Does God Still Speak Through Dreams?
Oct 09
Here’s a great topic that a member of our fellowship suggested for the blog: There are many instances in Scripture where we read about God communicating to people through their dreams, but what about now? Does God still speak to people through dreams? What about the enemy? Do you think Satan and his demons have the ability to invade our dreams?
6 Comments
About twelve years ago I had many issues I needed to deal with. I di not think I had the time or energy. I had a dream one night I was moving out of an apartment I was sharing with a friend. Some other friends were helping me move out. The apartment was half empty with a few things left to clear out. One of my friends opened a closet we had not gotten to and said,”Hey, there is a lot of good stuff in here!” Another said, “Yeah, but look at all that garbage.” The first turned to me and asked, “What do you want us to do with all this?” My reply was, “Oh, just pack it all up. I will deal with it later.” I immediately awoke and I knew without a doubt God was telling me it was time to sort out the trash from the treasure in my life. It took a while and I am not fully there, yet, but I am steadily working on it. Praise the Lord for getting my attention no matter what form it took!!!!!!!!!
Lea Gaines
!!!!!!!!!!!
You can definitely brand me a skeptic on this topic. Perhaps it’s the times that dreams and so-called words from God have been misused in the Christian community. I am extremely cautious about saying that I received a word from God that isn’t in the Bible.
That said, I can share that about 6 years ago, I had the same dream 2 nights in a row about homeschooling. While I didn’t attribute the dreams to God, the dreams were vivid enough (and very much my desire at the time) that I did seek His will through prayer and Bible study, as well as crunch the budget numbers to see if homeschool was a viable option for my home. It turned out to be a good choice for a season in my home – God truly blessed our time together.
So, did the dream come from God? I really don’t know! Probably not, because when God communicated to people through dreams in Scripture – they KNEW it was God the moment they awoke.
So, I typed all of that to type this: I think God can communicate through dreams, but I think they’re one of the least likely and least reliable methods that He would use. I would not act upon a dream without Scriptural support, counsel from mature Christians, and much prayer.
The fact that I think dream communciations are so unreliable indicates to me that I believe our dreams and thoughts are vulnerable (and accessible) to Satan.
Thanks for opening up the topic.
This is from a CBN interview, with Pastor Jane Hamon who wrote a book, “Dreams and Visons.” She believes she has had dreams with messages from God. She said in order to determine if a dream is from God you should use the following criteria:
1. Is the message of the dream consistent with the Word of God?
2. Is the message consistent with the nature and character of Jesus?
3. Does the message lead to righteousness?
4. Is the receiver of the dream/vision saved?
I have to be called a “believer”. In 1980 I had a dream that I will never forget. I dreamed that the sky clouded over and it was very dark. It was a little unnerving but it wasn’t until I “heard” a voice that I became what I now call reverently frightened. I’d never been so scared in my life but then the voice, which was almost “booming”, but still, without sound(there was no storm that night)said “Don’t be afraid, I’m with you”. I woke up trembling. A couple of months later my father died suddenly. I honestly believe that God was preparing me for that. I was very close to my dad and it was a hard time for me but I remembered the dream and that God WAS there for me. I don’t know if anyone else will believe me, and it doesn’t matter at all. I will always believe it.
Andra Evans
One evening in September, 2004, James called me from work to tell me that he felt God telling him that the time had come for him to go to seminary. The first thing I said was something along the lines of “Yeah, I don’t think so.” Yet, even as I said these words I, too, knew that we were to indeed go to seminary. That night I had a dream. God spoke clearly to me in the dream. When I woke up, I knew that God had spoken to me and I knew what we had to do.
The dream went something like this: I was to meet the perfect guy for me. We were going to meet up at a mall. I had never met him before, but understood that he was everything that I was looking for and hoped that he would be. But, as I was heading to the mall, I got scared and ran the other way. What if he didn’t like me? What if I didn’t like him? So, instead of meeting the perfect guy for me, I began to date another man. He was a friend of mine and we got along really well. But, even as I was dating him, I knew that he was not the guy for me. I decided that I wanted to try to get back to the mall and meet up with the perfect guy. But, I couldn’t get back to him. Everywhere I turned my pathway was blocked. I got kidnapped. I couldn’t get back to him. It was too late.
In that instant, between when the dream ended and when I woke up, God spoke to me and explained the dream. God had a perfect plan for me. It was scary. It was full of questions and doing things that weren’t comfortable. But, it was perfect. God’s perfect plan was for us to leave home and go to seminary. Just as I was, in my dream, in a relationship that was nice and comfortable, in reality, I could stay where I was comfortable and my life would be good and nice. But, it wouldn’t have been as great as it could be, as great as God had planned. Should I choose to take the path of least resistance, there would be no going back.
So, I woke up knowing what we were going to do. I shared my dream and God’s explanation with James. From that time on, there was no going back. We took the path that led to God’s perfect plan for us. God opened doors that needed to be opened and closed doors that needed to be closed. He was ever faithful. He IS ever faithful. I had ready many times in the Bible of God’s speaking to people through dreams. I never thought it would happen to me, but it did. I am so thankful that I didn’t take the path of least resistance.
Not sure this fits the topic but almost 20 years ago, we lived in West Texas and I was to attend or was attending Wayland Baptist Univ. I was interested in the launch of the U.S. space ship with the teacher on board and intended to view the launch on TV. Beforehand though I took a shower and while in the shower I “saw” a launch and it exploded shortly after liftoff. It was so real I couldn’t believe it, hurried my bath and turned on the TV. The news was at that moment showing what happened to that space launch and the subsequent explosion. All onboard died and I’d missed it except for what I saw in the shower.
Earlier and shortly after we’d moved to Plainview, I was putting away our groceries when I needed a break. I decided to give a new rawhide chewie to our hound dog. She was in the backyard and barked at all who got within 50 feet of our house. As I was watching that dog enjoy that chewie, heard a soft voice say something to me and ask if I was available. I said I was and wanted to know what it was. The dog only looked up at me when I spoke. After I had received an instruction, I went into the house to finish my job. Our daughter came in and said someone from church had called and I should call him back. I did and his first words to me were, “Are you available. . . ?” I was amazed and so was he when I explained what had just happened to me. They man I was to meet turned out to be one of the best witnesses of Jesus I’ve ever seen.