BY SARAH JACKSON
Recently I dreamt I was playing ‘fetch’ with a big yellow shark. Ten years ago I might have laughed the dream off or blamed it on too much pizza but instead I was able to see past the strange symbol and actually hear God speaking to my heart.
God created us to dream.
God created us to dream. Throughout the Bible there are many references to God speaking through dreams to communicate with mankind. Abraham, Jacob, Joseph and King Nebuchadnezzar: God spoke to them all through their dreams. And you know what? Those people seemed very comfortable not only receiving dreams, but also interpreting them and acting on their message. And some of those dreams were strange! Big yellow shark strange! You should take a look at Pharaoh’s dreams or King Nebuchadnezzar’s. That was some weird symbolism.
Has God stopped speaking through dreams? No! He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Dreams are a type of prophetic revelation and Acts 2:17 says that God will pour out His Spirit on all people and that one of the results of this will be the dreaming of dreams.
I grew up in a lively Charismatic church that was very open to the gifts of the Spirit, but I never once remember hearing that God speaks through our dreams today. Dream interpretation seemed a bit weird and out there. The only material in bookstores was either from a psychoanalytical perspective or New Age based. However, Genesis 40 says “Do not interpretations belong to God?. He is the true source of interpretation and I believe that God is reawakening the dreamers in the Church. We have the real thing and people are hungry for it.
People’s hearts are hungry to hear from God.
I was in Starbucks early one evening, preparing for a class on dream interpretation when a few friends came by and we had an excited (and loud) discussion about dreams and interpretation. After they left, the man in the seat next to me leant over and began to pepper me with questions about church and dreams and whether God speaks today. Half an hour later, he had to leave and I barely had enough time to open my notes before the woman who had been sitting in front of me turned around and asked me if I would interpret a dream she had had when she was 12 years old and had never forgotten. We talked until they closed the store! People’s hearts are hungry to hear from God and dreams are an open door right to the heart.
It’s like playing a game of ‘hide and seek’ with God.
Dreams can be confusing as they most often speak in the language of symbolism and that can be one strange language! It can put us off before we even begin, but really this is where the fun begins. It’s like playing a game of ‘hide and seek’ with God. He is inviting us to go on a journey with him, deeper into his heart, so that he can reveal mysteries and hidden things. Dreams can encourage, warn, comfort, heal, reveal our hearts, tell of the future, the list goes on. God is speaking through dreams to you today.
Are you ready to learn to listen?