I have heard it said that if you are frightened you should picture a 300 foot tall Jesus standing beside you so you feel safe.
This may sound cute but it flies in the face of everything God teaches in His word.
To imagine an image that is not real as protecting you is the same as having an idol.
There is no 300 ft tall Jesus, the idea negates the presence of Christ in the born-again believer. Why do we need to "picture" something in our mind that is not real when we can trust Christ Who lives in us.
Having come out of the Catholic system I understand the need for people to "visualize" an entity in their statues. They base their faith on lies, the statue that is not alive as they hope, and their own ideas in their head about what makes them feel safe.
Born again believers walk by faith, not by imagination or by statues or amulets. Our God lives in us, guides and directs us as well as protects us, we have no need of visualizing a false entity in our own minds to make us feel safe.
The same is true of the "WWJD" bracelets that are supposed to remind people what Jesus would do. Why would we need objects to remind us when we have the Holy Spirit inside of us Who reminds us.
Interestingly enough all these little visual tricks people like to think have value actually detract from faith. Making up an image in our own minds or using an artifact to help us are idols.
I once asked a young man what his WWJD (what would Jesus do) bracelet did for him. He told me it reminds him of what God did for him, it reminds him of what Jesus would do and helps him witness to others.
I said to this young man that all those things that he assigns to the bracelet are the job of the Holy Spirit. Why would you trust the bracelet when you can trust the Holy Spirit Who lives in you?
Why would we trust an amulet for things that are told us in the Bible and are made aware by the Holy Spirit. If we happen to forget what God said we don't go to a bracelet we go to God's Word.
The tricks and artifacts people concoct to help them walk with Jesus are idols. If they trust Christ He will guide them in everything, we need no physical object to remind us nor do we need to "visualize" the kind of Jesus made by human imagination that makes us feel safe. Christ in us makes us feel safe.
When we use articles in place trusting the Holy Spirit we lack faith.
Galatians 2:20
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
Romans 8:10
"But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness."
2 Corinthians 4:18
"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
2 Corinthians 5:6–7
"6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight."
If you are wise you will evaluate every modern trick that promises to give you faith. Many of these "helps" detract from faith only leading many to trust in objects and visualization that works against Christ in us.
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