The Road Hosea 6:5: "Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth."
“Do not dare to interpret the Gospels and the other books of the Holy Scriptures on your own. The scriptures were uttered by holy prophets and apostles, uttered not arbitrarily but according to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. How utterly mad, then, to interpret it arbitrarily!”
[…]
“For him who loves his fallen soul, for him who does not want to deny himself, the Gospel is shut. He reads only words, but the Word of life and the Spirit remain for him under an opaque veil.
“When the Lord was on this earth with His most-holy body, many saw Him and yet saw Him not. What profit does a man receive when he sees only with the eyes of his flesh, which he shares with the beasts, but sees nothing with the eyes of his soul—his mind and heart? And today, many read the Gospels daily but at the same time never read it at all; they know it not at all.”
[…]
“The mind that has yet to be purified by repentance, still wanders in the darkness of the fall, and is not enlightened and led by the Holy Spirit. The man who dares to reason about God with his own sickly mind and from the darkness of his own pride, always falls into error.”
Jude 1:12: “These are they who are hidden rocks in your love-feasts when they feast with you, shepherds that without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn leaves without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots.”
Water in spiritual parlance refers to the life of God.
Moses while speaking of the future to the children of Israel (Deuteronomy 32:1-2), said may his teachings drop as the rain. The word of God and water (in a spiritual sense) has been closely associated.
The purification of the bride of Christ, according to the teachings of Paul, is done by the washing of water via the word (Ephesians 5:25-27).
Blessings and the manifestations of the Holy Spirit have also been associated with water in the word of God, both being an extended and intensive expression of the life of God. The rivers of living water illustrates the Holy Spirit (John 7:37-38) and the well of living water like the one Jesus was talking to the Samaritan woman about (John 4:10. 13-14), is about the life of God in people.
Paul said let your words be seasoned with salt, ministering grace to the hearers (Ephesians 4:29). The life of God and his grace are alike. If they are not one and the same thing. I see the former as the potential energy and the later the kinetic energy, the former the raw material while the latter is the product. Jesus was said, in the bible, to be “full of grace and truth” and, “in Him was life” (John 1:4, 14, 17).
Peter said ministering to others is about being a conduit of the grace of God, the blessing of God, whether in spiritual or physical form (1Peter 4:9-10).
Therefore to be a cloud without water, as the accusation of Jude against some people goes, is to be bereft of spiritual value maybe because your attention is on accomplishing some other things rather than being a blessing. You may want to be make money for yourself, or achieve a name for yourself, or have gotten swallowed up by fleshly drives.
A cloud without water is a contradiction. This is a person who, like a cloud, is in an elevated position. He is so positioned that people look up to him for spiritual value but they meet nothing but frustration and retrogression.
Jesus cursed a tree because he expected a “blessing” from it and he got nothing (Mark 11:12-14). A cloud without water is all sound but no anointing, no fire from the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4).
Don’t be a cloud without water.
The number one thing to do is to value the presence of God. There, one on one with him, you soak in his rains as it falls on you so that you are full of water to rain on others (Hosea 6:3).
The king’s spokesman must hear, from the king before speaking for him. The task of speaking for God is so solemn that a declaration of woe is made upon anyone who says, “Thus says the Lord,” when God has not spoken (Ezekiel 13:1-3).
Since Jesus is full of grace and truth, it means that there is no grace (divine ability) anywhere else apart from in full fellowship with Him through the Holy Spirit. And any attempt to proclaim truth without Christ first expressing it (also by fellowship and sometimes hardship) in you, it is merely expressing an opinion.
Since truth makes free, therefore its expression is more than being articulate (and that is good [Proverbs 16:21]). You must have been actively engaging truth the person, to communicate truth in your message.
What I am saying is that you may say the right things (any parrot can do that) but you cannot communicate the truth that make people free without being in active fellowship with the truth. The quantity of time some pastors spend in the presence of God in prayer is so pitifully small. That is because being a pastor is just something they do and not who they are, therefore, they are pastors made in the church organization not made from the heaven.
They become a disappointment both to themselves and to the people they are meant to serve. They fall into depression, they burnout, and they mess around because they tried to output what they can’t. They are clouds without water. They want to give spiritual nourishment when they neglect the Father of spirits.
Sometimes some of these clouds have water to give but the volume of water is not more than a splatter, more a nuisance than a blessing. They move the people momentarily but there is no lasting impact for God. Not for lack of sincerity on their part, it is lack of familiarity with the ways of God which they can only learn when living your life from the presence of God.
These set of people suffer from underdeveloped capacity, they spend scanty time in the presence of God and therefore have scanty rain to give the people.
Moses was described as a person who knew the way of God (Psalm 103:7). God used him to sustain a nation in the wilderness. He had enough spiritual clout to command the deliverance of nation. But everything started from the presence of God (Exodus 3:1-5) and he continued in that form throughout his lifetime. Moses was one to spend extended periods of time with God.
His value for the presence of God borders on obsession. Moses was not moved in his resolve even when it was suggested that, not the Lord, but an angel would lead the children of Israel (Exodus 32:31-35, 33:12-16). He refused to settle for the second best. Is there such hunger in you that says, “for the presence of God I will give it all it takes?” For Moses God himself could not stand in his way. He’ll rather die than not see light, the light in his presence.
Many want to begin to show people the way when they have not experience the light of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ (2Corinthians 4:5-7). Moses said to God, “Show me your glory.” You can only lead the people of God to glorious place when you have experienced God’s glory in the place of seeking.
God rebuked certain prophets in the book of Jeremiah, saying they prophesied but not according to him and have led the people astray (Jeremiah 23:16-23). But the solution was simple: God said if they had taken the pain to find out what He has to say then they would truly speak for him. And not be clouds without water.
“What he needs is not increased spiritual teaching but an obedient heart which is willing to yield his life to the Holy Spirit and go the way of the cross according to the Spirit’s command. Increased spiritual teaching will only strengthen his carnality and serve to deceive him into conceiving himself as spiritual”
“But he who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is judged by no one.”
1 Corinthians 2:15
Discernment has nothing to do with intellectual prowess. True discernment is the aggregate result of an individual’s walk and life in Christ. Many today have confidence in their spiritual condition due to the overflow of teachings readily available to all. Any teaching that does not bring a corresponding measure of the “fear of the Lord” is bereft of truth. The foundation of a discerning life is built upon the fear of the Lord. (Proverbs 2:3-13)
Discernment requires a walk and an abiding in Him; the things of God will always culminate in the character of Christ. The very essence of truth is Christ who is the Truth. Whenever an expression is in conflict with His nature or character, it will be exposed.
Discernment is a consequence of our abiding in Him.
Discernment is a faculty developed over time (see note below). It is the natural function of a life which has grown in its relationship with Christ Himself. This sounds trite, but it is a knowing which is the fruit of relationship; not an accumulation of knowledge about Him on an intellectual level. A carnal familiarity with God produces pride, self-assurance and an inflated view of self, whereas a true knowledge of God fills the heart with the wonder of Christ Himself. It is from this place of vital, intimate relationship that all things are compared with Him who is true.
“Which things we also speak, not in words taught in human wisdom, but in Words taught of the Holy Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things”
1 Corinthians 2:14
Words, apart from the power and unction of the Holy Spirit, will leave people incapable of true discernment. Knowledge is a deceptive thing because it gives the perception that having a familiarity with the things of God alone is a safeguard. Words taught by the Holy Spirit produce a life of obedience which alone brings us into relationship with the living Christ. Obedience is the way into a life of friendship and relationship with God.
“You are my friends, if you do whatsoever I command you”
John 15:14
A disobedient life will never have the true faculty of discernment because it is does not have an experiential identification with Christ. Friendship with God is revealed in an obedient life. Obedience is the fruit of a life that loves God more than itself. True discernment cannot be disassociated from obedience and the fear of the Lord.
Note: Discernment of a diligent believer is developed over time by its constant use from which a growing sensitivity to Him and His ways is fostered:
“But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil”
Hebrews 5:14
Given some recent events that are making national headlines, I feel compelled to share a dream I had in 2015 in which I had an open vision of the coming days. The weight of it’s message was clear and I believe we are getting closer and closer to a shift we could never imagine and a reality we’ve never known.
I was walking down a road with many people. All of the sudden behind my right shoulder, a huge golden beam of light from the heavens shone down and began to move across the sky in front of me from right to left. It was massive, and it was evident it was not man-made but from another realm. It began to engulf everything it touched.
At the same time, I looked up to my right and in the skies was a huge screen that opened up in front of me. On it I saw a map of the world. It was as if I was seeing and experiencing this phenomenon from two different dimensions. I saw this all-encompassing golden light start at the eastern part of the map near Australia and it began to slowly move west across the entire globe. The light filled the entire sky and was full of glory and power. It seemed to move across the center of the map, touching different countries at varying degrees. I knew that what I was seeing and experiencing was global and affecting everyone everywhere.
I heard myself shouting “It’s happening! It’s happening!” and my heart began to race with excitement. This light was multi-dimensional. It not only went across the surface of the earth but went underneath in varying degrees of color and richness. The deeper it penetrated, the deeper its color and impact. It was powerful, distinct, and moved with ultimate authority.
I was immediately overwhelmed with joy and awe and fell to my knees as I realized the immensity of what was happening. I cried out, “It’s a sign! Get ready!” I knew it was the weight of His glory covering the earth. Yet, even as I was filled with wonder and awe I could sense the fear around me, the uncertainty of what was taking place. Though half of the people were caught up in worship and adoration, the other half were on their knees in absolute terror. As people looked up, dazed and in shock of what was taking place, I shouted out without hesitation, “It’s coming! Yes!” I could see that for those who were not ready, it was bringing dread and fear. But, for those who believed…it was going to be AWESOME!!
I realized then that THE FEAR OF THE LORD WAS COMING IN GREAT GLORY AND POWER and everything in its path was going to be affected. Depending on the state of each one’s heart, this move would bring either worship and awe, or fear and dread.
This dream not only signaled a charge on my life to sound an alarm to the Church, but fueled my passion to call us up higher in holiness so that we can see the Lord in His fullness (Heb 12:14). I see the Bridegroom, the Captain of the Hosts, standing in the heavens with fire in His eyes as He looks upon the earth. His heart BURNS with fierce love for His Bride and His absolute determination to cover the earth with the knowledge of His Father’s glory. He sees the sin, the compromise, the lack of holiness and righteousness – IN THE CHURCH! It is the zeal of the Lord that will compel Him to come in an unprecedented move of the Spirit which will carry the fear and terror of the Lord in such great power and presence that EVERYONE will fall to their knees.
“There they are in great terror, for God is with the generation of the righteous.” (Ps 14:5 ESV)
This is not the Rapture or the return of Jesus. This is a move of the Spirit that will utterly change everything and everyone in such a way, we will no longer do life as we did before.
It will be a wake-up call, demonstrating the reality of HIS kingdom authority and power. It will not be like any other past moves of the Holy Spirit. It will not limit itself to a few hungry souls, but will permeate and saturate all in its path. He is set on revealing the full weight of His Father’s love, power, and holiness in order to energize and empower His Bride for the work ahead. This move will destroy all double-mindedness, self-righteousness, greed, pride, and self-promotion. This move will cleanse us, refine us, purify us, and deliver us from the evil one’s deception and trickery. It will expose those who are right with God and those who are not. It will shine the light in the darkness and all the rats and rodents of wickedness in high places will be scrambling for protection, only to find they have been utterly unseated and undone.
This move of the Fear and terror of the Lord will turn things inside-out and upside-down, for THE RULES WILL CHANGE. It will no longer be the kingdoms of this world that will determine the course of history, but the kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! His ultimate authority as King of the earth will be made manifest and those who serve Him out of a pure heart will be given even greater access, favor, and heavenly authority to rule in the midst of His enemies (Psalm 110:1-2)! That which was by faith will now be made visible and heaven’s justice will be executed on the earth as He makes our enemies His footstool. But, it will not come without cost.
Things that are taking place, even now, should serve as a reminder that NO ONE IS EXEMPT from trial, hardship, or pain. Being a follower of Christ does not guarantee an easy road or carefree journey (Matt 5:44-45). Those who are selling that kind of walk are peddlers and fools. The only “safe” place on this side of heaven is to be under the shelter of the Most High God (Psalm 91). The access to that place is through righteousness and a holy life. There are no short cuts. It is only as we rightly fear the Lord that we are kept from the enemy’s hold and assured of a righteous reward.
“Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose. His soul shall abide in well-being, and his offspring shall inherit the land. The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.” (Ps 25:12-14 ESV)
We must be prepared. When this move comes – will we be on our knees in worship, or on our knees in terror? Will we rejoice at the tangible presence of His power and glory or will we tremble in fear due to the sin and compromise in our lives? Now is the time to turn away from excuses and apathy. Now is the time to embrace the cross and lay down any sense of entitlement to our lives. The Father is calling for absolute obedience, surrender, and holiness. There are no grey areas in His presence. He is about to burn up all His enemies and utterly consume the lies, the strongholds, and the idolatry that is poisoning the Church.
There will be no doubt when this move comes and none will be able to deny His presence. The only question will be if we are ready. Pray that the Fear of the Lord would grip our hearts, even now, and draw us closer to His throne of grace so we can worship Him in awe and trembling at His glorious coming.
…as it has been written, “Eye has not seen, and ear has not heard,” nor has it risen up into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those that love Him. But God revealed them to us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of a man within him? So also no one has known the things of God except the Spirit of God. But we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit from God, so that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God. Which things we also speak, not in words taught in human wisdom, but in words taught of the Holy Spirit, comparing spiritual with spiritual. But a natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to know, because they are spiritually discerned. But the spiritual one discerns all things, but he is discerned by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord? Who will teach Him? But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:9-16 (LITV)
True divine knowledge is not found merely by the reason of the mind; it must be revealed by God. For the true knowledge of God is to know the person of God Himself; and what He has prepared for those who love Him does not enter into the hearts and minds of men – the scripture indeed testifies that it cannot. Rather, the very mind of Christ must enter into a man so that he may discern the things of God.
Those who suppose to uncover God simply by force of reason despise that His method is revelation. Many to whom something of Him has been truly revealed are tempted to flatter themselves by methodically reasoning out what truly was revealed to them of the Everlasting God. This is a snare; and those who step in it prove that they still gladly wander back to partake of the tree of gnosis. Ever has this been the bane of many a man of God throughout the ages: that a revelation becomes buried in the unending interpretative jargon of his vain mind, until little more remains than an empty husk of what once bore real and tangible fruit. The binding up of revelation into the constraints of human reasoning effectively chalks up the work of the Spirit to a mere human exertion. This is made to appear as humility, but truly it is a theft of God’s glory in how He makes Himself known.
Man in his vanity considers reason the great pillar of objectivity, until God ruins him by revelation. For truly the things of God cannot be revealed by a man’s reasoning faculties, but only to them; and even then, our mere thoughts still cannot contain the very substance of God’s Life: for the true knowledge of God consists in fellowship with His person by the power of His Life guiding our steps and conforming us to His image. Therefore, if we shall reason, let it be by the revelation of His Spirit in accordance with the scriptures, and not by our isolated thoughts in accordance with some great philosopher; for God reasons with men by the revealing of Himself. And if we yet lack in the revelation of His person, why do we continue to reason within ourselves, as though we should find it there?
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask from God, who gives to all freely and with no reproach, and it will be given to Him. But let him ask in faith, doubting nothing. For the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, being driven by wind and being tossed. For do not let that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord: he is a double-souled man, not dependable in all his ways.
James 1:5-8 (LITV)
Man reasons within himself, but God reveals Himself to men.
The convenient divorce of reality from doctrine inevitably leads to the abandonment of both; and now what passes for either one of them is merely the imaginations and philosophies of man thinly veiled in biblical terms. But the doctrine of Christ is derivative of His very person; it is the expression not merely of an intellectual framework but rather of the Life of He who desires to be at work in both our thoughts and our actions by His Holy Spirit, that we may walk by such faith which through obedience increasingly lays hold of the reality of knowing Him.
When many don’t get the answers they want, or the answers don’t seem to be coming, they just settle for their own vain notions and move on – as though forgetting that God has anything to do with it (even though they’ll still claim they are being taught by Him.) But the realities of God as expressed in scripture will not be truly seen and walked in without the patient and confident faith which makes decisions and actually does things based upon what is yet unseen – and even as of yet, unconfirmed – except by the Still Small Voice.
God desires to have a people so given over to Christ their Shepherd that when they open the bible, every word they read would not be a far off mystery, but rather an ever clarifying revelation of that in which they have already allowed His Spirit to begin leading them. For a witness is not only one who has heard; but one who has also seen, looked upon and handled the Word of Life, who is Christ Himself, the treasure in these earthen vessels.
“…And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”
(Acts 5:32)
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. …But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
(James 1:5-8, 22)
According to Joseph Prince, senior pastor of New Creation Church, “the Holy Spirit does not convict the believer of sin”.
However, speaking of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle John wrote: “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8).
Writing in year 1928, Frank Lindblade expanded on this truth in his book “The Spirit which is from God”
In dealing with the phenomenon of conviction of sin we have a subject that is not greatly understood by even many professed Christians. Convicting of sin is the greatest work the Holy Spirit can do upon an unsaved person, and is probably the greatest of all the Spirit’s manifestations. Because of the general ignorance concerning the Holy Spirit’s person and work as a whole, and therefore conviction included, the present condition of the general church has been arrived at. The Spirit has been given not only to brood over and care for the church, but also that the church may be added to through His activities. Because Peter was filled with the Spirit and preached under His anointing the church received three thousand adherents one day and five thousand another day. Acts 2:41 and 4:4. The church’s recruits are from the ranks of the unsaved. Before a person becomes a member of the church he must first be saved, and salvation cannot come until that person has first had knowledge and feelings of his sins and has been under conviction. So unless there is a conviction of sin there is no real addition to the church which is the body of Christ. Because of the predominating absence of the Spirit and therefore also His conviction of sin, the nominal church today is to a large extent adding to her members unregenerate persons who never have tasted of the grace of God and of the salvation that there is in Christ Jesus…
Because of the lack of the Spirit’s presence and the conviction that He brings, men have busied themselves searching for substitutes that will be just as good. But it happens that in this instance there is nothing just as good. The Spirit is not one of several persons or things that bring conviction. He is the only one who can do so. These others are but counterfeits. We live in an age of progress, evolution as men call it. They are attempting to evolute everything in these days. They have wonderfully progressed in the art of killing one another, of committing sin and covering up their crimes, of debauching their bodies and minds and serving the devil in general. Now they are trying to evolute the scriptures by removing certain portions obnoxious to themselves. They are also trying out this evolution program on the Spirit’s work of convicting of sin, but have only succeeded in making a fizzle of the whole affair and incidentally misguiding many people, and possibly sending many to destruction…
Man, after excluding the Spirit of God in his attempts at soul saving, has dragged in all manner of things. These at times have provided to be excellent instruments for the creation of interest, drawing the crowds and producing great mental and fleshly enthusiasm. But great interest and powerful widespread enthusiasm does not happen to be conviction of sin. A powerful presence and operation of the power of God will create great interest, draw crowds and produce much enthusiasm, but these in themselves will not bring the presence of the Holy Spirit. God can use some man’s strong personality, and most persons that have been used and are being used of God are of strong personality, but a strong personality in itself except as God honors it, can bring but little results towards real salvation. In fact, at times it may do great damage. Many a preacher’s so-called success consists of the use of more than usual natural talents and being born a leader among men, which gifts sway the multitudes. While under the influence of his preaching people feel dominated by his stronger will power and make a profession of religion which never came from their hearts. There has been altogether too much of this done, and thousands today have no more salvation that that received through the shaking of some man’s hand or signing some card.
Many, in these days, often mistake enthusiasm for evidence of the presence of God. Because they sing fast, because there are good collections, because many are boosting the cause, because some or many are free in shouting “Hallelujah” or “Amen”, because someone jumps and makes much noise, because the preacher works up a tremendous fervor, removes his coat, jumps and runs to and fro, therefore God must be there! God surely is there doing all that He can, or as much as they will allow Him to do, but very often the largest part of all of this is nothing but plain everyday flesh. When the greatest conviction comes, there is a hush over the audience and a silence so deep as to be literally felt, broken only by sobs of those with whom the Spirit is dealing. Even the infants strangely become quiet or fall asleep.
Others will play upon the emotions, telling narratives planned to awaken sympathy and cause tears and when this condition is on, urge the people to make a decision. Robert Ingersoll could make an audience laugh or weep, but who would dare to say that weeping was God? A person may weep because of having his sympathy played upon through hearing of some poor widow losing her only son or of the death of some orphan child, but that does not necessarily mean that these are tears of repentance. Stirred emotions and tears of sympathy are not always an indication that the individual has godly sorrow in his heart because he lied, stole, mistreated his parents, or served the devil in general, and rejected Jesus Christ. Godly sorrow works repentance, and unless there had been godly sorrow for sin, there is no true repentance unto salvation. Evidently there are many who know little or nothing of true repentance or salvation.
Ezekiel 1:1: Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
There are seven types of visions of God that we can experience: mind picture; Dream vision; waking dream vision; trance vision; spiritual vision; transportation vision, open vision.
A vision generally defined is a divine communication. In the words of Joel quoted by Peter: In the last days the Lord will pour out his Spirit upon all flesh and the result will be speaking revelation (prophecy), seeing revelation (vision), dreaming revelation (dreams) (Acts 2:14-21). By the Spirit of God visions are multiplied, the communication between heaven and earth is enhanced.
Vision is what is seen/observed in a spiritual sense. Vision is a spiritual thing. This is different from what is referred to as “vision” for a corporation or a person, which is self-generated based on knowledge wisdom and understanding as possessed by the individual, family, organisation or business. The word vision, as used in the focus verse is about creating a link between our spirit and our mind for a period of time. Vision is not self-constructed or initiated; it is directed by the Holy Spirit. It is a reflection of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
To be able to see the visions of God we need to clean up our inner eye, the eye of our imagination. We need to increase our meditation on the word of God, prayer and fasting. Praying in the Holy Spirit which is praying with our spirit (speaking in tongues) serves to sharpen us; because it is through that that we build up ourselves spiritually to be ready to experience spiritual vision.
Vision can come in the form of direct message (clear instruction [Matthew 2:13]), figurative message (full of symbols [Acts 16:9]), and word of knowledge (knowing facts in the past [John 1:47-48]), word of wisdom (knowing the future [A lot of the book of revelation]), and encouragement (Matthew 1:20). In whatever form it is, we need God to tell us the meaning of the revelation. It is erroneous to jump to conclusions when it comes to visions.
An example is the spiritual vision that Jeremiah had (Jeremiah 1:11-16). (In a spiritual vision we are fully aware of our physical surrounding, but we are also enabled to see something spiritual as well, as the spiritual realm [in 3Dimensions/video] is opened to us).
In that vision, he saw an almond fruit, and the meaning God gave was: I watch over my word to perform it. Any other interpretation would have been false. You need God to give you the interpretation to that vision.
Joseph who was a dream interpreter (a dream happens during sleep; waking dream happens at the point of coming from sleep to wakefulness, to enhance retentiveness), interpreted three dreams that were recorded in the bible.
At each point, he says the source of right dream interpretation is God. Also Daniel, who interpreted a number of visions and dreams for kings while he was in exile, always acknowledges God as the true interpreter, since the dream/revelation came from him in the first instance.
The first one he would interpret is the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar. God revealed both the original dream that the king refused to share and the interpretation to Daniel. And that came as a result of corporate prayers (Daniel 2:16-30).
Daniel himself had revelations, for which that he prayed with fasting for the interpretation to come from God. He did not try to be smart, deciding to use his experience (Daniel 10:11-14). He fasted and prayed for interpretation. And in that story we know that if the devil cannot prevent us from having the visions of God, he wants to prevent us from having the correct interpretation. The only valid interpretation is the one God gives you not what you come up with by conjecture and hearsay.
It is a mind picture when you see a still picture that you are see within yourself (it is so close to the imagination, that if you are not careful you will miss it); when you are seeing it in form of internal pictures while awake but also fully aware of your surroundings. In a spiritual vision (video), you are aware of spiritual occurrence/events within you at the same time you are aware of physical events around you.
The vision that Elisha and his servant had of angels in chariots and horses of fire fall to the category of spiritual vision. They were still aware of their surrounding when they saw what they saw in video (moving pictures) (2Kings 6:12-18).
Seeing that vision made a difference in the perspective of the servant; before he was afraid that a foreign army was going to destroy them, now he was fearless; He was sure that greater are they who are with them than any army of the enemy.
Paul spoke of having a revelation when he was taken up to heaven (2Corinthians 12:3-4); he said that he does not know if that was in the body or outside the body, where he heard things which were not lawful for him to declare. If it were in the body, that means it was transportation vision, where time is temporarily suspended for you and you are taken to another place, in split seconds, in the time of the earth but maybe hours in the timeless zone of the heavenlies that you are taken to.
But if it is outside the body, in which your senses, awareness of your environment is suspended and you are seeing things. It happened to Peter, while staying in the house of Simon the tanner (Acts 10). God used that to prepare, Peter to go and minister to gentiles; what he would never had done on his own accord.
In the trance (a trance also have audio, a spiritual vision is only video), God showed Peter a platform descending from heaven full of ceremonially unclean animals according to the Old Testament. He was told to arise and eat them, to which he said he can’t eat what is unclean. And God told him: what I have cleansed, don’t call unclean.
After that the Holy Spirit told him that certain people are coming to fetch him, and he was to follow them compulsorily. So through a trance vision and an instruction from the Holy Spirit, Peter was led to where he does not want to go. He was brought to a new understanding of God and his plans based on that vision. That vision helped him to take the right action along the path of the will of God.
There is also the open vision which has to do with the opening of the eyes to see and interact with the spiritual world as if, it is natural world. What Moses saw in the wilderness in the burning bush was an open vision (Exodus 3:1-5); also interactions with angels (in this natural realm) are open visions. Philips was told by an angel to go in a specific direction to meet an Ethiopian enough to preach Christ to him (Acts 8:26). When Paul said that an angel of his God was beside him giving him God’s word, it was an open vision.
The revelation of John was transportation vision. He was taken to another realm to experience things and write the book of revelation. It started with an open vision, seeing Jesus on the island of Patmos, and it ended with a transportation vision- he was taken to the heavenly realm of God.
So in increasing intensity, we have dream (possibility of forgetting is high and it may just be as a result of multitudes of activities during the day, but it can also be a message from God), waking dream (you have it in between waking and sleeping [greater retention]), inner picture (still photo), spiritual vision (video inside yourself), trance (video and audio, senses suspended), open vision (video and audio, interacting with the spiritual world as if it is natural, senses intact), transportation vision (there is video, audio, senses fully aware in the outer spaces/the timeless realm).
The Road 