This may just about be the most important skill any of us can exhibit or develop. It’s a skill founded in the eternal realm and hence it’s entirely spiritual in basis—helping us ‘see’ what we ordinarily otherwise might not see. Yet, it’s potentially the most practical of skills.
Beyond the actual gifting some people have to prophesy, seeing things that others do not usually see is a gift God gives each one of us, conditional only in accord with the amount of effort we’re prepared to put in.
Each one of us is a potential prophet, in the old sense of the word; that is each of us can learn better what God is revealing to us—before it happens—as well as his approaching will.
The Old Testament prophets tended to mediate God’s plans and his will to the people; our role in prophesy is different; it pertains more to our personal lives.
Visions
When we tell people we see ‘visions’—even Christians—they tend to think sceptically; that we’re a bit odd, even mad, and possibly that we’re being less than fully truthful.
But all of us can see visions if we put our minds to it. Indeed, I think it’s one of God’s purposes for each of us to engender this ability.
In life, opportunities are presented all the time to prepare the mind and heart for all manner of potential situations. I see visions for a number of God-anointed purposes. Some of these are warnings of potential if things aren’t done, or if the status quo continues; others are simply opportunities—things to pounce on now.
Very practically then, and I hardly ever talk about my role in safety, I see at times the vision of an accident before it happens—the physical act, the pain and the consequences—mostly in relation to my own life or of loved ones or work colleagues i.e. things right in my field of physical vision.
These are both warnings and opportunities God is giving me to prevent these bad things from happening—as far as it depends on me. (I have to accept I can’t impact the world in perfect accord.)
Life Preparing and Life Maximising Visions
One aspect of God’s wisdom we hardly ever plug into is psychological preparation for the coming tragedy or disaster. Yet, when they do come we’re otherwise swept up in a mind-bending fluster—totally unprepared.
Foreseeing any number of potential tragedies—take for instance, the sudden death of a loved one—can help us to not only adjust better in the event it actually occurs, it also motivates us to do the things now that we can do i.e. to love them in the light of the imminent possibility of the loss of them.
There is hence no need of the sadness of regret come these things. And not only that, we’re obeying God by truly making the most of our opportunities (Ephesians 5:15-17) to love whilst we can.
None of us knows when ‘the journey’ will ‘split off,’ i.e. when life will be forever and irrevocably changed!
Being a ‘Seer’
Seeing as per the Old Testament ‘seer’ i.e. the prophet, obviously without the notoriety attached with the tag, is not hard; it’s merely being in truthful tune with God. It’s seeing behind reality into the continually changing components of time and space.
It’s looking for more. Its continual prayer is, “God, give me more information about what you are doing, and what is happening, here.”
It’s not spruiking ‘hell, fire and brimstone,’ for any foolhardy Christian can do that—and turn people off to boot!
Seeing God’s will for situations and seeing how things are turning out is simply using what we have seen in the past as a good model for the possibilities of the future. Being a ‘seer’ in this way is nothing, also, about being right one hundred percent of the time. It’s more about keeping our ear to God’s ground and what he might be doing.
Indeed, nothing turns people off more, I’d hazard to say, than someone (anyone) thinking they know what God’s doing next. That is claptrap of the highest order—for only God truly knows.
In the second article I’ll discuss the actual techniques I use—techniques that anyone can learn, use and apply to their lives.
© 2010 S. J. Wickham.
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