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-- © GodSpeak International 2004 --
-- Do not republish without written permission from <copyright@godspeak.org> --

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND CONTRIBUTING RESOURCES
Author: Teresa Seputis ts@godspeak.net http://www.godspeak.net
Editor: Kevin Nolan

Dreams, Visions And Experiencing God

Lesson 5
Personal or Ministry Direction

By Teresa Seputis

There are times when we need specific direction from God. Maybe we have a choice between two things and we need to know which of the two God wants us to take. Or maybe we have a life-changing opportunity come up -- maybe a new job that will cause us to move across the country -- and we want to know whether or not God wants us to take it. Or perhaps you head a ministry and you are seeking God for specific and detailed ministry direction. These are cases where we need to hear from God so we can stay in the center of His will.

Jacob faced one of those major decisions when there was a great famine and he was invited to relocate his entire family to Egypt, where his son Joseph had become an important person. That would be a major change, and it would also mean giving up all of his land (and property was very important to the Jews). He needed to know whether or not to take up Joseph and the Pharaoh on their offer to move to Egypt. The Bible does not explicitly tell us that he prayed and sought God for direction, but I am guessing that was the reason He offered sacrifices to God -- to get direction from God on whether or not to relocate his entire family to Egypt.

And God met him in a vision to give him the direction he needed. It is recorded in Gen 46:1-4: "So Israel set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, 'Jacob ! Jacob!' 'Here I am,' he replied. 'I am God, the God of your father,' He said. 'Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph's own hand will close your eyes.'"

Likewise, the apostle Paul received ministry direction from God in a vision. Acts 16:9-10 tells us, "And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.' Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the Gospel to them." At times, God uses visions to give us specific direction. When He does this, He expects us to obey those directions.

Sometimes directive visions are what the Bible calls "night visions," where the person is asleep when they have them. Other times the visions happen when the person is wide awake and not in bed. The Bible calls it a vision when Paul saw the man from Macedonia asking him to come and minister there. It also tells us that the vision happened "in the night." Does that mean Paul was asleep and dreaming when God gave him this directive vision? We don't know for sure, but that may be a reasonable assumption.

We do know that God sent an angel to Joseph (Jesus' stepfather) in a dream to give him specific directions to take Mary as his wife (Matt 1:20). Later God used dreams to give Joseph other specific instructions. Matthew 2:13 records, "When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. 'Get up,' he said, 'take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.'" Then Matthew 2:19 tells us, "After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 'Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead.'"

In short, God gave Joseph explicit directions to protect Jesus from the people trying to kill Him while He was a baby. God fully expected Joseph to obey His directions, and He gave them in the form of a dream or "night vision." When God speaks to us this way, we must take Him seriously and we must obey Him.

One of the men who is a key leader in the revival in Mozambique is a Mozambique national named Surpresa. He has seen countless thousands of people accept Christ as he preached, and he has seen a lot of the really big miracles -- blind eyes opening, deaf ears opening, paralyzed people walking, and he has personally raised at least 4 people from the dead. God sent Surpresa Sithole to work with the Bakers some years before the revival broke out. He had been to a meeting that Heidi and another woman spoke at, so he had sort of met Heidi. Sometime later, God spoke to him to leave his high paid secular job and serve God full time. Surpresa immediately quit his job and went back to his village and sought God in prayer for more direction. Shortly after that, he had a vision where he saw Heidi Baker calling out to him, "Surpresa, please come and work with us. We really need you here in Malputo!" (Malputo is the capital of Mozambique). This vision went on for some time, maybe 10 minutes.

The next morning Surpresa got in his car and drove to Malputo, looking for Heidi. But that was the same day that the government had kicked the Bakers out of their compound and confiscated it. He drove around all day searching for Heidi and could not find her. He finally returned home feeling rather frustrated. That evening he had that vision again, seeing Heidi Baker and she was calling out to him to come and help her. He went back to Malputo and this time he hooked up with her and stayed with her to help take care of the orphans. This was some years before the revival broke out. When it did break out, God raised Surpresa up as one of the primary leaders of this revival. And the way God put Surpresa together with Heidi and Rolland Baker was through a directive vision.

There have been times when God used night visions to give me specific direction. Let me share two of them with you.

I had a ministry partner and God gave me a night vision of her getting into a small car with someone else (a man) and telling me that I could not come because there was not room for me. I watched them get in the car, and I saw the tail lights go on as they backed up to pull out of the parking stall and I watched them drive away. I did not need to try and understand that vision, because God deposited the understanding in my spirit. I just knew that she wanted to break off her ministry association with me to marry this man she'd been dating and launch into ministry together with him. And I also "just knew" that I was to bless her and not try and stop her from leaving. I don't know how I knew it, but I did know that was the meaning of the dream. The next day she telephoned me to tell me that they eloped and were married. A few weeks later she called again to tell me that they were founding a ministry together and she needed to be released from her ministry commitments with me to put all of her time and energy into this new ministry. God had given me directions, through this night vision, to bless and release her as she stepped out into a new ministry with her new husband. God told me in advance what was going to happen so that I would be prepared and so I would react in accord with His wishes when it did happen.

Another time I wanted to know whether or not to go on a specific ministry trip. I prayed and sought God for direction and He gave me a symbolic vision regarding this trip to tell me I should go on it. In the vision, I had been given a job as an usher to guide people down a dark and rocky path so they would not hurt themselves. I did this by shining my flashlight on the ground to illuminate the way for them, and verbally warning them to "watch your step." In that vision, I had been given a particular costume (or uniform) to wear for that job. I did not fully understand the vision when I had it, but the next day I got more understanding.

The trip I was considering was to a cold and wintery country and I (a California girl) did not have warm enough clothes for it. I still was not sure if I should go on that trip or not, but I decided to go shopping and buy some warm clothes just in case. I went into a store that specialized in the type of clothing I needed. That store also had a section that specialized in elaborate Halloween costumes. When I walked in, the first thing I saw was a mannequin that was wearing the exact costume/uniform I'd been given in my vision. I looked at the sign above the mannequin, which said "Go for it." I took that as a symbolic direction from God that He wanted me to take this ministry trip. So I went on it, and it turned out to be a very powerful trip.

Visions For Intercessory Direction

God often uses pictures and images and visions to give directions to intercessors on how to pray. These are often symbolic and at first they may be rather confusing. But they are not at all uncommon. In my early intercessor days, I had a lot of these type of experiences. Let me share one of them with you.

It was mid-afternoon. Suddenly I saw an image of someone I knew in a car. I asked God what that was about, and then the image became a moving picture and I saw their car turn a corner and be broadsided by another car that ran a stop sign to speed through the intersection. That vision really caught me by surprise and launched me into serious intercession for safety of the person I'd seen in the car. The next day I talked to the person and asked them if they'd had any close calls while driving the previous afternoon. They said that they were almost in a car accident where someone ran a stop sign as they were making a right turn. God had given me an intercessory assignment to pray for their protection through a vision.

It is not uncommon for Him to do that with intercessors. Sometimes the visions are very literal, like my experience with the near car accident. Other times they are rather symbolic and may require God explaining them to you before you can understand what they are about.

God has been speaking to intercessors in visions to give them prayer assignments for a very long time. We have some examples of this recorded in the Old Testament. Look at the book of Amos, chapter 7. Verses 1 to 4 say, "Thus the Lord God showed me: Behold, He formed locust swarms at the beginning of the late crop; indeed it was the late crop after the king's mowings. And so it was, when they had finished eating the grass of the land, that I said: "O Lord God, forgive, I pray! Oh, that Jacob may stand, for he is small!" So the Lord relented concerning this. 'It shall not be,' said the Lord."

In short, God showed Amos in a vision how He was planning to punish sinful and rebellious Israel by destroying their crops. Amos' response to that was to pray and intercede for them, and because of that intercession, they were spared that judgment. Then God shows Amos another vision of His judgment in verses 4 to 6, and again Amos interceded and God turned away His judgment.

This type of intercession is very much in keeping with Ezekiel 22:30, which says, "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it..."

It is not unusual for God to speak to intercessors in a vision to give them prayer direction. Don't be surprised if He does that with you.


-- © GodSpeak International 2004 --
-- Do not republish without written permission from <copyright@godspeak.org> --

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