Questioner: "A"
Subject: Christian VisionsQuestion:
- i am a relatively new christian and God has been showing me more and more over the last few years. some might call me pretty repressed in my views of christanity in terms of what ive seen of other churches besides my own relatively noncharismatic church. but i have visited other churches that are more "Spirit filled" so to speak, just to see if i feel any different there, and some of it used to scare me, but some of it i enjoy.
the other day i went to a small group at one such place and someone there supposedly heard from God about several people in the room and i do believe that is possible. but a few of the times before he spoke, i was thinking of some image or envisioning something and then he spoke it. and i wanted to know what you think about visions. i mean, i know it is scriptural that people had visions, but i think it would be hard to know if it is you or God or whatever thinking those thoughts. and while he spoke pretty close to what i was seeing right as i saw it, i guess it could be: #1 a coincidence, #2 that God was trying to communicate and several people in the room understood what He was saying, or #3 that i thought of it myself and God was trying to communicate His love for me by having the prophetic (or whatever you want to call it) man speak to it. so, do you think Christians today still experience visions of some sort? and if so, how do you know it is from God or you? does that make sense?
John of AllFaith's reply
Hello "A"The Bible tells us that 'God is the same yesterday, today and forever'. That being the case, I see no reason why the visions would have have stopped. Indeed, I have based the course of my life on a vision I had in 1969.
The difficulty comes when we go from a general statement of "I believe God still gives visions" to the question, "Did God give this or that vision."
One is tempted to say that if a vision comes that is biblically solid and that agrees with our understandings it can be accepted as being of divine origin, if not it should be rejected. The problem with this view however is that God is not limited by our current understandings of what is and is not biblically true and so on. Perhaps we have misunderstood the Bible or some situation and God is seeking to correct us or to bring us into deeper truth.
We are told in the Bible that we have no need of human teachers as the Spirit will teach us all things. If the Spirit is to teach us, it is implied that we do not already know the things we are being shown. How then can we gauge them based upon what we do know?
The only way I know to deal with this is to be honest with God and ourself. Does this knowledge feel inspired? Does it feel fraudulent? What does your spirit testify about it? "Christ in you the hope of Glory" so ask the Christ in you. Seek your heart and the Spirit of God within you. Does the vision draw you closer to God or does it cast a wedge between you and the Lover of your soul? Does the vision add Light or does it bring darkness? True visions from God, even if difficult to accept, should feel right and should draw one into a closer fellowship with God.
Any of your three possibilities could be correct in a given case. Generally speaking, I assume that if visions honestly feel right on a spiritual level they should be accepted. If we go astray due to honestly seeking God's will, as best we can do this, I believe that God, in His mercy, will always set us aright. There's a song by Chapman that says, "I can't believe God is leading me, unless he led me here...."
Prov. 3:5 "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."
Do this and I believe you will be lead in His ways.
Hope this helps,
-
~John of AllFaith
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