foundation under everything that (25:38) makes life worth living, and this message translates to say, faith is our handle on (25:46) the thing that we can’t see. You know, when you go to home, you have a handle to open (25:51) the door, correct? Yeah? So faith is a handle. We open the unseen door, and you get into (25:59) unseen world, which eventually become a reality into our life.

(26:05) Now, imagination is the unseen architect, but you say, I have faith. If you wanted to (26:12) grow in faith, you must spend time every day imagining, visualizing what you’re praying (26:20) for. Sometimes you use all kinds of effects in visualizing.

Think about what you wanted (26:27) to become. If you want a house, think about the house that you are doing. Visualize it.

(26:33) Visualize every aspect of the color, the texture, and the furniture, and what size (26:40) it should be. Don’t get too worried. You can ask for big.

God doesn’t even feel upset (26:44) about it. So faith is the architect, unseen architect of what we want to build. When (26:56) you walk by faith through imagination, you walk into what you are imagining.

Faith is, (27:03) I mean, there’s a lot of things I have written down. Faith is, imagination is a God-given (27:10) capacity of the mind to form images, ideas, and concepts, concepts not present to the (27:19) sense. It is more than daydreaming.

It’s a divine tool for vision, problem-solving, (27:24) empathy, and creation. Now, what does faith bring? What does imagination do to your life? (27:31) I want to read a few things. You can listen.

And number one, when you walk by faith through (27:39) imagination, creation begins in your mind. You start creating things. Everything man (27:45) ever built, from pyramid to smartphone, began as a thought or imagination, turned to invisible (27:51) idea into tangible realities.

And imagination fuels your faith. It builds your faith. Faith (27:59) is a substance of the thing you’re hoping for, and the evidence of things you have (28:03) not seen.

Faith breaks barriers. When you have faith, you think beyond every limitation. (28:10) Imagination allows us to see beyond the current limitation, inspire in hope, in despair, strategies, (28:18) in mass solution, in complexity.

Faith is the driver of innovation. When you have faith, (28:26) when you start imagining, you have a faith that you’re going to get a house, or you’re (28:30) going to get a car, and you’re praying for it regularly. When you start imagining and (28:36) visualizing, you will find solutions to reach that place.

You will find permission to get (28:41) that. You will see. So, see like, I’m Catholic.

I never knew there was. Then one day I became (28:53) born again, and when I went back to my city, everywhere I looked, I saw church. I asked (29:00) to myself, how come I never seen these churches before? Because you call it, or you see only (29:07) what you’re inside.

When you connect to something, everything is connected. Now, if you have (29:13) a vision, and if you start imagining that your vision becomes reality, you will see (29:19) It was not something that God brought it, it was there, but you never seen it because (29:25) there was no need. Your vision creates the provision.

You know, what the imagination (29:39) in the classic sense? Imagination is focusing on God’s perspective. You know, Colossians (29:46) chapter 3 verse 2 says, set your mind on the things above. It encourages to focus on heavenly (29:54) things, not earthly ones.

It takes, you know, secondly,