Dreams Are Promised by God (Part 2)

This topic of dreams was started on a previous article entitled, “Are You a Dreamer?” in which I posed the question of whether dreams can help us and, in particular, help us communicate better with God. If you haven’t read that article please do so before reading this one.

In my first article I stated that dreams can be a powerful tool. Throughout scripture both old and New Testament people were given dreams to understand God’s thoughts towards them. I used the term “Dream Catcher” to impress the importance of being receptive to the tool of dreams as a means of communicating with God. Finally, I talked about how many Christians have taken the position, for various reasons, to mistrust dreams.  They have therefore become “Inflexible” towards this kind of communication tool. If God wants to speak through dreams and we refuse he will be silent.

The New Testament opens with a startling promise by John the Baptist that Jesus would come and baptize people with the “Holy Spirit & Fire” (Matthew 3:13-17) and then Peter, in the Book of Acts, preaches the first sermon after the resurrection and proclaims God’s promise of pouring out His spirit on all flesh. This was unheard of and tradition said it was impossible.

Acts 2:14-17                                                                                                                                                        

But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. [15] “For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; [16] but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: 

“AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,’ God says, ‘THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY          SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS”

God has used dreams to communicate with man since the Book of Genesis. Now, scripture states that God will pour out his spirit on all flesh and, at times, use dreams. Although this is a promise of scripture, Christians still are afraid of deception and error so they refuse to open their souls up to this means of communication. This is similar when it comes to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. When I got saved in the late 60s most Christians refused to even consider the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a second major experience and labeled such talk as “Heresy” and from the devil.  Today, in 2018, most major Christian denominations at least talk about the Holy Spirit and many embrace His empowerment. Why the change? Because believers realize they can’t possibly live out the Christina life without an empowerment to help them do so. Jesus even said to the believers after his resurrection to go to Jerusalem and wait for the promise from the Father and to wait until they received “Power from on High”. How foolish are we to think we can live the Christian experience with success without His equipping.

Secondly, many Christians refuse to embrace the gift of “Tongues”  that God promised us through the Holy Spirit. Why? Well, it makes us look like fools and some will say, “I feel silly”. What kind of logic is it to reason away a gift of God for our equipping all because of  “Pride & Vanity”?  Yet, still today, I meet Christians who say they believe in the gifts of the Spirit, but when I press them on whether they use the gifts in their personal lives they say no and use the excuse of “It Must Not Be My Gift” or not God’s will for me to have them. What foolishness to reject a gift of God for the sake of fear or ignorance!  Paul in 1 Corinthians 14 says he desires all would prophesy, even more than speak in tongues.

Dreams are in many ways just like the gifts of the Holy Spirit. God has offered the gift of prophesying and dreams to all who will receive them, but only those who embrace the opportunity and God’s generosity will ever experience them.

When I got saved and went to a bible college, I attended a meeting at night to learn how better to hear the voice of God. There were 40+ students and a woman who was teaching us the fundamentals of hearing God’s voice. Let me list some of the things we were encouraged to do:

1. One of the first things we learned was to confess any known sin which we had conviction over.
2. Ask the Holy Spirit to search our hearts for unforgiveness towards others.
3. Next, embrace and accept that God truly loved us and wanted to speak to us.
4. Say out loud “Lord I’m ready to hear your voice” no matter what.
5. Wait on God….. until God speaks!

It is so easy to forget that God wants to communicate but will not, under normal circumstances, force us to listen. How he speaks is His prerogative.

John 10:25-27                                                                                                                                              

Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. [26] “But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. [27] “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 

You can’t cut it any cleaner than that. If we are His sheep it is because we believe Jesus is the Son of God. If we believe, we “HEAR HIS VOICE” and follow him. Now to be fair, this scripture does not say we hear him all the time. It does not say we hear an audible voice, though we might. What it does say is that we “Trust” God to speak to us and we are receptive.

So let’s put dreams in the context of God’s communication. It is one of many ways God can speak to us “IF” we are willing to receive that type of communication. When you read the scriptures, God can speak something to your soul that you couldn’t otherwise understand. If you listen to a sermon, you might receive a message from God that no one else got because God was using the teacher or preacher. You might look up at the sky and notice a beautiful sunset and all of a sudden you hear God’s voice “I Love You”. People around you were going about their business and didn’t even look up. You, however, were ready and willing to receive no matter how God chose to speak…..so he did.

Let me leave you with this sound suggestion about hearing God through dreams or any other way the Lord may choose to speak to you today. Samuel the prophet was a little boy getting ready to sleep when he heard a voice. He doesn’t know this voice but he hears it. Here is what the priest Eli spoke to him.

1 Samuel 3:9-11                                                                                                                                                        

And Eli said to Samuel, “Go lie down, and it shall be if He calls you, that you shall say, …………… ‘Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.      Then the LORD came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for Your servant is listening.”

Hearing God speak is as “Simple & Complicated” as we make it. If the scripture is true then God wants to speak, so the problem must be in ourselves. Maybe fear, bad teaching, insecurity or a host of other issues, but God will always break through our “Clutter” if we do the following:

1) Confess any known sin  (your conscience speaks to you and reminds you)

2) Confess your love for God and his love for you (important to do outward if possible)

3) Ask the Holy Spirit if you have any unforgiveness.  (wait to hear don’t make things up)

4) Acknowledge your hunger to hear His voice and to recognize it.

If you have a lot of hurdles intellectually it will take some time to overcome them, but you can. Don’t give up and, if possible, get with strong believers who anticipate and hear God’s voice in order to help encourage your journey of pursuing God’s voice.

Questions:

Are you open to God using whatever means he chooses to speak to you today? Confess you ready.

Are you willing to let God use your dreams to communicate? Confess and pray before going to bed.

I will be writing a third article on dreams after this one….. click the link to get notice updates!

Pastor Dale