In this second part of the series of ‘God speaks’ we shall ponder ‘How the Lord speaks through dreams’

Dreams appear when we are in the state of deep sleep (in the subconscious mind). This is the most common way God uses to speak to His people.However, there are many examples in the Bible where God speaks even to those who didn’t know Him as the only true God  (Nebuchadnezzar- King of Babylon).

Like visions, the purposes of dreams are same (mentioned in part 1).

Additional purposes are

* to turn men from his wicked deed (Job 33:17).

*to turn from his wicked character (In the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, God foretold him the consequences of his own pride but rested on him in a year when he fails to heed the voice of God   – Daniel 4).

*to keep the soul from hell & life from perishing (Job 33:18).

* to prevent from sinning (Genesis 20:6).

* to impart gifts of God (wisdom to Solomon- 1 Kings 3:5-14).

*to defend his people (In a dream God warned Laban, an unbeliever who planned to offend Jacob, his son- in -law-  -Genesis 31:24).

*to protect his people (Matthew 2:13).

*to reveal the truth, God’s will & God’s plan (Present happenings in life- Matthew 1: 20,21).

*to show the right choice (Angel told Joseph to take Mary as his wife -Matthew 1:20).

*to reveal the way and time of exaltation & restoration ( Genesis 40:13).

* to reveal the way & time of death (Genesis 40:18).

God may also,

* reveal our spiritual status,

*give us prayer points,

*show us the natural disasters ahead

*future events of our country

*affairs of the world.

Sometimes GOD answers our prayer in a dream ( 1 Samuel 28:6)

DREAM IS THE WORD OF GOD:

Joseph, son of Jacob perceived his life’s purpose only through dream. He neither acquired a word directly from God like Moses or through the word of prophecy from the servants of God like Paul.

Psalm 105:19 says in NSAB “Until the time that his word came to pass, The word of the Lord tested him”. Here ‘His word’ denotes the dream.

The fulfilment of any dream is not time bounded. It may take a day, month or year. The dream which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon and Danial saw thousands of years ago is still fulfilling.

INTERPRETATION AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE:

Just like vision, each dream also should be interpreted in the light of God’s word and with the help of the Holy Spirit. Daniel 1:17 GNT says ‘Interpretation is a skill given by God’. This gift (interpretation of dream) changed Joseph, a prisoner into a Prime Minister and Daniel, a slave into a ruler & chief of Governors of all wise men.

AWARE: Let us not take absolute same meaning for identical characters. For instance, we know that lion represents Jesus, the lion of Judah. The scripture also says that satan comes like a roaring lion. So, sometimes, satan disguises himself in the form of Jesus or in the form of any known person to mislead us in dream. Like vision, the character, situation and setting in the dream matters.

                                                                                            To be continued…..