Rhemalight

AUTHOR: HILLARY TURYAGYENDA 

Visions and revelations tend to go together. Paul seemed to think so. 2Cor.12:1-4. Loosely speaking visions are a higher order of revelations. If we are going to have visions then it stands to reason that we will have revelations. If you are going to have the better it seems reasonable that you ought to have the lesser first.

Paul prayed for the Ephesians, and it would be God’s will for us too, to be given the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Eph.1:17. He wouldn’t have prayed for them to have something they did not need. And he wouldn’t have prayed for them to have something they could not have. We need revelations today and we can have them if we pray for this spirit of revelation. Essentially to reveal means to open up - whether by openly showing in pictures or by explaining in words or hints. Plainly this spirit of revelation can be understood as the spirit of seeing and knowing.

The Lord desires to unveil His secrets to us through the spirit.

1Corinthians 2:

9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

11  For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

God hath revealed them implies revelations of the Spirit. He is revealing His deep secrets to people that are keen and aware of Him (vs. 12-14). Part of this awareness comes from understanding how things work, which is what we are doing here.

Revelations are of three kinds: you perceive, you hear, and you see; in order from the least to the highest type. The highest type of revelation is similar to the lowest type of vision. The three types of visions, from the lowest to the highest, are: a spiritual vision, a trance, and an open vision. We will now look at each in turn.

(I) I Perceive!

A perception is a premonition, or an inward intuition. It is an inward knowledge of certain facts apart from any reason or intellectual process. Scripture calls it, at times, an inward witness. It is more of a feeling or impression than actual words.

Romans 8:

14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

The newborn believer is led by the Spirit to know he is a child of God by that inward ‘something’ he cannot describe completely. He does not hear a voice saying he is a child of God. No, he has an inward know-so, so to speak, that assures him he is a Christian though his mind may not comprehend it at all. Experience tells us this.

It so happens that this way of leading the believer is the way the Spirit will continue to lead the believer in everything else. The believer will continue to have the know-so about the affairs of his life as he grows in grace. The more he is fed in the word the more he will be able to pick up those signals from heaven. That is what they really are - signals. Notice that it says the Spirit bears witness with our spirits. He causes us to know things. He dwells in us so because your spirit and the Spirit are communion, your spirit will pick up those stirrings of the spirit. Your spirit will be able to tune in to the frequency of heaven and inevitably the signals will come.

This main way of leading us also tends to be the lowest level on which revelations come. Little wonder that it should be common then. An example comes to mind.

Acts 27:

9  Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them,

10  And said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives.

11  Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul.

12  And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phenice, and there to winter; which is an haven of Crete, and lieth toward the southwest and northwest.

13  And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close by Crete.

14  But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon.

Paul perceived this danger befalling their lives and the ship long before it happened. Vs. 10. He had no weather forecasting equipment to do this. It just came to him as a premonition or an intuition. He did not say the lord had told him either. He did not hear a voice. He had an impression. An impression tends to be vague or indistinct yet it is real. You really know what you know though you are not able to calculate in your mind how came to that conclusion.

Many have stumbled over this not knowing that is the primary way that God leads. This brought Paul revelation. Scripture says they did not heed what he said - they just sailed anyway. One could imagine they thought paul was just looking for excuses not to go to Rome since he was being taken to Caesar. It says the haven was not commodious to winter in and people had ideas of making the journey to Phenice which was a haven of Crete. God had given revelation to Paul but all the immediate circumstances dictated otherwise.

When revelation comes the people around do not always favour it. That does not make it less true. The circumstances there like the fact that the port was crowded seemed to say the Lord could not be ‘speaking’ but he was. They did manage to get over to Crete but then as they set off the worst storm in that region - Euroclydon - befell them. They could have saved themselves the hurt, the damage but they ignored that little piece of advice. When the wind ‘blew softly’ it says, they set off. If they had stopped Phenice and reconsidered their move, they still could have saved themselves trouble but the natural conditions said otherwise.

This ‘perception’ can seem too mild to be taken seriously but trusting it can mean the difference between life and death. It did for Paul. Another case comes up.

Acts 14:

7 And there they preached the gospel.

8 And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked:

9 The same heard Paul speak: who steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,

10 Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.

Paul and Barnabas were preaching at Lystra and a man who had been crippled from birth was listening. As Paul preached he perceived the man had faith. He did not see some natural sign on the man to say he had faith. Neither did he see faith for faith is invisible to the natural eye. But he saw the man had faith. You can always tell when people get it. You preach to someone Jesus and you get to where you perceive they’ve got it. It seems as though it were written all over the person’s face.

God did not tell Paul the man had faith - he just picked it up in his spirit. Your spirit, as long as it stays full of the Spirit, easily picks things up in the Spirit that the mind cannot in anyway be able to grasp. Jesus saw the faith of the men in Matt.9:1-8. Obviously he saw their actions. Paul said you show your faith by your actions and faith without corresponding actions is dead (James 2:17,18,26). You don’t need any special perception to know that. However, people sometimes do things in the natural that look like faith when inwardly they are just, sort of, hoping something happens. God does not honour that kind of faith. That is why He asked the blind men that came to him, ‘do you believe that I am able to do this?’. Matt. 9:28. He could see they were blind. He could see they had come. But He evidently knew they could do all that and not believe he could heal.

The bunch in Matt.9:1-8 had the faith and Jesus perceived it. Once you perceive the faith is there you don’t have to go on for hours trying to finish your sermon. You just deal with that right then. Paul told the man to get up and he did; and he was healed. Jesus told the man to get up and he was healed. All this came from Paul and Jesus perceiving. Perceptions are powerful.

Acts 8:

18 And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,

19 Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.

20 But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.

21 Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.

22 Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.

23 For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.

Peter did not know this man to know he was in the grip of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. That was revelation that he got in his spirit and it was accurate. The man cried to him to ask God’s mercy for him.

Peter picked up the signal inside him. He just knew it inside him that his man was bitter and still bound in sin. In this case it was a revelation of a man’s moral condition. Jesus sometimes even perceived people’s thoughts.

Mark 2:

6 But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts,

7 Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?

8 And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?

Jesus perceived the thoughts in his hearers. He perceived they thought He was reprimanding them for not bringing bread when he warned them of leaven (Matt. 16:5-8). He perceived they thought he cast out demons by Beelzebub (Matt.12:25). He perceived they thought it is wrong to heal the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath (Luke6:8). This again is not what is flying around in the form of mind-reading or fortune-telling. Believers do not fish around for what is in people’s minds. Revelations do not come at will. You can keep your spiritual antenna up always so that whatever signals are out there can be picked up but you don’t fish around.

In fact the less you know about certain things the better. If you knew that someone was thinking you are a witch that would not be edifying. Sometimes people have thoughts in their minds that they did not make up themselves - the devil dropped something in there. So while they are wrestling with those thoughts it is better for that to be between them and God. Once you get involved , unless God in His wisdom sees fit that you need to, you are likely to mess things up. Depending on the Lord saves you looking at people in a bad light. The most holy saint of God has at times found thoughts in his minds that he resented. You can’t stop them from coming; but you can stop them from staying.

Jesus perceived a thought and he was not a wizard or a manipulator. This kind of revelation comes with great responsibility. It is not give n so that we can embarrass people but so we can minister. Of course if people wanted to hurt us or force us into some unreasonable course we could be legitimate in wanting to protect ourselves. Jesus perceived people wanted to make him king so he escaped them. John 6:15. You wouldn’t hardly call this fun; Jesus is not out there ‘enjoying’ knowing these thoughts. He is just trying to make sure He is not caught in some trap of the enemy.