God personalizes direction, confirmation, and affirmation to those who love Him through dreams and visions.
He was having a REAL bad day. He had given himself totally in support of the wrong cause and now it was too late. He sat there blind, bruised, and broken, but that was not the worst of it. God was angry with Him.
Still, Saul must have wondered if God was really angry with him. After all, he received a heavenly vision immediately after seeing that blinding light that knocked him off his feet en route to Damascus. (Acts 9:3-4)
In the vision, God told young Saul that he would preach the gospel to Jews, Gentiles, kings, and rulers. This made no sense at all. After all, Saul was an enemy of the gospel who persecuted the church.
Saul was not the only one having a bad day. There was Ananias too, who like other believers, feared Saul’s arrival in Damascus.
God told Ananias in a vision to go and pray for Saul to receive his sight, but Ananias was having none of that. Saul had imprisoned believers and had them beaten in every synagogue. (Acts 26:10)
God told Ananias not to worry. In the vision, God told him that Saul was chosen to declare the gospel to Jews, Gentiles, kings, and rulers. You can bet Ananias went to pray for Saul in much fear and trembling. (Acts 9:11-16)
From scripture, we know that both men responded to God’s direction, and these “mustard-seeds” of obedience, became a great tree that spread throughout the Roman Empire.
Saul and Ananias received supernatural direction through heavenly visions. Their engagement with one another brought confirmation that their visions were accurate and true. (2 Corinthians 13:1)
Saul matured into the great Apostle Paul. Many years later, Paul narrowly escaped death during a riot in Jerusalem. He was placed in custody to protect him from those who sought to kill him. (Acts 21:30-35)
Paul spent that night in prison with his life hanging in the balance. He was not immune to gloom and despair, but Jesus, whom He once persecuted, appeared to him:
“Be encouraged, Paul. Just as you have been a witness to me here in Jerusalem, you must preach the Good News in Rome as well.” (Acts 23:11)
As a professor at Bethel, now Antioch College, I get to pass along these incredible truths to emerging church leaders.
It saddens me that many believers rarely experience or recognize God’s supernatural direction, confirmation and affirmation in their lives.
Granted, most of God’s supernatural direction is not sensational, but God is active and effective in leading us through routine processes.
God is also active and effective in leading us through dreams, visions, prophecy, etc., which some may deem as atypical-but not from a Biblical standpoint.
Atypical or routine, the direction we receive only has value if it aligns with God’s word which is the bedrock of our faith. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
All wizardry, witchcraft, soothsaying, fortune-telling, and root-working activity is a counterfeit of God’s legitimate supernatural power.
Demonic power is real. God’s power is REAL. God’s power is far, far GREATER. (Luke 10:18-19; 1 John 3:8; Revelation 20:10)
God personalizes direction, confirmation, and affirmation to those who love Him through dreams and visions. Let’s make this practical.
After a restless night, my wife Vanessa woke me up and said, “you’ve been having nightmares.” It was the morning of 16 August 2016. We happened to be staying at the Massanutten Resort in VA.
During the evening I had a dream that unfolded in four different scenes.
In the first scene, I was with a large group of Arabs, dressed in their traditional robes and headdresses. I was wearing shorts and a tee-shirt; no one noticed the difference but me.
In scene two, a strange man greeted me. I turned to leave then he called me back. When I responded, he pulled out a sawed-off shotgun and fired several times into my stomach, but I was not wounded. He then laughed diabolically.
I was on Ft. Monroe, VA for scene three. I heard a shot and spotted a concealed sniper. I tried to yell “sniper” to warn people, but I could not get the words out of my mouth.
The final scene involved a team of small football players -like the size of children- all dressed in black. An old college friend said the two of us can easily beat them. Somehow, I knew they were more formidable than they appeared.
I will use scene one, “the Arabs” to practically illustrate how God personalizes direction, confirmation and affirmation through dreams and visions.
If you read my page “About Kevin,” you will note that I spent 20 years on active duty as an Army Intelligence officer. https://dreamprayernetwork.com/about-me/
What I don’t say is that I did not enjoy my Army career. I got saved during my first year on active duty. Salvation was great for my life, but not for my career.
Drinking and socializing with other officers in clubs -with female dancers on occasion- was part of the culture when I came on active duty in 1977. I stopped going to these functions once Jesus came into my life.
Not being a part of the Officer’s Club culture labeled me as a bit of an outcast. Aside from that, there were aspects of military life that I just did not enjoy.
My solution was to leave the service after my four-year term of service, but God had other plans. Ouch!! (Romans 12:1-2)
Over the years, I learned to better blend in with the crowd in order to survive. This dream about “the Arabs” so accurately described my feelings of isolation during most of my uniformed and Civilian service with the Army.
How many times did I ask the question, “why Lord?” Why did you have me isolated in a profession that I did not enjoy?
God personalizes direction, confirmation, and affirmation to those who love Him through dreams and visions.
I diligently sought the Lord for the meaning of “the Arabs.”
The Lord spoke to me that I was not supposed to fit in. I was not supposed to be one of them. I was to learn from them, be disciplined by them, and mature among them.
God called me to bring the kingdom of God to them. God called me to be a light in the midst of them. God called me to pull out some who dwelt among them.
I received direction, confirmation, and affirmation from this dream.
I can’t tell you how much light and perspective the interpretation of this dream provided me. To have the God of heaven and earth speak to you in such a personal way is indescribable.
Be open. Be sensitive. God desires to fill in the missing pieces of your puzzle. Increasingly, God is going to do so through dreams, visions, prophecy, etc.
God has already been speaking to some of you for quite some time. Don’t be bashful. Seek Him for interpretation and understanding. He will lead and guide you into all truth. (John 16:13)
More of this next week. Please stay along for the journey. God Bless! Press On!! Kevin
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Great testimony
Thank you, for sharing!
This is a good share, Kevin. Thanks.
As a child in the 70’s, I had a recurring dream that continued into my adulthood. I was in a graveyard and terrified because I was being pursued by “Lilly and Herman Munster.” They were ghastly to me and their presence shook me at my core. I couldn’t seem to get away them. Eventually, I was able to hide in a coffin. The dream ends with them opening the coffin and I was happy to see them-comforted, even. They helped me out of the coffin-then I’d wake up.
I had this same dream for on and off for some 30 years. It wasn’t until 2005 when I went to prison, dedicated my life to Christ, and began walking in my calling that I had a revelation of the interpretation. I’ll give you some context.
I grew up in a very dysfunctional home. My parents were heavily into drugs. My father was a womanizer and my mother was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic and alcoholic. I was a very unhappy child and the misery and dysfunction continued into my adult life. Over those 30 years I had attempted suicide three times-with one attempted leaving me in a coma for 22 hours.
In 1991, my parents dedicated their lives to Christ. My father had a powerful prison ministry and my mother was in the hospitals laying hands on people and seeing them recover. They tried to lead me to Christ, but I was too far gone. I had no interest in turning my life around. The streets had a hold on me.
However, in 2005, wild living caught up with me and I was sentenced to 22 months in Federal prison. It was during my incarceration that I found Christ and my new life began. Gifts of healing and prophecy came quickly. My dad had passed in 2001, but my Mom was my spiritual mentor and guide during my entire bid.
One night during my incarceration the Lord again gave me the dream and I awoke to the revelation:
The Munsters were my parents and my dysfunctional childhood was that graveyard. In my adulthood I was spiritually dead and my soul was in that coffin. In the dream my parents-still represented by the Munsters but not at all scary because they were “new creatures in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:17). They prayed for me and eventually, helped me get out of the darkness and I am still walking in the Light.
I never, ever, had that dream again.
To God be the glory.
Like!! Thank you for publishing this awesome article.