Seer Guide to Angels: How to Discern Angelic Activity & Recognize God’s Presence

God has given us natural eyes for perceiving the physical world and spiritual eyes for perceiving the spiritual realm.

At times, we use spiritual discernment to recognize what is happening spiritually; and sometimes, our spiritual eyes can be opened to see the spiritual realm as clearly as the physical one.

This truth is revealed to us in 2 Kings 6 when the king of Aram dispatches an army to capture Elisha and his servant and surround the city.

When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked. “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha (2 Kings 6:15-17 NIV).

God granted the servant this glimpse into the unseen spiritual realm to instill courage in him.

There is a term that refers to someone who can see in the spirit realm—seer. A close friend named Ruben, who is an apostolic leader, shared some wild seer-prophet stories with Debby and me. Years ago, Ruben was in a prayer meeting, and the leader walked over to him and said, “I have a sword for you; take it.” The man was not physically holding anything, but Ruben obliged and mimed the action of taking the sword. As he reached out to grasp it, Ruben felt God’s presence and the sword’s weight in his hands, even though it was invisible.

Here’s a little insight into Ruben’s character. Ruben is the senior leader of a large, thriving church in northern Germany and oversees a church network. He is an engineer by education and assists churches with his incredible wisdom and church leadership. Ruben is a brilliant, strategic leader, definitely not a spiritual flake. I wanted to give you a little backstory because what God asked Ruben to do with the invisible sword was a stretch to his engineering mind, to say the least.

The next day, Ruben prayed, “God, what do I do with this sword I was given?” Ruben felt God instruct him to take the sword to a precise location in his town’s square and drive it into the ground. Though such a prophetic act was out of character for Ruben, he decided to act it out in complete obedience. Regardless of how ridiculous it must have looked, he walked to the specific location in the city center that God directed him to and thrust the invisible sword into the ground.

Years later, Pat, a seer-prophet, was ministering at Ruben’s church. While walking through the city square, he walked up to the exact spot where Ruben had planted the sword years prior and said, “Ruben, here is your sword; you placed it right here!” Not only did Pat see the sword’s exact location, but he also discerned it was Ruben’s sword. This story is remarkable, exposing the reality of the invisible spiritual realm even when most of us are oblivious to it much of the time.

Much of the time, most of us are oblivious to the invisible spiritual realm.

Here is another astounding story with Pat, the seer-prophet. On another occasion, Ruben and Pat were driving to pick up another pastor in a different city. As they approached the city, Pat declared, “Ruben, you missed the exit. Pastor Jim is back at that hotel.” According to the GPS, they were to continue driving straight for another five minutes. However, Pat insisted, “I see Pastor Jim’s angel standing in front of that hotel back there. Turn around; Pastor Jim must be at that hotel.” Ignoring the GPS, Ruben turned around, and they drove to the location where Pat saw Pastor Jim’s angel. Sure enough, Pastor Jim was waiting inside that hotel! What an amazing testimony of seeing into the spiritual, unseen dimension!

I’ve heard that our angels will often choose to appear in our likenesses, which might explain how Pat recognized Pastor Jim’s angel.

Not everyone will see angels like Pat, but I believe we can all learn to discern their presence. On the day when Debby and I experienced angelic visitations, I was able to see the angel’s legs, while Debby sensed the angel’s presence, even though she couldn’t see it. Although we might not actually see these spiritual beings, we can still learn to recognize their presence spiritually.

Father, I pray, give us eyes to see and ears to hear what You are doing in the unseen realm. Open our spiritual eyes to see that more are with us than those who are against us!

Angels, God’s Heavenly Host

The Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is full of angel accounts. There are approximately 300 biblical references to angels and more than 100 angelic visitations recorded. Throughout the Old and New Testament, angels were dispatched by God to assist people with specific tasks and deliver messages from Him. They acted supernaturally on behalf of people. Even Jesus received ministry from angels after He was tempted in the desert. “Then the devil left Him [Jesus], and behold, angels came and ministered to Him” (Matthew 4:11 NKJV).

Angels are intelligent, non-physical beings created by God. They constitute God’s heavenly army and play a crucial role in advancing His Kingdom. Despite lacking physical bodies, they are sometimes able to interact with the physical realm, as seen when they shared a meal with Abraham and Sarah. Many seer-prophets teach that each person is assigned a personal angel at birth, who remains with them throughout their lives. As Hebrews 1:14 (Amplified Bible) states, “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent out [by God] to serve (accompany, protect) those who will inherit salvation?”

When I was a newborn Christian, I often prayed for God to open my spiritual eyes and see into the unseen spiritual realm, as Elisha prayed for his servant. One day in 2008, I woke to hear God whisper in my heart, “Tomorrow, I will open your eyes to see in the spiritual realm.” That day was one of the longest days of my life. All I wanted was for that day to end so I could finally wake up and see into the unseen spiritual realm, just like Elisha’s servant.

When the next morning finally arrived, I woke up early, rubbed my eyes and tried fervently to see the spiritual realm. I rubbed my eyes some more, squinted, but I saw nothing out of the ordinary. Everything looked entirely normal. What a bummer! There were no angels, no demons, nothing. In disappointment, I thought to myself, Jason, you’ve completely missed it. You wanted so badly to see into the spirit realm that you made up this entire scenario.

While I was home alone that evening, I watched a live revival service on God TV. A healing evangelist named Todd Bentley spoke specific healing words of knowledge, and many people experienced healing.

While watching, I said, “Holy Spirit, You’re my friend, right? So if You’re giving Todd Bentley these words of knowledge, You could tell me these same things You’re telling him, right?” I grabbed a blank piece of paper and opened my heart to hear God’s voice. The thought of someone’s right knee quickly crossed my mind, so I wrote it down. Then another thought came, Deafness in someone’s left ear. I wondered whether I was merely making up these clues because they seemed rather generic. Another thought occurred, Left breast with three tumors, and I thought, Okay, good, that’s more specific. Then I felt the Holy Spirit smile and say, “Write this down, and I’ll prove this is Me: ‘Missing cartilage under the bottom right rib.’”

I responded, “Holy Spirit, if Todd Bently mentions that one, I’ll definitely know that was from you!” Right then, Todd called out that someone had deafness, mostly in their left ear. That caught my attention. He said a few more ailments, then said, “God is healing breast tumors. There’s a lady with three tumors in your left breast.” Wow, I had written that down! Todd continued mentioning other illnesses, paused, and then declared, “This one is a bit unusual. I’m not even sure what it is, but a man here has a problem with your ribs on the right side. It’s the bottom right rib, and it’s missing cartilage!”

At that moment, I flung my paper into the air and began dancing and shouting around the living room, “Holy Spirit, You’re my Friend! You told me the same words you told Todd Bentley! Holy Spirit, this is how it works—we just listen to You and proclaim what You tell us!” I realized right then that the Holy Spirit can use any of us in miracle services as we take the time to get to know Him and His voice!

As I continued watching the revival, I suddenly felt someone enter the room behind me. Startled, I swung around to see who was there, and when I saw him, I screamed out loud like a girl. “Aaaaah!” In the corner of the room stood an 8-foot-tall angel! I couldn’t make out all his full features because his body was translucent, much like looking through moving water. But I could clearly see his form. In complete shock, I just stood there staring at this huge angelic being. I could see him as clearly as the walls and door that were directly behind him. All the hair on my body stood at full attention.

Without saying a word, the angel marched like a soldier across the living room, right through the wall! I remained motionless with my jaw dropped as I stared at the wall he had just passed through. The presence of God filled the room. My heart pounded in my chest, and I thought, Oh my Lord, God, You truly did open my eyes to see into the spiritual realm today!

I laughed, considering if that was my reaction to just one angel, it’s no wonder God hadn’t shown me angels sooner. Now I understand better why God’s angels typically greet people with the phrase, “Fear not.”

While writing this story, I initially considered omitting the mention of Todd Bentley’s name due to his significant life shipwreck, which caused much damage to the body of Christ. However, I felt compelled by God to acknowledge him by name in my book, as that is what God does. King David committed much worse acts in his lifetime, including causing a man’s death after committing adultery with his wife. Yet, God did not erase King David’s name from the Bible. In fact, in the final chapter of the Bible, he is honored by God: “I, Jesus…. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star” (Revelation 22:16 ESV).

During my early years following Christ in 2007-2008, evangelist Todd Bentley positively impacted my spiritual life through his teachings, and I honor him for that.