What’s the Point of Seeing in the Spirit?

Blake Healy was well into a bag of sour cream and cheddar chips when he saw an angel. He was about to head into his apartment, hand on the doorknob, when he felt as though someone was watching him. He turned around to find an angel in armor.

“Hi,” Healy said.

“Come with me,” the angel said.

For Healy, this isn’t an unusual experience. As he relays in his book The Veil (Charisma House, 2018), “I’ve seen angels, demons and other spiritual things for as long as I can remember.”

He’s the director of the Bethel Atlanta School of Supernatural Ministry, and travels cross-country to not only share what he has seen, but to also teach others how to see the spirit world.

Over the years, Healy has come to understand how this gift is not about seeing cool things or being placed above other Christians. Rather, he holds to the conviction that a spiritual gift is an expression of relationship with God. And maturing in his gift has been a form of trusting God amid the uncertainty.

When Healy encountered this warrior-like angel outside his apartment, he knew better than to ignore him, and followed him down the street. As the sunlight receded and the street lamps began to glow dimly, Healy was reminded of what this neighborhood became at night. Derelict low-income housing made up the stretch on his left. He felt uneasy, but he laughed when he saw the angel stop at each crossing to look both ways.

For the first 19 years of Healy’s life, seeing in the Spirit frustrated him. He didn’t understand the point, and when he asked others why they wanted to see in the Spirit too, none of the answers gave him clarity.

“Because I’ve always wanted to see.”

“Because I’ve always just felt things, and I think I’d feel less crazy if I could just see them.”

“Because I think it’d be fun to see angels.”

But Healy soon began to realize how the key to understanding his gift was in the cross.

When Jesus sacrificed his life for us, our relationship with God was restored. A veil was torn:

“But Christ, when He came as a High Priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle … by His own blood, He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. … For this reason He is the Mediator of a new covenant, since a death has occurred for the redemption of the sins that were committed under the first covenant, so that those who are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance” (Heb. 9: 11-12, 15).

Historically, the temple curtain, or “the veil,” divided the most holy place from the rest of the temple. The most holy place was off-limits to everyone except for the High Priest once a year. However, when “the curtain of the temple was torn in two” (Matt. 27:51) at the cross, we were given direct access to God by faith in Jesus, not by the intermediary efforts of a priest.

Healy says, “I came to the realization, after 20 years of ignorantly stumbling around the spirit realm, that the reason I can see in the Spirit is God wants me to know what He’s doing.”

Healy’s gift has given way to many revelations, but it still requires him to put his trust in God. His walk with the angel ended at a house. There was a sickly black cloud above it. The angel pulled a spear from his back and slashed a bolt of light into the front door. The darkness blew away like smoke, and that appeared to be all the angel needed to do.

Healy asked, “What did you need me for? I didn’t do anything.”

The angel replied, “I wouldn’t have been allowed to be here if you didn’t come with me.”

Healy writes in The Veil, “People sometimes think that because I see in the Spirit, I understand all the mysteries of the universe and have infinite divine knowledge. Not so much. Most of my journey with seeing in the Spirit has been one of slowly developing faith and trust that the Holy Spirit will lead me to do what I am supposed to do with the things that I see.”

About Blake Healy: Blake Healy is the director of the Bethel Atlanta School of Supernatural. He travels around the country to share his experiences and teach others about this spiritual gift. Healy and his wife, April, have four children.