Some may balk when I suggest God gives us visions during meditation, but I have had one that was more real than anything I can ever explain. That’s why I firmly believe he does indeed do so. It was shortly after I had accepted Jesus in 1995 when God placed a vision upon me. More than a decade later, I was finally able to discern the meaning. In a lot of ways, 1Glories is a continuation of my responding to that vision.
Before I was a Christian, I pursued many means of filling the gap punched in my soul. Meditation was one of those. I have continued to meditate into my “new life,” doing so with scriptural prefacing. One night, I saw a vision of me in a guillotine as a saddened Jesus looked on. The blade came down and my head fell into a dark chasm below. No bloodshed whatsoever.
Years later, I started a blog called NoOtherRock (Isaiah 44:8) with no idea where it would go. It was simply a very sure feeling that it was something I had to do as I struggled with my own spirituality and keeping up with documenting devotional thoughts and responses. I chose to focus on a fairly old year-long devotional, J. Sidlow Baxter’s Awake, My Heart: Daily Devotional Studies for the Year
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The devotional came into my awareness at a time when I started to realize a few things about the vision I just described. First, Jesus has shed all the blood for my sins. The other realization was equally profound; that being, if you think and feel only with your head and not with your heart – as I was doing in trying to rationalize my Christianity – you’re not genuinely following Christ.
We too often are asleep in our Christian walks. Devotional study can help us wake up. Photo Credit: Nick Harris1 via Compfight cc
I struggled to keep up with the devotional, but the year was one of enormous Christian growth. I was shaped to think and consider myself in a new context in Christ.
Here are some of those key revelations.
- It’s never about your or me. It’s always about Him.
- Conforming to the ways of the world is terribly hard to avoid – but can be done
- The moment is now. Not yesterday. Not Tomorrow.
- God’s timing is amazing.
- Even the wicked can be used for God’s intent.
- I still have and always will have much to learn.
- Hope is for those not already living in His grace.
- I love you. This is not easy to do and it’s even harder to say. Some never say it. I never want a day where I don’t say it.