Divine Dreams
- by Bruce Vyverberg
In Old Testament times, God often used the vehicle of dreams (while asleep) and visions (while awake) to make His will known. Today, Christians are divided on whether or not God still does speak through dreams and visions. Many believe that God given dreams and visions are an extraneous biblical subject; meaning one that is not important, valid or relevant to our everyday life. Because of this, the teachings on divinely given dreams and visions are often discarded in favor of other bible topics considered more worthy of our attention. However, nothing could be further from the truth. When addressing God given dreams and visions, we need to understand their intended purpose through the Lord’s eyes rather than just our own.
Since the Lord is not quick to speak, everything that He says is important. Therefore, no matter the time, place, or way in which He may speak, it would benefit us all to pay close attention. This would include dreams and visions.
Realizing that He is God and we aren’t, we need to humble ourselves to the fact that He has the right to say whatever He wants, to whomever He wants, whenever He wants and however He wants. Only arrogance would deny Him that right and not welcome Him to do so.
There are certain things the Lord desires to say to us; for our benefit as well as for the benefit of His Kingdom that most of us have insufficient spiritual capacity or maturity to receive outside of this supernatural means of dreams and visions. Like a college professor trying to explain “rocket science” to a child, our natural minds are unable to receive or understand certain things the Lord may want to say. However, because of HIS great wisdom, He has alternative ways in which He can communicate understandably to us. While asleep and when our natural defenses and thinking are shut down, He can speak a message through the avenue of dreams. I know of no better time. It is truly incredible and ingenious of HIM!
Do you recall how the Lord used a dream to inform Joseph that Mary was pregnant by the Holy Spirit and that the dream also instructed him to go ahead and take her as his wife? Can we even imagine having such a dream? Do you remember that it was through a dream that the Lord warned the Wise Men to return home by another route? Because the wise men paid attention to their God given dream, Jesus’ life was spared. The Lord spoke to Joseph again in another dream and guided him to take Jesus and Mary and escape to Egypt. This dream revealed to Joseph that Jesus’ life was in danger. Joseph promptly obeyed his divine dream and Jesus’ life was saved once again. There are many more Bible examples of God given dreams and visions that we could explore further.
While most Christians mentally accept these Biblical truths, many incorrectly believe these supernatural incidents are limited to only that time in history. Because of erroneous thinking, many Christians live our lives full of head knowledge; with little first-hand experience with the living God. While better than nothing, it is far short of the relationship the Lord desires us all to have with Him.
I believe all Christians would love to experience the Lord speaking to us personally on a regular or at least occasionally. Because of this, we need to become aware and better understand that our 6 to 8 nighttime hours are a perfect opportunity for the Lord to speak to us without interruption. Can we even imagine having a chance to talk to our husband, wife or one of our children without interruption for 6-8 hours each evening? What a blessing that would be! Although not all dreams are from God, some could most certainly be. It is up to each individual to learn and embrace these Biblical truths.
For almost 30 years now, the Lord has spoken to my wife, Connie and me through the vehicle of dreams and visions countless times and about many issues: From conviction of sin, to protecting us from people with evil intentions, to showing us how to fix our lawn mower, to where to invest money. You name it and it seems like He’s addressed it. Far more importantly however, is His desire to have a relationship with all of us in this unique way because, contrary to what many believe, dreams and visions are far from being extraneous doctrine: Not when the Lord is doing the talking! The only question is…Will we allow, welcome and even invite Him to do so? Receiving God given dreams and visions is a GRAND opportunity to be partakers of the out-pouring of His Spirit in these last days. Won’t you at least give HIM a try?
Sweet Dreams!
*For speaking engagements or information on dream coaching and interpretation send an e-mail directly to: Bruce@PropheticManna.com
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