The Power Of A Positive Imagination Part 2 – Lawson and Aaron Perdue
The Power Of A Positive Imagination Part 2 – Lawson and Aaron Perdue
The Power Of A Positive Imagination Part 2 from Pastors Lawson & Aaron Perdue. In this episode of Grace For Today, turn your negative imagination over to a positive one and see how you can begin to walk into the plans and purposes that God has for your life.
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The Grace Life Package includes some of our favorite teachings from Pastor Lawson and Andrew Wommack, about living a life full of the Grace of God. This bundle consists of Grace Life and Revelation of Grace in your choice of CD, USB, or as a Digital Download:
The Power Of A Positive Imagination Part 2 – Transcript
Praise the Lord, friends. I’m so glad that you have tuned in to the broadcast. We’re talking today about how to move from a negative imagination to a positive imagination, and by doing that, you can move into the plans and purposes that God has for you. You don’t want to miss this broadcast. I believe it’s got very practical aspects about helping you possess your God-given destiny. Blessings.
Welcome, friends of the broadcast. I’m so glad that you’re here with Aaron and I today, and we’re sharing on the power of a positive imagination. In fact, we laid the foundation just yesterday in the broadcast, and we talked about how the imagination is part of our heart or our soul. And we talked about that in the scripture most of the time the word imagination is used, it’s not used in a positive, but a negative context. And I believe ultimately that was because of the fall of men. But in Genesis 6:5, this was in the days of Noah, God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that the imagination of his heart was only continually evil. And so, you know, we talked about if we’re gonna move into what God has for us, we’ve gotta turn that thing around from being negative to being positive, and that the imagination has great power. In Genesis 11, verse six, this was at the Tower of Babel. God saw that the people were one, they had one language, and he said nothing would be restrained from them which they had imagined to do. So that was humanity in their own strength and power. And so God divided the earth, confused their language, put them in different places so that they couldn’t do these things in their own strength and power. History teaches us that they had built a seven-tiered tower. Around the base of it they had different shrines of different demon deities. On the top of it, they had the zodiac. They were worshiping other gods rather than the one true God. But we wanna talk today about the fact that the imagination can be used for good or evil. Now, looking at the scripture in Jeremiah chapter three, verse 17, it says, “At that time, they will call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord.” I believe this is a future day he’s talking about. “And all nations will be gathered to it. And the name of the Lord to Jerusalem. Neither will they walk anymore after the imagination of their evil heart.” So in eternity, when we were with Jesus in the new Jerusalem, we are not going to walk in the imagination of our evil heart. So our imagination will be positive in heaven. And I believe we can have a positive imagination today by changing the way that we think. And go ahead, Aaron.
Oh yeah. I liked what you’re saying too about they shall not follow the imagination of their evil hearts. You know, I have a New King James Translation here. Jeremiah 3:17, it says, “No more shall they follow the dictates of their evil hearts.” So your imagination really dictates where you’re going. Your heart dictates. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. You know, your life is going in the direction of your thought life, of your imaginations.
Of your dominant thoughts. You know, if you want to change the direction that you’re going, you have to start at the soul level. You gotta begin to meditate the Word of God, right? And change your thinking, right? The Word of God has the power to change your thinking. The Word of God has the power to change, you know, your thought. And if you will change your thinking from negative to positive, from problems to the promises of God, you can move into that. And that’s my very first aspect in really changing this picture on the inside is, number one, we have to receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save our souls. That’s in James chapter one, verse 21. Verse 18 says this, that we were born again. It talks about of the engrafted word, we are born of the word of God, we’re born of the word of God, of his own will. You know, God beget us with the word of truth that we would be a kind of first fruit of his creation. If you want to have the first fruit, if you want to have the best fruit, if you want to have the good things of God move into those, you start, right? It starts in your spirit when you’re born again. But you have to receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your soul. It goes from your spirit to your soul. That’s James chapter one, verse 21. I believe your spirit was saved. Your spirit was born of God, born again when you believed on Jesus. But if you wanna see the victory that Christ promised you come to pass in your life, you’ve gotta begin to work on the area of your soul, your mind, your will, and your emotions.
I like that Jesus kind of brought this scripture out when the devil tempted him. He said that, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” You know, just like you have to feed your body every day, you need to also feed your soul, and as a believer, you feed your soul with the Word of God.
Yeah, there’s a lot of things your soul can feed. I actually believe that a lot of times people in the church aren’t really receiving any different results than people in the world because they are feeding on the same pool of information. And it’s so easy to do that, just to look at circumstances, to look at problems that are out there that are contrary with what God says, and just get overwhelmed with those circumstances.
Well, sometimes I see ministers, they’re almost parroting what the news is saying. You know, like, they maybe put a spiritual spin to it, but you know, I’ve seen things about, you know, several months ago the housing market’s gonna crash, the housing, you know, like the world was saying that, but then ministers would start saying the same thing and they aren’t really, you know, like, you need to be saying what the Word of God says.
Yeah, and it’s easy to follow into that. But at the same point in time, we can’t just feed off the same pool of information as the world. At the beginning of this pandemic, your mom and I went to the grocery store and these people were piling up two and three carts just full of, you know, canned goods and stuff. And we went in there and bought a little fruit and vegetables and walked out with a couple of bags. And some lady noticed the difference, and she said, “You guys aren’t from here, are you?” Barbara’s like, “Nope.”
Yeah, I remember going to the grocery store. You couldn’t even find noodles, like spaghetti noodles. The whole pasta section was just wiped out.
It still affected things, this, you know, some of this crazy stuff. Last night, some of the stuff that I was looking for wasn’t even on the shelf. And you know, we’re here two years into this thing and over two years, but you know what? I’m keeping my eyes on Jesus. I’m not gonna feed on that. We’re gonna be taken care of. And you know what? There’s plenty. God is taking care of us in grand style. I’m not piling my house up with a bunch, you know, I’m from the country, so we have a freezer. I probably have enough food to, you know, live a year just with what, and that’s not trying to stock up. You know what, I’m not trying to do that. But if we just had to live, but I am not trying to just make a living. That is such a sorry way to think. And I think that’s the world. I think God wants us to, you know, think about giving, think about being a blessing, thinking about who we can help and how we can change the world. And so I think in different ways, praise God. I’ve had people get mad at me at the church because you have so much money, why do you have all this money? Well, we wouldn’t be in this building. We wouldn’t have the things we have unless we saved up beforehand.
You’re dreaming of opportunities in the future.
Right. You know, you had a word from God. I believe it’s from God that in the future we would have a fund. And you know what? We would give, you know, 10 million a year to missions and other ministries. And you know in the church way of thinking, a lot of people are thinking, “Well, why are you thinking about, you talked about having a hundred million dollars.” And you know, Peter went to Princeton University and part of this, when you were a junior in college, you were raising money for a car. And I told you when you got the information from Carnegie Mellon, you wouldn’t go there. And you said, “Dad, what’s wrong with you? Don’t you have faith?” Because you were thinking at a higher level. And you know, when you first set out to go there, they were charging back then 43,500 a year for tuition. And you just believed God. And I said, I kind of put that back on you. But you know, when they started out, they said they wouldn’t give you nothing. And by the time they were done, they gave us over $20,000 a year in grants that you didn’t have to pay back. And you worked for some of it, you got loans for some of it, but ultimately God paid for your education. And when you got out of college, you had over $200,000 with your doctorate. Most people are $500,000 in debt when they got a doctorate from a school like you. But that’s because you begin to think differently. You can’t think like the world and have different results. If you wanna have different results, you’ve gotta begin to think differently. You’ve gotta begin to see differently. You’ve gotta begin to see. While you were in college getting your doctorate, you were taking 10, 15, 20 kids out and buying them dinner and talking to ’em about the things of God and the plans of God for life that were good. Amen. Most people were just, they couldn’t even take theirselves out to dinner, let alone somebody else. Praise God. They’d bring their friends. You’d say, “All right, I’ll pay for everybody.” Praise God. God blessed you and made you a witness to those people. Praise God. And we should be a witness to the people around us of the goodness of God. But we can’t get there if we just think these constant negative thoughts that the world talks about lack and not having enough and…
[Aaron] Just panicking.
Just, it’s crazy how the world operates.
Well, just the world’s always gonna be hitting a panic button of some sort. There’s always gonna be something to panic about because fear sells and panic causes people to act irrationally. And people can take advantage of you when you’re being irrational.
And there’s a lot of people in the church that are selling the same fear message as the world, and it’s a tragedy. I’m just not gonna go there. I’m not gonna say that nothing negative is ever gonna happen. Jesus said, “In the world you’ll have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I’ve overcome the world.” I’m not gonna say there’s never gonna be a crash, but I don’t let, in markets, so on and so on, but I don’t let those things rule me.
Well, things go up and down. You know, political power shifts from the right to the left and back and forth, you know?
Yeah, it’s been going a lot more left in the US. It’s a tragedy.
Yeah, but that change, yeah. Anyways.
Hopefully we’ll get it turned around, but at the same point in time, we gotta keep our eyes on Jesus. Amen, but if you’ll receive, if you’ll take a meek attitude towards the Word of God, I’m telling you that God can bless you in any economy. I’m telling you that God can bless you no matter who is in the office of President in the United States of America. I’m telling you that God can bless you, you know, in any situation if you’ll believe him. You know, I had a friend and he had a eighth grade education and you know, he became a multimillionaire. And he said, “Listen, when they change the rules, we change the way we play the game.” Praise God. And you know, he just has a very simple faith. Praise God. And you can have very simple faith and it’ll work for you. But sometimes people don’t have faith. They just feed on this negative information of the world. They don’t believe they can, and ultimately, you know, the people that think they can and the people that think they can’t are both usually right. You know, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. And you’ve studied the end of Numbers chapter 13, Joshua and Caleb and the other 10 spies. You know what? They all got what they believe for. Joshua and Caleb inherit the Promised Land and the other 10 spies died in the wilderness. What do you believe in? Praise God. Start changing what you believe in. It’ll change what you see, change what you receive. So Jesus actually said this in Matthew 12, verse 35. He said, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things. An evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart, brings forth evil things.” Is your heart bringing forth life, health, peace, abundance? Or is your heart bringing forth death? Anxiety, you know, lack, and sickness. It’s a product of your soul. What you receive in your physical body is many times, it’s not only a product of your spirit, you’re born-again spirit, it’s also a product of your soul, and your spirit and your soul make up your heart, your inward man. And if you want to see change in the outward man, it begins in the inward man, first in your spirit, then in your soul. And if you don’t change your soul, you will not see the things that God has promised to you in the Word of God come to pass. Many of them, you’ll live without ’em. And I don’t believe it’s God. A lot of times it’s just us and what we do with what God’s given us. So we’ve gotta make a decision. I’m gonna believe the promise of God. I’m gonna believe God. I’m gonna believe the Word of God no matter what anybody says. Man, if you’ll get that bold about it, you know what? You’ll get a lot of things from God. Somebody asked Andrew Wommack, they said, “Andrew, what would you do if you laid hands on somebody and they died?” He said, “I’d say step, I’d tell the next one, step forward, and I’d pray for them next.” In other words, somebody dying when you prayed for him, when you believe God, doesn’t change a word of God. You know, they said, “Andrew, what if you die sick?” He said, “I want you to come put on my tombstone, here lies Andrew Wommack. Died. Trust in Jesus. Or, here lies Andrew Wommack. By Jesus’ stripes I was healed.” That’s what he said. Lester Sumrall, he went out preaching as a young man. He preached in the largest church in Southern California, the largest full gospel church. And he preached there for like two weeks, had bunches of people saved, healed, set free by the power of God. And then the pastor was taking him to the ship and he was getting on the ship to go to Australia to meet Howard Carter. God told him to go to the bottom and work up, and this pastor gave him no offering, and he said, “Lester, you’re gonna go to China and starve to death.” And Lester said, “If I do, I want you to come put a tombstone over my grave that says, here lies Lester Sumrall, starved to death. Trust in Jesus,” he said. But those words, we parted. He said, “I needed to be more sanctified in those days.” I heard him saying this, he’s about 80 years old. And he said, “By the way, I still need to be a little more sanctified today.” Praise God. This thing talking about, not in your spirit, but in your outward man getting this sanctification to work. But you know what? Lester Sumrall had 12 television stations. He was on satellite television. He had at least two shortwave radio stations where he broadcasted around the world. He started a worldwide feeding program. He had a military C-130. He had a great ship that held 5,000, or, you know, it held 100 semi loads of food that he would go around and feed people starving in the world. Man, he did amazing things by faith in God. But, you know, then he started out, when he got on that ship, he paid, I think he had less than $5 in his pocket. And he went around the world, praise God. He went to New Zealand, got off the ship ’cause it parked at New Zealand before it was going to Australia. And Howard Carter was in the middle of New Zealand holding meetings. Howard Carter brought us all the teaching that we currently teach in full gospel and charismatic realms. That Oral Roberts, Kenneth Hagin, Lester Sumrall, all these people taught about the gifts of Spirit. Andrew Wommack teaches it today. We teach all these things. And he was in the middle of the country holding a pastor’s conference with no, there was no outward information coming in there. And he told the pastor from this certain town, “You go home tomorrow morning. Just after noon, there will be a man named Lester Sumrall that come to your door. You tell him to go on to Australia and I’ll come and meet him there.” And Lester said, man, it got his attention. He said, he went and knocked on this guy’s door, and it was right after noon, and the pastor opened the door and said, “You’re Lester Sumrall. “You’ve come from America to meet Howard Carter, and he’s in the center of the island. He’s holding these meetings and you’re to go to Australia and he’ll come and meet you there.” Lester said, “I’m not gonna be able to get anything up on this guy.” But it’s amazing how the gifts of the Holy Spirit operate.
That’s awesome.
And you know what? What he said, what he spoke, what he thought, you know, had directed his life, what Andrew Wommack has said and spoken, and what he thinks has directed his life and directed his ministry. Praise God. You know what? If you want to change the picture on the outside, if you want it to get bigger, you gotta begin to think bigger. Praise God.
Awesome. Well, we’re gonna take a break really quick. We’ll be right back in just a few moments. Stay tuned. We’ll see you again soon.
Friends, I wanna share with you about our special product that we’re offering. I’m teaching and with my son Aaron, also with Jesse Duplantis on a couple of different things. Number one, “Insights to Faith.” Jesse Duplantis made a statement years ago in my churches, he was ministering, and I just haven’t been able to let go of it. He said, “Most of the time, in the realm of faith, I made a decision and God backed it.” We’re gonna talk about that. We’re also talking about this, my son, Aaron’s, one of his newest series, “The Divine Imagination.” Tremendous, tremendous revelation that I believe will help you move into the plans and the purposes of God. And also my series, “The Power of a Positive Imagination,” one of my most requested series. You want to get this product. If you can’t call in and get it physically, you can watch it online for free, or you can pay a small fee and download this information on our website at CharisChristianCenter.com. Friends, I’m so glad that you stayed with us. We’ve been talking about the imagination can be used for good or evil, and how Jesus said, “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things. And an evil man out of the evil treasure in his heart brings forth evil.” Do you treasure the Word of God? Do you treasure the promises of God? Do you treasure the things of God? If you treasure them, you can move into them. Now we’re gonna go ahead and move into this and talk about how we can move to a positive imagination. And we’re gonna go into Romans chapter one, and we’re gonna be reading verse 16 through verse 21. Romans chapter 16 through verse 21. And Aaron, you can read that. And we’re gonna be talking about how we can move from a negative imagination to a positive imagination.
Romans.
1:16 to 21.
Okay. So here Paul writes, “For I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”
Now, when we look at this, Paul’s talking about the gospel as the power of God to salvation, to everyone who believes it. And he talks about how in the gospel, right, standing with God is revealed. But then he goes on and says this. He says that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. And he begins to talk about the gentile world or the unbeliever’s world, the unchurched world, their need for righteousness. And he says they hold the truth in unrighteousness because that which may be known of God is revealed in them, manifest in them, for God has showed it to them. For he says the invisible attributes of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made. Every created being knows they have a creator. There are no true atheists. There are no atheists in the box office. You know, and he says even his eternal power in Godhead so that they are without excuse. There is no one in heaven gonna have an excuse and saying, “You know what? I was an atheist or I was in agnostic.” Listen, you’re probably mad at God because you think God did something that God didn’t do. And he just goes on and says this. “Because when they knew God, they did not glorify him as God.” You know what? When we know God, we need to begin to glorify God as being God. It says, “Neither were they thankful, but became vain, became futile in their empty, in their imagination.” That word vain means empty or without purpose or direction. “And their foolish heart was darkened.” So this is like a ungodly progression, right? In an ungodly world, in an unsaved world. But he says, you know, “When they knew God, they did not glorify him as God. Neither were they thankful, but they became vain in their imagination and darkness flooded their hearts.” So I believe that we can turn that around, and I believe we can have a positive imagination. When we know God, we begin to glorify him for being God. So the first thing that we really need to do is begin to glorify, begin to magnify, begin to exalt God. Just let God be God. Amen. And some people, it’s like they know there is a God, but they really don’t let him be God. They’re not really glorifying him and honoring him as God. And you know what? We need to glorify God and honor him for being God. We need to let God be God in our life and not try to be play God. You know what? God’s plan for your life is better than your plan any day of the week. Amen.
There’s a really famous composer, Johann Sebastian Bach. During his lifetime, he wasn’t very famous, but composed a lot of, you know, really incredible music. But often at the top of his music, he’d write SDG, which was an abbreviation for Soli Deo gloria, which is one of the kind of mottos of the Lutheran Church at the time, which is, to God alone be the glory. And when he passed away, he kind of passed away in obscurity. Not many people knew about him. Even his big job at the church in a Leipzig, he was actually the third candidate for the position. They wanted to hire two people before him. And when he passed away, his music kind of was forgotten. And it wasn’t until like decades later, I think nearly 60 years later, that someone discovered a lot of his music was sold to a large shop, and they used his music to wrap lard in. And I think it was about 60 years later, they found his music, you know, with grease on it, you know, in the back of this old shop. And a famous musician, a famous composer in Germany by the name of Felix Mendelssohn started performing this music, started making it a big deal, and started a Bach Society, and Bach is probably one of the most famous composers in the world today. And even a lot of his music today is still bringing glory to God. I’ve heard stories of choirs in other countries. In Japan, for instance, Japan Choir is a really big thing, but Bach wrote a lot of choir music and he just writes a scripture. But people have been saved. Atheists have been saved just from singing the scripture that Bach set to music. So it wasn’t about him. It was about the glory of God, and that’s the kind of stuff that has a lasting impact.
Amen. The Word of God has power. And that just shows, you know, Jesus said this in John 5:39. He said, “Search the scriptures for they are they which testify of me. You know, in them you think that you have eternal life and they are they which testify of me.” And so what you’re saying still proves that out, that as they sing these words that come from the scripture, they find Christ, they find eternal life in Christ. It’s an amazing thing how powerful the Word of God is. And so, you know, I believe the number one thing to begin to turn your soul, to turn your imagination from negative to positive, is the Word of God. And when you get the Word of God, you begin to renew your mind in the Word of God. And then, you know, the second thing that we’ve talked about today, and we’re gonna go more into this tomorrow, is to glorify God, to magnify God. Just let God be God. Amen. Glorify God, magnify God, and honor God. And remember this. God’s plan for your life is better than your plan any day of the week, and you can know the voice of God. You can know God. You can understand his thoughts. You know, there are certain things that I just don’t want to do. It’s my spirit on the inside of me, and I just don’t want to do it. So if I don’t want to do it on the inside, I just don’t do it, and I listen. There’s other things that I just want to do. And you know, I’m learning to be led, to be guided by my spirit, by the Spirit of God working in my spirit. And I believe when I follow that, right, I am glorifying God. If you need prayer today, if you want to become a partner, if you’d like to get this product that we’ve talked about, just give us a call. I have trained prayer ministers. They’re here. They’re waiting to pray and minister for you, and you need to move into what God has for you. Thanks so much, and blessings.
[Announcer] Imagination is a very powerful force that works on the inside of everyone. The thoughts of your imagination create the framework of your life. Get the “Imagination Package,” which includes “Insights into Faith” with Jesse Duplantis, “Divine Imagination,” and “Power of a Positive Imagination CD Series,” all for $49 when you call 719-418-4000 or visit CharisChristianCenter.com.
Hi, ladies. I am so excited to invite you to our Rejoice Women’s Conference, February 9th through the 11th. This is an event for women 13 and up. It’s time to rejoice.
Not only are you gonna have a lot of fun and laugh a lot, you are also gonna experience the power of God when you see signs, wonders, and miracles.
[Barbara] Amen. We’re gonna have a lot of fun. We have Cathy Duplantis coming. So make plans and register today.
[Announcer] Thanks for watching “Grace for Today.” This broadcast has been made possible by our faithful partners. If you would like to become a partner, need prayer, or have a question, please call us at 719-418-4000, or to partner online, go to CharisChristianCenter.com/give. You can write us at P.O. Box 63733, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80962. See you next time on “Grace for Today.”
