The following notes are not intended to be comprehensive but connect my stories about states of consciousness to passages in the Bible that speak to those different conditions of the mind.

Habakkuk 2:1-4 speaks to the idea of visions and words from God being normal to people of faith who struggle with problems. He prepares himself in four steps. provides some specific and useful guidelines for the prophet that are enlarged by the voice of the Lord that he hears:

“I will stand at my watchpost (1), and station myself on the rampart (2); I will keep watch (3) to see what he will say to me (4), and what he will answer concerning my complaint. Then the LORD answered me and said: Write the vision (1) ; make it plain on tablets (2), so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time (3); it speaks of the end [i.e., “outcome”] (4), and does not lie (5). If it seems to tarry (6), wait for it (7); it will surely come (8), it will not delay. Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them (9), but the righteous live by their faith (10).” [emphasis and numbering mine]

Key to my numbers:
Habakkuk uses the metaphor of a warrior who has the responsibility of guarding the city or temple from a vantage point on the ramparts. (1) He is disciplined in prayer. (2) He “shows up” regularly to bring his questions to God in a faithful and responsible frame of mind. He expects God to answer his questions. (3) He can both see God’s messages in visions and (4) hear God’s voice.
God’s answers come to him about how to receive the gifts God wants to give him — a prophetic vision or word is not “giftedness” by the prophet but something that comes from beyond the prophet as a “gift” from God. That gift is not for the prophet alone but is meant for others, too. Thus, (1) it should be recorded so plainly that (2) a person running with it can see or hear it clearly. (3) Write it down because it applies to a specific event in future time and you want to be able to prove you knew this ahead of time. (4) You want the record because it is a specific answer to a particular request or need. (5) You want the record of proof of the veracity of this whole process. (6) The vision may not be fulfilled immediately. It may speak of an event much further in the future than you imagine when you receive it. (7) Don’t be impatient or discard the vision or word. Keep your mind open to the fulfillment of what you have seen or heard. (7) Valid prophecies always come true at some point in time. (8) When the prophecy is realized, you will see that it was precisely “on time.” (9) You can tell the difference between people who are proud of their own abilities and who lack a spirit of openness to God and others who are righteous. (10) The righteous are identified by their openness to God and their trust in Him, which is rewarded by the way God responds to their faith and leads them: they live by faith.

Joel’s prophecy (Joel 2: 28-9) assures the people of Israel that after a time of tribulation and repentance God will restore them to full functioning. God says:

I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

On the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out on Jesus’s disciples so that they ran from their seclusion in an upper room, out onto the street, speaking in tongues, Peter began his sermon with the part of Joel’s prophecy quoted above. Prophetic words, visions, and visionary dreams are a normal part of a life open to God. Even King Saul, that problematical first king of Israel, prophesied among a procession of prophets (1 Samuel 10: 5–7. Luke refers in passing to staying with Paul “at the home of Phillip the evangelist, one of the Seven. He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied” (Acts 21: 8–9).

Women on both sides of my family spoke and wrote about their visions—my father’s Great Aunt Frances Mohun in England, my maternal grandmother Victoire Clement in Quebec, and my mother Marie Clement Mohun in Ontario. When I was a child, stories about these sorts of events frightened me. As I learned more about God’s love my fear gradually turned into awe and gratitude. I had thought that visions were rare and unusual experiences but I have come to realize they are common phenomena. Each of our five children has received and shared prophetic visions and dream visions.

We live in an age where people are interested in dreams and visions but less interested, sometimes, in where those dreams and visions originate. As we study the scriptures in order to “show ourselves approved unto [by] God” we are co-operating with His building of foundations of right-thinking in us. In the Bible, we find teaching and examples to compare with our own so that we become wiser about “rightly dividing the word of truth” regarding our own experiences of prophetic words, dreams, and visions, and our own imagination and memory—as “workmen that needeth not to be ashamed” (Timothy 2: 15, King James Version).

Biblical References to Prophecy through Visions and Dreams
Biblical prototypes for the dreams, visions, and other kinds of mental images presented in this website may be found in the following passages:

Ordinary Dreams
Psalm 126: 1 “When the Lord brought back the captives to Zion we were like men who dreamed”; Isaiah 29: 6–8 “Then the hoards . . . that attack her . . . will be as it is with a dream, with a vision in the night,—as when a hungry man dreams that he is eating; but he awakens and his hunger remains . . . .”

False Prophecy
It is essential to discern the difference between true and false prophecy, in respect to dreams and other prophecies. Jeremiah 23: 25–39; 1 John 4: 1–3.

Symbolic Visions
The four winged creatures and their accompanying wheels (Ezekiel 1: 4–21, Revelation 4: 6–8), the woman dressed in purple and scarlet sitting on the scarlet beast (Revelation 17), and, in particular, the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Revelation present many visions with symbols.

Premonitions
The dreams of Joseph (Genesis 37: 5) and the Cupbearer and Baker (Genesis 40: 8-23); Jesus’s prophesy of His own death and resurrection on the third day (Luke 9: 22, 9: 44,18: 32–33) and of Peter’s triple denial (Matthew 21: 26–35, 69–75; 26: 31–32); Agabus’s warning to Paul (Acts 8: 10–11); the Ephesians at the time of Paul’s farewell to them (Acts 20: 25).

Introspections
We are asked to be honest about ourselves. Psalm 26: 2–3 “Test me O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind . . .”; Ps 32: 2 “Blessed is the man . . . in whose spirit is no deceit.” Psalm 119; Luke 6: 41–42 “Why look at the speck in your brother’s eye when you miss the plank in your own?”

Layered Prophecy
Isaiah 48: 14–15, which speaks both of the righteous Babylonian King Cyrus, who will free God’s chosen people and foretells of Jesus, who will free them from the bondage of their sins; Isaiah 52: 13-53: 12 The Suffering Servant and Zechariah 12: 10 and 13: 7-9 “The Shepherd struck, the sheep scattered” both refer in the near future to the leaders of the rebuilding of the temple, but anticipate Jesus, how He would be treated, and what He would accomplish through His suffering; as well as how the disciples of Jesus would react at first to His crucifixion. Biblical prophecies frequently are used by the Holy Spirit to speak to us about immediate problems in our contemporary lives.

Warning Dreams and Prophecies
The dream of Pharaoh (Genesis 41); the discernment of the Christians on Cyprus regarding Paul (Acts 21: 4).

Prophecy and Visions about Persons
The angelic prophecy to Hagar about her descendants and about Ishmael (Genesis 16: 7–14); Isaiah’s foretelling of the Messiah (Isaiah 9, 11); Samuel foresees the coming of Saul (1 Samuel 9: 15–16); the angelic prophecy received by Zechariah concerning his son John’s destiny as the forerunner (Luke 1: 11–20); the angelic annunciation to Mary about her conception and motherhood of Jesus (Luke 1: 26–38); Simeon’s recognition of the destiny of the infant Jesus and warning to Mary of her future suffering (Luke 2: 28–35); possibly Jesus’s seeing of Nathaniel under the fig tree when he assures Nathaniel that he himself will see visions (John 1: 47–51); Cornelius’s daytime vision in Caesarea about Saul/Paul (Acts 10: 1–7).

Prophetic Visions about Places
Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones signifying the community of exiled Jews in Babylon will be returned to the land of Israel (Ezekiel 37); Jesus foresees the destruction of the Temple (Matthew 24: 1–2); Paul has a dream (“one night”) vision of a man from Macedonia and realizes that Macedonia must be his next destination to spread the Gospel (Acts 16: 9–10).

Creative Imaging
The Song of Songs by Solomon 2: 1–17, depicting the love of God for His people Israel in terms of the mutual delight of deeply committed human lovers; Ecclesiastes 12: 1–7, on the physiology of aging.

Warning and Rescue Visions
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the tree being cut down, but not uprooted signifying the threat to his kingdom of his oncoming illness (Daniel 4); Joseph’s angelic dream to accept Mary (Matthew 1: 20) and to remove Mary and Jesus to Egypt (Matthew 2: 13–18); the dreams of the Magi not to return to Herod (Matthew 2: 12); Pilate’s wife’s dream about Jesus being a “holy man,” a warning he took the wrong way and failed to rescue Jesus (Matthew 27: 19).

Prophetic Words and Visions of Comfort
Isaiah’s prophesy to Hezekiah (Isaiah 38); Stephen’s vision of Jesus at the right hand of God (Acts 7: 55)

Admonition Visions, Teachings
Peter’s noontime vision regarding food forbidden under Jewish law becoming acceptable under the new dispensation (Acts 10: 9–20

Shared Visions
The Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17: 1–9) where Peter, James, and John witness the appearance of Moses and Elijah with Jesus.

Prophecies do not fall into discrete or separate categories as the above list may seem to suggest. The categories are a convenience for understanding and should not be considered definitive. Most often, a prophecy will simultaneously teach, warn, predict, and provide an ongoing message from God to succeeding generations—it will provide multiple layers of applicability:

For just as from the heavens
            the rain and snow come down
And do not return there
            till they have watered the earth,
            making it fertile and fruitful,
Giving seed to him who sows
            and bread to him who eats.
So shall my word be
            that goes forth from my mouth
It shall not return to me void,
            but shall do my will,
                        achieving the end for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55: 10–11)