Gift of Dreams, Visions, and Interpretation of Dreams Part 1
Sprinkled throughout the Scriptures are accounts of people having dreams. The more I study the scriptures the more I see patterns. God has, does, and will continue to send dreams & visions to communicate with his children.
Some dreams are to:
Warn and or protect
Instructional/teach us more about the true nature of God and about ourselves.
Prophetic
“Dreams may offer insight & foresight into decisions or actions that should be made. Dreams can be a vehicle for revelation. God revealing things to an individual or a group of people”
Here’s just a FEW examples as found in the Scriptures.
Joseph (of Egypt- Jacob’s son) having dreams and sharing them with his brothers. See the full account Gen 37:5-6 prophetic
Jehovah warning Joseph in a dream to take Mary and the child to Egypt and then after Herod had died sent an Angel via dream to Joseph to let him know it was safe to come back. Matt 2:13- warning/protecting dream
Lehi being commanded of the Lord via dream to take his family and depart into the wilderness. 1 Nephi 2:2- warning/protecting dream
Pontius Pilate’s wife: When Jesus stands at trial with her husband Pontius Pilate, she warns Pilate against having anything to do with him, because she knows of his innocence Matt 27:9. She was taught/informed about the true nature of Yeshua.
Remember-dreams often employ symbolism to teach a lesson, revealing elements of the future, or help us discover more about God and or more about ourselves.
*Remember that God is NO respecter of persons, and gives to ALL men (and women) liberally. The opposite is true as well.*
For every Gift of God there is a counterfeit of the Adversary
Here are some accounts of “false dreams”-
Jerimiah 23:32 Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.
Zachariah 10:2 For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.
Deut 13:1-3 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; 3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Ecc 5:7 7 For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God.
On a personal note-Since my Baptism by Fire/Being Born Again- BEing a “New Creature in Christ” I was given the gift of dreams. My whole life I have been able to dream and wake up and remember my dreams. Before this time I didn’t like going to sleep because I felt like I couldn’t escape the waking world. I would dream about whatever I was doing in my life at the time. Whether it was school or work and couldn’t do anything right or I would take forever doing something. Sound familiar? However my dreams shifted/changed right around the time I had my baptism by fire. For the next decade of my life I was taught in many “learning dreams” as I would later call them. Meaning- where I knew I was being taught Spirit to Spirit. Going through all these situations, experiences, and being tested and being taught prepared me.
Then- after my CEMS (see 2 Peter chpt 1) the dreams/visions shifted and I was spending a lot of time teaching and testifying in dreams. Being with the Lord, with Angels, occasionally hearing Father's voice. Learning to use the gifts of God on my future mission. Healings, casting out evil, control of the elements, travel by thought, flying and rescuing people. All this done in the night time.
I have been a very logical/literal person, and at the time of these dreams didn’t see the symbolic nature to them. Wrote down many of these “learning dreams”. Now years later as I am guided to look up these dreams, I see another layer to them and see how the Lord had been preparing me all this time through all those things I had experienced during the night and given more clarity and meaning to the dreams. Some dreams came to pass years later. Think of Joseph of Egypt and the dreams from his youth.
So, what is the difference between dreams and visions? Stay tuned for part 2 where we will discuss more about accounts of Visions as found in the Scriptures and personal experiences.
