If the Lord Jesus could do nothing of Himself except what He saw the Father do, how much more are we, who are altogether undone in sin and vanity, unable to know when, where, or how to direct the gifts of the Spirit of God?

The victorious saint conquers the devil by the word of his testimony. Regardless of his circumstances he declares what God's Word has stated. He refuses to be discouraged. He refuses to deny the Word by grumbling and complaining. When he feels his faith and confidence weakening he prays to God for faith and patience.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. (Colossians 3:1,2 NIV)

The above verse is commanding us to use our imagination in the right way. We are to set our heart on things above. We are to set our mind on things above, not on earthly things, not on things we can perceive by our human senses. We are to look constantly at things that cannot be seen.

How are we to set our heart and mind on things above when we cannot see the things above?

We have to imagine them. We have to picture in our mind what we read in the Book of Revelation concerning the Throne of God, Christ, the elders, the saints. We have to think of ourselves as seated in Christ far above all other authority and power.

Also there is no law against our placing in the picture what we hope is true. We can think about Paradise to our heart's content. We can picture in our mind what it will be like when we die and meet Jesus in Person for the first time, and also see our deceased loved ones. We can imagine ourselves getting acquainted with the heroes of faith we have read about in the Scriptures.

This is how we use our imagination to set our heart and mind on things above.

Keeping our desires centered on the Throne of God is extremely helpful in these days when we see our country becoming a moral cesspool, when we behold the unbelievable perversity of the "wise" of our culture. They are living in a lie because there is little fear of God in the land. Their foolishness and destructive impulses are obvious to anyone who is walking with God.

When the Apostle Paul wrote the Book of Philippians he was in very distressing circumstances indeed.

He, an orthodox Jew, was chained to an unbelieving Gentile. Paul could practice none of the ceremonial cleansings or dietary regulations. How very difficult it must have been for Paul to exist in such moral and physical filth.

Added to this was the constant threat of being brought before Caesar. There were people in Rome who were preaching Christ for the purpose of calling the attention of the authorities to the imprisoned Apostle so he would be killed. Can you imagine such perversity? It reminds us of the perversity the Lord Jesus faced continually. It was part of the sufferings of Christ.

Paul now had a decision, just as you and I have a decision when we are in distressing circumstances.

To be continued.