Dreams II

Last week we started a discussion on dreams. Thank you to all of those who participated in the survey. We had 137 participants before we closed the survey. We hope to share the results with you in the coming weeks. Before we begin, we need to share a quick disclaimer or two. The survey is not statistically representative of anything but the actual respondents. In other words, we would be mistaken if we take the percentages presented herein and extrapolate them to a larger group of people. We would be equally amiss if it was suggested that the survey proved a right answer or a wrong answer to any of the questions. The only thing the survey “proves” is what 137 people think collectively.

Our first question was “Do you feel that God still communicates with men via dreams today?” Thirty-two percent of our respondents said “yes” and another forty-five percent said “I don’t know.” This makes our fifth question (If you believe God communicates with us today via dreams, how would you distinguish between a dream from God versus an ordinary dream?) that much more important. If seventy-seven percent of our respondents believe that God does or possibly does communicate through dreams, how would we know when He did?

We have everything we need in the Bible in order to walk properly before God. (2 Tim. 3:16,17) Therefore, IF God does speak to us through dreams, those dreams are supplementary to that experience, never contradictory to the Bible and ultimately must be validated through Scripture.

Many peopled shared dream experiences with me in which the dream actually prodded them to act Biblically. They knew what the right thing to do was, but were not doing it until they had a dream. For example, one brother confided in me that he had a dream where God talked to him very vividly. He had not told anyone about the dream for fear of being ridiculed, chided or worse. In this dream, God told him very plainly to forgive another brother for whom he held a longstanding grudge. This brother said that because of the dream, he had finally forgiven this brother. It was not as if he didn’t know he should forgive, but his dream experience finally moved him to do what he had been reading in the Bible all along.

--http://www.wcfoundation.org/

Dreams

Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. 'I had a dream,' he was saying. 'A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.' (Judges 7:13 NIV)

The Bible is full of incidents when men have dreams where God communicates something of importance to them. This belief in God communicating through dreams was held by Jew and Gentile alike. In fact, some of the most important dreams in Scripture were from Gentiles such as Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar. In this age of science and psychoanalysis, however, believing that dreams are anything more than the workings of our subconscious is met with the some degree of skepticism.

What should the modern believer think about dreams? Does God still use dreams to communicate with men? If so, how do we distinguish between dreams from God and other dreams?

In the account of Gideon from Judges 7, the understanding of dreams plays a critical role in the story. First, Gideon is given a message from God "in the night" which leads us to believe this was in a dream. God tells him:

Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp. (vs. 9-11 NIV)

Because of his belief in the message he has received is from God, Gideon sneaks down into the enemy encampment. While he is down there he overhears the conversation quoted above. A Midianite has dreamed that a round loaf of bread rolled into their army encampment struck a tent and knocked it over. The associate of the dreamer then offers his interpretation of the dream. He says:

This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands. (v. 14)

Let's see if we can establish a few facts from this story as it relates to dreams:

• Gideon believed that dreams were a medium by which God communicated with men.
• The Midianites believed that dreams were a medium by which God communicated with men.
• Gideon believed in these dreams so strongly he was willing to sneak into his enemy's camp and also attack them with victory assured.
• These Gentiles knew enough about dreams to interpret correctly the obscure symbol of a piece of bread rolling into a tent and knocking it down.

If all of these elements did not come together, the story would be significantly different. It was only because there was a belief in dreams that God was able to work through dreams to bring this event about. It is possible that our own understanding of dreams opens or closes opportunities for us?

Lord willing we will explore this more in the coming weeks along with your input.

--http://www.wcfoundation.org/