EPISODE 668 – HEARING GOD’S VOICE 19 – How Do I Hear God’s Voice? 14 — MORE ON VISIONS, DREAMS AND TRANCES 5

HEARING GOD’S VOICE 19 –

How Do I Hear God’s Voice? 14 — MORE ON VISIONS, DREAMS AND TRANCES 5

“And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” 

Numbers 12:6-8 (ESV)

Through the experiences of dreams, visions and trances God communicates and instructs believers.

Yet, every speaking of God through these experiences are judged and interpreted according to the revelation of the scriptures.

From yesterday’s episode, I shared the experiences of Cornelius the Italian Centurion and Peter the apostle as examples to help distinct the difference between a vision and a trance.

Whiles a vision is the capturing of an image or event or a phenomenon in the spirit realm by means of spiritual sight and hearing; a trance is a state where a person’s innerman is caught up or captivated into a different realm beyond the optics. To experience a trance is to transit from one realm into a different dimension, whiles you remain in your physical location.

Paul the apostle had such experiences.

One of his experiences was mentioned in the second epistle to the Corinthians:

“This boasting will do no good, but I must go on. I will reluctantly tell about visions and revelations from the Lord. I was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether I was in my body or out of my body, I don’t know—only God knows. Yes, only God knows whether I was in my body or outside my body. But I do know that I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell.” 2 Corinthians 12:1-4 (NLT)

These experiences do still happen to believers. Nonetheless there is the wisdom of God through the scriptures, established to govern such experiences.

From Paul the Apostle’s experience we realize that, it is not all visions that ought to be uttered. God sometimes brings a believer into certain transcendent experience to affirm a reality in his heart.

The apostle Peter’s experience unveiled some few items on this matter.

“The next day around noon, as Cornelius’ men were approaching Joppa, Peter went up to the flat roof of the house to pray. He was hungry and wanted to eat, but while lunch was being prepared he fell into a trance and entered into another realm. As the heavenly realm opened up, he saw something resembling a large linen tablecloth that descended from above, being let down to the earth by its four corners. As it floated down he saw that it held many kinds of four-footed animals, reptiles, and wild birds. A voice said to him, “Peter, go and prepare them to be eaten.” Peter replied, “There’s no way I could do that, Lord, for I’ve never eaten anything forbidden or impure according to our Jewish laws.” The voice spoke again. “Nothing is unclean if God declares it to be clean.” The vision was repeated three times. Then suddenly the linen sheet was snatched back up into heaven. Peter was so stunned by the vision that he couldn’t stop wondering about what all it meant. Meanwhile, Cornelius’ men had learned where Peter was staying and at that same moment were standing outside the gate. They called out to those in the house, “Is this where Simon, the Rock, is staying?” As Peter was in deep thought, trying to interpret the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Go downstairs now, for three men are looking for you. Don’t hesitate to go with them, because I have sent them.” Acts 10:9-20 (TPT)

Few things to note:

⇒ A rich consistent prayer habit creates the atmosphere which aids you to be launched into such captivation. A person of prayer is a person who activates and enlivens the intimacy we have obtained through Christ. The place of prayer is a place of visions and spectacular prophetic experiences. Whenever you pray or delve into the word of God, your spirit ascends to see far beyond the optics.

⇒ A trance is an experience that helps you see beyond the norm. A trance is not necessarily a vision. However you are able to capture or see a vision whiles in a trance. The vision is the message delivered to you by the Lord.

⇒ The visions of God are not delivered with unrelated elements. The elements of every vision are things you can easily relate with. Peter’s state of hunger and expectation for food, became the medium the Lord used to communicate His message to him in the vision.