#2 Hearing and Seeing Through Impressions
Impressions
An impression is simply a feeling, or just what is sometimes called knowing by the Spirit. There was a disturbing teaching from some to the Gentiles, telling them that unless they were circumcised according to the law, they could not be saved. When the apostles met in Jerusalem about this, they came to an agreement. And how did they come to this simple agreement? In the letter they wrote to the new believers and said, “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials…” (Acts 15:28-29) The word “seemed” also means think or thought. So another way to say this could be that “the Holy Spirit and us thought it to be good. Thy knew that their thoughts were in agreement with Holy Spirit.
I personally believe this is one of the most common ways the Holy Spirit leads us. One time my wife said that she felt we should go to a town to visit someone we knew there. We had no reason to go, it was late in the day, the road was terrible and it was going to get dark soon so it was actually not advisable to go at that time. But when she said that to me, I also felt that perhaps we should go, so we did. We arrived and visited for a while, and couldn’t find any reason we had made the trip, until we were on the way home. I stopped at a certain place and a man came up to us, who was very angry and from his words had perhaps a clear plan of coming against the person we had just visited. It was a very serious situation, and as usual here, they involve in what they call juju. Which is a form of witchcraft. So now we knew why the Lord had us go there. We were able to take this thing in prayer as well as call the person who was in this danger to alert her.
A couple of years back, we had drilled two boreholes in a Muslim and idol worshipping village, that were totally dry. I was about fourteen hours’ drive from that village, on the phone with the driller in charge. As we spoke on the phone, I told him. Please, with the pastor from the other village, and with the only man in this village who says he is a Christian, join in prayer, ask the Lord to help you find water, I believe with all my heart that the Lord will give you water. The pastor had gone already so he joint with the only man who said he was a Christian, and they prayed. And they found a real good source of water. When we came for the well dedication, the whole community was there. And the driller was there. He told us and pointed to a tree and said, we stood under that tree, held hands and prayed. Then we went drilling. So the whole community heard this testimony and some had also witnessed every step through it. Now we have a wonderful church there. So why was I so confident that they would find water? The only thing I can say is that I knew by the Spirit. I had the impression, and it was in deed from the Lord.
