Several years ago, the heavyweight boxing champion of the world was Muhammad Ali. Ali was noted in the boxing ring for “floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee!” His jabs were so fast that by the time his opponents saw the punch it was too late! In many ways, life is like a Muhammad Ali punch; by the time you can see it, it is already too late to duck!

Most people are confused about what is really real; they believe that what they see is reality. But the fact of the matter is; the things that we can see, touch, smell, hear, etc., with our physical senses are really just the shadows of reality! Let me show you what I’m talking about: A building does not first exist when the foundation or the first brick is laid or even when the ribbon is cut at the grand opening; a building exists first in the mind of the architect! It is just as real, in his mind when he first conceives it, as it is when the last brick is laid! If you want to affect life as oppose to always suffering from the effects of life, you must realize that by the time you can see it, it is already too late to duck!

In order to make a real difference and gain some measure of control of your life, you must learn to deal with life in the “real” domain of reality, which is the spiritual and not the physical. Most likely you have heard the phrase: “Seeing is believing!” But actually, by the time you “see it” you are really just beholding the shadow of the real reality! The Bible says, “Look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are unseen; for the things which are seen are temporal (temporary, subject to change), but the things that are not seen are eternal. (permanent and fixed)” (II Corinthians 4:18, Author’s paraphrase) How can one make “real” changes in the spiritual arena? By understanding and properly using one’s mind and spirit! The Bible says, “As a man thinks: so is he!” Your thoughts are “the first cause!” I know this might sound a bit strange and mystical to many, but this is the way life works and this is the way God works! (This is the essence of faith: “Now faith is the substance <the reality> of things hoped for and the evidence of things ‘not’ seen: faith perceives as a real present fact, that which has yet to be experienced by the senses!) God created this world first in His imagination. Creation first existed in the mind of God; it became a physical reality as he “spoke” what was in His mind!

Much in the same way, we “create” our world (our circumstances and situations) by speaking what is in (or on) our minds! Whatever the conditions are that exist in your life at this very moment, they are the direct results of your thoughts and speech in the past! If you want to change your tomorrow, you must change the substance of your thoughts and speech today! If your “thinking and speaking” is based on what you see, you will always get what you have instead of having what you could get because what you see is what you get! If you want a better life, you’ve got to “see” it in your mind’s eye! Use your imagination; it is a gift from God! Once you have created your world firmly in your mind, begin to speak as if the things you “see” in your mind were a present reality! Have you ever noticed, in the Bible, how Jesus spoke of many things that had not occurred in the past tense as if they had already happened? He understood and lived the principle that I am attempting to share with you now! He understood how to “think” and “talk” like God: “For God calleth those things which be not as though they were!” So remember, what we see in the physical realm is really just the shadow of reality! The really “real” is in our imagination, and life has a way of making our imaginations (the mental images we hold in our minds: the blueprints of life) of today our realities of tomorrow!

Don’t be afraid to use your imagination! Everything that we can see and lay our hands on today existed first in someone’s imagination yesterday! In essence, the real reality occurs first in the mind and then we live the “shadow of reality” in the physical realm! Everything we experience on the physical plane is not the cause, but merely the reaction, the reflection, the response to, the shadow of, the experiences that have already taken place in our minds and spirits! What you experience in day-to-day living is really just the shadow of the “real” reality! Remember, life is like a Muhammad Ali punch; by the time you can see it, it is already too late to duck!