Rational and Sacred Imagination

UV 821-10,000 Rational Imagination He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; Romans 4 v 20 Abraham was given the promise by God that he would be the father of nations when he was nearly a hundred years old. His body was virtually dead sexually. It was virtually impossible for him and the aged Sarah to have a child at their age. Yet he believed that God has the power to call into being that which is not as if it already exists. He thanked and gave glory to God for fulfilling the promise of an heir even before it happened. Sarah in contrast laughed at the very thought of her becoming pregnant. Abraham however did not disbelieve the promise of God. He knew that God being God could do whatever He said or promised. Knowing who God is and what He is capable of is essential to the exercise of faith. Faith is all about knowing how limited we are and how unlimited the Lord God is. Abraham gave glory or thanked and praised the Lord for His word of promise. We too need to thank and praise the Lord even before our challenge is met, our need is fulfilled or our problem is solved. Without faith, all our other faculties will be severely limited but with faith, our other faculties will find their full potential. There are many areas of our lives where there is low or no possibility of our hope being fulfilled. Yet,human hope along with faith in the love and power of God calls into existence the impossible. The Lord can make doors in our walls. We may be weak physically, emotionally, intellectually, socially but we can make up by being strong in faith. Faith as they say is a muscle. Just as we have a series of exercises to tone up and build up our muscles, we can build our faith and strengthen it further by doing a series of exercises every day. We exercise faith by recalling different uni-verses in the areas of our need or challenge and claiming it as well as proclaiming it as if it is already done. Faith is not fantasizing or irrational. Abraham did not visualize suddenly something out of the blue. He was just believing the Word of God. He was not trusting God for something illusory and fantastic but he was trusting God for something he sorely needed- an heir. Faith is rational and sacred imagination. Abraham did not stagger. It implied that he was not discouraged. He did not give up hope but had a strong belief that not only God can but that He would certainly do that which he desired and needed. When the Lord answers, He answers not just with that but with abundance and generousity beyond our expectation or need. Faith is applying the Word of God to the everyday reality of life. Its presence pleases God and makes it possible for Him to act. Its absence displeases God and creates blocks or barriers for God to act in our lives. Faith is an universal principle operating across all nations, all of humanity and applies to all domains. But Abraham exemplified it first. Abraham did not expect that a baby would fall out of the sky like the baby in the Superman movie. He expected the baby to be conceived in the dead womb of his wife. He only believed that the Lord God could revive her uterus. Faith is need based. It does not circumvent the natural process. It goes beyond the realm of our five senses and hence it calls for imagination. It is beyond human reason and normal human experience. We need to exercise the spiritual equivalent of our five physical senses. We need to see God doing it on our behalf that which we expect or need or have claimed and believed. We need to hear God doing it. We need to smell what God has done. We need to taste what God has done. We need to touch what God has done. Abraham’s imagined that God could do the impossible. His imagination led to not just one heir which was all he needed and was expecting but led to the nation of Israel as well as the Arab nations being formed. Prateep V Philip