Vision began at a Bold Existence worship and prayer night in early March 2024. Vision took over a week to download as each time I went to write, more and more unpacked. A vision very full of how God wants us to navigate these turbulent times and stormy and foggy seas where we can’t see too far in front of us.
I open my eyes and realise I am looking through the eyes of another.
I am standing at the bow of a large merchant sailing ship. It feels like an old-style ship that would have sailed across vast oceans in the 1700s or 1800s.
My hands are clutching the railing tight as the ship is being tossed and bounced by a large swell and storm and the waves are shaking the vessel. Although the vessel looks pretty new, I can feel the worn grain of the timbers under my tightly clenched fingertips – this is not the first storm that this ship has faced at sea, nor will it be the last.
Rain is pouring down upon me and the oil skin coat that I am wearing is being battered and offers little protection for my face and hands in the relentless rain and buffeting wind.
As I look out into the ocean ahead of the ship, where I am meant to be providing early warning of any shifts in the swell, or any floating objects that may damage the ship in the storm, I see somehow piercing the storm clouds, an incredibly bright river of light that seems to descend from the heavens. Like a supernatural river of stars and galaxies, it cuts through the night sky, the thick storm clouds and collides with the water up ahead of our ship. Where it hits the water, it seems to pierce the waves and forms a bioluminescent river, that seems to cut through the storm swell and least its way back towards our ship. Where the river flows is smooth and stable and seems to cut right through the storm.
The river seems to flow right up to our ship and as our vessel moves into the flow within the storm, we immediately start to follow this glide path. Even though the river seemed to flow to us from the heavens, the current seems to be pulling us towards the river of starlight and, what seems to resonate within me as, our destination beyond the horizon.
I realise that the captain of the ship, the person standing at the helm and controlling the wheel and rudder, needs to follow the guidance that I call out to them, along with that of the person in the eagles nest (crows nest I know, but felt HS say that this is a place of eagles not of crows) at the top of the mast, so that they can keep the vessel on course and not drift out of this river that has formed a highway in the storm.
I look back out across the waves, and I can see that there are other vessels nearby caught in the storm, being tossed, and battered by the wind, rain, and waves. I see that some of them seem to be throwing much of their precious cargo overboard in an attempt to stay afloat and battle the storm in their own strength. They are tossing into the waves much of what they have been entrusted with just to stay afloat.
I see other ships being torn apart by the wind and the waves and are crashing to the bottom, unable to withstand the storm and the tossing of waves.
But I also see that there are other ships that have made their way into the bioluminescent river, those that have tuned into the heartbeat of heaven and stayed there, are able to follow the river that takes them, and us, through the storms and lead us to the Father. They are also able to preserve their cargo that is so desperately desired at their destination.
I close my eyes and when I reopen them, I am no longer at the front of the ship, but have ascended to the lookout at the top of the main mast, standing high in the eagles (crows) nest.
As I look out across the waves, I see that the storm is calming significantly, but now a thick fog has come down and covers the waters. It is quite low, such that I am standing clear of the fog, but I can barely see the body of the ship below me, let alone make out the shape of the bioluminescent river and where it may lead us. I can see a dull glow immediately in front of where I think the bow of the ship is, but it disappears into the thickness of the fog almost immediately.
I have a moment of panic, wondering how on earth I am going to be able to be a lookout and guide the ships captain in this condition, when I feel an urge to look up.
As I look up to the sky above, I see that the river of starlight doesn’t just descend from the heavens above, but it acts like a kind of mirror to the bioluminescent river below – this it provides the guide of the way forward. That we can follow the path of the stars forming the heavenly version of the river and that by looking up, we will not be distracted by the movements below.
I close my eyes again and in the stillness that forms in my mind, I realise that all three: the lookout at the bow, the lookout in the eagles nest, and the ships captain, must all work in harmony together. The lookout in the bow can see the immediate guide of the bioluminescent river and see the hazards in the waves in front of the ship, while the lookout in the eagles nest can see the heavenly pathway to guide the overall progress, keep them tuned to the river and their destination, while also being able to communicate with other nearby ships. But both of these lookouts need to work together and communicate with the captain to keep the ship on its path. Their information is useless unless it is shared with the captain and the captain will only put them all in danger and off their path if he doesn’t listen to and obey their guidance.
So that we are no longer spiritually immature children, tossed back and forth like ships on a stormy sea and carried by every wind of shifting doctrine, by the cunning and trickery of unscrupulous men, by the deceitful scheming of people ready to do anything for personal profit. But speaking the truth in love, let us grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ!
Ephesians 4:14-15
Listen to my voice and do according to all that I command you. So you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Jeremiah 11:4(b)
Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
Psalm 149:105
The lamp unto my feet represents the lookout in the bow observing the bioluminescent river in the ocean.
The light unto my path represents the lookout in the ‘eagles nest’ and the river of starlight.