“And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out 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.” Acts2:17 (KJV)
Revelations and visions are a great evidence of the presence of the Spirit of God in the life of a person. God releases visions to us in order to reveal his plans and his purpose for our lives, God uses visions to unveil to you what he prepared already in advance for your destiny. God had set everything perfect in his will and it is his good pleasure to show us his children what he has already planned, and prepared for us, what he wants fulfilled on earth and the path we must follow to get his plans accomplished. It is through visions/revelations/dreams, that God unfolds to us his plans and the destiny he has prepared for us. Your future is in your calling therefore to fulfil the purpose of God for your life, a vision of your future is revealed to you by God’s Spirit and through this vision/revelation, God brings you to the awareness and consciousness of your calling.
We are already in the dispensation of the Spirit of God, we are carriers of God’s divine presence and nature. The moment you accepted the Lordship of Christ, know it that you have the Spirit of God within you. The Spirit is present and available to reveal to you in a vision, the call of God for your life. The Spirit gives you a clear picture of the future God prepared and destined for your life, the plans he has for you and what he wants to do through you. Until you can see the plan of God-what God wants to do, until you have an understanding of the mind of God, you may never know the things to do to actualize or materialize his will on earth.
It is one thing to have a vision, and another thing to understand the vision. Without proper understanding of the vision which you’ve received from God, you may not know the part God has called you to play or the work he has called you to perform in his overall plan for humanity.
Below are some of the ways God can reveal himself through visions to his children THROUGH THE WORD OF GOD
The Word of God is God himself and by his word is your calling in life revealed. God and his word are inseparable, for in God’s word is light, in his word is revelation and power. To know the will and mind of God concerning any issue of life is to know the word of God and by his word, you discover the truth of your life and who he has made you to be. By God’s word, you discover your true identity. God speaks to our heart often and directly by his word. The word of God is a reveller of God’s plan and purpose for one’s life. In God’s word is written about God in You. As a believer you carry God on your inside therefore, when you read God’s word, you are seeing in your spirit man who you are in Christ. God’s word reveals God’s plan for every aspect of your life including the work he has called you to do on earth. Jesus himself saw via the scriptures, the place where it is written of him, his mission and assignment on earth.
The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the prisoners and recovery of
sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them,
“Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke4:17-21(NIV)
The psalmist being filled of the Holy Spirit spoke concerning Jesus Christ in Psalm
40:7 (KJV)
“Then said I, Lo I come: In the volume of the book it is written of me”
The Bible is a spiritual book containing the volume of God’s plan, promise, purpose and will for our lives. It takes spiritual sensitivity and faith in God’s word to see what God is revealing concerning you through his words.
I read a book by Bishop David Oyedepo and in that book was a testimony shared by a member of his church, a man who once lost his job and had nothing to do. The man received counsel to wait on God and in his obedience, he studied the word of God and when he came to Mathew 5:13, he saw the verse that says “ye are the salt of the earth” when he read it, that word came alive in his spirit and as he meditated on it, he immediately got a rhema word to start a salt distribution business and without delay, he ventured into the business and started the sale of salts in bags through the encounter he received via God’s word and today he is doing great and expanding in his business. Another of such encounter happened to a Sister who shared her testimony also in Church and her testimony was published in another book I read written by Bishop David Oyedepo. This Sister as I would want to address her in this story, testified that she is a trained secretary whose husband requested that she should resign from her job and join him in his boutique where he sells imported cloths, which she obeyed and did resign her job. In the course of working with her husband in his boutique business, selling cloths with him, she discovered that she was unhappy and unfulfilled in the business. She started seeking the face of God for what to do. She said she studied the bible and discovered Exodus31:1-5 (NIV). Her encounter came when she read that God had put in some people His Spirit, to make artistic Designs. She said she discovered from there that it was not that they actually went to school to learn about it, but that through the inspiration of the Spirit of God upon them, there were able to perform and accomplish the task. And immediately as if the word was being lifted from the pages of the Bible and someone was directly talking to her. There and then, she knew she had the gift of God within her to make designs.
“Then the Lord said to Moses, “see, I have chosen Bezalel son of Hur, of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of craft-To make artistic designs for work in Gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship.”
She said she started out with one tailor in her new found fashion designing business and today by the grace of God, she has about twelve tailors with about twelve industrial machines and domestic machines, button hole and hemming machines and four embroidery machines. Your discovery precedes your establishment in life. Immediately her spirit man encountered the Specific word for her calling, she came alive instantly and began the assignment that God called her to do.
The word of God has a specific word for every man’s destiny in life and when you study the word with a hunger to receive, you will discover your own calling.
I’m a very good example and a testimony to this truth, that the word of God indeed has a word for each of our destiny. It all happened at a point in my life when I was hungry to know the specific work that God created me to do, I decided to set aside 7days to seek the face of God in prayers to know the assignment for my life. I prayed and fasted for God to reveal to me the destiny he has prepared for me and on the third day of the seven days I set aside to wait on God, as I studied the scripture and came across Roman 8:19 which says “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.” (KJV). A light came upon me from the word and I heard clearly from the Lord and he said, “My children are suffering, miserable, frustrated, confused and poor, they are misplaced in life because they are not where I have called them to be”. He revealed further that “Your calling is your way, your truth and your life”.
It is in this revelation that God gave me a mandate to “Restore God’s children to their calling in Christ Jesus”
This encounter happened on the 14TH May, 2014.
When you discover the call of God for your life, you’ve discovered your way, your truth and the life you are born to live. If Jesus could discover his life mission by the word, then the word of God is sure for the discovery of your calling.
DREAM
Let’s draw insight from the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis.
Joseph was a young Hebrew boy that God gave a dream of his future at the age of 17years, God gave him a picture of the destiny he prepared for him, the same way most of us have dreams of the destiny we believe the future holds for us. For Joseph, it was a dream of being a powerful leader, Joseph had a dream that someday he would assume a position of great authority and power (Genesis37:5-10) and after 13years, when Joseph was 30years God brought him to a point of encounter with King pharaoh of Egypt who had a problem of interpreting his own dream, and for Joseph, using his gift, God made him an answer to the challenge of the king and a solution to the nation of Egypt.
Now this is the message God gave me concerning the story of Joseph;
When I was meditating on this story, God spoke to me that the same way Joseph was delivered from prison and brought before king pharaoh and later given an assignment to perform, Christ likewise, delivered us from the bondage of sin and destruction and has bought us into the kingdom of God and in this kingdom, we’re given a vision for the revelation of the assignment we were created to perform.
It is mind blowing that the same God who gave Joseph the opportunity and the vision, also gave him the ability to understand the vision which is shown to him. And when the King understood that Joseph did not only have knowledge and understanding of the revelation/vision/dream, but also had solutions to the challenges, he then gave Joseph the responsibility of solving the challenge as His Assignment. (Genesis41:1-46)
Earlier on, I stated a similar encounter which I had on the 14th May, 2014, when God spoke to me in a vision saying “My children are suffering, miserable, frustrated, confused and poor, they are misplaced because they are not where I have called them to be” and God said to me again that, “Your calling is your way, your truth, and your life.”
From the very moment I heard these words from God, my whole world changed for the best. I pondered on these words for hours, days, weeks, months, even years, searching and having more and deeper understanding of what God is truly talking about. I consulted countless number of materials, went for seminars, read books, listen to tapes, asked questions, prayed for understanding and so many things I did to get clarity of the vision I received from God and thank God at last I understood deeply, the message God delivered to me and the moment I did, the discoveries and the solutions I found to the vision became my deliveries and products to the world. This book in your hands is only but an avenue, a channel through which God is using me to be an answer and a solution to people who are yet to discover or come fully into the assignment of God for their lives. It is one of the many discoveries God is revealing to me in this assignment..
You have to understand that you are chosen, anointed and ordained by God himself. God has carefully prepared and selected you before the creation of the world for his purpose. Being chosen, it is his pleasure to reveal his plans and agenda to you through visions and dreams. This is the very essence of your salvation, this is why Christ died for you, so that you may have a good relationship with the father by which you’ll have access to the revelation, knowledge and the understanding of the assignment for your life- the mission you were born to accomplish on earth.
Most of us had dreams while growing up, some persons at a very young age discovered and knew what they would like to do or to be when they grow up. Some people discovered in themselves, an area of strength, a gift or talent at a very young age and are engaging it profitably. The truth is, the gifts and the talents given to you by God are for the assignment. When God gives you a vision, he gives it to you in that area where he already has empowered you with the right abilities and gifts, the sufficient power to succeed and excel in getting the work done.
What is your dream? You must have dreamt of doing something in life or becoming a person of great significance, you must have seen yourself in the light of a future you earnestly desire. I saw myself as a great minister at a very young age, I saw myself ministering before great crowds, and each time I see the pictures of ministers on billboards I always admire them and will always say to myself that someday, I will be like this ones. It has always been my prayer to be a great minister from a very young age because I fell in love with the gospel of Christ and I loved the people who God has graced to preach the message of the gospel. I longed to be as they are, I longed to do what they are doing, I knew I could do it, I knew I got the ability and I knew I was graced in that area. This was my dream, my desire and my aspiration, I believed God for it and I prayed about it and like Joseph, I had my fair share of life’s challenges, the up’s and down’s of life but everything that ever happened to me pushed me closer and closer to the vision for my life, for when you have a relationship with God regardless of your challenges or limitations, you will always have an encounter or an opportunity that will open your mind more to the plan of God for your life.
Dreams can point you to the plan of God for your life-what God wants for you.
Vision is a free gift given to us by God and without vision, God’s word says “the people perish”. I find that to be true for without vision or a sense of direction in life, life is meaningless. Vision gives life value and meaning. A person without a vision is a person without a focus or a sense of mission on earth. If you are without a goal or target, if you are not aiming at something in life, you will end up achieving nothing out of life. Without vision, life will be without significance and value, without vision, you’ll live life in circles, moving in cyclic motion without steady progress or tangible achievement because it takes vision and a sense of mission to enter into the glorious destiny that God already prepared for you, it takes vision to achieve everything God purposed for you.
Vision is a motivator and the puller that drives you ahead unto the attainment of the plan, purpose and provision of God for your destiny. Vision enables you to know specifically the direction for your life. When you see a vision for your life, it creates a road map for your destiny, giving you knowledge and an understanding of what to do, how to do, when to do, and why you must do.
“After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at ones to live for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.”(Acts16:10)NIV
They made a move, acted in conclusion that it was God who called them to do what they are about to do and this is because Paul had seen a vision. In this last days, God is in the business of revealing visions and giving dreams to young men and women.
What do you see? Through vision and dreams, you’ll discover a path to follow and a goal to pursue in life, your life will become well directed towards a defined course. When God wants to position you for the next big thing, he gives you a dream or he shows you a vision. Vision is only but an unfolding of the true picture of what God has in store for your future, a revelation of your destiny.
Vision proves the call of God upon your life in a certain area, you must have a clear vision-an encounter/revelation of divine agenda, and you must know what God is set to do through you to humanity.
In other to prepare and position the mind of Joseph for what lie ahead in his future, God gave him a dream at a young age. There are certain striking dreams that God will show to you like he did to Joseph that are an unfolding of your destiny. Dreams of this nature never leaves your mind, there are the calling of God for your life, what he has predestined you to become. Joseph’s dreams was so clear that he could not keep them to himself but had to share his dreams with anyone who cared to listen. He spoke so much about his dream that everyone knew he had a dream.
“Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other.” (Genesis37:19) NIV.
What future do you see for yourself, what really can people see in you? Joseph was known for his dreams. What dream are you so passionate about that someone or people can relate you with? Have you dreamt of owning your own company? Owning a big business empire? Becoming a household name in manufacturing or establishing a servicing firm, owning your own brand of product, a lawyer? An engineer? A doctor? A great actor/actress or be a celebrity musician? Whatever your dream in life is, whoever you see yourself becoming in the nearest future, know it today that you’ve been graced and given all you need by God to make that dream a reality. God has called you to work it out and actualize it as long as it honours his name. It is my strong believe that, that genuine dream which is true within your heart is the call of God for your life. Don’t ignore it or become discouraged as a result of the present circumstances or problems surrounding you. You are to be strengthened by your dream, motivated and hopeful of its fulfilment in your life. If God granted you a dream, it is because it is possible with you and know it for sure that that dream in your heart is yours already, it’s a destiny prepared for you to walk into by faith. When God gives you a dream, you are already a solution. When God is set to launch you into his plan for your life he reveals to you a vision like he did to Abraham. The vision God will reveal to you may not have any resemblance or similarity with your present condition or situation, the vision God will show to you is an unfolding of what God has designed you for, the task he set before you to accomplish, not by your own strength/power but by His Spirit. For the vision you will receive is not a task you will be able to achieve without the power of God. God reveals to you an assignment greater than your limited abilities because it is not your agenda but God’s agenda set to be executed through you. You are only a tool in God’s hand for the working of his plans, and to succeed in his plan, you must have a revelation of what he has planned and the part you are to play in his plan. Abraham was called to be father of many Nations, to take over many territories and to be a great blessing but was ignorant of this calling up until 75years of his life (Genesis12:4), when God gave him a vision. So, it doesn’t matter how old you are at the moment, what matters is that you can discover the calling upon your life and run with your vision now.
God speaks to us also through audible voices, words we hear clearly in our spirit, loud as though someone visible communicated or spoke to us. This is the method God used to call little Samuel when he was serving the Lord under Eli. One night while Samuel was sleeping in the temple near the Ark of the Covenant, the Lord called out, Samuel! Samuel! And Samuel answered thinking it was his master Eli that called him, but when he went to Eli, Eli told him he never called him. For three times God called him clearly and for that three time he ran to Eli thinking it was Eli that called him. The third time he came before Eli, Eli then understood it was God who was calling Samuel and instructed him to go lie again and to answer “Yes Lord I’m listening” if the Lord calls again. And when the Lord called again, Samuel did answer the Lord and then the Lord gave him a vision (message). (1 Samuel3:1-14)
Paul the Apostle also heard a clear voice from the Lord on his way to Damascus when he was on a mission to persecute every believer of Jesus Christ in the city
“And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly they shine around about him a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutes thou me? And he said, who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutes: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.” Acts 9:3-6(KJV)
God uses audible voices to speak to his children in ways to reveal his plan for their life.
A very young boy called Oral Roberts in 1935 was struck with a horrible disease called Tuberculosis which at that time was incurable, and for five months, he was hovering between life and death until a day came when he was invited to a revival by his oldest brother and as he followed Him in his car and lying on the backseat of the car, in his word, he said “I had my first personal encounter with God. I heard the voice of God! “Son, I am going to heal you, and you are to take my healing power to your generation.” And as he pondered what he heard, God spoke again, “you are to build me a university. Build it on my authority and on the Holy Spirit.” He said he knew without the shadow of a doubt that he had heard God’s voice. Instantly God healed him and Later Oral Roberts went on to become a very powerful and great preacher in his time and also build the Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
God has spoken to so many people in an audible voice and had given directions and instructions to many. Whatever God has spoken clearly to you that you are certain it’s God who spoke to you the same way Oral Roberts was certain, then whatever instruction you’ve received, the same commit yourself to doing for that is your calling.
God works in many ways to reveal his plan to us, he uses so many methods to communicate his will to our hearts. Sometimes, God will bring you into a place in the course of your life in order to make you have an encounters that will touch the core of your being-an experience that will speak directly to your heart. Such encounters always have profound effect on our minds as such moments awakens and stirs up the life within us which we can strongly relate with and opening us up to the reality of our true essence. These encounters are experiences that you can definitely relate with from deep inside you and at such encounters, you feel a strong connection with the experience or the particular activity that you just can’t explain why. You just know that something within you, like a voice is speaking clearly inside of you telling you, this is what you are meant to be doing, this is where you belong, you can do this even much better. You just know for sure that this thing is your thing and the knowledge feels so good to you and it fills your heart with confidence and peace. At such moments, you’ve come face to face with your destiny, the sphere or area you are born to be an influence.
Moses had similar experience in his life. Moses was one man who God called for a specific assignment- to deliver the people of Israel from captivity at a time when the Israelites were held captive as slaves in the land of Egypt. This slavery has existed for close to 400 years far before Moses was born, and has constituted a major problem for the people of Israel. And when Moses was born, he grew up seeing the harsh conditions, wicked treatments and afflictions of the Israelites by the Egyptians and this condition gave him great concern and a cause to worry. The pain of the Israelites have become the pain in the heart of Moses and instinctively Moses was troubled over the pain and the slavery of the Israelites without knowing that the circumstances, experiences or conditions that gave him great concern was the very reason for his existence, they were the challenges that he came to earth to solve. Moses never knew that everything he had to pass through, his experiences of the past were just preparation to equip him fully for the very calling of God for his life.
Instincts without purpose is dangerous and destructive.
Most often, in pursuit of our calling, we ignorantly act based on our instincts. But the truth is that, instincts without a defined purpose is destructive. Moses was a victim of this ignorance and this cost him forty years of a miserable and misplaced life. When you depend on your instincts alone, acting based on what you can see, feel, or hear, when you confront the issues of life with just your head (mind), without a revelation knowledge of your calling, you sign up for a life of frustration and confusion. “For by strength shall no man prevail”
“And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting a
Hebrew one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian and hide him in the sand.”
(Exodus2:11-12)KJV
Most often we allow our natural instincts to direct our actions and because as humans, God has wired within us that ability and innate tendency to be attracted to the area of our calling, we now dabble into what we feel our calling in life is without a proper knowledge of God’s purpose for our live. God truly has a calling on your life, a task he has for you to do but until you have a revelation of the calling, you may end up misplaced in life. The things of God are not to be handled with levity, the work you are seeking to discover and to do belongs to God, therefore, God is the one solely responsible for your discovery. Your instincts is only a guid