One of the things that confuses emerging seers is the assumption that all spiritual sight looks the same.

Someone may close their eyes during prayer and suddenly perceive a face, a place, an object or an entire scene. Another person may remain fully aware of their physical surroundings and suddenly experience spiritual imagery that seems to appear over, within or alongside their natural field of perception. Another may enter a moment of such intense spiritual awareness that the ordinary world seems to recede while the revelation becomes dominant.

These experiences are often placed together under the simple word vision, but there are important differences in the ways visionary perception can operate.

Scripture shows that spiritual sight is not limited to dreams. Visions can occur while a person is awake and conscious of their surroundings.

The first and probably most common experience is what we can call inner sight.

You are awake. Your physical eyes may be open or closed. Yet an image begins forming within your inward perception. You suddenly see a person. You perceive a house. You see a road. A scene appears. Perhaps it is only a flash. Perhaps it remains for several seconds. Perhaps it develops as you continue praying.

This is why an emerging seer can sometimes become confused and ask, did I actually see that, or did I imagine it? The experience may be subtle because the physical eyes are not necessarily involved. The perception is inward. You are still aware of the room around you. You know where you are. You have not lost consciousness. But another image has entered your awareness.

This is important because many emerging seers are waiting for spiritual sight to feel dramatic. They are waiting for the room to disappear. They are waiting for something spectacular. Meanwhile, they may already be receiving pictures inwardly and dismissing them because they expected revelation to arrive with greater intensity.

But spiritual perception is not always dramatic. Sometimes you simply become aware of a picture you were not deliberately trying to create.

The first discipline is therefore to pay attention to what actually appeared before trying to explain it. If you suddenly see a tree while praying for someone, begin with the tree. Don’t immediately decide what the tree means. Observe it. What kind of tree was it? Was it alive or dying? Was it large or small? Was there fruit on it? Was something happening to it?

The seer must first learn to preserve the revelation before interpretation begins changing it.

Then there is another form of experience that has fascinated prophetic people throughout Scripture, open sight.

An open vision is different from simply closing your eyes and perceiving an inward image. In an open vision, spiritual imagery overlays physical reality. The person remains conscious, but what is being perceived spiritually becomes connected in some way with their awareness of the natural environment.

This is why some people describe an experience by saying, I saw it with my eyes open. They do not necessarily mean the physical eyes suddenly became a permanent window into another world. Rather, while remaining physically conscious, something entered their perception with such immediacy that it was experienced in relation to their natural awareness.

Scripture contains extraordinary examples of visionary encounters. Paul’s encounter on the road to Damascus involved a revelation that interrupted his physical journey. John described being in the Spirit when he received the Revelation. Ezekiel spoke repeatedly about seeing visions of God.

These experiences remind us that spiritual perception is not confined to sleep. A seer can be awake when revelation comes.

But there is another experience that should not simply be confused with either an ordinary inner picture or open sight. Peter fell into a trance. Acts 10 describes Peter entering an unusual state of perception in which he received a vision and instruction.

A trance is a heightened state of spiritual awareness in which ordinary sensory attention diminishes while spiritual perception becomes more dominant. Yet Peter was not portrayed as unconscious or incapable of receiving and understanding instruction.

This distinction matters because many people assume that a powerful spiritual encounter requires loss of consciousness or loss of control. Scripture does not require us to make that assumption.

The important thing for the emerging seer is to understand that different revelatory experiences may involve different relationships between natural awareness and spiritual perception.

Sometimes you remain fully conscious of everything around you while an inward picture appears. Sometimes spiritual imagery may become so immediate that it seems connected to your open awareness of the natural environment. Sometimes your attention may become so absorbed by revelation that ordinary sensory awareness temporarily becomes less dominant.

These are different experiences. And understanding the difference can help the emerging seer give language to what he has actually experienced. This is important because you cannot accurately develop an experience you have never learned to describe.

Many seers simply say, I saw something. But what does that mean? Did you see it in a dream? Did you see it inwardly while awake? Did you perceive a symbolic flash? Did you experience an extended scene? Were your physical surroundings still fully present in your awareness? Did the revelation seem to overlay your natural environment?

The more accurately you can describe the experience, the more carefully you can learn from it.

This is why the developing seer should begin recording not only what was seen, but also how it was seen. Write down. Were you asleep or awake? Were your eyes open or closed? Did the image arrive suddenly or gradually? Were you aware of your surroundings? How long did the experience last? Did you receive words with the image? Did the scene move? Did you receive interpretation immediately, or only the picture?

Over time, this can help you recognize the different ways revelation tends to operate in your own life.

You may discover that dreams are your strongest channel. Another person may repeatedly receive inward pictures during prayer. Someone else may experience occasional flashes of imagery while ministering to people. The point is not to copy somebody else’s experience. The point is to become familiar with your own patterns of perception.

There is also an important principle for emerging seers. Do not judge the value of a revelation by how dramatic the experience was. A brief inner picture can contain an important message. A dramatic encounter may still require interpretation. Intensity is not the same as accuracy. And spectacle is not the same as revelation.

Visions, trances and open sight are functional modes of revelation, not rewards or proof of spiritual rank.

This should help the emerging seer stop comparing experiences. One person may have extraordinary dreams but rarely receive conscious visions. Another may receive quick inward pictures while praying. Another may experience a powerful open vision only once in many years.

The differences in experience do not automatically create a hierarchy.

The question is, what is God showing you, and have you learned to recognize the way the revelation is arriving?

Perhaps you have spent years saying you do not see visions because you were expecting open visions, while quietly receiving inner pictures all along. Perhaps you have confused a subtle flash of revelation with imagination because you expected something more dramatic. Perhaps you have experienced moments of heightened spiritual perception but had no language for what happened.

Understanding the different modes of spiritual sight can change the way an emerging seer understands his own experiences.

Because sometimes the seer sees with his physical eyes closed. Sometimes he remains fully awake and an image appears within. And sometimes revelation comes with such immediacy that spiritual perception and natural awareness seem to meet in the same moment.

The important thing is not to force yourself into somebody else’s experience.

Learn to recognize the way you see.

Because one of the first steps toward developing prophetic sight is discovering that spiritual revelation may be arriving in your life through channels you have not yet learned to identify.