Dreams & visions are powerful ways of communication that God uses to speak to people. Dreams take us beyond human understanding and transcend us to a different realm. This is a place where we are more open to hearing or seeing things that our natural mind may ignore or override.
Dreams & visions also have prophetic nature about them that God uses to prepare us for the future and what is coming next. God invades people’s lives through dreams when at times they may not be open to the message. We see throughout the Bible that God used dreams in the believers and unbelievers’ lives.
Not all dreams are from the Lord. Since we live in a world that is full of noise, darkness, and chaos, we have to be careful what we are subjecting ourselves to. Dark or horror movies can have an affect on our dream life. If we have been going through some tough situations in life, some of those can get reenacted in our dreams. We want to stay sensitive to what the Spirit is speaking.
In the next couple of devotionals, I’ll share some of the ways that God used dreams in the life of the people:
Dreams can be used as warning
But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.” Genesis 20:3
God used a dream to warn an unbelieving king that the woman he married was somebody else’s wife. The king had no idea what was going on. He didn’t know that Abraham out of fear was willing to sacrifice his covenant with his wife, so he won’t get killed. Who knows, maybe Abraham was praying that the king wouldn’t touch his wife and that God would alert him somehow. The scripture makes no mention of that, but we do know that God wasn’t happy about this arrangement. He gave a stern warning to the king that if he were to touch Sara, he will die.
Sometimes, God gives us warning about certain individuals or situations in a dream to move us in the right direction and protect us from harm. It’s important to heed those warnings and not make excuses for it.
King Abimelech could have dismissed the dream or discounted it by sleeping with Sara a couple of times before he sent her back. However, the message of the dream was strong enough that he did not delay in responding quickly and removing any form of evil from his house. The Lord calls us to do the same. If you know the interpretation of your dream, take it seriously. If you’re not sure what the dream means, ask your Pastor or elder to direct you to the right person to interpret your dream.
Dreams can encourage one in a difficult process
God gave Joseph two dreams about his future that in the immediate time got him into trouble with his brothers (Genesis 37). He had dreams of ruling over his brothers and even his own parents. His brothers got jealous of him and tried to get rid of him by selling him into slavery.
For a long time Joseph’s life was the opposite of what his dreams meant. Joseph had to go through a process that took over a decade before God positioned him for what he had dreamed. In the long years of slavery, & being falsely accused, Joseph must have kept those dreams in his heart and from time to time thought about them and pondered on them. While his brothers pushed him into slavery, Joseph’s aura wasn’t that of a slave. He lived and worked with excellence stewarding everything that God had given him because he knew who he was. Praise God for dreams that withstood the test of time!
The very thing that had gotten Joseph into trouble years ago, now it became the impetus for him to get out of prison and come into his position. Pharaoh had a dream that no one could interpret. The chief butler who had been blessed by the interpretation of the dream by Joseph recommended him to pharaoh (Genesis 41:9-13). Finally, Joseph’s dreams were on their way to being fulfilled. Praise God!
Think about the dreams God has given you. Do you take them seriously? How has He used them in your life? Write down your dream when you have one and pray for God’s interpretation.
I will continue with this subject in the next devotional.