Does God Talk to Us in Dreams?
Pastor Roland,Does God speak to us through dreams and visions?
Thank you for your question. Here is my answer.
The short answer is--yes He sometimes does. But He usually doesn't.
Now the longer answer.
Back in the days of the Old Testament, God gave people signs. He also often used to communicate with people through dreams. There are many stories in the Old Testament about how God warned, for example, someone in a dream. Sometimes He also had one of his angels visit someone, or He sometimes gave people a vision.
Things are different now that Christ has come. God does not usually give signs anymore. He
still may, of course, but rarely does.
People who love God follow Christ and pray to God. Now Christ has promised the Holy Spirit.
For the person who has had a change of heart and follows Christ, he or she knows in her heart what is right or wise. And if she does not know, she waits upon the Lord until she all of a sudden does know in her heart.
A person who is walking with the Lord prays and seeks for answers, and God answers by arranging the person's life so that the answer is there. Answers also come in the form of realizations, insights and wordless intuition. When the child of God is seeking an answer, he or she has the faith to wait upon the Lord and knows the answer will come in due time if needed. So she waits and goes about her life, and then once day, she just knows the answer. She does not know how she knows but she just knows.
God gave us our marvelous intuition, what we wordlessly know in our hearts, and also the Holy Spirit. We do not need a sign.
In other words, we are supposed to put first things first. So we are fair with people, we don't resent anyone, We don't gossip. We are patient with others by not resenting them. Then we live one step at a time, always with an eye toward what is right and fair, and then good comes into our lives seemingly out of nowhere without effort on our part.
Of course we have questions about life, what to do, and questions about spiritual things we have always wondered about. But we don't make getting an answer too important. We live life properly and our questions are mostly about how to deal fairly and patiently with others. Mostly we know wordlessly and intuitively. This is what is important, not questions about the far distant future or what God's plans are.
In fact, we are warned not to seek knowledge of the future and we are especially warned not to consult with seers, mediums and occultic practices.
We should not be looking for signs. We should ask God to send us light. We should ask not for some specific benefit, but we should ask for wisdom and patience. We should ask Him for wisdom.
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that gives to all men liberally, and upbraids not; and it shall be given him. James 1:5
We should ask Christ to reveal Himself to us.
We should ask God to show us our errors, so that we might live rightly and treat others justly.
In the New Testament, there are a few instances of people being told something or warned in a dream. Just before Jesus was born and when He was a babe, several people were counseled in a dream or night vision, even Joseph. From then on, there are less such visitations. though Peter had a vision, and even Pilate's wife was warned in a dream.
All of the above is to say that by believing in Christ, praying and searching with all our heart for what to do, we will know what to do in God's due season.
Any suffering along the way or set backs only serve to strengthen faith and forge character. James put it this way:
My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. James 1:2-4
So we must live properly, search sincerely, not resent others, and the Lord will direct our feet. He will also arrange things in such a way as to make happen what is best for us, in His good time.
We must not get hung up on trying to look for signs and wonders, nor get caught up in looking for hidden signs in dreams. Life is to be lived, and so we must focus on being a good person for our fellow human beings.
However, with the above in mind, there is something to be said about dreams. It is my impression that we may be entering a time when God once again routinely reaches out to people in their dreams (as He did in the Old Testament).
I think this if for 2 reasons. God is very merciful and he wishes to save those who deep down in their heart yearn for truth. the world is so awful these days--there is so much error, deceit, lies, cruelty and negativity, that there is hardly anyone out there with understanding. sure there are some decent people, but they are not advanced enough in their walk to help.
Secondly, it is often the case that those around us are themselves lost and misguided, or perhaps wicked. Where will the person begin. God may throw that person a lifeline in their dream. It can be very beautiful and very sweet.
Dreams are becoming more important.
Dreams can be meaningful and helpful for us. Many dreams tell us something about ourselves, our desires, or hopes, and we may even do properly in a dream something we used to mess up. In other words, learning can manifest and even take place in a dream.
Dreams tell of of unfinished business, a need for closure, or that closure has happened. Repetitive dreams tell us of something that is currently bothering us, that we need to deal with properly. In this way, dreams can also warn us of some issue we need to address properly so it doesn't impact on our life or health.
In other words, dreams are mostly psychological and emotional. Dreams often tell us about feelings or emotions that mostly are under the surface. Dreams are about things we are dealing with or should deal with. When we have come to terms with something, or handled it properly, the repair may also show up in our dream.
The range of importance is from trivial to important. Sometimes we simply dream of something that happened the day before, or we are just processing recent events. Our mind may be just cleaning house. If we are feverish or we eat too much spicy food we might sleep fitfully and have odd dreams.
Sometimes we might hear a sound in our dream (like a phone) because the phone is really ringing near our bed. One time when I was a kid I dreamt it was raining, and when I awoke it was the sound of the sizzling bacon my mom was frying in the frying pan for breakfast.
While we don't want to make a mountain out of a mole hill, dreams can also be important in what they tell us about ourselves, any unfinished business, and our emotional state.
If you dream a dream where you are scared of something, it may be that you know very well that you are, but it could also be something that has been an unconscious fear that you didn't even know you had. Now you see it, which is good that you are more aware; and you can deal with it properly.
It does happen that something malevolent can affect and manipulate a dream (evil operates through the imagination), often with something scary. (I will not address this here other than to say that practicing the proper meditation will often help a person get centered and have a proper awareness that tends to ward off such things).
Our worries, doubts, fears, and anxieties tend to play themselves out in dreams. But so do improvement, growth, maturity and having grown to a higher level to handle properly what you couldn't face before. One guy always dreamed of being chased and scared when he was a kid. When he was a mature man, he dreamed of now standing his ground and chasing off what once had chased him. This means that he has conquered some fear and out grown it.
If I dream that I am having an argument with my wife, it could be that I am harboring resentment against her (which I must see and let go of) that is being acted out in the dream. It could also be that there is some issue between us that needs to be addressed properly. Or it could be that I should spend more time with her.
On the other hand, I might have just seen a movie where a couple was arguing and perhaps through being a little guilty over having resented my wife yesterday, I dream that we are arguing like the couple in the movie.
In other words, if I dream that I am sick, it could be that I have been working too hard, neglecting my health by not exercising, resting properly and eating properly. Thus my dream is a warning.
So you see, it takes honesty, intuition, and thoughtfulness--and not jumping to conclusions--to interpret a dream. Most dreams don't mean that much, are just the mind processing and cleaning out events and reactions of the prior day, and frankly should just be forgotten (which most dreams are anyway).
But sometimes a dream does have significance for you and it may be good to delicately and gently ponder and wonder about it. perhaps you will intuit the meaning soon or later.
Most dreams are merely emotional and psychological and of those only a few are meaningful. Occasionally, but only very, very rarely God may be telling you something.
God rarely speaks to us and he mostly makes His will known by shining a light on things so we can discern truth from error and right from wrong. But God does work in a mysterious way his wonders to perform and He might make something known in a dream or a little night vision.
Pastor Roland
