3 Steps to Receive Spiritual Vision from God’s Word
Is your Christian life one governed by a heavenly, spiritual vision from God’s Word ?
The writer of Proverbs said, “Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint…” (Prov. 29:18).
In fact, without a clear, spiritual vision from God’s word, we will easily misaim, miss the mark, swerve, and deviate from God’s way (1 Tim. 1:6).
However, the apostle Paul could tell the Roman ruler who was trying him,
I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. (Acts 26:19).
The beginning of the book of Revelation, also says of the apostle John,
Who testified the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, even all that he saw. (Rev. 1:2).
Because John saw such a spiritual vision of the testimony of Jesus, he was willing to suffer for what he saw, becoming a “fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and endurance in Jesus…because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” (Rev. 1:9).
How about us?
We also need to receive such a spiritual vision, to the extent that it revolutionizes us, controls us, directs us, preserves us and keeps us in the straight way of the Lord.
Now let’s go on to consider how we can receive such a heavenly, spiritual vision to govern and direct our Christian life…
How can we receive such a heavenly, spiritual vision?
First, we need to receive a spirit of wisdom and revelation.
Ephesians 1:17 says,
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him.
Here the apostle Paul prayed for the believers that they might receive a spirit of wisdom and revelation to see a vision of God’s economy or plan (Eph. 1:17, note 3).
By reading further in Revelation 1, we can also see that the apostle John was in his spirit in order to receive four awesome visions (v. 10; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10).
So the practical way for us to receive spiritual vision is to be in our spirit by using our spirit, our deepest part, to pray (Eph. 6:18, note 3).
Also in the book of Acts, both Peter and Cornelius were praying when they received some heavenly vision concerning God’s desire ( Acts 10:9, note 1, vv. 17, 30).
Second, we need to to have the eyes of our heart enlightened.
Ephesians 1:18 continues,
The eyes of your heart having been enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling…
Paul’s prayer went on from our spirit to our heart. His prayer for the believers was that, “the eyes of our heart might be enlightened…” This requires that we deal with our heart. Part of a footnote on this verse in the Recovery Version says,
To have the eyes of our heart enlightened requires that our conscience, mind, emotion, and will, which are the components of our heart, be thoroughly dealt with…First, we need an open spirit with a conscience purified by our confessing and dealing with our sins and by the sprinkling of the redeeming blood of Christ (Heb. 9:14; 10:22). Next, we need a sober mind (2 Tim. 1:7 and note 2), a loving emotion (John 14:21), and a submissive will (John 7:17) in order to have a pure heart. When we have such a spirit and heart, the eyes of our heart will be able to see. (Eph. 1:18, note 1)
For more on this matter, see my post “5 steps to vitalize your Bible reading in the New Year,” especially the section “Have you prepared your heart to meet the Lord in His word?”
Third, we need light for the illumination of the things that are unveiled to us.
We need spiritual light so that we may have vision (Eph. 1:18, note 2). Praise the Lord that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5).
With an exercised, praying spirit and a prepared heart we are then able to enter into fellowship with God who is light, to have an intimate and living contact with Him. This will bring us into the enjoyment of divine light enabling us to see and receive a vision of the things unveiled to us in God’s word (1 John 1:6, note 1).
When we sense our need to receive a heavenly, spiritual vision and earnestly desire to live under such a vision, we need to pray:
“Lord, I desperately need to see the heavenly vision revealed in Your word. Save me from living an aimless Christian life that falls short of Your mark. Grant me a spirit of wisdom and revelation to know You and Your plan. Enlighten the eyes of my heart. I fully turn my heart to You. I give You the ground to touch every part of my heart–my mind, emotion, will, and conscience so that nothing would veil me. Lord I praise You that You are the true Light that enlightens every man. Lord, may I be able to say, like Paul, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.”
If you’ve been helped by the points in this post to receive spiritual revelation and vision from God’s Word, I hope you’ll share it in a brief comment.
References and Further Resources:
- For more on the way to receive spiritual vision from the Lord, I’d highly recommend Message 14 of the Life-study of Ephesians by Witness Lee on “A Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation and the Eyes of Our Heart.” You can read it online at ministrybooks.org.
- Bible verses and footnotes in this post were taken from the Recovery Version published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. You can read it online at online.recoveryversion.org. You can also order your free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version (in the USA) from Bibles for America.
About Tom Smith
Hi. My name is Tom Smith. I'm the writer behind Holding to Truth in Love, and I love the Lord Jesus and His life-giving Word. Please feel free to send me an e-mail through the contact page if you have any questions. I hope you'd take a moment to subscribe to the Holding to Truth blog. Then you'll be sure not to miss a post. Thanks!
Proverbs 29:18 is talking about revelation – the guidance of God’s word, which we now have in the totality of Scripture. The visions to John in Revelation are part of the “all truth” into which the Spirit guided the apostles, John 16:13, so that, as Jude 3 says: we can contend for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints – over 1900 years ago. What kind of visions are you talking about? Paul told the Colossians not to take their stand on so-called visions, but upon Christ. Colossians 2:18-19.
We have many claiming special revelations from God who don’t even accept that Jesus taught one must believe, repent and be baptized to be saved and receive the Spirit!! Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16. If they can’t even obey written truth from God in the Bible, why would God be giving them extra revelation by visions??
downunderwriter David
David, the vision and revelation we need to receive today is not something different or strange that is apart from the complete revelation given to us in the 66 books of God’s inspired word, the Bible. Actually it is that which we may receive by reading the Bible (Eph. 3:3-5) with a turned and adjusted heart (2 Cor. 3:15-18) and a open and exercised spirit (Matt. 5:3; 1 Tim. 4:6-7). Sadly, many Christians become contented with an objective knowledge of the Scriptures apart from the Holy Spirit’s enlightening. Such dead knowledge can never govern our living like it did for the apostles such as Paul and John. The Lord needs those today who are energized by God’s transfusion through His word to be His ambassadors to the world around them. Mere head knowledge can never do that. That why Paul, in Eph. 1:15-23, prayed for the believers that the Father of glory would grant them a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him, the eyes of their heart having been enlightened. Then when we come to God’s word it will change us inwardly.
Thanks for your comment.
Praise the Lord for the light from the Spirit and the word to see God’s plan. Lord, cause us to see with a pure heart what is on Your heart concerning man and work in our being to make us ones who are not disobedient to this heavenly vision.
Thank you Brother for you website! A wonderful way for the Lord to many. I enjoy the Lord with the Body Christ. I will see if they also would like to come on your site to enjoy more of Christ Jesus!
Donna, Thanks for your encouraging comment. Do come back often. Comment when you’re touched by the speaking and share it with other seekers you think might be helped by the blog to know the Lord Jesus in deeper way.
Absolute encouraging prayer at the end. It has really helped me. My name is Jordan, and I am 16, and I am a strong believer in Jesus Christ and I have a deep passion for him. Thank you Mr. Smith for being a vessel to me through the Lord showing me how to receive and have Heavenly visions from the Lord Jesus Christ.!!!??✝??????????
Jordan, glad you found the post helpful. Since the Bible is more than mere knowledge, being the divine revelation, we need a spirit of wisdom and revelation (Eph. 1:17) to know what is revealed in it. Each time we come to God’s word, we need to match reading with prayer, using our spirit in addition to our sober mind to see the heavenly vision as Paul did (Acts 26:19). Thanks for your encouraging comment.
It’s deeper than that,but i enjoyed learning.
Ronnie, Yes, you’re right. The great matter of having the “heavenly vision” (Acts 26:19) that governs our life is much deeper. But, the 3 components covered in this post are basic to receiving revelation–spiritual seeing that it deeper than mere knowledge of the teachings of the Bible. It requires an open and praying spirit, a heart that is turned to the Lord and unveiled from all kinds of natural and religious concepts and a living contact with the Lord who is the Light in God’s word. May the Lord grant us his mercy that we could have such a prepared inner being and living touch with Him in His word so that the divine light can radiate into the depth of our being and fill us with light, revelation and a heavenly vision to direct our Christian life. Glad you enjoyed learning a little more from this post.
Thank You dear Lord for making the way for us to receive the heavenly vision and so be governed by it always, simple and clear. Grant us please Lord to have this spirit of wisdom and revelation, do enlighten the eyes of our hearts and bring us into Your dear self who is light that we may see. We love and adore You, cover us, increase in us moment by moment and lead us on inwardly. Grant us all the experiences we need to gain this controlling heavenly vision.
Amen. Thank you for sharing your prayer. It is really the fitting conclusion to this post. Our real response should simply be to pray. It is futile to merely know our need to have a spirit of wisdom and revelation and the need to have the eyes of our heart enlightened. It is by such a seeking prayer that we can receive such provisions and enter into the light to see God and His eternal plan or economy… and to give God the way to grant us the experiences we need that such a revelation would become the governing vision in our lives. “Lord, grant us such a seeking, such a prayer, and such a mercy that your Person and plan would be a heavenly, controlling vision in our lives.”
Keeping our vision fresh is a continual and daily practice of opening to the Lord in prayer. He can wash us and move in our heart to clear the way for enlightenment. I was touched by the statement that we don’t want to have an aimless Christian life.
That’s right! Only having a governing, heavenly vision as Paul did (Acts 26:19) can keep us on the straight track without misaiming or swerving. May the Lord calibrate our vision as we spend time in His word so that our Christian life and church life would never be aimless but always pursuing toward the goal for the prize (Phil. 3:12-14). Thanks for the confirming comment.
If I want to receive the vision, What are the things I have to do? The above steps are enough to receive the spiritual vision. Kindly guide me
Charles, it’s crucial for us to realize that, in coming to the Bible, an understanding mind is not enough. We need–like Paul and John–to use our spirit (Eph 3:5; Rev. 1:10). In coming to the Bible, we need to contact God’s word with both our regenerated spirit by means of prayer (Eph. 6:17-18) and with a turned heart (2 Cor. 3:16). When the Lord spoke on the mount in Matthew 5, He said blessed are the poor in spirit (v. 3) and blessed are the pure in heart (v. 8).
We need to be emptied out of all our old concepts so that we can receive something new and fresh from the Lord. We also need to be pure in our heart, that is, single in our purpose, having the single goal of accomplishing God’s will for God’s glory. We can pray that the Lord would grant us such a prepared inner being in order to have a deeper inward seeing of what God wants to show us concerning His mysterious plan as revealed in His word.
May the grant you such mercy and grace that you would be enlightened to see the heavenly vision revealed in His Word. Along with much prayer over the Word, I would highly recommend reading the Life-study of the Bible by Witness Lee or listening to the podcasts from it. These messages have been very helpful to me in receiving a heavenly vision from God’s Word.
Thank you for taking the time to comment. Feel free to come back often.
Br please reply how to receive spiritual eyes
Spiritual seeing requires the calibrating of our entire inner being. In Eph. 1:17, Paul prayed that we would have “a spirit of wisdom and revelation, the eyes of our heart having been enlightened.” We also need to pray for this. Revelation is a matter in our spirit (Rev. 1:10; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10), so we need to receive God’s word by praying with our spirit (Eph. 1:17). Yet without a turned heart we would still be veiled and unable to see anything (2 Cor. 3:16). Adjusting our heart to seek only the Lord causes our heart to become pure. It is the pure in heart that see God (Matt. 5:8).
This has being my cry , to have have a deep insight of God .. Thanks for you inspirational guide .
Glad you enjoyed the post. Pray over Ephesians 1:17-18 and Matt. 5:3 and 8. Asking according to God’s word for a proper spirit and heart to see the Lord and the light in His word is surely something He delights to answer. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Am blessed by the LORD’S WORD from you and I pray for more strength and Grace upon you to help us gain more knowledge in the LORD.
John was in spirit to see the four great visions in the book of Revelation (Rev. 1:10; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10). God desires that we too would see what He has revealed in His word. But for us to receive spiritual vision is much more than to know and understand the facts in the Bible. We need our inward parts especially our spirit (Eph. 1:17; Matt. 5:3) and our heart (Eph. 1:18; Matt. 5:8) to be adjusted by our fellowship with the Lord. Turning our heart to the Lord (2 Cor. 3:16), confessing any sins to the Lord (1 John 1:9), and telling the Lord we love Him (1 Cor. 2:10) are all very helpful preparation of our inward parts to receive spiritual vision.
Yeah fantamental truth every believer must actually pratice
Glad you enjoyed the post. The main point is to prepare our spirit and heart through prayer (Matt. 5:3, 8) so that we can receive what the Lord has for us without being preoccupied, complicated or veiled. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Amazing teaching, I really learn a great deal. Thanks you.
Glad you learned something helpful from this post. May the Lord grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation to see the divine mystery concerning God’s eternal purpose as revealed in His Word. This post was based on Eph. 1:14-17. I would encourage you to prayerfully read the book of Ephesians. Reading the footnotes in the New Testament Recovery Version as well as the Life-study of this book has been a tremendous benefit to me in seeing God’s purpose in the BIble.
Thanks a lot for inspiring me to search more of the Lord so that I will be able to see visions of the Lord
May the Lord grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation with the eyes of your heart enlightened to see a clear vision of God’s central purpose according to Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1:17-18. Thank you for sharing your appreciation in a comment.
Thank you very much, I needed this!!! It is very enlightening.
Glad you enjoyed the post. May the Lord grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him, the eyes of your heart being enlightened to know Him and His eternal plan more fully (Eph. 1:17-23). Thank you for sharing.
Hi! I’m 13 years old, and I desire a vision/dream from God. But how would I know that when I pray its God speaking and not me speaking?
The best way to now that when you pray its God speaking and not just you speaking is to pray with God’s word. Pray the Word back to the Lord. Turn the words of the Bible into your personal prayer. Then your speaking will be the echo of God’s speaking. This is why I highly recommend the practice of praying with the Word, or pray-reading the Word.
How do I get to understand that word I read. And have them store in my memory? I forget easily.
Loveth
luvchy@yahoo.com
For a better understanding of the Word, I would highly recommend the Life-study of the Bible by Witness Lee. You can read enlightening and life-supplying commentary on every book of the Bible for free at lifestudy.com …As far as memory, I would say speaking is the key. First, pray into the Word that you read. Pray it into you…instead of deliberate memorization. Then speak what touched you to others who will listen or even speak the Word to the creation. But don’t be too concerned about forgetting. Even if you forget the word sanctifies and cleanses you (Eph. 5:26) metabolically like drinking plenty of clean water or healthy food. Thanks for sharing a comment.
Thank you so much for this wonderful encouragement. It was what I needed to hear today, and I praise God for nourishing our spirits with His Word. Thank you, brother, for holding fast to His Truth and for the vision of the hope of His glory that you are spreading to others for His Kingdom! May we worship Him together in spirit and in truth, with all humility. May we never raise ourselves up in arrogance and conceit, for we know that our freedom is in Christ, who humbled Himself for the joy set before Him to the point of death. The Lord Jesus Christ lives!
Glad you enjoyed this article on receiving spiritual vision. May we learn to use our spirit to contact God’s Word in a spirit of prayer so that we may be nourished by it and see what is God’s eternal plan or economy. Such a heavenly vision from God’s word (Acts 26:19) with the Lord as our rich supply gives us real encouragement to pursue toward the goal of God’s calling (Phil. 3:12-14). Thanks for sharing your appreciation in a comment.
Thanks for your encourage words, I believe my life will change
Vision changes us. It directs us to the Lord’s goal. It keeps us from misaiming in our Christian life. Paul said in Acts 26:19, “I was no disobedient to the heavenly vision.” May this be our case as well. And this vision that we need to see is the central vision in the Bible. If you would like a deeper appreciation of this vision, I would recommend a book entitled The Heavenly Vision by Witness Lee. You can freely read it online at ministrybooks.org and thank you for your encouraging comment.
I am very with the God word
So glad you enjoyed the post on how receive more spiritual vision from your coming to God’s Word. We don’t just come for more knowledge, but to see Him and receive Him through His Word.
Tom, what do we do when we have lost our spiritual sight and vision. Like I can’t see with the eyes of my heart right now and it’s been that way for a while. I feel peace in my heart most days but my imagination in the Spirit has gone for now.
God bless you. Thank you.
Jacob,
Our heart, according to the scriptures includes the functions of our mind, emotion, will and conscience. See my post “What is Your Heart According to the Bible and How Can You Exercise It?” Through our personal, dealing prayer with the Lord, we can ask the Lord to adjust us in each inward part so that we can experience the fresh anointing of His Spirit (John 1:7, 9; 2:20, 27). Thanks for reaching out.