The following excerpt from my book, Spirit Led Discipleship: Intimacy and Identity in the Training of the Twelve, is an introduction to the practice of interacting with God through mental pictures. For more on this subject and the art of developing a growing relationship of intimacy with God through interactive connection, please pick up a copy of the book from Amazon. Enjoy!
As I have gone on the journey of getting to know Jesus, I have fallen in love with him again and again. I just love His personality. I love the stuff He does. I love the way His voice sounds, the way He does miracles, and the way He destroys demonic strongholds. I’ve been shocked by His tenderness, attentiveness, and compassion. He loves each person individually and He longs to be loved in return. He is so different from the God I grew up hearing about who stands at a distance and only speaks in old English. The God I have come to know is both a warrior king and a tender lover who wants to be known by his creation. He never condemns His children. He cares for our every need. Yes, He demands obedience. But He always acts in our best interest. If such a God exists, I firmly believe it is worth doing whatever it takes to experience Him for ourselves.
One of the most helpful methods I can offer you for experiencing Jesus is to picture Him mentally. By experiencing Him through mental pictures, we can interact with Him directly and get to know Him as we would get to know a friend. Through these interactions, we can build a library of relational data points that teach us what He is like through His posture, facial expressions, wardrobe, words, and actions. By picturing Jesus, we can get a feel for what He actually is like rather than building our relationship with Him on an abstract set of principles and attributes.
This will raise objections in a world where mental imagery has become associated with self-centered fantasy and eastern meditation practices. It may even trigger warnings about the dangers of idolatry and “making images” found in Exodus. Nevertheless, the Bible is full of pictures representing God. The dreams and visions of Ezekiel, John, Daniel, and others demonstrate the willingness of God to be seen in the minds of His people in various forms. The visual representations of Jesus in the book of Revelation as lion, lamb, and Ancient of Days demonstrate that God can appear in different forms that correlate with the attributes He wishes to display in a particular context. My ability to see Him as a lamb in one moment need not hinder my ability to revere Him as a lion in the next. Finally, sanctification in the New Testament involves building a relationship with God through mental sight, leading to inner transformation (Heb 12:2, 2 Cor 3:18).
I will be careful, however, to use the language of perception and picturing rather than that of simple human imagination. Imagination plays an important role in spiritual growth. But to “imagine something” connotes conjuring the image of something which is not really there. Yet picturing or perceiving something indicates that the thing is real. You are not creating the image per se, but simply perceiving what is being revealed to you. It is possible, of course, to construct an image of Jesus based on clever guesses about His appearance. We could put words into His mouth and make Him an accessory to our self-delusion. But a conjured image of Jesus is as recognizable from the real thing as a puppet is from a real human. Ultimately this deus ex machina will not lead to any meaningful relational connection or spiritual growth.
When we “picture” or “perceive” Jesus, our minds are projecting the real activity of the Holy Spirit in a tangible form that displays His character in visible ways. If you believe God is hesitant or unwilling to be seen by His children in this way, then your efforts to see Him will be mostly contrived. If, on the other hand, you believe He is willing and eager to be seen (at least in representative forms), then your perception of Him will be based on His generosity and not on your creativity. This same principle also applies to hearing God and practicing His power. Our experiences with God are not based on our spirituality but on His ability and willingness. When we come to Him in faith, believing that He loves to be known, we will be surprised by just how willing He really is to reveal Himself to His children.
