Dreams and Visions:
Biblical Precedence
#22 in the Series: Daddy, It's Me--Conversations of an Ordinary Person with an Extraordinary Heavenly Father
Remember way back in
February when I first started sharing with you about how you can actually hear
from God? There were 7 ways on that list
(See Gimme, Gimme). I thought that was
going to be 7 articles but they have turned into more than 20 now! We have looked at how our loving Heavenly
Father speaks through his written word, through his created world and by giving
us special gifts of his presence to encourage us along the our way in life.
Let us take a look
now at a way the Father speaks that is more uncommon…not because he speaks less
frequently this way, but—I think—because we recognize it less or pass it
off. That method is dreams and
visions…Dreams are those stories he tells us in our sleep, usually at night. Visions are those that come to us while we
are awake and conscious, though possibly still at night.
There is a lot of
Bible precedence for God speaking through dreams and visions:
“And God spoke to Israel in a
vision at night and said, “Jacob! Jacob!” “Here I am,” he replied.”
Genesis 46:2 NIV
“During the night the mystery
was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven”
Daniel 2:19 NIV
“But God came to Abimelek in a
dream one night and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman
you have taken; she is a married woman.””
Genesis 20:3 NIV
“each of the two men—the
cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were being held in prison—had
a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own.”
Genesis 40:5 NIV
“During the night Paul had a
vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia
and help us.””
Acts 16:9 NIV
“One night the Lord spoke to
Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.”
Acts 18:9 NIV
This is
only a small sampling of the references to God speaking through dreams. This whole series of articles is actually the
result of a dream or a vision…I’m not sure what to call it because I am not
sure whether I was asleep or awake. It
is hard to tell, but when I was fully awake I immediately began to write down
multiple outlines for concepts to share.
It felt like a Holy Spirit download!
So how
can one tell if a dream or vision is from God or just too much pizza?
These
are the keys that seems to make God dreams different for me. See if this works for you:
- They are usually quite vivid.
- You remember them at least for a while. (Sometimes because they reoccur multiple times in a night or multiple nights.)
- They are usually very detailed…things that you would not think matter, stand out like colors or the position of a thing…often you can describe the scene in great detail.
- They can be symbolic, parable-like
When you
have a dream like this, especially if the connection to life is not clear, ask
God what it means…then be ready and willing to hear (and obey if necessary)
what he impresses upon your heart/mind.
“For God does speak—now one way,
now another— though no one perceives it. In a dream, in a vision of the night,
when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber in their beds, he may speak in
their ears and terrify them with warnings, to turn them from wrongdoing and
keep them from pride, to preserve them from the pit, their lives from perishing
by the sword.”
Job 33:14-18 NIV
“I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart
instructs me.”
Psalm 16:7 NIV
Never had a God
dream? Ask him to give you dreams! He has said in his word he will pour out his
Spirit and that includes giving dreams!
“"'And in the last days it
shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your
sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;”
Acts 2:17 ESV
See if this is one
way he will free your mustang heart.
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Teri