Recently, God showed me a vision of me doing a HALO jump. When you jump out of an airplane at night from 35,000 feet, you really can't see where you are going. Under normal circumstances, that's not good. While hurtling toward the earth at 120 mph, it's really really not good. Yet U.S. Special Forces do it all the time. If they panic, they die. So, how do they maintain composure under such circumstances? Well, just because they can't see where they are going doesn't mean they are lost.
Nobody performing a HALO does so without provision. They have oxygen, a special suit, an altimeter (tells you how high in the air you are), and best of all they have training. You see, it's completely unnatural for a human to know exactly where they are headed and maintain composure without the use of their senses. Without training, nobody could keep from panicking in a HALO jump. The oxygen may keep you awake and the altimeter may let you know when the ground is going to greet you but none of your equipment will give you the one thing you need to remain calm: trust. Training gives you understanding of the purpose of the provision so that you perceive no lack and are able to trust that you are safe. I cannot see, but the altimeter gives me all the information my eyes would normally provide. I cannot breath, but the oxygen and mask feed my airway. I cannot land safely on the earth at 120 mph, but my parachute was specifically designed to slow my descent. I am safe.
This whole vision came about because I was talking to God about not being able to see. He said, "What do you mean?" I said, "Uh, what do You mean 'What do I mean?'" He said, "You can see just fine." Then the vision hit me. I knew that God putting me into a HALO jump was good and not bad. It came from Him. I've settled the fact that He's good. So I simply enjoyed the HALO like some kind of maniac. But then He said, "Why doesn't this scare you?" I replied, "Because I know You're with me." Then He immediately showed me the altimeter, the oxygen and mask, the parachute, the helmet, and the training. I understood and said, "Yes, I trust You." He said, "So, you can see?" I said, "Yes, I suppose I can."
Just to drive the point home, He started to show me things in scripture that have to do with perception. And He began to talk to me about imagery and sound, echos and shadows. He said, "You only truly see with your heart. And your heart sees in a way that humans are not used to seeing. Yet you can be trained..." Then He said, "Echolocation and Triangulation". "Huh?", I replied.
He showed me how Jesus constantly used natural concepts and ideas, imagery of things found in nature, to convey truths about The Kingdom. "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed..." He showed me that even as far back as the prophecy given to the serpent that God used natural imagery to convey His ideas and purpose. It's for this reason that Jesus forever carries the title "Abraham's Seed" and "The Lamb". Then He said, "The natural is an echo of the supernatural." "That's one heckofa echo, Father." He said, "Well, I AM." I said, "Word."
Consider it, the account of creation reveals that He spoke creation into existence. His Word being spoken resulted in our physical universe being created. His sound created our reality. That's the very textbook definition of an echo. The Bible says that His word shall not return to Him void. What's it called when a word returns to you? That's an echo. So I said to Him, "We've discussed the whole echo dynamic before, Father. Why is it important for sight?" He said, "Echolocation. Consider the dolphin. Though their eyes work just fine under water, they can see farther and with much greater clarity using SOUND." "Whoa!", I replied. "But not just any sound. They interpret the ECHO so they can perceive the landscape."
Then He pointed me to Psalm 19. And then Romans 1:20:
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
The echolocation revelation also applies to my own utterance. I was made in His image so, like a dolphin, I can release my sound into the landscape and it will return with information. Likewise, I can also speak what He spoke and allow the echo of both our voices give me clarity. I see by both speaking and listening.
So I suddenly understood that the things that are seen should always point to the things that are not. They are an echo of a more clear sound; a shadow of a much larger figure. I recognize His voice in the echo. So then I asked Him, "What does this have to do with triangulation?" He said, "What is triangulation in the natural?" I explained, "It's when you determine the exact location of something based upon where it is in relation to 3 fixed points in space." We've all seen it on CSI or cop drama shows or action/adventure movies. In order to find a given cell phone, you can "triangulate" it's position by pinging it from 3 cell phone towers. Give me 3 points for comparison and I can always tell you exactly where I am.
He said, "You said before that you couldn't see where you were going. What if it's more important to see where you are?" "OK", I replied. Then He explained that I was capable of determining where I am in any context by using the following three points of reference: logos, rhema, echo. My position or location is always going to be relative to His. So I am only able to determine my position based on His position. In all cases I must ask myself the following questions in order to see where I am: What does the Word say about this (logos)? What is Holy Spirit saying about this(rhema)? What is going on in the natural right now(echo)? Based on the answer to those questions, I am fully aware of my own location AND His. In every instance I find that I'm always in one of two places: in Him, not in Him. If I'm in Him, who cares where I'm going? If I'm not, I know where I need to go for cover (hint: back to Him).
This is why the HALO vision was so important. In the natural you can't get a meaningful picture while you are in a free-fall. But if you add that piece of information to the Word and a conversation with Him, you have all the provision you need to perceive truth. Jesus, the prophets, the apostles, they all mixed information from the natural, scripture, and conversations with God in order to carry out their mission. They were all trained to see beyond sight. They used their heart as a sort of echo chamber to more accurately "see". All the places where scripture talks about your eye or your sight, it's referring to this kind of heart-sight. Keep your echo chamber filled with the sounds from above. Keep your echo chamber tuned to the frequency of light.
Now, as a small aside, God did not pick a highly-specialized military manoeuvre as a vision because it fit the "how do I see when I can't see" scenario so well. He picked it because The Body is being trained right now for Special Forces missions. Don't wait until you leave the plane at 35,000 feet to learn echo-location and triangulation. You may panic if you do.
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