Your Sons & Daughters Shall Prophesy - Prophetic Gifts Today In The New Testament Church

Mind: How Did Prophecy Come to a Prophet?

may take the form of an impression, a clear thought or a strong inclina tion.More than that, however, the voice of the Lord can be so clear and distinct at times that the words are actually quotable! 8 This can be an established part of Christian experience, just as it was with Old Testament prophets.Once we understand this, it does not seem impossible or even improbable to find the word of God expressed in the Church as well as on a personal level.

A Mental Picture

On occasion the Lord dramatized His word with attention-getting visual effects.A vision or mental image can sometimes make a clearer statement than words, and often human memory retains such an impression better. Jeremiah's call, for instance, involved the audible voice of God speaking to his mind, but the words were accompanied by two visions that dra matically pictured what would come to pass: • A boiling pot pouring from the north, symbolizing coming invasion; and • The branch of an almond tree, symbolizing Jeremiah's ministry as a harbinger. Seventeen men in the Scripture are mentioned as having seen visions,9 but others had the same experience even though the word vision does not appear. Zechariah, for instance, recounts a whole series of visions. He says things like, "I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a man with a measuring line in his hand" (Zechariah 2:1).Ezekiel says, "The hand of the Lord Goo fell on me there.Then I looked, and behold, a likeness as the appearance of a man ..." (Ezekiel 8:1-2). A vision can be true to life, partially true to life (sometimes with an unusual twist) or apocalyptic.The five visions of judgment given to Amos were all taken from life experiences and carried easily applied spiritual meanings: the locust swarm, a consuming fire, a plumbline on a wall, a basket of summer fruit and the smittendoorposts (Amos 7:1-9:10).Daniel saw a vision of a two-horned ram and a one-horned goat locked in com bat, but the victorious goat had his horn broken and replaced by four horns (chapter 8). (These animals and horns represented literal earthly kingdoms.) Sometimes a vision pictured a creature unlike anything on earth, such as Daniel's vision of the fourth beast with iron teeth (Daniel 7:7) or John's vision of a great red dragon (Revelation 12:3-4). God's purpose is sometimes conveyed by ordinary events and creatures, and sometimes an apocalyptic twist adds special significance.An unnatu

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