VISION 2020 (part 2) Mental Sight
In 2010 I honoured an invitation to be on Moments with Mo to talk about the work of the Rainbow Book Club in encouraging reading in Nigeria. The visionary and dynamic Mo Abudu of Ebonylife TV always ended her interviews with this phrase: ‘If you can think it, you can do it’. I was privileged to be the guest on the first edition of the Channels TV Book
Club in 2013, where I chatted with the aimiable and consistent Kunle Kasumu on our ambitious campaign to ‘Get Nigeria Reading again!’ He usually rounds off his programme with: ‘Remember one greaat book can change your life’.
Words like these speak to the mind; they speak of the power of the mind. They remind us that the mind has eyes and when you can see something with your minds eye’s, you are a step closer to actualising it. Mental vision is a powerful thing that can be deployed for good or for bad. A UNESCO slogan buttresses this fact – ‘since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of man that defences of peace must be constructed’.
In ‘Vision 2020 (part 1)’, we discussed spiritual sight. From Scripture, we inferred that of these three; spiritual, mental and physical sight, the spiritual is the most important.
But spiritual sight may not be of much use if we do not exercise mental sight. The ability to see into realms that are not visible to the ordinary eye is spiritual sight. Such visions may come from God or from the devil. In effect, not every source of revelation is good (that is why we should not consult mediums or dabble in those meditation and relaxation exercises that transport us into other realms of consciousness.) To discern where information of this nature is coming from, we can cross-check with Scriptures. God will not send a message that is at variance with His word. When a revelation is from God, it should give us peace and joy. Fear is another important indicator. Revelation can result in fear; ‘positive fear’ is reverential and draws one closer to God while ‘negative fear’ is distressing and alienates us from God.
Spiritual insight may grant us a peep into the plans of God or the plans of the enemy. God usually reveals stuff so we can do something about what we are shown. And what we see may be positive or negative. Either way we should pray about it, and maybe even take action to actualise or to prevent what we have been shown from happening.
In part one, we made reference to Exodus chapter 25, where God gave Moses an instruction as he was about to build the tabernacle. It reads – ‘Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.’ Moses was not the first or only person given an assignment to build. Before him God asked Noah to build an ark and after him God asked Solomon to build a temple. In the other two instances, God told them how to build, but with Moses, He showed him what to build.
Moses would have had to download the image God showed him (spiritual sight) into his mind (mental sight), and who knows, possible unto a scroll (physical sight) so he could interpret it faithfully. Between the stage of receiving spiritual visions to the actualisation of what we have been shown, is the place of mental sight: where an image is imprinted in our mind. It could be an idea, a plan, a project. Like spiritual sight, mental sight is not always a positive thing. Sometimes images do us harm. They may come from what we dwell on (like suicidal thoughts), from what we watch (like porn) or more directly from the devil. These destructive pictures take hold of our minds and, if allowed to fester, eventually play out physically. What becomes of the imprints in our mind depends on us. We should shoot down the destructive ones with God’s word and work the good ones into reality through prayer and planning and action.
This information should serve us well as we enter a new day, a new year, a new decade, a new season. Someone said a new year is a book with 365 blank sheets on which to write our story. I hope that in this important year; 2020, a year of visioning, a year of ‘double double’, we would opt for the wise decision to kill the negative images before they destroy us and to nurture and realise the ones that would build us.
It begins with a plan, which begins with a vision, that we should get from God through faith in Jesus Christ. Remember, ‘if you can think it you can do it’. And while at it, remember also that ‘one great book can change your life’.
Between the stage of receiving spiritual visions to the actualisation of what we have been shown, is the place of mental sight: where an image is imprinted in our mind. It could be an idea, a plan, a project. Like spiritual sight, mental sight is not always a positive thing