17

Visions

Then He said, “Hear now My words; if there is a

prophet among you, I, the Lord, make Myself
known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a
dream (Numbers 12:6, emphasis added).

The Holy Spirit shares sometimes His omniscience

with us in the form of visions. Visions are one of
many ways in which the Holy Spirit reveals the will
of the Father to us. In revealing His will to us, God
purposed to bring us forth into the image of His
Son. A vision is a visual revelation, which the Holy
Spirit imparts into our spirits which then filters
through to our minds, concerning past, present or
future events or circumstances: knowledge and/or
wisdom otherwise unknown. Occasional it includes
audible communication.

Eagle and the ostrich

Why do I want to tell you about the eagle and the

ostrich? It is the best way for me to explain to you
how to see visions.

This morning I said to the God, “Lord I see the

arrogance of my flesh.” He said to me, “My Son has
nailed that to the cross. Come up here and behold
what I behold.” I said Lord, “What do you see?” I
could here Him say, “An army of worshippers
marching to war; singing the praises of God. In their
mouth is a two-edged sword and in their hearts is a
song. Song of triumph; song of victory; song of
Jehovah who rules and reigns.” You know what? I
believe it. All I ever wanted to do was to please
God. I only need to have faith in Him to bring Him
joy and fulfillment.
Without a vision you will perish. The eagle soars in
the heavens and with its sharp vision it can spot its
prey far off. It can soar above the mountains and
have horizons vaster then any other animal on
earth. It is the bird with the least parasites because
parasites do not survive high altitude where the air
is thin. Yet, if you caged an eagle it attracts more
parasites then any other bird.

The eagle builds its nest on high places. Though

you make your nest as high as the eagle…
(Jeremiah 49 16b). This symbolizes one that dwells
in the spirit. This is the place where the mighty
prophets of God and faith heroes dwell.

The eagle is depicted in the Old Testament as a

bird caring for her young and as one teaches them
how to fly. As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over
its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up,
carrying them on its wings (Deuteronomy 32:11).
She will take her young up in the sky and dropped
them. This is how she teaches them to fly. Before
the young eagle will hit the ground she will scoop
underneath it and catches it. She will repeat this
process until the young eagle can fly.

I had an eagle when I was a child. This eagle only

ate life birds that I gave him. It would not touch any
dead meet, it did not matter how fresh it was.
When I put his cage outside, he would turn his head
to the side and gaze intently into the blue sky
where he knew he belonged. One day my father
told me to let him free. I did so and for some time,
every day, I could see him, at certain times of the
day, sitting in a huge acacia tree, about 150 yards
from our farm house. One day he was gone and I
never saw him again. He discovered his newfound
freedom and took off.

The Ostrich is a bird of the earth because it cannot

fly. It beholds only that which is earthy but the
eagle beholds the sky, the higher things of God.
The ostrich is depicted in the Old Testament as
among the wild desert beast that dwells in
desolation of wastelands. Therefore the wild desert
beasts shall dwell there with the jackals, and the
ostriches shall dwell in it. It shall be inhabited no
more forever, nor shall it be dwelt in from
generation to generation (Jeremiah 50:39).

The ostrich is illustrated as proud, unkind and

stupid. The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but
are her wings and pinions like the kindly stork’s?
For she leaves her eggs on the ground, and warms
them in the dust; she forgets that a foot may crush
them. She treats her young harshly, as though they
were not hers; her labor is in vain, without concern
because God deprived her of wisdom, and did not
endow her with understanding (Job 39:13-17).

Ostrich chickens are difficult to rear because they

die easily. Today they may seem fine but tomorrow
they may die mysteriously seemingly without
reason. In South Africa there are quite a number of
ostrich farmers. They have the following standard
joke about ostrich chickens: an ostrich chicken may
get up one morning look out of the window and say
to the rest, “Hi guys, it is a fine morning to die.
Let’s die.” Then mysteriously most of them die.

The Ostrich loves to peck shiny objects and even

diamonds were found in the gizzards of some of
these birds. The Ostrich symbolizes those that live
an earthy life after the dictates of the old nature.
They experience the desolation of the wasteland
they live in. They see the cares of this world,
getting excited about side issues (shiny objects)
and live a life void of faith. They cannot please God
and they do not reveal much glory of the Son of
God. They only exist as mere men. The love of
Christ does not dwell in them but true love belongs
to the realm of heaven where Christ dwells, where
the eagle carries it young on its wings.

The earthy level is a level void of deep perception

and revelation of spiritual matters. It is void of the
fruit of the Spirit where mercy, grace and the love
of God dwell. The glory of God is not to be found in
the desolation of wasteland and marshes of
religious flesh. It is a place where vision has ceased
and the cry for godly understanding and insight is
replaced with the garlic, unions and leaks of a place
called Religious City. This is the level where the
pointing of the finger and sitting in the chair of
Moses dominates. This is the place where the
clouds of condemnation wear the people down.

True freedom is to be like the eagle that dwells on

high. Although you may hear the word of God
preached by a man of God you need to hunt for
your own fresh revelation. Just like the eagle that
only catches life prey. You need to have your spirit
open to God if you want to see visions. When I pray
much I saw visions, almost everyday. If I am not
praying much I do not see much visions. This is not
a law but part of the fruit of my love unto the Lord. I
just tell you my experience. It is not performing
prayers or other works that cause you to see
visions but the focus of your faith and the openness
of your spirit in love to God. You have received the
Spirit by faith and not by works. You see visions
also through faith. Sometimes God intervenes but
mostly you see visions through faith.

When Ezekiel was among the captives in Babylon,

at the River Chebar, he saw visions of God. The
captives were not in a frame of my mind to sing
joyful songs because they remembered Jerusalem
and Zion. They wished at the time to hang up their
harps on willow trees. But Ezekiel was of a different
spirit, not like them which were captives of the
ostrich spirit. He soared up like an eagle in his spirit
and saw visions of God. In the vision he was taken
into the land of Israel and set on a very high
mountain. Although he lived with the rest of the
captives as a captive at the River Chebar in
Babylon he was free in his spirit because his focus
was on God since he served with all of his heart.
John was exiled to Patmos, a small rocky island in
the Aegean Sea, because he refused to stop
preaching the gospel. So, one day while he was
with all other exiles on the island Patmos he was in
the Spirit and he saw visions of the Son of God.
Where was his body? His body was with the rest of
the captives. Where were his focus and spirit? His
spirit was in the presence of God.

When Abraham was called to a place, which he

would receive as an inheritance he went out but did
not know where he was going. He lived, through
faith, in the Promised Land, as in a foreign country,
living in tents, with Isaac and Jacob the heirs of the
same promise. He was in the Promised Land, so,
what was he actually doing? Abraham was actually
looking for a city, which has foundations, whose
builder and maker is God. Because God has placed
eternity in him, something deep inside of him said
this could not be all. So he set his focus on God to
receive something much greater and glorious.

How do you see visions?

Visions are visual revelation that originates in the

realm of the Spirit or heaven where God dwells.
Visions can also occur in the realm of the soul, as
psychics also see visions but its source is the soul
power of man or demonic spirits. These occur in the
psychic or soulish realm. I will concentrate on
visions that are visual revelation from the Holy
Spirit, which came from heaven even the heart of
God.

All spiritual revelation, including spiritual dreams

and divine visions are gifts from heaven that is in
the realm of Spirit where God dwells. If you want to
experience a certain place on earth, say Greece,
you will travel to Greece and do as the Greeks do to
have the ultimate Greek experience. The spiritual
was not first but the natural. So, if you wish to
experience heaven, you as an earth dweller, need
to dwell with your spirit in heaven to experience
heaven. Heaven or the realm of Spirit is where one
normally experience divine visions and revelation
and spiritual dreams. The price to pay is to dwell in
the Spirit. I do not say you will never see visions if
you do not dwell in the Spirit. God is gracious and
his patience with us is great.

When do you see visions? John said, “I was in the

Spirit on the Lord’s Day…” (Revelation 1:10a). John
was with the other exiles on the island Patmos but
his spirit was in heaven seeing visions of God. What
about Ezekiel? The word of the Lord came
expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in
the land of the Chaldeans by the River Chebar; and
the hand of the Lord was upon him there (Ezekiel
1:3). Ezekiel was with his kinsmen at the river
Chebar but his spirit was in heaven.

You behold the things where you dwell with your

heart and spirit. If you live like the ostrich, your
dwelling place is the earth. If you dwell with your
mind and heart in heaven like the eagle you see
the heavens opened. It is not about performing
certain activities but where your heart is
there is your treasure. You will not trick God in
showing you visions. You either set your heart to
love God and to dwell in His presence or you do
not. To live in the Spirit is a healthy habit of
practicing His presence all the time. It takes
much dedication, patience and perseverance. The
focus of your heart is not about seeing visions but
to dwell in His presence and to abide in the shadow
of the Almighty. It is much, much more than
beautiful words; it is a reality. It is much, much
more than religious exercises; it is true godliness. It
is the way of Enoch and Elijah.

You begin to present your body, which is dead to

God because of sin, as if it is alive to Him. That is
your reasonable service to Him. Your body is the
servant of your mind. By faith you present your
mind that is enmity against God a living sacrifice as
if it is alive to God by bringing every thought into
captivity to the obedience of Christ, in hope that
all disobedience will be punished when your
obedience is fulfilled. You do it by meditating only
on things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of
good report, virtues and praiseworthy that you may
be renewed in the spirit of your mind. The focus of
your heart is to worship God by knowing Him in all
your ways. You may say I am working and must
focus on my work. Well, it is a very good
opportunity to discuss your work with the Lord;
make Him the senior partner in everything you do.
Do not live an independent life from Him, which is
death; share His life with Him and discover how
easy life really is. Then your whole life has become
worship unto the Lord. This is the introduction
to see visions. You can only see the environment
that you dwell in.

I will teach you more things of the Spirit in the

chapter titled, “Living in the Spirit.” It is so easy if
you believe God.

When you pray you must be relaxed and pray with

expectation and focus on God. God has placed
eternity in your spirit, so something deep in you
reaches out to God. When you are tensed you do
not see visions. You must have a relaxed focus on
God. Sometimes I do not want to pray with my
understanding but I will rather pray in tongues. Do
not worry if you fall a sleep. I have seen the most
awesome visions being in a state between being
awake and sleeping.

When I wait on the Lord I will wait with expectation

yet in a relaxed manner. I will pray in tongues
because my mind is unfruitful but not blank. I will
keep my mind on God. I always see Him as a bright
light or experience Him as the wind. Sometimes I
envisage Jesus as I have seen Him in a vision or a
dream. Find your own Biblical examples. You can
see Him as the cliff of the rock, chief cornerstone,
or lie on His breast like John did or any Biblical thing
that works for you. Never blank out your mind, it is
dangerous. Sometimes I see visions and sometimes
not. Visions are not important to me but to abide in
God’s presence is the passion of my life.

You must look with expectation with the eyes of

your heart. The believing eyes shall see visions of
heaven and dream divinely inspired dreams. It will
take time to condition your spirit. It will not
happen overnight so be patient and persevere in
faith. Also, remind the Lord all the time that
dreams and visions is according to His promise in
Joel 2, confirmed in Acts 2 to you and your children.

Visions can be experienced at various levels.

Normal visions

Normal visions are those visions that you see with

the eyes of faith. It is a peaceful visual impression,
sometimes in color but often in black and white. I
normally experience this level of vision when
worshipping the Lord or during personal prayer
time.

Sometimes the Holy Spirit teaches me certain

things. To illustrate, while I was praying sometime
ago, I saw a vision of a mature prophetess teaching
a young prophetess how to see visions. So the Holy
Spirit taught me how to teach others to see visions.

Clear-vision

There is a deeper level of vision, which I call clear-

vision which occur normally in color and often
needs no interpretation. I do not experience clear-
vision very often. It can happen anytime but I
normally experience it when I am praying or
waiting on the Lord. Then I am calm, peaceful and
just enjoying the Lord. Sometime ago, one set of
our house’s keys, went missing for about two days
and we could not find it. As I was waiting on the
Lord, I asked Him where the keys were. Then I saw
in a clear-vision my son’s trousers in his bathroom
and I knew that the keys were in the right-hand
pocket of his trousers. And so it was.

Open-vision

The Holy Spirit occasionally imparts revelation

through an open-vision experience. Open-vision
occurs when the Holy Spirit imparts revelation
through a vision while one’s eyes are opened and is
busy with normal daily activity.

An example of this type of vision is where Saul was

on his way to Damascus and then saw a light that
was so intense that he was blinded. The experience
also included a conversation between the Lord and
Saul. The Lord asked Saul why he was persecuting
Him. After the conversation was concluded the men
that were with him only heard the voice without
observing anybody. It is not clear from the
Scriptures if they saw the light but from their
reaction it seems doubtful (Acts 9:1-9). I belief this
vision was so forceful that a great deal of spiritual
impartation took place. For example, he received
the Spirit of Christ and his heart was also
immediately changed.

More examples include, Elisha who prayed to the

Lord, to open his servant’s eyes so that he may
also see what he saw (2 King 6:8-17) and
Belshazzar, king of Babylon, who saw a part of a
man’s hand that wrote a message on the wall of
the king’s palace (Daniel 5:5).

I had numerous open-vision experiences. The one

that is standing out the most was an occasion when
a man visited us. We sat at the kitchen table and
we shared the gospel of Jesus’ saving grace with
this fellow. This man started to pretend he knew
God. I looked at my refrigerator and saw a vision of
an African Green parrot in a cage on top of it. When
the parrot saw me it fled away with a distinct noise
through the bars of the cage and hid behind the
refrigerator. The experience was so real that the
natural and spiritual surroundings were blended
into the one world of Christ. The natural and
spiritual environments became one, heaven and
earth was one at that moment in time. I got up to
look for the parrot behind the refrigerator. It is
needless to say that it was not there. In the vision I
discerned that the man was in bondage (the cage)
and that he was just repeating what he heard in the
past (like a parrot) from his mind (color green). The
Holy Spirit showed me that he was pretending.

Trance

A trance is a deep level of receiving visions from

God. The Greek word ekstasis is translated as
trance in some English Bible translations. Ekstasis
means amazement, astonishment, and trance. The
New Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon (1981, 199)
describes a trance as, “A throwing of the mind out
of its normal state” or “alienation of the mind” or
“A man who by some sudden emotion is
transported as it were out of himself, so that in this
rapt condition, although he is awake, his mind is so
drawn of from all surrounding objects and wholly
fixed on things divine that he sees nothing but the
forms and images lying within, and thinks he
perceives with his bodily eyes and ears realities
shown him by God.”

Some of Ezekiel’s visions fell into this category so

would John’s revelation on the Isle of Patmos. A
good biblical example of a directive revelation is
Peter’s trance where he saw in a vision a sheet
filled with unclean animals (Acts 10). Peter being a
Jew had a natural resistance to eat anything
unclean or to enter into the house of a Gentile. The
Holy Spirit imparted this revelation into his spirit to
equip him to overcome the stumbling blocks of the
Law and to visit the household of Cornelius who
was a Gentile. This vision was also given to make it
clear that the Lord was given as a covenant to the
people and as a light to the Gentiles (Isaiah 42:6).
Paul was in a trance when the Lord warned him to
get out of Jerusalem (Acts 22:17-21).

Balaam fell into a trance when he saw visions

concerning his third and fourth prophecies. He hath
said, which heard the words of God, which saw the
vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but
having his eyes open… He hath said, which heard
the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the
most High, which saw the vision of the Almighty,
falling into a trance, but having his eyes open
(Numbers 24:4,16). The Hebrew text indicates that
it was rather a falling to the ground than falling into
a trance. So we cannot say with certainty that it
was trances. That could have been open-vision
experiences with him lying on the ground and with
open eyes.

On three occasions in my lifetime I have

experienced trances. I can describe a trance as
being carried away in my conscious where I find
myself as in a dream, seeing an audiovisual vision,
not being aware of my physical surroundings
similar to when I am asleep. After these
experiences I was wide-awake and supernaturally
refreshed in my whole being. I do not say this is the
only description of a trance. I have only related to
you my personal experience of falling into trances.

When I have experienced a trance for the first time

in my life I pulled myself out of the trance in the
beginning of the vision because I was fearful of
what was happening to me. As I relaxed again I
found myself in the same vision again. It proved
that the spirit of the seer is subject to the seer (1
Corinthians 14:32).

Man can also go astray in vision. Have you not seen

a futile vision, and have you not spoken false
divination? You say, “The Lord says,” but I have not
spoken (Ezekiel 13:7). A person may see a vision in
the church and relates it to the congregation. I may
see a grass green color around the person’s head
and I know that it is a product of the human
imagination. I may discern the source of revelation
through a word of knowledge or I might discern it
through signs in my body. The Holy Spirit may also
choose not to reveal it to me. I will not get up in
front of the congregation and make my discovery
known. I will not even get in secret and tell it to the
seer or to somebody else. I will rather talk to the
seer about waiting on the Lord, prayer or how to
see visions. I will also encourage the person to
exercise his or her gift.

Making a mistake in prophecy or in vision is no

disaster, as we must all learn. Learning how to
focus on the Lord in a relaxed manner will reduce
visions from your own imagination. To live closely
to the Holy Spirit is a sure way to keep your spirit
open for revelation. He will lead and guide you in all
truth. The Holy Spirit can easily be offended
through thoughtless living. A constant deep
underlying joy and peace of the Holy Spirit is a
witness that you are pleasing to God.

Practicing the presence of the Lord, waiting upon

the Lord (prayer of listening), meditating on the
word of God and prayer is no legalism but the fruit
of a love relationship with God. Talking as often as
you can in tongues is also spiritually beneficial. This
is to have prayer of unlimited faith because your
mind becomes unfruitful while you praying
according to the will of God. This must become
second nature to you. True love is to love God for
who He is and not what you can gain from Him.
Love positions you to be led by the Spirit of God. A
walk with God requires a life of faith in God. It will
cause conflict between spirit and flesh. However,
the Lord comforts us by saying that His yoke is
easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11: 29-30).
Just remember the Lord has provided everything for
you on the cross, even to see visions. So
appropriate it by faith.
All things, even visions that you receive from God
are with the aim to testify and to declare His
mighty works in the earth. His mighty works are all
done in Christ. Jesus has fulfilled all things that
pertain to life and godliness. You can never behold
His works and tell of His awesome deeds by not
looking at the cross. Jesus Christ is the alpha and
omega of our faith, the beginning and the end of
our freedom. For this reason I am determined not to
know anything among you but Jesus Christ and Him
crucified.

To illustrate the above let me relate the following

dream that my sister had: My sister stood outside
of her house not properly dressed. She saw children
running and played on the lawn of her garden.
While playing and running these children were
declaring the mighty works and deeds of Almighty
God. Close to the children stood a man with a
beard. My sister walked closer to the children and
said to them, “I heard you declared the mighty
deeds and wondrous works of God.” Than the man
with the beard approached my sister and they walk
and sit some place outside the house. He asked
her, “Do you know why God often not answering
the prayers of the saints the first time.” She said,
“No.” He answered and said, “If God would answer
prayers the first time people will cease
communicating with God after the answering of
their prayers.” Then she started to cry
uncontrollably because of this hurt that people
cause God.

Then they walk into the house and she gave the
man a Bible. He opened the Bible on a page with a
cross printed across the page. He told her, “You
must always behold the cross.” Then she looked for
a similar Bible with a cross inside but could not find
one. Then she woke up. This dream needs little
interpretation therefore I leave it to your own
interpretation.