Our imagination is the gateway to the spirit realm, the eyes of our heart or understanding. Our imagination is not the spirit realm; it’s the way that we can enter into it.
There are hundreds of references in the Bible to seeing in the invisible through visions and dreams and divine encounters.
The imagination of our soul is a gateway in which we can cross over into the spirit realm. The life of God flows out of heaven into our spirit and then our soul, and our soul then becomes a bridge, or crossover point taking us into the spirit.
Our soul is very much aware of the natural realm, but when we learn how to get the life of God flowing into our spirit, where our mind and imagination are in submission to our spirit, then the flow can begin to increase and develop and we will cross over into the spirit realm, where our soul becomes aware of it.
But first we have to learn how to get the gateway of imagination in our soul, open and cleansed and flowing. In most believers the gateway of imagination in the soul has been shut down.
Ephesians 1: 16 cease not to give thanks for you, making (continuous) mention of you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory , may give (impart by the Spirit) unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in (intimate union-rest-remaining) the knowledge (intimate experiential knowledge) of him; 18 The eyes of your understanding(dianoia-imagination) being enlightened(phōtizō- The root of this verb is phos -It represents the action of making visible things that are not seen);that you may know what is the hope of his calling , and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.
That the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, the word understanding is the Greek word for imagination from the Greek text they translated the King James bible from- dianoia.
When dianoia is used in connection with the heart it’s always used without exception for imagination, the eyes of your imagination.
The word enlightened is the Greek word phōtizō- where we get our English word photograph from. The verb is a participle in the perfect tense-the perfect participle stresses the state brought about by the finished result of the action. It is in the passive voice which means it is something we are receiving.
In the knowledge of him the eyes of your imagination receiving a picture that you may know.
This only happens in Him. en – epígnōsis- hautoú- phōtízō; in-knowledge-himself-imagination.
Intimate union where our spirit is one with His, epignosis-where revelation is flowing into our spirit, this is exact knowledge where our spirit is conscious of him, of His Presence. It then flows into our soul where we see a picture and then once we receive that picture, it is possible to cross over into the spirit realm.
But first we have to learn how to practice the presence of God where our awareness of it becomes greater than our awareness of the natural world.
And then we have to learn how to meditate where our conscious brain waves slow down and we enter into a dreamlike state, where we can see on the screen of our mind.
When we cross over into the spirit realm, we are literally in a different dimension. We can be aware of the spirit realm and the natural realm; we can be so deep in the spirit that we are no longer aware of the natural realm, and then something like a noise in the natural realm can pull us out of it.
But first we have to begin receiving pictures from God in our imagination. So Ephesians 1:17-18 becomes our prayer and we speak it out loud and we begin using our imagination in the natural so that we can get it active, where we become aware of it.
Some people already have an active imagination, but if we are just learning how to get this gateway open there are things we can do to help strengthen it.