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‘God said’…Genesis 1:3

The God whom we serve is a God who speaks. From Genesis to Revelation we notice that God uses different mediums to convey His message to His children. We have such a good God who instructs even sinners in the path of repentance (Psalms 25:8) and who is willing to show His plans even to the unbelievers (Genesis 41:25).  

Then how much more our heavenly Father would love to reveal His heart and His plan concerning the life of His own children who have been bought at a price.  

But the challenge is we sometimes don’t understand that it is God who is speaking to us.  

It is beyond our comprehension why God chooses a specific way to speak to every individual. But we must rejoice that He speaks to us deliberately.

So, in this first part we shall contemplate God’s way of speaking through visions.  

VISIONS:  Visions are the message of God that appear mostly when we are in the conscious state. However, Daniel 7:1,2 says that Daniel saw visions while dreaming. So, it is possible that our spiritual eyes can be opened even when we are fast asleep.  

IN VISION GOD REVEALS,

1. Future events (Genesis 46:2-4, Book of Revelation) ,

2. Spiritual insights (Acts 10:10-16),

3. Spiritual realms-both heaven & hell (Isaiah 6:1, Revelation 9), 

4. Dangers ahead (Acts 22:17,18),

5. Next step in life (Acts 16:9-10),

6. Warnings (Acts 9:1-5)

7. Judgements (Amos 7:8, Jeremiah 1:11-16) 

TYPES OF VISIONS:

• Interactive: We see in Acts 10 that Cornelius saw a vision in which an angel of the Lord appeared and directed him to call for Peter.  It was an interactive vision where he communicated with that angel as well. He received salvation by obeying the command of the angel of God. So, every vision has a purpose.

• Scene: Sometimes it is a scene, like when Jeremiah saw a boiling pot tilted towards north (Jeremiah 1:13)

• One-way communication: In Acts 16:9-10 we read that one Macedonian came begging to Paul to visit his place to minister.

• Picture or Image: Amos just saw the basket full of ripe fruits (Amos 8:2)  

We must pay careful attention to interpret every vision based on the character, situation and setting of the vision.

DANGERS IN VISION:

While Jesus was fasting 40 days, satan showed Him the splendour of the whole world in one minute and asked Jesus to worship him. But when Jesus understood the source and meaning of that vision, He immediately rebuked him by the word of God (Matthew 4).

So, even in the state of prayer we shouldn’t be misguided that all visions originate from God.

Each vision should be analysed in the light of God’s word. If we do not walk with God or do not have good revelation of God’s word, then we may miscarry the vision with wrong interpretation.