Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Dreams

How do you know when a dream is a message from God, or just bad pizza? If you survey the Bible, people had dreams all the time about important stuff in their lives. Joseph had prophetic dreams when he was a young guy, King Nebuchadnezzar had weird dreams about the future of his kingdom, and Daniel had dreams about the end of the world. Joseph, Jesus' earthly father, had dreams just about every night it seems. The first one was to tell him it was okay to marry his (miraculously) pregnant fiancee, the next one was to tell him to get out of town before King Herod killed baby Jesus, and then he had another one after that to let him know that it was okay to go back home. Then there were the wise men, and all their dreams. Lots of dreams.

I don't dream much myself. And I've been debating over the last few weeks about even bringing this subject up, because it's a loaded one. But this morning, when someone told me about a dream that another person had about Annie, I thought, okay, I'll run this up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes.

So, if you ever have a dream about Annie that you think is appropriate to share, please do--and we'll try to discern together if it is a message from God to encourage and build our faith, or just...bad pizza. And in the meantime, I'll ask the person who dreamed about Annie if I can share it with you.

Jean


In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Acts 2:17

10 comments:

Gretchen said...

No dreams about her. Just dreaming for her.

Although, you know that Jenny has looked at me during our prayer time and told me she thinks God is going to heal Annie. Who am i to refute that? Plus...He is healing her...just slower than we want Him to.

I absolutely think God can use dreams to communicate in our day and age.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Gretchen, He does--I think He communicates in lots of ways that we don't notice because we're too busy to listen! Anyway--give Jenny a hug and tell her to keep praying!

Anonymous said...

Well you have me good and curious about who dreamed what..?? :) And I have not had any dreams about Annie while sleeping but I have BIG dreams for her healing while wide awake! Not just dreaming but praying!

Anonymous said...

Me, too!
Continuing love and prayers,
Anxiously waiting to hear,too,Terri W

Anonymous said...

Hey, Jean... I notice that your link to the Bothell Reporter is to the actual paper and goes to a new story. I have a screen capture of the Annie story. If you do not have one and would like it, please let me know and I can send it (I don't have your email address though.)

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Sue. I'm techno-challenged, so I wouldn't have figured that out! I'll e-mail you and you can send it.

Anonymous said...

It is on its way!!!! So glad I thought to capture it! :)

uncle jeff said...

Jer 23:28 The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What [is] the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.


i had a dream many years ago. i shared it with one or two of my sisters. it was so real and so clear that it prompted me to wake early on a saturday morning and jump on my bicycle and head off to calvary chapel, costa mesa. (i was living in santa ana at the time). once i arrived i asked if romaine (my couselor of many years) was in. he was not.

in the dream there was a word in the sky near the end of the dream. as i said, this dream startled me and i wanted to know more about dreams. a student at the counter in the office was there so i decided to write the word i had written when the dream woke me. he looked at the word and told me the word is Alethia. Alethia is a greek word for truth.

so, i waited until romaine arrived and asked him about dreams. he directed me to the verse above. the point, in my opinion, is that we should not focus on the miracles but focus on the word; the bible; jesus christ.

now then, as far as what a dream may indicate will be found out later - or not.

you see, prophecy will show itself true. if it comes to pass (the dream that is) it was truth and therefore prophetic.

as for my dream, i have yet to see its meaning or practicality come forth. however, i think of it often and if it comes to pass then it was prophetic. until then, i will continue eating pizza:)

now, the one thing that DID come from my dream was my greek and hebrew study bible that i still use as my bible. because the dreeam contained that word in greek i became interested in learning more greek. this study bible i speak of helps me do just that. so, if nothing else, i bought a great bible because of the dream:):)

love jeff

uncle jeff said...

BTW - the entire chapter that the aforementioned verse was excerpted from dealt with false prophets. however, it is not that we should discard dreams as if coming from a false god necessarily. god DOES use dreams. he also sends us angels to minister to us and we to entertain. but we should not allow those miracles to overshadow the truth of god's word.

anyway, i hope i was clear enough to encourage and not discourage. after all, god is good ALL the time.

jeff

Anonymous said...

Good to remember everything you wrote, Jeff--because, like you said, if the dream is prophetic, time will tell. But it is fun to see these things unfold. And that's the truth. ;)