You cannot read the Bible without coming across something that is out of the ordinary or supernatural. We need a good balance of Bible teaching and study—plus the supernatural side of God to make it come alive.
My area of expertise is helping people understand how God might be speaking through the prophetic, supernatural encounters and even dreams and visions.
Noticing the unexplainable
There are some supernatural things in the Bible that you cannot really explain. Think about it. To name just a few:
- The Red Sea parts (Exodus 14)
- Donkeys talk (Numbers 22:21–39)
- Thunder speaks (John 12:27–29)
- Water turns into wine (John 2:1–11)
The foundation for all we do
The main principle and purpose for experiencing the supernatural is found in Ephesians 1:17. This is actually the banner over my life and ministry.
“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.”
– Ephesians 1:17 NIV
All of our spiritual experiences, and everything that we do, needs to be laid on the foundation of knowing God better. Also, all that we hear and experience from God should be confirmed in the Bible.
Don’t be discouraged if you are not hearing God clearly, encountering angels or understanding dreams from God. It takes time and practice for these things to open up to us. We live in a logic-based culture that makes it even more difficult to experience the supernatural.
Plan of the enemy
There are those who simply fear the supernatural realm. Many people had nightmares as kids or watched horror movies that caused them to grow up fearing everything supernatural.
That was me, actually.
I was afraid even to see an angel for a long time.
Children’s nightmares are an attack of Satan to cause them to grow up so afraid of the supernatural side of God that they do not want anything to do with it or God.
Supernatural experiences
Sometimes supernatural experiences can be dramatic, and at other times they can be quite natural or even seem coincidental. We need to understand these deeper things of God.
Sometimes you just know that God is saying something. Other times you might sense an angel is there. Sometimes it is more dramatic or obvious, so you will need to take notes and study what you are seeing, hearing or experiencing.
“But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” Hebrews 5:14 NIV
Practice discerning
It is important that you become sensitive to the spiritual atmosphere around you. Even after all these years, I still take notes after every meeting because this is how God trains me to discern.
For example, I want to know what types of angels are in the room because I do not always see them with my eyes. Most of the time they are cloaked, but it is obvious they are there because of the supernaturally charged atmosphere. Or you can discern what they are bringing from Heaven, such as a prophetic word or healing.
Counterfeit vs. real
God is the creator of all good things. But the enemy will often counterfeit and distort the things of God. We will need to learn to discern what is from God and what is not. Again, this only comes with practice.
If you were being trained to recognize counterfeit money, you would study the real, not the fake. This is why we need to study the Bible, and our own personal experiences.
People ask me all the time: “How do I know if what I am hearing or seeing is from God, Satan, or myself?” There is a simple answer: by prayer and practice.
Jump-start exercise
Here’s a quick exercise to jump-start you into learning to discern and experience the supernatural side of God.
- Ask God to speak to you.
- Write down what you are hearing.
- Study it more in the Bible and/or do Internet research.
Now, go back to the last time you know that you heard God clearly, or He answered a prayer for you—something you know was from God. Take time to study what it felt like, how you experienced it, how it came to you, etc. If you do this on a regular basis you are making Hebrews 5:14 come alive in your life.
God is calling us all to a new level of understanding the supernatural and learning to discern!
Blessings,
Doug Addison
P.S. To go deeper on this, my newest book, Discovering the Supernatural: Interacting with the Angelic and Heavenly Realms in Your Daily Life, is now available for pre-order! It will be released in May 2017, but you can pre-order today and I’ll give you a free bonus, too. Find out more here.
Doug Addison is a prophetic speaker, author and coach. He is known for his Daily Prophetic Words, Spirit Connection webcast, podcast, and blog. Doug’s message of love, hope and having fun reaches people around the world! His powerful, positively funny teaching style and coaching helps open people to discover their destiny and experience God’s supernatural love and power. He and his wife Linda live in Los Angeles, California where he is impacting the arts, entertainment and media industries.
[acf field=”donate”]
What if you ask God to speak to you & you hear nothing? I’m not hearing God, Jesus or Holy spirit at the moment & its so frustrating
Great question Yolanda! I think many have the same question you do. It’s first important to know that God adores you and wants you to hear Him even more than you do.
Here are some awesome resources to grow in hearing God better.
1) https://dougaddison.com/2016/06/3-simple-ways-to-position-yourself-for-hearing-god/
2) https://dougaddison.com/hear-god-ebook/
I pray the resources bless you and equip you to hear God’s voice clearly!
-Nikki, InLight Connection
Several years ago, my husband and I both woke up to delicious smells coming from the kitchen. This happened 2 – 3 times, but nobody was there. We decided angels were cooking in the kitchen. We weren’t afraid or anything, our house just smelled really good!
Last week, the same thing happened. I’m left wondering what does it mean? Is it a confirmation that we have angels present watching over us? Ministering angels? Any thoughts?
Oh that’s super cool! Angels can have smells and have an impact on all sensations. In this book Doug is featured in, Angel Stories, it talks about how some of the authors had experiences with smells when encountering the supernatural https://dougaddison.store/product/angel-stories/.
Bless you and your husband!
-Nikki, InLight Connection
Above the natural…we are born and raised in the natural and have become conditioned in it, but now we have been translated into a new world where we are learning its culture within ourselves firsthand. The ungodly fear of God and his ways is being removed permanently from our mindset and consciousness personally by our helper, the Holy Spirit of all Truth. Thank you, our God!
Thank you Timothy, praise God!
-Nikki, InLight Connection
I’m living something peculiar:
Since 7 years I’ve started experiencing righteousness, peace and joy, deep abiding, a lot of love for most people I meet. Lately I’ve enjoyed the experience of REST and noticed a real shift in the atmosphere when I go around places or meet people.
I’m hungry for manifestations in power of the supernatural in a more obvious way like distinctively hearing and seeing the Father, Jesus, Angels and the cloud of witnesses, orbs or whatever – but that side of things and the supernatural seems to be quite silent and hidden for now… maybe more consistency in intimacy?
Bless you and your hunger for more, that is so awesome! I think your spot on, being consistent with time with God opens up so many incredible things.
Doug has a new book coming out in May I highly recommend to you. This book may give you a boost in ways to encounter the supernatural, https://dougaddison.store/product/discovering-supernatural-paperback-pre-order/. You can pre-order it now and get the Encountering the Supernatural Webinar for free!
-Nikki, InLight Connection
I read your dream interpretation which made sense but sometimes one does not always have who to interprete such dreams even those that seems very scary. Tnx for the eye opening message….I got the interpretation on babies from goggle.
Awesome! Glad it helped!
Doug advises to be careful getting dream symbols from anywhere, some are not Biblical based. He has a great dream course that helps you learn how to interpret your own dreams and understand symbols https://dougaddison.com/training/dream-interpretation/.
Bless you!
-Nikki, InLight Connection
Hi I am actually scared of the supernatural.
God has really opened this realm up to me. However its causing me anxiety as my brain tries to rationalise it. I have no doubts that its God any advise would be welcomed.
I also struggle with that God is in control which stems from my childhood. God Bless
Hey Kathryn! If you listened to the podcast and are still having trouble you may want to look into some inner healing. Here are a list of prayer ministries we recommend, https://dougaddison.com/healing-resources/.
Two that would be really good for you Sozo, http://bethelsozo.com/receive-ministry/ and http://www.faithbygrace.org/.
God bless you!
Although I am Catholic, I have never experienced anything like this. Yes I believe in God but some things seem so unbelievable.
Thanks for sharing!