Can You Create The Future With Your Mind?

AI Generated Transcript (I only fixed the mis-spelling of my name and added ONE paragraph break - I left the rest of the mess just the way AI delivered it haha):

Can you imagine the future into being? Welcome to Jon's Voice Notes, where I, Jon, ponder, meander, ramble about whatever it is I'm thinking today, stream of consciousness style. No plan. I'm sitting in my living room, in my apartment, actually, looking out at yet another beautiful

Mostly sunny spring day. I think it's cool outside, like in the 60s maybe. A little bit of sun glaring in my eye off a car in the parking lot that's across the lawn here. But a beautiful day. Beautiful day. But I was just pondering the power of imagination. And thinking about some of the crazy ideas that are out there about that and some of the good ideas.

But I believe that imagination is a gift from God. I mean, it's literally image-ination. You are imagining something. And I'm particularly interested today in imagining the future and what is the role of imagining the future in creating the future. Now, I know there's...

Lots of talk about mindset and visualization and kind of believing things into existence. You have the faith movement idea of, you know, name it and claim it. And I guess that's more verbal than imagination, but it involves imagination.

And I think, I'm going to submit to you that there are two ways imagination, at least two, maybe there's more. I'm making this up as I go. There are at least two ways in which imagination can change the world. Your world, your future, and then maybe one where it doesn't. I'll do the doesn't first because that's easier.

I don't believe that imagination has some sort of magic effect. You know, if you imagine it, it will happen. I don't believe it. I don't buy it. I don't see anything in the Bible that talks that way. I don't see anything in reality that looks that way. Now, there are at least a couple of ways where the imagination really can affect your future. One, imagination can be a form of prayer.

You can be imagining with God, talking to God while you're imagining a future that you desire.

And it's a prayer. God listens to prayer. God may do things. So that may seem like magic to some, but that's totally different than just magic or some communing with the universe or whatever. You're imagining things with God. And I believe that could have an effect. I mean, partly you may be just processing and you haven't come to the final imagination yet.

But I think a prominent way where imagination really does impact your future, and I guess this has at least two sides to it, is it changes you. It changes you and it directs your thoughts and your feelings and therefore ultimately your actions towards a goal. So...

If you start a project, you are usually imagining the end. You're imagining the goal. You are taking steps with your mind and with your hands and with your actions to create the goal.

So God made us like him in some ways, and it seems that he imagined the world, and then he spoke, and it came into being. Everything that you see, everything you touch, everything you feel, everything you are, you yourself,

came out of God's imagination. Now, I don't mean that we're not real. I don't mean anything weird by that. Just meaning that God imagined it and then made it real through his actions, which was his word. He spoke, however that works. He spoke and things came into being. Well, we can't just speak things into being in the same way, but we can imagine what we want, what we desire to

And if it's godly, well, you can probably imagine wicked things that you desire and then make them happen. You can probably do that, but we don't want that. We don't want to do that. I'm talking about good things, things that are godly, things that are right before God. I'm just assuming that I mean that. I don't mean to imagine up nasty, evil things or utterly selfish things. But we can imagine what we want...

Delight yourself in the Lord. He will give you the desires of your heart. So if you're delighting in the Lord, then there's some possibility that what you want is from him. It could be from the devil. It could be from your old fleshly cycles. You need to test and learn, right? We all need to test and learn how to discern those things. But if you determine before the Lord, this is a good thing that I want...

You can imagine it into being in the sense that it will change you. It will change your mind and your thought processes and your inner cycles and lead to motivation and the ability to think through and take action. And you can, with your imagination, you can create what you need to now go do the work to create. But the imagination is normal and natural and people just do it.

You don't have to try. You're always imagining things. Maybe if you're always imagining dark things, you might get dark results in your life through these means, through yourself being changed and through how it affects your actions. And through how the Lord and possibly demons and others may interact with that. But this is one of the reasons I believe that...

Television and movies are so impactful and books, books also. But my understanding is that I'm not a scientist on this. I've read about it. You can go check it and see if it's true and then come tell me if I'm wrong. But that television and movies, they kind of fill your imagination, but they don't activate it in the same way that, for example, reading does.

Because I think when you're reading, you have to exercise your imagination muscles. When you're just passively watching and listening, it's just atrophying. Your imagination muscle is atrophying. It's moving. Something's happening. It's going into your head. It's affecting you. An external force is creating the cycles in your mind.

You know, the thought cycles and the emotional cycles and the inner processes that guide your life and lead you into your choices and actions. It's kind of turns you passive and inserts whatever it wants. So I'm not saying you can't watch movie or TVs. I'm just saying in the same way that you know what sugar does, know what those things are going to do and consider that.

It seems to me that books are less so because it leaves you to image what you're reading. You have to image it in your own mind. You have to imagine it. Pretty powerful stuff, eh? But I submit that an advanced form of imagination is where you do it on purpose, right?

You spend time before the Lord, with the Lord, talking to the Lord, imagining the future. A visionary. Some people are going to do this more than others, but it doesn't matter to compare ourselves to one another because everybody has it to a degree. If you want a new...

treehouse in your backyard for your kids to play in. You imagine it and then you think about it and you ponder it and you see kind of what it is you want. And then eventually you write out your plan. This is assuming you know how to build a treehouse. I wouldn't know how to do that. I would need to imagine some friends into helping me or hire someone or learn.

But then you figure out what wood you need. You figure out where you need to cut and what you need to attach each piece of wood together until you've made a safe, beautiful treehouse for your kids.

But it starts when you imagine it. If you just make breakfast, you know, you imagine those that sizzling crispy bacon and those delicious over medium eggs fried in the bacon grease and a piece of toast with jelly and the buttery yumminess, whatever it is, you imagine it and then you make it.

Or I suppose it's possible to do it like a drone, especially if it's in the morning, right? But sometimes we imagine things. We imagine an event to have our friends over to. We imagine a different career. Some people, I want a different career or I wish I made more money. I want to submit that there's also an exercise of deliberately imagining, deliberately thinking about before the Lord. You have to do this before the Lord and not just fill your head with vanity or with...

Delusions.

But think about, ponder with your imagination what are the possibilities. Whenever you talk about a visionary leader, notice the connection between the word vision and the word image. A visionary leader is someone who has an image in their mind, in their heart, that they wish to pursue. And people are attracted to that because they want an image to pursue. Not a false image like an idol. Not that kind. Right?

What you're imagining in your mind. Now, I suppose that's an interesting side point is you could make an image in your mind, an idol in your heart. Don't do that. Don't do it.

But I think it's worth exercising on purpose. I'm not sure how to tell you how to do that. But some people do visualization. There's all sorts of crazy stuff out there about a visualization. I actually struggle doing that exercise, that self-development or personal development exercise of visualization. But I'm always working on it. In fact, I read Hal Elrod's book, The Miracle Morning, and he talked about visualization in there. And this was years ago now.

And I often would visualize kind of the life I wanted to live, how I wanted to live it, where I wanted to live it. And it has created a vision that I'm really not ready to talk publicly about too much that

Increasingly, I'm wondering if I'm going to make it real, because I thought it was just kind of symbolic, you know, like a certain kind of house, a certain kind of property, certain kind of land, you know, certain things, you know, buildings on the land for different purposes. I thought I was just, and maybe it is still, because that could be fulfilled in so many ways, but it's powerful. It drives me. It motivates me. It pushes me forward. It pushes me into action.

And I've taken steps in my life lately where I'm like, Lord, is that real? Is that something you really want me to create or something like it? You can alter it, Lord. Alter my imagination. But that's a vision, not a vision of the night, like a dream or a vision where God sends a totally, utterly supernatural vision from outside yourself. But it's a vision that God is working inside you.

So vision and imagination are very much connected. But I think it's worth imagining on purpose. Are you a dreamer? Are you someone who has a place you want to go? Do you have ambition? I have a hard time relating to people that don't have ambition in that area. Maybe in other areas I can relate to them. However...

I don't know. It does seem to me that there are some people that have more ambition and vision than others. And some of it isn't a character issue. It's a design, like different personalities. God made different people for different purposes. And maybe whatever is required of you in this life doesn't require that as much as, for example, what is required of me.

But everyone can do this a little, to some degree, because in some degree it's going to help you get there. It's going to help you make your wife's life better. It's going to help you make your kid's life better. It's going to help you make your life better. Like if you go to the gym to work out, are you not imagining the possibility of what that could result in? Is that not emotive?

Maybe, I mean, some days it's just 2 o'clock, I go to the gym at 2, and you're just doing it out of habit, and that's good. Nothing wrong with that. But at some point, when you decided to create that habit, that pattern, you visualized it. You imagined your cut muscles and your lean body and your bright, healthy eyes or whatever it is. Whatever it is that you imagined.

I would submit to some degree, start doing that more on purpose. Whatever it is you're trying to do, little things, big things, imagine what you really want. A purified want before the Lord that you've tested, imagine it. And imagine it because I believe it will give you motivation and inner strength to then think through and do the externals that will bring the imagination into reality.

So can you imagine the future into existence?

Not like some sort of weird voodoo magic. If you can do that, I don't know. That's evil. Don't do it. But you can imagine the future into existence in the sense of imagining prayers before the Lord, if that's the right way to say it, and imagining yourself into being the person you need to be and into doing the things that you need to do.

So there you go. That's my voice note for today. I hope you find some encouragement in that or get some ideas. I don't even know how to suggest a specific practice of imagination. So I guess you're on your own there for now. I'm sure there's resources out there. Beware of weird stuff if you go looking for resources. You can't just imagine money to fall on you. I imagine money falling out of the sky. That's not going to do anything unless...

Unless you do it in such a way that causes you to change and take action, right? So, all right. Thank you. Interesting double close here. Thank you for listening to Jon's Voice Notes today. May God bless you as you go throughout your day. 

Jon Davis and Jon's Voice Notes signing off.