Dream On
“And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.”- Joel 2:28
Over the past twenty-eight years of walking on this amazing and fulfilling journey of New Life in Jesus, I have discovered a “sense” beyond smell, sight, hearing, taste, and touch. It is not a “Spidey” sense, like my favorite superhero possesses, rather it is a “Spirit” sense that awakens me to a greater dimension of reality, understanding, and hope. Over these years one of the greatest gifts the Lord has given to me to either confirm His loving presence or communicate His perfect plan has been through DREAMS. Now please know, not every dream we have is from God, no matter how vivid or recurring they are. For example, the random dream I have of seeing a tidal wave crashing onto the beach, yet me being untouched, may or may not have anything to do with God’s revealing or speaking. I have however encountered God through various dreams: A dream where a specific person asked me to take a new pastoral role at my former church (he asked me almost a month later); A series of dreams where God was trying to set me free from an insecurity I had; and another dream about a friend who was in a serious car accident, whom when I called that next morning I discovered he was heading out the door to drive for a weekend trip to Las Vegas (God used me to warn and encourage him to be careful).
For many the source and meaning of dreams has a wide range of possibilities, from Divine communication, a powerful premonition, to eating spicy food for dinner the night before. Now, before you recall and categorize your dreams into a specific category or simply discard them as mere coincidence, I want to remind you of some people in the Bible who God spoke to through dreams:
God speaks to Jacob in a dream about the promise of family (Genesis 28:10-22)
“He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.”- verse 12
God speaks to Joseph in a dream about his future purpose (Genesis 37:1-11)
“He said to his brothers, ‘Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”- verses 6-7
God speaks to Joseph in a dream to take Mary as his wife and confirms the miracle of the Messiah (Matthew 1:18-25)
“But after Joseph considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”- verse 20
God speaks to the Magi in a dream to warn them about Herod and with direction to return home (Matthew 2:1-12)
“And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.”- verse 12
God speaks to Peter in a dream about the mission of reaching the Gentiles with the Good News (Acts 10)
“…he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds.’ The voice spoke to him a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”- verses 10-12, 15
As this week marks three-days of focused prayer and fasting for BREAKTHROUGH, I believe that God is wanting to deliver messages of Divine inspiration and mighty deliverance to us through dreams! My prayer is that in this season you would see and hear things that would confirm His love, direct your steps, and strengthen your faith. I am sure I do not need to take a poll of people who would like to hear God’s voice and know God’s will for their lives…we all want that! Let me suggest some simple things to do with the dreams you have:
1) If you have a dream that seems unique, detailed, riveting, and unforgettable write down as much as you can about it.
2) Make a note of dreams that seem to have a similar themes, settings, and people.
3) Share the dream with a trusted friend (a fellow believer) and ask if they have any sense of discernment or interpretation.
4) Be alert and have a listening ear to see if the Spirit confirms the dream through a Sunday sermon or your personal Bible reading.
5) Most of all, submit the dream to the Lord in prayer. If He is the author of it, then He is the definer of it as well.
May your sleep be more than sweet, may it be a time that the Spirit speaks loud and clear!