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Author: jamie

By Posted on Posted in God's word, hearing God 2 Comments

Well, I thought this post would have gone up last week. I did host a 10 year old slumber party last Friday. There’s my excuse….

I shared last time about one of the two most important things I have learned to do in my Christian life. Again, I’ll say…  it’s not the action that has any power, but it is what God does when I keep up this habit. He uses it as a tool to speak to me and to pour out His love and grace.

The first habit is visualization during prayer and worship. The second one is the personalization of scripture. I’m sure you would agree that the Bible is God’s communication to the world. There are different kinds of literature within the pages, as well as many writers with different points of view. However, God is the inspired author of the entire book, and each page has a message for you, for today.

What the Lord has taught me to do is to take every passage, no matter the tense, the pronouns, or the audience, and make it a personal message from Him. Here is an example of a personalized passage originally from the Amplified Version of the Bible:

Psalm 23

I am the Lord your Shepherd.

I will feed you, guide you, and shield you.

You shall not lack any good thing.

I will lead you to lie down in fresh, tender, green pastures.

I will lead you beside the still and restful waters.

I want to refresh and restore your soul.

I will lead you in paths of uprightness and right standing with Me.

You cannot earn it or find it on your own.

I do this for My own name’s sake.

Yes, though you walk through the deep, sunless valley of the shadow

of death, you will fear or dread no evil, for I am with you.

My rod will protect you and My staff will guide you.

Take comfort in this.

I will prepare a table before you in the presence of your enemies.

I will anoint your head with oil, so that your brimming cup runs over.

Surely goodness, mercy, and unfailing love shall follow you

all the days of your life, because I go before you and behind you.

Through the length of your days,

make My presence your dwelling place.

I was reading the psalm, and as I rewrote the words, I allowed God to lead me. He inspired me to change the pronouns so that it would be His voice speaking to me. The truth of the passage is still intact. He also suggested to me the added details which you will not find in the Bible passage.

The purpose of this would be to transform my regular Bible reading into a personal exchange. Often, I begin my study & prayer time with the Lord by running at the mouth. Sadly, in that case, our time begins in a tone that reflects my attitude, my emotions, my shortcomings. However, if I begin by reading His word and letting Him personalize it for me, then our time begins on His terms. According to His love and care.

By no means am I suggesting that we can take scripture, add words, and twist it to suit our wants and needs. I am simply suggesting that we personally receive the message that God has spoken in the pages of the Bible. This practice has allowed me to hear God more clearly as He speaks softly in my spirit.

This habit also provides the opportunity to learn to pray more effectively. The Lord has shown me that I can personalize scripture and make it a prayer to Him. I’ll take the same Psalm and show you what I mean:

Lord, You are My Shepherd.

I don’t need anything else but you, Lord.

Thank you for providing green pastures for me to rest in.

Help me to follow Your leading to quiet waters.

You have restored my soul, Lord.

You guide me in paths of righteousness… Help me to follow.

You lead me according to what will bring glory to Your name, not what will make me happy and comfortable.

When I walk through the valley, I won’t fear, Lord.

I know You are with me. I know that You never leave me.

Your rod of correction and your staff of guidance bring me comfort.

Help me to surrender… instead of resist them.

You have prepared a table to honor me and provide for me.

I know that the enemy will come and try to steal from the bounty you have provided for me.

However, You have anointed me. Your covering is over me. I belong to You.

My cup overflows because You have provided so perfectly for all of my needs.

I am confident that goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.

I cannot wait to dwell with you forever in heaven.

Maybe the Word of God has become dry for you. It’s possible that you are reading it because you’re supposed to… but you aren’t allowing yourself to receive anything from it. I challenge you to find a journal and start writing out passages of scripture in a personal way. Let God speak to you and love on you. It will change you forever!

By Posted on Posted in God's presence, hearing God, prayer 1 Comment

I’d like to share with you (in a two-part post) what are probably the two most valuable things I have learned to do in my Christian life.

The two practices that I want to share with you have deepened my relationship with the Lord in ways that I cannot even begin to describe or measure. Overall, the last couple of years have been desert-like for me in many ways. However, God has been determined to get through to me with His love and grace. It’s one thing to understand in my head that He loves me… but it’s completely another to BELIEVE it wholeheartedly, to feel it, taste it, hold on to it when life is thrashing me about.

The two practices I want to share are in fact conduits for God’s love, power, and presence to be poured into my life. There is really no power in the practice itself… but God uses it to reach out and touch me. The first of the two is incorporating visualization into prayer and worship. That might sound kooky… so let me explain.

A couple of years ago, I started having little pictures pop into my head when I would pray. I realized in short order that it was the Lord who was putting these pictures in my mind to show me things. Sometimes they were images of things like waterfalls, ropes in a knot, landscapes, etc. Often they were images of me with Him. Then the pictures started coming in a series… kind of like a movie in my mind. The Lord would often combine the pictures with a message from a friend or a bible verse to confirm that it was indeed Him trying to tell me something. I was concerned that maybe I was losing it!!

These pictures were coming during a time when I was struggling with an issue from my past. A dear friend challenged me one day to ask God where He was at a particularly traumatic time in my life.  I began to ask the Lord to do exactly that. I had no idea that He had been preparing me with these little visions and that He would literally show me where He was.

One night at an intimate mountain retreat, I received an answer. Some amazing women were praying over me, and I saw a series of events unfold in my mind. I saw myself as a child, in an awful situation. Amazingly, I saw Jesus come into this situation and show such tenderness to me. The “vision” was 100 times more powerful than any of the pictures I had seen before. God gave me a new perspective on this piece of my history, a new perspective of Him and His love for me. I was forever changed in that moment.

As time went on, the Lord showed me more. I asked Him where He was during another difficult moment in my life. This answer came in several pieces over maybe a year’s time. Sometimes while I was in prayer or in worship, I would see Jesus walking with me through the most awful seasons of my life. In one particular vision, I saw Him rescue me from a painful situation and whisk me away to the beach. The Lord took me back to that spot in my mind several times to show me more. At one point, I realized that the beach is the place where He wants to meet me. Again and again.

In times of quiet prayer or during worship on Sundays, I close my eyes and imagine myself walking out to the beach. Jesus is always waiting there for me. Sometimes He tells me things. Mostly, He just holds me or sits with me. He has shown me the scars that He bears on His hands, feet, and hairline (from the crown of thorns). In the sky over the crashing waves, He has shown me the glory of the Father. He has walked with me on the sand, carried me on occasion, and washed me in the waves many times.

Yesterday, He showed me something new.  During the worship music at church, I imagined myself on the beach. I ended up standing on a pier with Jesus, watching the howling wind and rolling waves mix with raucous thunder and lightning. In an instant, He scooped me up, carried me out on the water, and suddenly we were beyond all the torrents. Standing on the water, He held me and instructed me to look all around. I became aware of our position… we were in the eye of the storm. I felt complete peace in that moment. I could see the violent stirrings of the storm a mile away on every side. I have never felt so safe. The words we were singing at that moment in church:

He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us so….

In the eye of the storm, it was so quiet that I could hear Him say:

I love you. I made you. I know you through and through. I am wrecked with love for you. I can think of nothing else but you. I am with you, watching you, protecting you, fighting for you. I love you.

Visualizations like this one have made my Jesus much more tangible. It has opened the door of my heart for Him to communicate to me more clearly. I find that more of my senses are involved in my prayer or worship time because I literally feel like I am with him in those few special moments. I have learned to relax more, so that He can guide my imagination and show me more. I want more!

I encourage you to give visualization a try. Start by asking the Lord to show you a place where He wants to meet you. Close your eyes, and let Him suggest the place. Let Him suggest the time, the surroundings, and your interactions with Him. Close your eyes and be with Him!

By Posted on Posted in oppression, victory No Comments

It might be the heat, maybe hormones, or the summertime lack of structure… but I am feeling so fragile lately! I have found myself in tears several times in the last few days. Trying to shop within a tight budget. Attempting to get everyone out the door on time. Working on making healthy decisions about food and exercise, yet facing my laziness and addiction to food. Praying and praying for others without the results that I expect.  I have been feeling this week like I am swimming upstream… to no avail!

I read this verse two days ago:  “They have greatly oppressed me from my youth, but they have not gained the victory over me.” Psalm 129:2

I could so relate to the first part that I missed the second part. The Lord pointed out the most important word in that verse.  BUT.

He reminded me that no matter how much oppression I feel in a moment, it is not the end. Oppression is simply the pressure that I feel when I am waiting for God to rescue me.  And He will rescue me, no doubt! Whatever is pressing down on me will not have the victory over me.

No matter how many obstacles I face, no matter how many disappointments, betrayals, losses, set-backs, or failures I encounter… these things will not have the victory over me. Even if addictions and weaknesses are sabotaging my freedom and success… they will not have the victory over me. Just because I feel the heaviness and the oppression does not mean that I have lost. It’s not over. The Lord is fighting for me. He is carrying me. He has a plan for me.

The two verses that follow Psalm 129:2 give us more insight:

“Plowmen have plowed my back and made their furrows long.  But the LORD is righteous; he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.”

Here we see that most important word again. BUT. We may feel as though we are being plowed over in our lives, but the Lord is righteous. He always does what is right and good. He will set me free. I can be fully convinced of that fact. He loves me and He is coming to my rescue……