Silas
Beloved of All
Your desire to follow God's leading rather than just your own personal goals is a good and right desire, and God honors that heart.
The verse you mentioned is often understood as speaking about personal dreams or goals, but in its context it means something deeper. Where there is no revelation from God, no word from Him to guide and restrain His people, the people cast off restraint and wander. The vision there is not a picture of your own future that you create, but God's revealed truth and direction given to keep His people on His path. So the greatest safeguard against merely following your own plans is not seeking an experience, but staying anchored in what God has already revealed in Scripture and seeking to know Jesus Christ as Lord and King.
In the Bible, dreams and visions are closely related. A dream comes in sleep, a vision comes while a person is awake and conscious, but both are ways God at times opens a person's eyes to see into the spiritual realm that is normally unseen. That realm is not bound by time or space as we are, which is why in a vision someone can be shown things past, present, or future, or things happening in another place, as though they were happening before their eyes. We see this when Paul was shown a man pleading for help and then understood God was calling him to preach the gospel in that region, when Daniel was shown empires and events far into the future, when John was taken in the Spirit and shown what would take place, and when Obadiah received a word concerning judgment. In each case the vision was given by God in His timing for His purpose.
It is also important to know that God does not lead everyone in the same way. Scripture shows that many who faithfully followed the Lord never received a vision or an angelic visitation. Sometimes God's call and guidance comes as a deep, abiding desire He places in the heart, a settled urge to serve Him and walk in His will. God is sovereign and His purposes will stand. What He has purposed He will fulfill, and His hand will accomplish it. Our part is to be willing and obedient to however He chooses to lead, whether through a clear vision, through the quiet leading of His Spirit as we pray and read His Word, through counsel, or through open and closed doors.
So do not feel that you must have a vision to be sure you are following God, and do not seek the vision itself more than you seek the One who gives it. Be open to whatever way He wants to speak, but make your primary pursuit to know Christ, to walk in His Word, and to say yes to what He already has shown you. If He chooses to give you a dream or vision with true spiritual significance, you will know it is from Him, but even without that, He is able to make His will clear as you trust Him day by day.
Praying for you now that the Lord will give you wisdom and clarity. May He fill you with a love for His Word, give you a heart that is sensitive to His Spirit, and guide your steps according to His eternal purpose in Christ. May He guard you from simply chasing your own plans and draw you into a deeper fellowship with Jesus, so that loving Him and living for Him now, you will continue to do so forever. May He make His direction plain to you in the way He knows is best, and give you peace and assurance that as you seek Him, He will faithfully lead you. In Jesus name, amen.
The verse you mentioned is often understood as speaking about personal dreams or goals, but in its context it means something deeper. Where there is no revelation from God, no word from Him to guide and restrain His people, the people cast off restraint and wander. The vision there is not a picture of your own future that you create, but God's revealed truth and direction given to keep His people on His path. So the greatest safeguard against merely following your own plans is not seeking an experience, but staying anchored in what God has already revealed in Scripture and seeking to know Jesus Christ as Lord and King.
In the Bible, dreams and visions are closely related. A dream comes in sleep, a vision comes while a person is awake and conscious, but both are ways God at times opens a person's eyes to see into the spiritual realm that is normally unseen. That realm is not bound by time or space as we are, which is why in a vision someone can be shown things past, present, or future, or things happening in another place, as though they were happening before their eyes. We see this when Paul was shown a man pleading for help and then understood God was calling him to preach the gospel in that region, when Daniel was shown empires and events far into the future, when John was taken in the Spirit and shown what would take place, and when Obadiah received a word concerning judgment. In each case the vision was given by God in His timing for His purpose.
It is also important to know that God does not lead everyone in the same way. Scripture shows that many who faithfully followed the Lord never received a vision or an angelic visitation. Sometimes God's call and guidance comes as a deep, abiding desire He places in the heart, a settled urge to serve Him and walk in His will. God is sovereign and His purposes will stand. What He has purposed He will fulfill, and His hand will accomplish it. Our part is to be willing and obedient to however He chooses to lead, whether through a clear vision, through the quiet leading of His Spirit as we pray and read His Word, through counsel, or through open and closed doors.
So do not feel that you must have a vision to be sure you are following God, and do not seek the vision itself more than you seek the One who gives it. Be open to whatever way He wants to speak, but make your primary pursuit to know Christ, to walk in His Word, and to say yes to what He already has shown you. If He chooses to give you a dream or vision with true spiritual significance, you will know it is from Him, but even without that, He is able to make His will clear as you trust Him day by day.
Praying for you now that the Lord will give you wisdom and clarity. May He fill you with a love for His Word, give you a heart that is sensitive to His Spirit, and guide your steps according to His eternal purpose in Christ. May He guard you from simply chasing your own plans and draw you into a deeper fellowship with Jesus, so that loving Him and living for Him now, you will continue to do so forever. May He make His direction plain to you in the way He knows is best, and give you peace and assurance that as you seek Him, He will faithfully lead you. In Jesus name, amen.
