Imprints and Impressions

The definition of Imprint is:

1: to mark by or as if by pressure, to impress

2a: to fix indelibly or permanently (as on the memory; (Merriam-Webster 2015 Online Dictionary)

Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines an impression as:

1. Mark; indentation; stamp made by pressure; as, a seal makes an impression on wax.

2. The effect which objects produce on the mind.

3. Image in the mind; idea.

4. Sensible effect.

5. A single edition of a book; the books printed at once;

6. Slight, indistinct remembrance.

Whatever has impact leaves a mark – an imprint or impression.  Whatever has that impact may be positive or negative – reflecting truth or falsehood.  Impact is impact. We live in a fallen world created by a perfect God, but marred by the enemy of our souls.  As we navigate through life, it is impossible to avoid stumbling into, being in the way of, or knowingly/unknowingly cooperating with the fallenness set forth by the kingdom of darkness.  We are impacted and we have impact.  Whatever imprint that is left on us and the imprint we leave will either be in line with God and truth or in line with the enemy of our souls and lies.  We may not be able to control what happens to us and around us, but we can choose what we are going to allow ourselves to agree with.

I love 2 Corinthians 10:5 in the Classic Amplified version. It says:

4 For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds, 5 [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

The kingdom of darkness makes an argument, puts forth theories and reasonings that parade themselves as truth to steal, kill and destroy from those created in the image of God.  The daunting task of taking our thoughts captive and making them obedient to Christ becomes possible and doable in an unfair world because we get to team up with the God of unfair grace.

Whatever you agree with will have power over you – either for life or for death. And let’s be clear, the enemy of our souls is subtle. He comes with just enough truth that it seems right. He sets up experiences in our lives that are designed to imprint an interpretation of reality that is not true, but feels so very true. This is because that has been our very intimate and personal experience. When a lie has had so much impact that it looks like, feels like, sounds like, tastes like and smells like the truth, even when we know it flies in the face of the word of God, subconciously we are programmed to operate from this lie. In this place we do not really know the truth intimately and from a place of experience. We are not free, even if we have mentally grabbed ahold of the truth and are desperate to really believe that truth.

Physiologically, our subconscious mind installs programs called neural nets that have triggers. They operate automatically and deterministically faster than our conscious minds are aware. That means if we are struggling to choose a truth, but have a subconscious program that opposes that truth, we will constantly be undermined in experiencing the freedom that the truth brings. This defeated scenario will continue until that program is removed and replaced with a truth-bearing program in the subconscious place where that original faulty program was installed.

How do we overcome when our hearts agree with a lie that our heads know better? I remember stuffing the word of God into my consciousness and confessing that truth over and over, but feeling so defeated and condemned because somehow the lie still felt true.  Many people are stuck in this place. Many give up right here. The mode of handling the word in this case does not carry the same weight of impact that the lie, craftily implanted and sinisterly confirmed over and over at vulnerable moments, had. What is needed is an encounter with THE WORD in the place of the original impact.

Only God can do this.  Only He can take you back to those places of wounding and compromise and transform them. Only His voice, His presence, His images, His life and His healing can carry impact great enough to wash away the damage of the lie so that, while the memory may remain, the lie and the pain are replaced with peace, wholeness and light.

It is in this place that you leave stronger, more whole, wiser and carrying the impact of the One Who created you and gave Himself up for you. You have encountered Him and His truth and are transformed to be and look more like Him.  You have transformed more into the authentic “you” that was created before the foundation the world. You carry His imprint where it counts! You are now empowered to release that imprint – His truth and His freedom – to a confused, desperate, lost, and hurting world.

For more help on encountering God and letting Him replace faulty programming with His truth, check out my Marked by Love book here!