Recently in my listening time with the Lord I’ve been asking him to show me things by my visionary faculties. Here’s a little object lesson he gave me that may encourage you in your gifting.

Heavenly Father, I plead the blood of Jesus over my eyes, my spiritual vision. And I ask you, Lord, not only to speak, but I pray that you would show me. Lord, you said one time that just as I listened for your voice, I could look and see that which you show me. So I’m asking, Lord, that you would show me something, whether it’s here in the room or whether it’s inside. Show me and then converse with me about it.

I’m seeing a big pot of what looks like coffee beans. A bowl or a pot of dark brown coffee beans. Whole beans.

What does this mean, Lord? Is there anything else that you want me to see? Let me focus on what I saw…

I’m just seeing the coffee beans. They’re very rich. Fragrant.

Lord, what would you have me to know about this? What would you say to me about this?

As you see the beans and you know that it is coffee, and you know what it is used for, you can smell its aroma. You can anticipate tasting the brew made from these beans. But they are not yet in the form which you may make use of them.

I am showing you raw materials from which you may derive something useful and enjoyable. You must take these beans and you must grind them, and put them in a state where they can be used to create coffee.

And how does this apply to my life now?

I will show you many things. I will give you the raw materials. I will give you opportunity. I will provide the resources that you need, but you must meditate upon these things. You must grind them. You must put them to use. You must combine them with your work and your effort before they can be used to produce something you enjoy.

Know that I will be with you and that I will help you understand that which I show you. Know that I will teach you how to process that which I reveal to you. As Jeremiah had his eyes opened and corresponded with me, I will correspond with you and teach you what I am showing you and deliver to you the word of the Lord.

Thank you, Lord. Is there anything else that you would have to say to me?

I am calling you up higher. See that you keep your mind staid and fixed upon me, for I have many visions to show you. I desire that you enter into my presence and that you fix your eyes on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Look to me. Call upon me. Converse with me. Look again. Look deeper. And I will open your eyes, and I will speak to you.

–Lee Allen Howard