As we have discussed and as we are told in Acts 2:17-21, in “the last days” prophetic gifts will be poured out. This is because we will need this kind of increasingly clear guidance in the times that are unfolding. I was told that the anointing on the prophetic will double this year, and we have already seen a great increase. As we are exhorted in Scripture to “desire earnestly spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy” (see I Corinthians 14:1), this is something we must obey. As expected, there is also a rising increase of interest in the prophetic, so it seems that this study is timely. My purpose in it is not just to give information but to stir up the gifts that are within you.
The following are the ways that the Lord speaks to His people prophetically as revealed in the Scriptures:
1) Impressions
2) Words
3) Visions
4) Dreams
5) Trances
6) Angels
7) Visitations
8) Being caught up into heaven
We have only begun to address these but will now go into them in a bit more depth. We will begin by giving basic definitions of these.
IMPRESSIONS are usually feelings, senses. They can be gentle and hard to perceive to very intense, but they are still more in the feeling realm. Even so, this is a basic way that the Lord speaks to His people, and these can be very powerful and very important. However, because they are so general and open to interpretation, it can be a big mistake to be overly dogmatic about anything we receive on this level.
WORDS are communications from the Lord in our language. Like impressions and most of the other revelations, these can vary in intensity from hearing His “still small voice,” to loud physically audible words from Him. This is a common way the Lord has communicated with His people, and very effective when we have learned to know His voice.
VISIONS are pictures we have when our spiritual eyes are open and we begin to see with them. These can be gentle, like seeing with the eyes of our hearts. They can be easy to miss like the still small voice of the Lord, or they can be what we call “open visions,” which are like watching a cinema screen and you can’t miss it.
DREAMS are a very common way that the Lord has spoken to His people from the earliest times right through the New Testament and is probably the most common way He speaks to His people today.
TRANCES are a way that the Lord has given some of the most important revelation to His people, such as when Peter fell into a trance that led him to going to the house of Cornelius and opening the door of faith to the Gentiles. A trance is like dreaming when you are awake. You seem to be in two realms at once—seeing things spiritually but at the same time, are still aware of your natural surroundings.
ANGELS are ministering spirits whose job is to serve the heirs of salvation, and it should not be a strange thing to have encounters with them. In fact, we have many more encounters with them than we realize. Their job is to communicate messages from the Lord. In important times and moves of God, the interchange between God’s people and angels does become more frequent. This is something we will need to get much more used to in the times to come.
VISITATIONS from the Lord Himself are common in both the Old and New Testaments. We see a case of this in Acts 23:11, “But on the night immediately following, the Lord stood at his side and said,“Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.” Certainly the Lord could have sent an angel to comfort Paul in this situation, but He chose to appear to Paul Himself. This too is becoming much more frequent today.
BEING CAUGHT UP INTO HEAVEN such as John when he received the Revelation, and as Paul stated that he had been, is still happening today. Many have been “caught up” before His throne, or into other realms of heaven.
These are the basic ways that the Lord has spoken and revealed Himself in Scripture. We will cover them all in some depth. I have personally experienced all of these, and some of them numerous times. For this reason, I will share a lot from my own experience and perspective about the things that I think can be helpful, but at the same time, I will also share how other prophetic friends have experienced these in ways that may be unique. I think you will find them all very interesting, but again, the goal is for you to have your own experiences and grow in the gifts you have been given.
