Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer reflects a sincere desire to hear the Lord and to stay anchored in His Word, and that is the right place to begin. As you quoted, we are to look to the law and to the testimony, Isaiah 8:20, and we can thank God with confidence that Jesus lives to intercede for those who come to God through Him, Hebrews 7:25 and Romans 8:34.
Scripture shows that God has spoken in many different ways. At various times He spoke to His people through dreams and through visions. Joseph was warned in a dream to protect the child Jesus, the wise men were warned in a dream, and men like Daniel and Zechariah received visions in the night. The prophet Joel promised that in the last days God would pour out His Spirit and that sons and daughters would prophesy and young men would see visions and old men would dream dreams. For that reason we can remain open. God is not limited, His arm is not shortened that He cannot save, Numbers 11:23 and Isaiah 59:1, and nothing is impossible with Him, Luke 1:37 and Mark 10:27.
At the same time the Bible teaches us to be careful and discerning. Dreams and visions in Scripture are often disjointed and symbolic, and they needed an interpretation that only God could give. Where God gave the interpretation, the meaning was clear. Where He did not, people could only guess. That is why we test everything by the written Word. There is a consistency in how God uses symbols, the field as the world, the seed as the Word, oil as a picture of the Holy Spirit, birds often in a negative sense, and so on, but we should not force a meaning where God has not made it plain. Even faithful men found some visions hard and strange until the Lord explained them.
This helps us keep a balanced walk. The ordinary and sure ways God speaks today are through Scripture itself, through faithful preaching of that Word, through godly counsel according to Proverbs 11:14, through the leading of the Holy Spirit, Romans 8:14, and through the Shepherd's voice that His sheep learn to recognize, John 10:27. If in His wisdom He also chooses to encourage or warn through a dream or a vision, we can receive it with thanksgiving and test it by Scripture, but we do not need to demand extraordinary signs or seek signs in the heavens for their own sake. Jesus warned that great signs can deceive if we are not grounded, and Scripture warns about those who claim revelations for money or for influence. True guidance will never contradict the Bible and will always point to Christ.
So for you, your wife, your children, your family, friends and those who pray and minister alongside you, the prayer is that you would continue to seek Him first in His Word, be open to however He chooses to lead, and yet keep His Word as the lamp for every impression, dream or counsel. May the Lord keep you all from temptation, from lies and fear, from deception and from the evil one, as you asked from Luke 11:4, Matthew 6:13, John 17:15 and 2 Thessalonians 3:3. May you bring every request to Him with thanksgiving and know the peace that passes understanding, Philippians 4:6-7, trusting that light is stronger than darkness, John 1:5, and that no purpose of God can be thwarted, Job 42:2. We ask this in the name of Jesus, who is the faithful witness and in whom all the promises of God are Yes, 2 Corinthians 1:20, Amen.
Scripture shows that God has spoken in many different ways. At various times He spoke to His people through dreams and through visions. Joseph was warned in a dream to protect the child Jesus, the wise men were warned in a dream, and men like Daniel and Zechariah received visions in the night. The prophet Joel promised that in the last days God would pour out His Spirit and that sons and daughters would prophesy and young men would see visions and old men would dream dreams. For that reason we can remain open. God is not limited, His arm is not shortened that He cannot save, Numbers 11:23 and Isaiah 59:1, and nothing is impossible with Him, Luke 1:37 and Mark 10:27.
At the same time the Bible teaches us to be careful and discerning. Dreams and visions in Scripture are often disjointed and symbolic, and they needed an interpretation that only God could give. Where God gave the interpretation, the meaning was clear. Where He did not, people could only guess. That is why we test everything by the written Word. There is a consistency in how God uses symbols, the field as the world, the seed as the Word, oil as a picture of the Holy Spirit, birds often in a negative sense, and so on, but we should not force a meaning where God has not made it plain. Even faithful men found some visions hard and strange until the Lord explained them.
This helps us keep a balanced walk. The ordinary and sure ways God speaks today are through Scripture itself, through faithful preaching of that Word, through godly counsel according to Proverbs 11:14, through the leading of the Holy Spirit, Romans 8:14, and through the Shepherd's voice that His sheep learn to recognize, John 10:27. If in His wisdom He also chooses to encourage or warn through a dream or a vision, we can receive it with thanksgiving and test it by Scripture, but we do not need to demand extraordinary signs or seek signs in the heavens for their own sake. Jesus warned that great signs can deceive if we are not grounded, and Scripture warns about those who claim revelations for money or for influence. True guidance will never contradict the Bible and will always point to Christ.
So for you, your wife, your children, your family, friends and those who pray and minister alongside you, the prayer is that you would continue to seek Him first in His Word, be open to however He chooses to lead, and yet keep His Word as the lamp for every impression, dream or counsel. May the Lord keep you all from temptation, from lies and fear, from deception and from the evil one, as you asked from Luke 11:4, Matthew 6:13, John 17:15 and 2 Thessalonians 3:3. May you bring every request to Him with thanksgiving and know the peace that passes understanding, Philippians 4:6-7, trusting that light is stronger than darkness, John 1:5, and that no purpose of God can be thwarted, Job 42:2. We ask this in the name of Jesus, who is the faithful witness and in whom all the promises of God are Yes, 2 Corinthians 1:20, Amen.
