THE STIFLED SOURCE: The Spirit in Imagination
The Holy Spirit appears on the very first page of the Bible, hovering over the waters in Genesis 1:2, bringing order from chaos and breathing life into creation. He is there again on the final page of Scripture, extending an invitation to drink freely from the water of life in Revelation 22:17. From beginning to end, the Spirit is central to God’s story. Yet for many of us, He feels distant and elusive. While we may affirm the Spirit in our theology, His presence is frequently missing in our daily lives and can be conspicuously absent from the life of the church.
It’s not that we intentionally ignore the Spirit. As a friend once quipped, “The Holy Spirit is the Ringo Starr of the Trinity.” He’s there, integral to everything, and yet often overlooked. Most of us aren’t intentionally dismissive of Him, but His intangible, untamed nature can be difficult to grasp. The Bible is concrete, the Father is familiar, and the Son walked among us. But the Spirit? He is like the wind—unpredictable, untamable, moving where He pleases. It’s easier to settle for what we can understand and control than to live in dependence on the Spirit’s dynamic presence.
Yet Jesus Himself places the Spirit front and center when He declares, “It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7). For Jesus to say it was better for Him to leave so the Spirit could come speaks volumes about the Spirit’s role in our lives. This isn’t a theological side note; it’s central to the Christian life. The Spirit doesn’t merely walk beside us. He dwells within us. He is the animating force that shapes our relationship with God and transforms how we live out each breath. Paul describes this reality as “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).
And yet, how often does this truth shape our daily lives? We may affirm it intellectually, but does it change how we parent, work, worship, or engage in mission? For many of us, the Spirit is an abstract concept rather than a living presence. Instead of being Spirit-filled, we live spiritually hollow, disconnected from the power and presence of God.
Part of the problem is that we’ve lost our imagination for the Spirit’s work. In a world dominated by logic, technology, and control, we’ve trained ourselves to dismiss the supernatural. What we can measure and manage has taken precedence over what we cannot explain. The natural world casts a shadow over our sense of the divine, making it harder to recognize the Spirit’s presence in the miraculous and the mundane.
This shift isn’t entirely new. Over the centuries, the Church has gravitated toward knowing, understanding, and rationality at the expense of imagination and creativity. Historically, this mindset was influenced by translations like the King James Bible, which rendered the Hebrew word yetser as “imagination” in verses like Genesis 6:5 and 8:21. These passages described the corruption of human thought before the flood, and the word “imagination” became associated with deception and scheming.
Modern translations use terms like “inclination” or “intention,” which better capture the meaning in today’s language. But the damage was done. Imagination was seen as suspect, and over time, the Church became wary of creativity and dreaming, associating them with potential dangers rather than opportunities for God’s Spirit to move.
This suspicion, combined with the pervasive influence of the Enlightenment and rationalism, has driven us to prioritize reason over wonder, reducing faith to something manageable and predictable. But the Bible paints a very different picture of life with God—a life that is saturated with the supernatural, filled with moments that defy logic and invite us to dream boldly.
Imagination, like knowledge, isn’t inherently dangerous. It can be used for good or evil, but when aligned with God’s truth, it becomes a powerful tool in our faith. Faith itself requires imagination. It asks us to believe in what we cannot see, to trust in promises not yet fulfilled, and to dream with God about what could be when His power is at work in us and through us.
Just as Disney’s Imagineering department brought Walt Disney’s impossible dreams to life, the Spirit ignites our spiritual impulses, stirring curiosity and equipping us to live in light of God’s promises. In the Old Testament, we see the Spirit inspiring creativity and craftsmanship. Bezalel, for example, is filled with the Spirit to design the Tabernacle with beauty and skill (Exodus 31:1-5). David credits the Spirit with inspiring his songs of worship, and the prophets, moved by the Spirit, paint vivid pictures of God’s redemptive plans.
But somewhere along the way, we’ve narrowed our view of the Spirit’s work. We expect Him to empower pastors to preach and teachers to explain Scripture, but we rarely recognize His hand in the creativity of an artist, the innovation of a designer, or the vision of a storyteller. The same Spirit who inspires a sermon also inspires a song, a painting, or a work of design that reflects God’s glory.
Living by the Spirit isn’t something we can simply set and forget—it’s more art than science. It requires navigating a tension that is central to the Christian life: testing the spirits while not quenching the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19-22). On one hand, we are called to test spiritual experiences against the truth of Scripture to ensure they align with God’s character and purposes. On the other hand, we must pursue the Spirit’s work, even when it challenges our assumptions or stretches our understanding. This tension between discernment and freedom is the space where we learn to let go while simultaneously wrestling with what it means to live by the Spirit. It’s a relentless practice of surrender and diligence.
Our spiritual life will almost always operate in tension, which is frustrating for us modern Westerners because we like binary answers. We prefer neat, clean categories—good or bad, right or wrong. But the Spirit often leads us into places where faith is required, where we must trust Him beyond what we can see, fully understand, or control. This tension isn’t something to resolve but something to embrace. It’s the space where God refines us, teaching us to rely on Him rather than our own understanding.
We do this by marrying together our pursuit of truth in Scripture, being sensitive to the Spirit’s leading, seeking the wisdom of others who know us well, and even paying attention to our emotions. Yes, emotions! Our feelings are not the enemy; they are information our bodies give us about our internal and external worlds. While feelings should not lead us uncritically, they can guide us in spiritual discernment when submitted to the Spirit. Learning to listen to the Spirit means learning to pay attention to the ways He moves through our thoughts, emotions, and circumstances, always holding them up to the light of Scripture.
Imagine what it would look like to live in light of the Spirit’s presence, to recapture the spiritual impulse we see so clearly practiced in Scripture. Imagine approaching each day with the awareness that the Spirit of God dwells within you, guiding your thoughts, shaping your actions, and empowering your imagination. Imagine a church that celebrates creativity as a reflection of the Creator. Imagine a world transformed by Spirit-filled people who dare to dream with God.
This isn’t about abandoning reason or getting “weird.” It’s about holding our experiences up to the light of Scripture, abiding in Christ, and actively pursuing the Spirit’s leading. The Spirit doesn’t operate within neat formulas or predictable structures, but He always operates in truth and love, drawing us closer to the heart of God.
What if we dared to believe again? What if we trusted the Spirit to awaken our imagination, empower our creativity, and lead us into the unknown? What if we embraced the truth that the Spirit of the living God dwells within us, shaping our lives in ways that go far beyond what we can ask or think?
This is the invitation of the Holy Spirit: to live Spirit-filled lives marked by faith, imagination, and transformation. The God who imagined the universe hasn’t stopped creating. Through His Spirit, He is still calling, still inviting, and still moving. All we have to do is open our hearts and step into the adventure.
