The Puritans, Holy Imagination, and Walking Boldly With Christ
Let me introduce you to a spiritual practice that changed how I counsel people, how I pray, and, honestly, how I get through hard days.
Most people think of the Puritans as rigid, joyless, rule-followers dressed in black. What gets overlooked is that they were some of the most psychologically sophisticated spiritual guides in church history. They understood something about the human mind that modern neuroscience is only now catching up to.
What you picture in your heart and mind shapes what you actually believe. And belief shapes everything.
The Puritan View of Imagination
The Puritans did not treat imagination as a threat to faith. They treated it as a God-given faculty designed to help believers move truth from the head down into the heart.
They drew a clear line. Vain and sinful imaginations, the kind Paul warned about in Romans 1:21, lead the soul away from God. Holy imagination, grounded in Scripture and fixed on God’s character and promises, draws the soul toward Him.
Puritan preachers painted vivid pictures in their sermons. Jonathan Edwards famously described sinners dangling over a fiery pit, not to terrify people for sport, but to wake up hearts that had grown comfortable with eternity. Richard Baxter wrote “The Saints’ Everlasting Rest,” filling page after page with detailed images of eternal joy to give believers something real to fix their eyes on when suffering made everything else feel hopeless.
The goal was always the same. Move the truth off the page and into the bones.
Scripture Backs This Up Completely
This is not a Puritan invention. God’s Word affirms it.
Psalm 16:8 says, “I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With Him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” David practiced something intentional here. He actively fixed his gaze on God’s presence as a daily spiritual discipline.
Hebrews 11:27 tells us that Moses endured because he kept seeing the One who is invisible. That language matters. Moses pressed forward through impossible circumstances by keeping his mind’s eye on a God his physical eyes could not see.
Colossians 3:1 to 2 instructs us to set our minds on things above, where Christ sits enthroned. That word “set” implies effort and intention. Paul was not describing something that happens accidentally.
The Puritans simply built a practice around what Scripture was already teaching.
What This Actually Does for Us Today
I want to bring this out of history and into your real life, because this is something I use personally and something I teach my clients directly.
It builds confidence in who you are.
When you picture Jesus walking beside you through your day, your sense of worth stops depending on other people’s opinions. John 15:15 tells us Jesus calls us His friends. Intentionally imagining His companionship makes that truth feel real rather than just intellectual. Fear, shame, and people pleasing lose their grip when you genuinely sense you are not walking into the room alone.
Courage grows when holy imagination stays active.
The world will push back against your faith. Ridicule, hostility, and pressure to conform show up constantly. Picture Jesus at the table when someone mocks your beliefs. Imagine His hand holding yours when fear rises before a hard conversation. That picture is not a fantasy. Christ promised His presence in Matthew 28:20. Holy imagination simply makes that promise visible to your mind in the moment you need it most.
Sanctification happens when you fill your mind intentionally.
Here is something I have watched play out in counseling sessions after session. Temptation loses power when you picture Jesus watching with love from His throne. Suddenly, the thing that seemed appealing a moment ago looks different. The Puritans understood this deeply. Imagination either fans the flames of sin or fuels the fire of holiness. There is no neutral ground.
Practical Ways to Build This Discipline
The Puritans were intensely practical people, and so am I. Here is how to actually apply this.
In the morning, before you get out of bed, picture Jesus standing at your side saying, “I am with you always.” Start the day with that image already in place.
During your work, visualize doing your tasks with Christ watching and taking genuine delight in your faithfulness. This transforms ordinary work into something that carries weight.
When trials hit, imagine Jesus holding your tears in His bottle as Psalm 56:8 describes. He sees everyone. He collects everyone. That image does something to the soul that a theological argument alone cannot.
In prayer, envision yourself kneeling at the throne of grace and speaking directly to your Father. You are not sending words into the ceiling. You are entering a throne room where you have been welcomed.
At night, picture Jesus standing guard as the Shepherd who never sleeps. You can lie down because He does not.
Walking Bold in a World That Pushes Back
The Puritans faced genuine persecution. Their faith cost them socially, professionally, and sometimes physically. Yet they walked with a courage that confounded the people around them. That courage did not come from personality or willpower. It came from fixing their imaginations on eternal realities that outweighed every temporary pressure.
Three truths anchored them, and the same three truths can anchor you.
Christ’s presence never wavers. Matthew 28:20 promises He stays with us always, to the very end of the age. Romans 8:38 to 39 declares that nothing in all creation can separate us from His love. First Corinthians 15:57 proclaims that His victory already belongs to us.
When those truths move from the page into the picture your mind holds throughout the day, something shifts. Shame shrinks. Fear loses its footing. The approval of people stops carrying so much weight. You begin to live as someone who knows they are never actually alone.
This Is Not Childish. This Is Warfare.
I want to close with something direct.
God gave us imagination for a reason. Philippians 4:8 tells us to fill our minds with what is true, noble, right, pure, and lovely. That is an active instruction about what we intentionally place in our minds. Holy imagination is how we obey it.
The enemy knows the power of imagery. He fills our culture with images designed to pull us toward fear, lust, shame, and despair. The Puritans fought back with intentional, Scripture-rooted imagination that kept God’s presence vivid and Christ’s victory visible.
We can do the same. Fixing the mind on what is already true about God’s presence does not make us less grounded in reality. It makes us more grounded in the only reality that will outlast this life.
Ready to Take the First Step?
My name is Jane Perkins. I own Are You Ready Counseling, and I offer online Christ-centered biblical counsel to people who carry emotional pain, mental health challenges, spiritual confusion, or loneliness.
You are not alone. And you do not have to stay stuck.
Open the Word. Trust His promises. And walk forward in His truth.
Ready to Take the First Step?
My name is Jane Perkins. I am the owner of Are You Ready Counseling, offering Christ-centered, biblical counsel to those struggling with emotional pain, mental health challenges, spiritual confusion, or loneliness. You’re not alone—and you don’t have to stay stuck. I offer a FREE 20-minute consultation to ask questions with no obligation. I invite you to explore the possibility of faith-based healing through our online Christian counseling services – Be Counseled Biblically.
A free 20-minute consultation awaits you, with no obligation. Bring your questions. Bring the part of your story that feels too heavy to carry alone. Come exactly as you are.
Visit: www.AreYouReadyCounseling.com
Email: jane@areyoureadycounseling.com
Book your free consultation: calendly.com/areyoureadycounseling
