Dreams From God
"In the last days, God says, 'I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.'" -Acts 2:17
Dreams are simply night visions. And night or day, visions are one way God speaks to us. Daniel 1:17 tells us that “Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.” And we know that God gave Joseph big dreams (Genesis 37:5, 9) and that he later interpreted dreams for others (Genesis 40).
Hebrews 13:8 tells us that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.” Therefore, the same power of Jesus Christ that was present when He walked the earth is the same power that we have living inside us today. Jesus still does miracles, and the Holy Spirit still speaks to us through dreams and visions.
I know plenty of people who have dreams and visions from the Lord on a regular basis, my mother being one. God has spoken to my mother in dreams to comfort her after loved ones have passed, to awaken her to the enemy’s trap (so she can pray and avert danger) and to help her understand difficult circumstances that she and loved ones experience. God gifted my mother to interpret dreams—hers and others’.
Asleep, God has our full attention. During the day, we are usually more distracted. So He often impresses images in our minds and hearts in a profound way while we slumber. And we usually remember the dreams because they are so impactful.
God frequently speaks to me in day visions, more so than in night dreams. But I have experienced a few profound visitations while sleeping. Here’s one:
Several years ago, I was very ill and required surgery. Three weeks before my surgery date, I saw a vision of Jesus in a dream very early one morning. He walked up to my bedside and reached for my hand. He never said a word. I instantly knew the figure I saw was Jesus, and I was not afraid. From the moment I saw Him, I felt pure, perfect, overwhelming love.
In this dream, I arose from my bed and took Jesus’ hand. We walked over to an escalator-like device, but it didn’t have actual steps; so, it was more like a conveyor belt. Side by side, we stepped onto the conveyor belt and ascended to the top. There were no words spoken; only pure, perfect love consumed me. There was nothing else around us except a doorway, right at the top of the conveyor belt. Jesus and I stood in the threshold of the doorway and turned around. At that moment, I saw my body lying on my bed below.
At first, this didn’t bother me. I only wanted to be with Jesus, and nothing else mattered. But then seconds later, I felt concerned about the condition of my body; and I stepped away from Jesus towards it. At that moment, I woke up.
I realized I had had a dream and that I had seen Jesus. So I decided to drift off to sleep again in hope that I could experience His love all over. Sure enough, Jesus was there waiting for me.
After awhile, I woke up again, fell back asleep and saw Jesus a third time. Each time, I felt overwhelmed by His pure, perfect love.
After I woke up the final time, I nudged my husband and shared what had just happened. I could hardly find the words. I was captivated, overwhelmed by God’s presence.
A little later, I phoned a close friend, and as I shared the dream with her, she began to cry and promised to pray for me. We hung up, and she called back about an hour later, still crying. She said that she had been praying for God to not take my life on earth. I was surprised to hear this because I didn’t think it was my time to go home to be with the Lord. She said that God told her that I wouldn’t die.
Sure enough, shortly after we hung up, the worst pain I had experienced occurred. Then on the day of my surgery, my vital signs were not stable, which caused my surgeon to tell me she couldn’t perform the operation because I wouldn’t pull through. At this point, I asked her to leave the room, and I laid my own hands on my own body and commanded the vitals to be normal. Five minutes later, the surgeon returned and rechecked my vitals. They were normal, and they wheeled me into surgery.
I awakened after surgery and was taken to a room. That night, about 2:30 a.m., my vitals began to diminish again. At this point, I was tired of fighting, so I whispered a prayer to God, reminding Him of what He had spoken to my friend a few weeks earlier. Suddenly, my numbers returned to normal and I was completely healed once and for all.
I believe my dream with Jesus was a catalyst that prompted life-saving healing prayer. I believe God wanted me to know it was serious and wanted to give me deliverance and a testimony from the brink of death. So the dream was a kind of forewarning.
I believe God will give us profound dreams if we ask Him. And I believe we can receive His dreams, as He wills, if we remain close to Him.
How are some of the ways God speaks to you? Has God ever shown you a vision or a dream?
Margaret D. Mitchell is the Founder of God's Love at Work, a marketplace outreach purposed to share God's greatest power source - the love of Christ. This devotional was adapted from Margaret's forthcoming book, Enduring Grace. All rights reserved.
