Do you believe that God can reveal things in dreams?

I've had a few dreams that I believe eventually prepared me for the real thing, like, 'soften the blow'...I especially remember one in particular, over 20yrs ago, that I kept dreaming, until it finally came true. [I don't know enough about this topic to elaborate further].

 

"Do you believe that God can reveal things in dreams?"

Can He? Yep. Has He? Yep. Does He? Not likely.

The first 2 answers are from scripture. The third answer is from my own experience. Most dreams are without value, but occasionally I have found the obvious answer to a question or dilemma by a dream experience. It is simply communication from the unconscious that manages to get through to the conscious by awakening at the moment the dream is happening. Sometimes through this process we find we know the answer we are looking for; we have just been suppressing it consciously. Since this process is natural-- as opposed to supernatural-- it is not God revealing things to us in the sense you ask the question. Such may be the case, but don't count on it and don't direct your actions accordingly without sound reason for doing so-- after all, if God is doing a mighty work in which you happen to be involved, you do not render Him incapable by being vigilant.

 

Susan, everything that God wants to us know has been revealed in the Bible. It is the complete and final word on Christianity. Any "messages" you are receiving in your dreams could very well be from demons. By falling for the deception that they may be from God, you are allowing these demons to get into your mind. If you pray to God for help, these dreams will go away. That is because all demons are powerless against God. Never forget that!

 

In the book of Matthew, God reveals much by dreams, especially in the early chapters. He reveals much to Joseph by dream, as well as to the wise men.

However, I agree that not all dreams have messages from God that we can properly understand.

The key is your personal relationship with Jesus. Is it truly 'personal'? Are there other communications back and forth other than the dreams? Do you serve Him, love Him? Have you submitted your ego, denied your self and are you following Him daily?

If the answers are 'yes', then the dream is probably from God. And if the answers are 'no', or 'I'm not sure' then you know what to focus on.

Your struggle is held up in prayer.

Andrey
www.achievebalance.com

 

Hi Susan,

Of course God works through dreams! He will never deal with us as He did the prophets, because we have Christ now, but that does not leave God inactive.

First of all, about Scripture -- if it is more complete in your dreams than in your waking mind, it's time to get more seriously into the Bible! You need God's Word for your spiritual food and skinny in NOT beautiful where that is concerned!

I have had dreams and also waking moments that were directly from the Lord, and I knew it then and know it now. But, for me, they were always of a personal nature, involving reassurance -- and once a promise that was certainly fulfilled in the years that followed.

In the interests of demonstrating what I am talking about, here are a couple (and there have been maybe six or seven in 54 years!):

1. I was married to my children's father for 20 years. A number of times he told me rather point blank that he did not love me and, eleven years ago, took off for good with another woman. I hurt a lot through the years of our marriage. But, at about -- maybe -- five or six years of marriage, I was just waking up one morning and was in that half-awake state that is neither sleep nor waking, when I was surrounded by an incredibly bright light, but it didn't hurt my eyes. There were no words. I was just made very aware that I was loved with a love I never knew could exist; something so far beyond what I had experienced in my life that it put everything else into shadow. That was all there was, and it was over. I remember trying to get back to sleep a little bit to get that back, but it didn't work. Still, the feeling stayed for a long time, leaving me with a joy in my life I had never known before. And although the feeling itself faded, as feelings do, the knowledge and joy remain to this day.

2. The autumn my father was dying (1978), I was getting my only child (then) to nursery school, driving an hour + to Stanford Medical Center to see daddy, then home again, taking care of our home, being partner in my husband's construction business, and helping care for my mother-in-law who had just had back surgery. It was a pretty exhausting time. One night I had a dream that I was in my in-laws' home and was serving dinner to a large group of both extended families. In my dream I was exhausted, too, so I went outside for a moment for a breath of air. In the dream -- not in real life -- the outside walkway was flanked by a bank of azaleas in full bloom, bright purple-red. I remember noticing them and thinking how pretty they were. I was looking down at the ground. Just tired. In front of me were a man's feet. For some reason I did not look up, but only heard the voice, "Need a break?" And that was all there was. Nothing more. But I woke up knowing for sure that when the azaleas bloomed (January - March where I was then), life would have settled down. Daddy died November 1. My mother in law recovered well enough by Christmas to have everyone over, and my mother did manage to get through Christmas -- her first as a widow -- pretty well.

By January things had indeed settled down. I did not remember the dream until I saw the bank of azaleas at OUR home in full bloom and all I could do was say 'thank you, God!' But it did not end there. For about five years or so there were never any emergencies or outside pressures during the azalea time. Gradually life resumed its normal spread of emergencies that we get as parents (and as we adopted more children). But I have wondered about that dream. I could have "psyched" myself into being calm when the azaleas bloomed, but I could not have controlled the fact that everyone in my life was doing OK during that time as well.

Those are the two 'biggies' that stand out when I think of God working through dreams. There was one time wide awake that really was kind of weird. We could only have one child as I was kicked in the gut by a horse when I was 21 and the subsequent internal scar tissue made pregnancy almost impossible. I lost either one or two before Scott arrived and we decided to adopt after that point. But Roe vs. Wade had passed and there were no babies available for adoption if you already had a healthy baby. By the autumn my dad was dying, Scott was five, and I was feeling depressed about no more children.

One morning, doing the dishes, I heard (whether it was in my heart or my ears I really couldn't say), "I have something to say to you." I ignored it, figuring my imagination was working WAY overtime! Then there was a repeat "I have something to say to you." I remember looking around and feeling REALLY weird. Kept on doing dishes. Repeat, third time, "I have something to say to you."

I gave up, wiped my hands, and sat down at the kitchen table with the Bible, wondering what on earth I was to do from there. So I just opened it up in the middle and started reading Psalms. Psalm 109, 110, 111, 112.... nothing was hitting me. Then I thought I would try one more at least and got to Psalm 113, which ends, "He settels the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children." And it hit. "That's PLURAL, isn't it, Lord! More than one child!"

Julie's mother had gotten pregnant just a short time before this. All the way over in Taiwan. We had some friends there who put our name in with a Christian agency there for adoption and we had filled out paperwork and sent it over. We had no way of knowing the timing in relation to Julie's mother, a teenage concubine with a wealthy family. She was supposed to abort the child. She didn't.

On April 22, 1979 we got a call. It was a Sunday afternoon and the pizza had just come out of the oven. My mom was over. The call was long distance from Taiwan: we have a little girl for you if you would like her.

Yes!

Julie was the first of five adoptions. The barren mother was definitely settled in her home as a happy mother of childREN!

So for me the messages have been personal. Nothing to tell the nation or world. I agree with Reborn James that all that is for them is in the Bible. There is nothing to be added to God's Word! But does God still interact with His children in special ways? You bet your bippie He does! (expression from the Laugh-In show of when? The sixties? Seventies? I'm getting OLD!!!)

 

Just don't make the error of relying only on dreams as a means of God speaking to your heart.

 

Not to worry for me! I would need to hear from Him more often than once every five or ten years!!!

Seriously, you have a good point. It is vitally important to know Scripture so that if you do seem to get a 'message' you will know immediately if it is contradicting or agreeing with what you KNOW is God's Word!

[ June 27, 2002, 11:03 PM: Message edited by: Helen ]

 

God is with you. Some refuse to allow Him to use dreams, so they deny dreams for all.

Some don't want to listen to prophets (that's nothing new, we've ignored them for 1000's of years) so they say there are no prophets today.

To hold a dream or it's interpretation higher than your personal relationship with Jesus is not the best way to handle things.

I will continue to hold you and your family up in prayer, focusing on:

"May you hear, recognize, understand and respond to God's voice when He speaks to you."

(That my website's motto!)

Andrey
www.achievebalance.com

 

Dreams are now an unrelible way to count on God speaking to you. For instance, tonight I may dream a dream that I'm preaching in front of thousands of people, etc. Tomorrow I may dream that I'm robbing Great Southern Bank or some other bank. Dreams are unpredictable! Majority of dreams are empty/void of understanding! Neither one of these dreams are likely to come true! Probably neither one of them are given by God!

On the other hand--God's word(scripture) is active and powerful and will not return to Him void. I'll hold the best dream anybody can dream in today's world up against God's word through scripture and guess which one will be left standing when the explaining and understanding are over with?!!

 

Neat

Mine is: "Love is the most excellent way"

(From the end of 1 Cor 12 and 13)

I think if anyone was to do a study of what people had been led to do, who relied on dreams, they would find it quite disturbing.

I agree that it's best not to rely on them.

However, I don't see anything wrong with believing that something in a dream might have been a special message from God to you, when it lines up with everything else you believe about how He communicates with us and what He says.

I have had a few of those, fwiw

 

According to scripture, Jesus is God's Word, not scripture.

He is more reliable (He doesn't need a translator since we didn't learn the original languages in the original cultural settings to get the true meanings of the words used at the time), He responds, He watches, He informs, He gives hints, He gently prods.

Sometimes He uses scripture (which is great and what we expect) and sometimes He uses dreams (check first chapter of Matthew, and more) and sometimes He speaks.

It's not what He uses, but Who you listen to that counts!

Andrey
www.achievebalance.com

 

The question is not what God can do. Sice he is God, he can do everything. The question is what God wants to do with us.

 

God's revelation is in His written word, the Bible, and the living word of Jesus Christ. There is no need for any other revelation.

 

Do not limit God. He can get his message across however he wants. This means that he does use dreams. This means that he gives people prophecy. Do not limit God. When you do have a dream that you think could be from God, check it against what the Bible says to make sure that it lines up with everything in there. If it does not line up with what the Bible says, then it was not God.

One last time, DO NOT LIMIT GOD.

God Bless you all

Matt

 

Well said Amigo and Matticus!

Andrey
www.achievebalance.com

 

In answer to the original question... Yes.

Wisdom Seeker