That Happened Where?

Stop daydreaming and go watch Star Trek.

I have the privilege of hanging out with Craig Farris, who happens to be from our town now removed to Texas, but Lord willing, returning in the future to take part in our Prophetic Ideation Community. You will find, as you have with Angela and Roger, a heart after God and depth of wisdom as he tells us a bit of his journey into divine imagination. Here’s Craig's response to divine imagination.

Byron: Hi Craig. Thanks for taking the time to connect and share your heart and thoughts on divine imagination. Let me start by asking what words bring to mind when I say divine imagination?

Craig: Thanks, Byron, for including me. Off the top of my head, I'd say, imagination, daydream, thought, vision, and reality. What an incredibly powerful 5 words.

As a child, I heard 4 of these words regularly. The word “vision” didn’t come up much but; “He has a creative imagination”. “Stop daydreaming, Craig.” “What thought do you have in that head of yours”? “You need to come back to reality.”

Byron: No wonder we get along. It seems we've had similar experiences and words spoken over our lives. We're these a positive or negative influence for you?

Craig: None of these words were typically used in a positive or encouraging fashion.

Although there didn’t seem to be much that could stop me and “realistically” they were encouraging it whether they knew it or not.

I grew up in church. Have you ever read the stories in the bible? A man talked to a burning bush. His hand and staff transformed. A left-handed dude stabbed a king on a toilet, and the king was so fat that the sword disappeared. There was a river that stopped moving so people could walk across on dry land, and then the river swallowed up the bad guys!

Byron: Pretty amazing stories. I love a good story.

Craig: Are you kidding me? This stuff is incredible! This is without TV or comic books, both of which are massive parts of my life. Stop daydreaming and go watch Star Trek on TV. Go to your room and read for a while, Captain America, here I come.

Byron: That's hilarious. I can see you with a grin on your face, accepting your penance with such honor and respect. How do you see this favorable penance working in your future?

Criag: One of my most popular scriptures is Ephesians 3:20 - Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine….

Wait, He wants to do more than I can imagine, but my imagination is bad. How can imagination be deemed good or God when the only verse anyone used on me was Romans 1:21, “...but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened.” I was so confused, but I couldn’t stop my imagination from going.

Sometimes so much and so real it was as if I was Captain America or in moments of “real life,” I would not be able to separate what was “real” and what was “imagination.”

Byron: As a child, I often made up scenarios in my imagination and then would attempt to act them out. It's part of the imagination process. Your experience from those in your life seemed somewhat negative, although you seemed to step into your imagination quite easily. As we grow older, we often lose a strong imagination until the Father opens that door again. Did you have a specific moment when you stepped into a spiritual experience with imagination?

Craig: All of this culminated in a moment in the late 1990’s. I was in a church office waiting for service to start that night, and my mind began to wander. As I started down the path of this random imaginary scenario, I became “aware” that it wasn’t something that should be a part of my “thought” life. For a guy who had his imagination run amuck his whole life, this was a weird awareness and thought.

As I realized I didn’t want to live in vain imagination, I heard the Holy Spirit whisper, “Do you want to daydream with Me?” Everything in me, “YES!!!!!” I then began to wander through mental pictures of what Jesus’ healing people must have been like. He would say things, touch people, and look at them, and their whole lives would change in that instant. 

More than I can imagine.

The “path” I was on in my imagination turned, and I was then standing in my church at the altar area. This little older woman walked up to me, asking me to pray for her. As I did, she was healed like in the other scenario with Jesus. I told Holy Spirit, “Your daydreams are better than mine.” That night at service, I kept thinking about my time with Holy Spirit, and then when I went down to the front to help with ministry time, you guessed it, little old lady - healed.

Byron: That's beautiful. How would you explain what was happening as you experienced this transition?

Craig: My Holy Spirit led imagination became my daydream so that my thoughts were consumed by it until it became my vision so that it manifested in reality. Vain imaginations only lead me to wishful thinking with personally gratifying outcomes.

Holy Spirit-inspired imaginations bring me to Ephesians 3:20, where the world can be transformed all around me. 

Byron: That feels like a very living and real outcome of imagination. Thanks again for taking the time to take part and share. What I would assume is a very cursory look at how the Lord has activated your imagination for His glory. As we finish, is there anything you would offer my readers as an activation?

Craig: Go imagine what the world can look like when you engage with the Holy Spirit and see the Goodness of God in the land of the living.   

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