Chapter 7: See the Movie (Step Two)

Next time you are having coffee with a friend and you are relaying to them a story that happened to you, you will find that as you are telling the story, your mind is re-creating the event in your imagination.  Our words are the overflow of what we are seeing in our mind’s imagination.  They walk together. 

Next time you have a conversation with someone watch what happens when someone is telling you a story.  As they are talking, you begin to visualize the story in your own mind.  You create in your imagination how things were said, what people looked like and where they were placed.  You do this without even being intentional.  Everything is based on the story in our minds. 

Words may change in how we tell a story, but the image we’ve created in our mind stays the same.  These film clips in our mind of what we experience or “see” are told are stored in our long and short-term memory.  Stories and pictures.  Not the words that describe them.

The problem when we memorize words is that we tend to “see” mainly words and the visual side of our minds is dulled.  It’s possible to memorize this way but it does not make the strength of impact good for longer-term retention.  Add to that much of the development of the story stops as soon as the words are memorized. 

Step 2—Seeing the Story

What we’ve done with Step 1 is to create an understanding of the details of the story and the tensions of those relationships.   Step 2 is where we create an imaginative film-strip in our mind as if we were an eye-witness.  We picture all the details of the story as if we were making a movie.   Take note of what things looked like, how they dressed, where they are in the story, etc…

For example, let’s take the story of the healing of the man who was healed of leprosy:

“While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy.  When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him” (Lk 5:12-16).

Here are just a few basics of the relational details:

·       Jesus had been standing by the Lake of Genessaret so he was probably in the Galilee region when he mentions “one of the towns.”  Galilee was not necessarily the religious center and was probably more of the “back country” villages of the time.

·       Jesus was probably dressed as a commoner with his robes because according to society he was not a priest, a Pharisee/Sadducees or religious person. 

·       Leprosy required that those who had it shout “Unclean!” so no one would get near.  People were terrified of getting leprosy as it was a death sensitive.

·       For Jesus to reach out and touch him made Jesus unclean and put him at great risk.  Touching someone would require a significant reason as it would make him unclean and threaten his very life.

So in our mind we take every detail of the story and fill it in with the information we read and that which we’ve discovered.

“While Jesus was in one of the towns”—I personally don’t see crowds around him at this time so for me I imagine him in a primitive village.  Perhaps he is walking through town on a journey to set up to teach again in some yet to be determined location.  If he had been there longer the crowds would’ve come but he had been there long enough that the leper knew he was passing through town.  So I imagine him walking through town with his disciples as he is travelling along with some curious followers and his disciples.

“A man came along who was covered with leprosy”-- I imagine a leper who had dirty rags, nubs for fingers, white spots on his face and rags everywhere.  I imagine him with the most lonely, distraught and desperate eyes one could imagine.  Yet there is a flicker of hope as he heard that this guy has healed people.  I picture him seeing Jesus, running to him, and falling on his face in a pathetic heap.  If Jesus comes through, he’s healed.  If not, he’s a dead man. What does he have to lose?  I see those around react in shock and horror and even the disciples backing away at this obvious leper.  I see a religious leader and an elder in the background picking up stones ready to take this man out because he didn’t obey the law and yell, “Unclean.”  I see Jesus’ with an expression of grief at this man’s misery and desperation.  I see the disciples in a quandary trying to figure out what to do with this guy.  They don’t want to get near him as he has deadly leprousy, but he’s threatening their master. 

“When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”  I see snot and tears and desperation and total abandonment.  I don’t picture a clean, one-time statement but a desperate begging and pleading with God over and over in between tears and sobs.

“Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man.”  This was THE action that took the breath away of everyone.  You can hear the collective gasp.  You can feel the terror and question from the disciples wondering what their master just did.  NO ONE touched a leper.  NO ONE.   I see Jesus so broken in love for this man that he didn’t even care if he became defiled.   He reaches down and touches the man.  The touch wasn’t so much about healing his body as it was to heal his soul—his broken, rejected, anguished, defiled soul.

“I am willing,” he said.  “Be clean!”  And immediately the leprosy left him.”  I imagine the shock on the leper’s face.  Did he hear right?  Did Jesus say he was willing?  Did Jesus tell him he was clean?  He looks into the eyes of Jesus and sees only love.  As he reaches out towards Jesus from the ground. he sees his hand and sees that his leprosy is gone.  He touches his face and feels soft, supple flesh,  He frantically looks at others parts of his body and none of it is there.  His eyes fill with tears as he looks back and forth between Jesus and himself.  He can’t believe it.  He stands and sees that his feet are whole.  He begins to rip off the rags and throws them on this ground.  The leper laughs in amazement.  He can hardly believe it himself.  The bystanders don’t know what to do.  Some think it’s a hoax.  The religious leaders still have stones in their hands.  They decide to call a quick conference.  The disciples aren’t sure what to do.  They’ve seen healings yes, but leprosy?  And to touch the man?   

The story goes on.  Jesus gives the man direct orders not to tell anyone but to show himself to the priest.  But he can’t keep the news in.  He was dead but now he’s alive. 

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So now that you have the picture in your mind, you slowly go through the text again and see this movie unfold in your imagination.  Read the text again making sure you get all the parts of the story.   The sharper the details the better.  Where was Jesus standing?  Where are the disciples?  What is the man doing?  Etc…  Fixate every single detail of the Bible text into this film in your mind. 

This perhaps is the most key aspect of this process.  If you get the story pictured in your mind, it makes everything else easier.  And the nice thing about getting the story is that it never ends.  Burnout is never necessary because the more you study and understand, the richer the picture develops.  Never stop studying and building the details of the story. 

It is good to note that during this time you are not working to get the exact words.  The focus of Step 2 is to create as clear as picture as possible in your mind.   This is something that the Lord taught a friend of mine called Johanna.

In the 1960’s, Johanna and her husband were arrested in a communist country for spreading the gospel.  They were held for four days.   While they were being interrogated by the police, the Lord spoke to Johanna and told her that he wanted her to memorize the book of Revelation.  Upon her release she returned home and began the process. 

For 45 minutes in the morning and for 45 minutes in the evening she opened the book of Revelation,  got down on her knees and asked for the Lord’s help.  As she was reading the Word, the Lord showed her to paint the pictures of the imagery in her mind.  With scene after scene she began to see each and every image.  Much to her surprise in 11 days she had memorized the book of Revelation, word for word.