Terry Virgo and the Challenge of Faith

"The challenge is to make sure that faith remains faith even when we experience delay. We must not slip the car into neutral and begin to coast. We must keep the gear of faith fully engaged, especially when we encounter unexpected curves in the road".

Terry Virgo - "Faith to inherit – Part 2" - Terry Virgo's Blog - June 15th, 2009

Tom Schreiner on the Spirit and Peter's Trance

"The Spirit's speaking to Peter should not be construed as a private existential experience. The Spirit directed Peter because he was the means to which the Gentiles would hear the Gospel. The point of the story is not the Spirit's private revelation to Peter. The Spirit speaks to Peter so that he will bring the gospel to the nations".

Thomas R Schreiner - "New Testament Theology - Magnifying God in Christ" - Apollos, Nottingham (2008) - (p445-6).

Sam Storms on the Balance in Visions and Dreams

"This is obviously a delicate and important balance for us to maintain. On the one hand, we should not dismiss or diminish the importance of the supernatural and revelatory encounters that God provides for certain of his saints. On the other hand, neither should we elevate them to supreme importance or treat them as if they alone, more so than character and conduct, authenticate the legitimacy of one's calling and ministry from God".

Sam Storms - "Of Visions and Revelations - 2 Corinthians 12:1" - Enjoying God Ministries website - Email - Wednesday, July 23, 2008.

Sam Storms on Visions Edifying the Church

"It simply isn't possible to read Peter and Paul and fail to notice that they believed revelatory gifts and other miraculous phenomena were of great benefit in edifying the body of Christ. It's true, of course, that Paul didn't speak often of his supernatural experiences. However, we should always be careful in drawing unwarranted conclusions about the normative character of an event based on the frequency with which it is mentioned. There is only one occasion where Paul mentions that he himself speaks in tongues (1 Cor. 14:18), yet he obviously spoke in tongues regularly, perhaps on a daily basis in his private devotions (1 Cor. 14:19). In other words, "lack of frequent reference does not necessarily mean lack of frequent experience".

Sam Storms - "Of Visions and Revelations - (2 Corinthians 12:1)" - Enjoying God Ministries website - Email - Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Sam Storms on Visions and Revelations

"Visions and revelations are related but not synonymous. The word "revelation" is the broader term, "visions" being but one of many ways that a revelation might be given to a person. A vision is always seen whereas a revelation might come in the form of an audible voice, an internal impression, an angelic encounter of some sort, a dream, a trance state, or a word or image disclosed to the mind of a believer. Thus whereas all visions are revelations, not all revelations are visions.

Some have actually argued that "visions" and "revelations" are unimportant, perhaps even dangerous, and that they lack the capacity to build up the church or to encourage believers. May I simply remind you that Peter declared on the day of Pentecost, citing Joel's prophecy, that the seeing of "visions" was to be a characteristic feature of the outpouring of the Spirit in the last days, i.e., in the present church age".

Sam Storms - "Of Visions and Revelations - (2 Corinthians 12:1)" - Enjoying God Ministries - Email - Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Dr Lloyd-Jones on Visions in the Spirit

"You and I, it is true, do not know much about visions, and I do not say we should seek them, but there are such things. This old world of ours is a visible, a seen, a material world but there is another world, a spiritual world. Say what you like against the spiritists and I do say that they are wrong but they are right in this respect - they know that there is another realm".

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones - "God's Way Not Ours" - Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh (2003) - (p8).

Ryan Rufus on Dreams

"Joseph took his dreams seriously - that is what unlocked the future".

Ryan Rufus - "Unlocking Your Ability To Hear God Through Dreams" - City Church International, Hong Kong - 23rd December 2007.