God does lead us
God guides us in diverse ways. The principal and frequent way He guides us is through the ‘inward witness’ which is a burning sensation, or alert, on the inside of a person.
The inward witness was explained in more depth in “How God leads 2”. More ways in which God leads are covered here.
In Acts 2:17-18 Peter says:
17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. (KJV: underline/emphasis is mine)
Peter’s quote highlights some of the ways in which God leads his children and I have underlined these in the scripture quoted above.
Three channels of communication between God and man are highlighted and these are prophecy, visions, and dreams. These are explained below.
Prophecy
Prophecy is inspired utterance, which in this context, is inspired by the Holy Spirit. Inspired here means you are moved or stirred by the Holy Spirit. Prophecy comes in different ways, i.e.:
- You speak words which the Holy Spirit moves you to say in a language that you know.
- You speak words which the Holy Spirit moves you to say in tongues, but the listeners can hear and understand you. This is what happened in Acts 2 when the disciples spoked in different tongues and the listeners could hear them.
- You speak words which the Holy Spirit moves you to say in tongues, followed by an interpretation in a language that is known by yourself and/or the listeners. In this regard, one person could speak in tongues and interpret; or one person could speak in tongues while a different person interprets.
Prophecy is used to:
- Praise God. This is demonstrated in Acts 2:11, 10:46, 19:6 and Luke 1:41-42. When praising or worshipping God and making a request, the Holy Spirit can inspire you to do so in words that you did not plan. That is, the words are given to you at that time by the Holy Spirit. Paul practiced praising God prophetically, in 1 Corinthians 14:15. We too can do likewise.
- Encourage others, usually the listeners. 1 Corinthians 14:3 says that “he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort” (KJV). As we interact with others, God could inspire us to say some things that were not planned and these would usually encourage the listeners.
Praising God and encouraging others are essential dimensions of prophecy. In fact, these two aspects of praising God and encouraging others should happen more frequently.
We praise God every day, so we can prophesy daily, as we praise Him. A Christian can prophesy several times in a day as he/she praises God.
- Foretell the future. Most people know prophecy as saying what will happen in the future. Yes, it is one type of prophecy which is demonstrated in Acts 11:27-28. This portion of scripture suggests that prophets tend to foretell the future. God can use any believer to foretell the future but prophets will tend to do it much more often than non-prophets.
In summary; God (the Holy Spirit) can enable us to prophesy i.e. praise him, encourage others and even foretell the future.
My personal take and I may be wrong in this regard, is that prophetic praise/worship should occur most frequently, followed by encouraging others and, last but not the least, foretelling the future.
Visions
A vision is to see (and hear) things which God chooses to communicate with you. The word vision suggests ‘sight’ or ‘seeing’.
You could thus see something without words and sometimes, God could permit a vocal discussion in a vision.
Someone could have an open vision i.e. you are awake or alert and God shows you a vision. You could also fall into a trance during a vision.
A trance means you switch from being fully conscious of, or alert to your physical circumstances and become immersed in what God is showing and telling you at that time.
When the vision/trance is finished, then your normal 5-senses resume. So if you are in a room, for instance, and fall into a trance, you will see what God is showing you as opposed the room.
In a trance, you will not hear the sound or perceive the fragrance in the room; rather, you will be immersed in what God is showing you and its environment.
Dreams
Most of us are familiar with dreams, so I will not talk much about these. However, divine dreams (when God communicates with us) are different from other types of dreams.
A Christian should learn to distinguish and discern when they have had a divine dream.
Divine dreams are sometimes described as ‘night vision’ (Job 33:15). You can see the closeness between dream and trance i.e. some/all of your physical senses are somehow not in full play.
A vision or dream can be direct (Acts 10:1-5; 16:9) or symbolic (Acts 10:10-16). It could also concern the past, and especially the present or future.
God chooses to lead in certain ways
God leads us frequently through the inward witness. Then, as we praise Him, we can easily prophesy with words which The Holy Spirit gives us.
We can be led by the inward witness several times in a day. Likewise, we can prophesy (in praise and worship) several times a day.
However, when it comes to visions and dreams, they tend to come less frequently.
Even those who are called to be prophets will find that God speaks with them through the inward witness much more than He does through visions and dreams.
Prayer for divine guidance
God (the Father, Son and Holy Spirit) speaks with his children but many do not hear Him. It is my desire that you begin to hear Him clearly.
You may want to pray a simple prayer and ask God, in your own words and sentences, to speak to you clearly and regularly, via the inward witness and in other ways He deems fit. Remind God in your prayer that:
- All Christians, including you, should be led by Him (Romans 8:14).
- His sheep, including you, are meant to hear His voice (John 10:16&27).
- The steps of the righteous are ordered/led by the Lord (Psalm 37:23).
- When you are about to take a wrong turn, you will hear a voice saying, this is the way (Isaiah 30:21).