An article in a recent USA Today reported that in an online survey of 1000 adults, “three-quarters of Americans believe the country was better off in the ‘80s than now.” What is noteworthy about the poll is that some who answered in the affirmative weren’t even alive during the 1980s.
Isn’t that interesting? How can someone, who is born three decades later, believe that their parents were better off 30 years ago than they are today? I believe the answer is really quite simple. Their parents and other adults shared stories about life in the 1980s – stories that created vivid and long-lasting images.
That’s why we often have such strong emotional responses to “movies” our minds create.
I want you to think about this from a scriptural standpoint.
Is it a coincidence that Jesus says in Matthew 5:28 “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart?
Do you see the movie that has been playing in this man’s mind? Jesus says “In the kingdom of Heaven, where I come from, you are guilty of adultery when you allow that type of movie to play in your head.”
Get a hold of that ladies and gentlemen. The person who thinks about committing adultery is guilty before he actually commits the act. That goes against most of the popular teaching in the church.
So why do I use the word “movies” instead of “pictures”?
Our minds see the world as we experience it through our five senses. When we close our eyes, for example, we don’t see people as static and one dimensional. And we don’t see our surroundings as colorless do we? No. We see people as they are – animated – and our surroundings, as they are – colorful.
I want you to close your eyes. Remember the last time you drove near a bakery? Can you smell the aroma of freshly baked bread, rolls and pastries? Be careful now. I don’t want you jumping the curb! The smell was so captivating and inviting that it created a movie in your head. Go ahead. You can admit it!
Your eyes are still closed.
You see the baker taking the bread from the oven. He slowly wipes his hands on his apron. Oh, the bread – it’s so golden brown! You walk toward the table. The baker looks at you, nods his head and smiles. He softly says “Go ahead.”
So you take a knife and gently slice off an end piece. As you bite into the slightly crunchy treat, the sweetness explodes in your mouth and your taste buds go crazy! The next thing you know you’re sitting in the parking lot wiping saliva from the corners of your mouth! C’mon. You know I’m right.
You can open your eyes now.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is what Jesus is describing in Matthew 5. The person who commits adultery has mentally undressed the woman, is in bed with her and in the process committing the sinful behavior – without removing a single stitch of clothing. This is why pornographic movies are in such demand, even among Christians. These type of movies create “movies” in the minds of those who are watching. Pornographic movies also create physical responses too.
This is the power of our imaginations. All movies that have the potential to impact your emotion will produce a physical response if you allow them to play uninterrupted.
In the first book of the Bible, God shows us just how powerful mental “movies” can be.
In Genesis 3, Satan creates a “movie” of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in Eve’s mind that is so “real” and so vivid that she rejects God’s commandment which is found in Genesis 2:17.
“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
Now look at verse 6 of Genesis 3. “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.”
Notice the words used to show how Eve responds to the “movie” Satan creates for her. Saw. Pleasant. Desired. All of the words have an emotional component.
In Genesis 6, God describes the source of the “movie” of depravity and evilness that reigned unchecked in the human race before the flood. Let’s read verse 5.
“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
The imaginations of the people had created “movies” that were carried out with horrific and devastating results. Jump down to verse 11. We’re going to read 11, 12 and 13.
“And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”
Did everyone who had evil thoughts die in the flood? Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives lived. And yet, God says in Genesis 8:21, “I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart (the movies that will play in his mind after the flood) is evil from his youth.”
In these passages from Genesis, we see that how we think – the movies that we allow to play in our minds – will impact our relationship with God.
The New Testament confirms this truth in 2 Corinthians 10:5.
“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”
God is telling us to take every imagination – every thought, every mental image, and every movie – that opposes Him and cast it down, put it into prison and throw away the key. When we read the first four verses of this chapter we see that God is contrasting walking by the flesh with walking by the spirit.
In other words, we will allow one of two types of movies to play in our minds:
• They will be movies that based on what we can see, hear, taste, touch and smell, or
• They will be movies based on what God has said in His Word.
Folks, we need to have “faith-producing” movies playing in our minds on a continuous loop if we want our lives to resemble the life of Jesus. Did you hear me? Only “faith-producing” movies will enable us to defeat the enemy of the soul.
We have seen what happens when flesh or senses-based movies play over and over in our minds. Now we’re going to see what happens when a person comes to Jesus with “faith-producing” movies playing in her mind and heart.
We’re going to read about the woman with the issue of blood, which is found in Mark 5:25-34.
(25) And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
(26) And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
(27) When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. (28) For she said (Matthew 9:21 adds within herself), If I may but touch his clothes, I shall be made whole.
(29) And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
(30) And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said Who touched my clothes?
(31) And his disciples said unto him, Thou seeth the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
(32) And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.
(33) But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
(34) And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.”
Oh how my heart weeps for this woman. As her physical body deteriorates, so does everything else in her life. I’m sure that at one time in her life she had accumulated some wealth. But year after year of inconclusive and invasive tests and unsuccessful operations had left her nearly penniless.
And to make matters worse...
According to the law, the issue of blood made her unclean. She was forbidden any human contact whatsoever. And, she couldn’t touch furniture that may be used by another person. Let’s see this in Leviticus 15:19, 20.
“And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even. And everything that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean: everything also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean.”
Here’s the worst part...
Every single incident involving the issue of blood made her unclean for seven days. She had been in this condition for 12 long years. The law declared her unclean the entire time! We read this in Leviticus 15:25.
“And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: she shall be unclean.”
Ladies and gentlemen, this woman had had little to no human contact for 4,344 consecutive days! I can’t image what that would be like. Can you? In many ways, she was no different than a prisoner who is put in solitary confinement. Do you see this?
This woman has run out of options. But then she hears about this man named Jesus and you can read this in Mark 5:27. Word has spread throughout the region that Jesus had delivered the crazy man who lived in the tombs. She thinks about the God-awful sounds the man made as he cut himself with stones. Why did he do that? No one seems to an answer.
And this is when she begins developing her “faith movie”!
She’s thinking. “But this man Jesus delivered him. He no longer roams the hillside naked and raving like a lunatic. They say he’s in his right mind and wearing clothes now. Is it possible that this same Jesus can heal me of this, this plague?”
Do you see the faith movie starting to play in her mind? I can.
“Faith movies” start with idea that the impossible is possible.
I can see her smile as she thinks about the possibility of being whole again. “Oh my,” she says as tears well up in her eyes. She hasn’t been in the synagogue for 12 years. “But I believe Jesus can change that,” she says softly.
“Oh, and I will be able to have lunch with Hazel again,” she says excitedly even as she whimpers. Whenever Hazel sees her on the street, she smiles and folds her arms across her chest and sways back and forth as if she’s giving her a great big hug. “I miss her so much but I believe Jesus can change that,” she says.
Again, do you see the faith movie developing?
Every day she walks to the town square hoping to see Jesus. Every day she sees herself walking up to him, falling at his feet, telling him her story and begging him to heal her. She has seen it in her mind over and over again for days. In her movie, she is already healed.
The day finally arrives. She runs to the door when she hears all the noise and excitement. “Jesus,” she says softly. She rushes out into a crowd so large it will be impossible to get to Jesus without touching someone – making the person unclean.
But she couldn’t concern herself with this now. Jesus is her only hope after 12 years of futility. As she works her way through the crowd, the people step aside and turn away. They cannot allow her to touch them. She’s unclean.
The woman realizes that she will not have a chance to talk with Jesus. The crowd is too great. So she adds another scene to her movie. “All I need to do is just touch his clothes and I know I’ll be made whole.” She reaches behind Jesus and touches his hem as he walks by. She’s “healed of the plague” and Jesus knows “immediately that power had left him.”
Are you seeing this movie as I describe it? Jesus walks passed the woman, she touches the fringes of his clothes and draws the healing power she needs from him! Let me say that again. Jesus walks passed the woman, she touches the fringes of his clothes and she draws the healing power she needs from him!
The woman with the issue of blood added a scene to the movie that had been playing in her head for days. In her movie, she had gone from begging Jesus to heal her to simply touching his clothes and being healed.
Let’s read what Jesus says to her one more time. It’s found in verse 34. “Daughter, thy faith (producing movie) hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.”
Ladies and gentlemen, what movies are playing in your head on a regular basis? Think about what you read in scripture.
• Are they movies of you healing the man born blind?
• Are they movies of you feeding the 5,000?
• Are they movies of you telling the woman caught in adultery “Go and sin no more?”
• Are they movies of you casting out Legion from the man in the tombs?
• Are they movies of your shadow touching people and healing them?
Jesus says in John 14:12, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works I do shall he do also; and greater than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”
Ladies and gentlemen, yes, these are the types of movies that must play in our minds if we are to do what Jesus says we are supposed to be doing! Can I get an Amen?!?
