(From May 10, 2013)

To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

1 Timothy 1:17

This might seem pretty far-fetched to some of you (perhaps you’ve already found that to be  true of my previous posts), but it’s true. When I was newly saved and hardly knew a thing about the Bible or what it meant to be a Christian, I used to wake up every morning to the sound of a multitude of angelic voices singing the name, “Jesus”, over and over again in a beautiful blend of what seemed like thousands of different harmonic tones and varying but complimentary intervals. It’s difficult to describe in words what that experience was like. I would awake each morning and lay there in awe listening to this wonderful praise and worship and wondering if the sound was actually audible outside of me or whether it was a spiritual and inward sound that only I could hear. It was so beautiful and so stirring that I didn’t want to interrupt it by getting up.

I wish I could say that I still wake up to angelic voices every day, but I don’t. I have, however, heard a similar, distinctly heavenly, harmonic sound on a few other occasions where I’ve been in large crowds of people worshipping the Lord Jesus and singing in the Spirit (using the gift of tongues).

But, this morning, I woke to the sound of Jesus’ voice. He was speaking to me in long melodic tones that carried the supernatural power to charge me with energy, and to re-create and transform me. He was not speaking in words that I could understand, but in sounds that I can only describe as resembling the beautiful sound of water flowing over stones in a brook. They were loud sounds and powerful sounds; they instilled a deep abiding peace in me – but not just peace, a sense of being totally and completely safe.

As I was coming awake to the sound of His voice, I could see Jesus from the chest up. It was as if He had visited me in order to speak something over me or to me. I was thankful. and filled with a sense of awe and with gratitude that I truly am able to hear and discern His voice – even if my human mind didn’t understand what it was that He was saying.

There was still time to doze a while before my alarm was due to go off, so I luxuriated in the abiding sense of peace I’d been given and drifted off to sleep again. I woke up a few minutes later with a whole different feeling. I’d been hearing another voice, one that was pointing out all of the things I needed to deal with or worry about in my life today. I saw a chart or a list, it had words on it and was marked with underlining and circles etc. It was meant to show me plainly everything that was wrong, or not quite right, with me, and in my life. This time, the voice that awakened me caused me to feel stressed and not good enough. Of course I recognized it as the voice of the enemy of my soul, who does not want me to rest in the peace of God or to trust in His love.

I thanked God for giving me the gift of discernment. For the ability to know Jesus’ voice when I hear it and distinguish it from the enemy’s voice. There are many people who hear that voice that tells them everything they are doing wrong and believe it is the voice of God. That makes me feel very sad.

In Revelation 1, the apostle John records an encounter he had with the ascended Jesus. What he sees is not like any earthly man, and John describes His voice as being “like the roar of many waters”. As I read the description of the ascended Christ in Revelation 1, I remembered that just a few days ago I saw a similar vision of Jesus as I was sitting alone, just seeking His face.  I wrote about it in my journal: “I saw a vision of His face I’ve never seen before. It was the face of a cosmic being. His hair was brilliant white and glowing, and it stretched out from His head like living tentacles. His face shone with brilliant white light and His eyes were intense. Then I realized that half of His face was hidden from me that I was looking at Him from behind a curtain.Realizing that I was hiding from Him out of fear, I stepped beyond the curtain and fell to my knees. I heard Him call me “Daughter,” although it seemed difficult to discern what He was saying because there was some kind   of background noise. (Was it the sound of many waters?) Then He said, “Come,” and when I walked toward Him, He embraced me. I felt my body meld into His and I became charged with the same supernatural cosmic energy that He had.”

In both of these encounters, Jesus imbued me with energy, His own supernatural, cosmic energy. The first time, it was through a vision and an embrace, and the second time it was by His voice. Could it be that Jesus is returning soon? Are there other people having visions of the “Cosmic Christ” and hearing His voice? Often God speaks in a still small voice, but other times, as John wrote, His voice is “like the roar of many waters”.

I pray that all those who are having encounters with Jesus, who see His countenance and hear His voice, will heed what they see and hear and  not take it lightly or dismiss it as their imagination. Jesus promised in John 14:21 that He would manifest Himself to “whoever” loves Him and obeys Him. And we, who love and believe in Him should therefore watch for Him to manifest Himself to us. We, who are in Christ, need to lift up our heads and let the mighty King of Glory come in (Psalm 24). We are the gates through which His glorious presence comes.

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)