Discerning Visions, Dreams & Symbols: How to Hear God Through His Prophetic Language

I have often asked the Holy Spirit, “Why do we see in visions, dreams, symbols, and the like?

How is it that You don’t just tell me plainly, much like a friend would tell someone about an event they have seen or that is upcoming?” One day He answered me on this issue.

Why Visions, Dreams, Symbols, and the Like?

What dropped into my heart surprised me. I knew it was God’s Voice when He answered. It was a simple yet straightforward answer—“I want to be pursued.” The word came to me that plain—God wants to be pursued. It was that simple! Such a basic but profound revelation it was to me that He loves it when people seek Him. To seek Him is to seek His will, and He is a relational God.

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter (Proverbs 25:2).

The Scope of Encounters

The supernatural is an interesting space that is more real than this natural world; in understanding that, we will look at a few strange happenings, mysterious encounters, entities, and revelatory experiences and under- stand that they are all part of the spectrum in prophetic reality. However, we must determine case by case where each moment falls in the scope of encounters. We are going to take a look at many of the issues you may have heard of or even experienced and talk about them in a relatable way.

Although we will by no means cover the entire scope of encounters and experiences, we will offer thought and insight into some. I desire that you have a purposeful consideration as you see encounters through a biblical lens as a takeaway regarding what to do as encounters and situations present themselves, which are not mentioned in this book. Remember this—the answer is always the same. Surrender to Jesus, which means surrender to His Word.

And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets (1 Corinthians 14:32).

As we explore some unique encounters and prophetic experiences, remember the scripture from 1 Corinthians 14:32, “The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.” Prophets should be subject to the voice of other prophets and able to control their vessel.

Controlling oneself and the gift of prophecy (including wild physical manifestations) is always in your ability. Are there exceptions? Yes. The Holy Spirit may invade a surrendered vessel’s space, similar to how John the Revelator experienced the apocalypse. His experience resulted in writing down some of the most dramatic revelations the world has ever been exposed to. However, God is not the author of confusion, nor is He giving people complicated gifts that do not draw people closer to the Word of God and Christ Jesus the Son.

Crucial

What we are about to talk about is crucial to anyone venturing into the realm of prophecy or any spiritual encounter. You are responsible for managing yourself and holding command of the gift God has entrusted you with—you are also to biblically wield prophecy or any power gift God has entrusted you. Remember, if you find yourself resonating with encounters as we look at them or have an unction to step out in prophecy, stay with the Bible, be honorable, have class, don’t over-dramatize, and when in doubt, use people skills!

Encounters are subjective in that they are difficult to quantify for those hearing and trying to understand as an outsider looking in. This is also why deception is so rampant in the prophecy space. Because anyone can simply say, I have had a vision. I just went to heaven, or an angel just spoke to me, etc.

The Lord has given us His Word as the absolute standard and a powerful source for accuracy and propelling legitimate prophetic ministry to a heightened position.

God’s Written Word is a Place of Rest

Remember that God’s written Word is a place of rest for your heart! When you receive the Word of God by faith, it creates a sense of ease, and you will be able to cease your striving and start flowing. As a result, this is what you will convey to others—a flow, a sense of ease and peace rather than tension. Safety is found in His Words of life, and He will never violate what He has said.

Here and now, before we venture into some of the strange and mysterious aspects of prophecy and the supernatural, remember your foundation must be on God’s written Word. As it will keep your heart safe in that place of rest—stay safe, dear reader.

Unique Supernatural Encounters

I’m about to go into an arena that is sensitive to talk about but happens to believers and unbelievers alike.

I have experienced many unique encounters over the years but have learned to stand on the Word of God and refuse to go beyond what is written. If the Scripture doesn’t support a thing, then teaching it should be avoided altogether. The following is a sampling of what sensitive people can and sometimes experience.

Remember, it doesn’t matter what the experience might be—the Word of God is your final authority. It must be, or subjective conjecture about what is legitimate becomes based on how someone “feels” about the event.

It is imperative that you know you can control your experiences. This is a highly important truth to be understood regardless of what you might think or what others have taught you. Controlling yourself is required to become mature in the prophetic.

Following is a number of experiential occasions that happen more to those who are prophetically inclined. This is, of course, a partial scope of encounters or experiences. Yet we must acknowledge the unique encounters so many seem to have. We will look at a list of encounters or simple explanations. Let’s begin.

Symbolism, Signs, and Strange Encounters

I have chosen to list many things I have encountered and have had others come to me about over the years. The terminology for some of these experiences and events is words I utilize to label and explain some of these experiences.

Traffic

To another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:10).

Traffic is a term we have used for many years. It is a word we use to describe recurring experiences and encounters with the unseen. It is typically in reference to supernatural, emotionally impacting data that happens when in the proximity of people, events, or even when there are conversations pertinent to you or something you are picking up on about a person, place, or thing.

I have come to believe traffic is a heightened level of discerning of spirits as listed in 1 Corinthians 12:10. The Greek word for “discern” is diákrisis which means to distinguish, decide, or judge.

Defining Traffic

Traffic is emotional and informational data. In my experience, it is a “ripple effect” of either information within a person or a precursor to a prophetic encounter due to an event about to take place or an event that has already happened. It is the gift of discernment arbitrarily picking up on unseen movement in the form of words, actions, and intentions.

At times traffic in the negative sense works this way. Imagine if someone was yelling in your face, saying the meanest and harshest things, and telling you heart-wrenching information. You likely can imagine the feeling to a degree of what I’m describing. Now remove the data, the words, and any logical connection to what was said. All that remains is the sensation on the inside. You now understand what I call traffic.

One of the best ways to navigate traffic you don’t understand or where it is coming from is to pray out loud, speak the Word of God out loud in faith, and press in by speaking in tongues. Spending time in the Spirit by speaking in tongues will help you discern and lessen the negative effects of traffic.

Traffic is not something you look for but something you walk into—like the wind. Traffic is being exposed to random data. It can be emotions or feelings—not always read right or interpreted accurately, by the way. Something emotional or informational that comes from seemingly nowhere.

Having been in situations when emotion overcame me leads me to believe that Jesus may have been so moved for the people involved with Lazarus and for Lazarus himself, it drove Him not to cry, but to weep. It is very possible that Jesus could feel their pain. Potentially, the most extreme form of traffic Jesus encountered was manifested in the sweating of blood (see Luke 22:44).

This term, traffic, which is in the scope of discerning spirits, encounters the semi-unknown. It can predicate an encounter, either good or bad. It is an elusive experience, yet very real. A person who is sensitive to the things of the spirit and not full of the Word of God might feel like a bystander—it’s not something you are looking for, but rather a sensory encounter induced by people or events.

Déjà vu

Déjà vu is a French term meaning already seen. Déjà vu is that sensation of familiarity or the sense that you have been in a particular situation before. It varies in intensity and the depth of familiarity it provides. For one person it may relate to what they are currently experiencing. Another individual might see or sense much more, to the point of names and moments they can call right before they happen.

When I attended university, studying psychology, déjà vu was one of the things we learned. It caused me to take somewhat of a deeper interest in it, primarily due to the fact that I have experienced intense moments of déjà vu. My takeaway from studying and experiencing it led me to believe there are two aspects to it. One purely natural, the other and a far less common experience touches the prophetic realm.

Let’s look at the natural explanation through the lens of what certain psychoanalysts say. Some attribute déjà vu to wishful thinking; some psychiatrists cite mismatching in the brain, causing us to mistake the present for the past.

Some researchers offer speculation that déjà vu is an occurrence of a mismatch in the brain during its continual attempt to gather data and create a perception of what is around it, having only a limited amount of input.

Researchers also refer to your memory and how it only requires small bits of sensory information (such as a familiar smell) to bring forth a detailed mental recollection of an event or moment in your life. Some believe déjà vu is a “mix-up” between sensory input and memory-recalling output.

Another related theory states that déjà vu is a fleeting malfunctioning between the long and short-term circuits in the brain. Researchers postulate that the information we take in from our surroundings may “leak out” and incorrectly shortcut its way from short to long-term memory, bypassing typical storage transfer mechanisms. When a new moment is experienced—which is currently in our short-term memory—it feels as though we’re drawing upon some memory from our distant past.

A similar hypothesis suggests that déjà vu is an error in timing. At the same time we perceive a moment, there is a parallel release of sensory information that may simultaneously be re-routing its way to our brain’s long-term storage. This causes a delay and, perhaps, the unsettling feeling we’ve experienced the moment before.

One characteristic is common to all déjà vu experiences: we are completely conscious that they are occurring, implying that participation of the entire brain is unnecessary to produce the phenomenon.

Over the years, researchers have pinpointed disturbances of the medial temporal lobe as the culprit behind déjà vu. Studies of epileptic patients investigated via intracerebral electrodes demonstrate that stimulation of the rhinal cortex (such as the entorhinal and perirhinal cortices—structures involved in episodic memory and sensory processing) can actually induce a déjà vu episode.

A study published in an issue of Clinical Neurophysiology analyzed the patterns of electroencephalography (EEG) signals from the rhinal cortices, hippocampus (involved in memory formation), and amygdala (involved in emotion) in epileptic patients for whom déjà vu could be induced by electrical stimulation.

The researchers found that synchronized neural firing between the rhinal cortices and the hippocampus or amygdala was increased in stimulations that induced déjà vu. This suggests that some sort of coincident occurrence in medial temporal lobe structures may “trigger” activation of the recollection system.

There may be additional theories that researchers and professionals postulate over. What can be taken away is that there is a natural phenomenon involving your brain’s perception and memory which gives many this sensation known as déjà vu.

The Prophetic Side of Déjà Vu

The other side of déjà vu may have much more to do with the prophetic spectrum. This would be in the sensory prediction category. It could be that, at times, you walk into a setting, and suddenly you are reminded of a dream or vision. Sometimes it can be much more involved, such as a familiar event begins to play out in front of you. Only you know what will happen next, like a film you have seen before plays out before you. It’s as if you know the lines, the setting, and who will arrive, as well as knowledge of what will happen following each moment. This can last a few brief seconds or a minute. It is my opinion that this is within the realm of prophetic visions, dreams, and word of knowledge.

Sensory Issues

And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?” When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’” But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me” (Luke 8:45-46).

Sensory issues are interesting. Mainly because they are subjective, I will try and explain this for the sake of helping someone. One of the only reasons I bring this issue out is because, on more than one occasion, when talking to prophetic people, this is part of the way their prophetic gift works.

Here is what I mean. Sometimes, there are moments when a person touches me, and that information will come to me about them—their life, past emotional issues, good, bad, and the ugly. An example of this is when I had a minor outpatient surgical procedure that required a little scalpel cut followed by a few stitches. I couldn’t move, and thankfully, Heather was with me.

When the doctor placed her hand on me around the halfway point of the procedure, I had a flash vision of this person’s life. I calmly said, “Oh, I see you play piano during the holidays.” She said, “Well, yes, I do,” and I proceeded to see and say things in detail about her life. Because of the proximity and close quarters of the doctor, it was like seeing into this person’s life.

I only shared a few things when this doctor began coughing violently and manifesting a demon! This is before I was to be stitched up! Meaning there was blood starting to roll as she coughed. Heather spoke up, saying, “Um, um, are you okay?” to the doctor, and the situation got worse until we prayed for peace in the scenario. Immediately the doctor was able to rush back over to me and finish.

Another time, I was having a routine blood draw, and with the needle in my arm, I saw something about the nurse who was holding my arm, and she burst into tears, which caused me a fair amount of pain! While Heather was hugging her, the nurse received a breakthrough in getting to know Jesus because of the prophetic moment.

Heather said to me, “Next time, wait until after the medical procedure before saying what you see!” Today, I take Heather’s advice!

My point in sharing these two stories is that there is a point of contact that draws on a certain spectrum of prophetic people.

Signs, Prophetic Symbolism, Numbers, etc.

Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds (2 Corinthians 12:12).

There is a level of subjective interpretation in the area of signs and wonders. Spiritual encounters can have a unique perception based on the recipient’s position. This applies to nearly all signs, wonders, prophetic symbolism, and numbers you see repeatedly or even wake up to in the middle of the night.

Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to Him” (John 12:29).

A great example is in John 12:29, where we recognize that some thought it thundered, and others said, an angel has spoken. This was the perception of those near the audible Voice of God. Jesus replied in the following verse by saying, “This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake” (John 12:30). Interesting that the words were to affirm Jesus; however, the real purpose was for the sake of those around Him!

Yet even with the sign directly from God, the perception was not all the same.

So what is a sign? One way to describe a sign would be to call it a marked event, token, or miracle with a spiritual end and purpose. Signs are miracles that lead to something out of and beyond themselves, like the fingermarks of God. Signs are not valuable for what they are or the scene they might make—but their purpose is for what they indicate.