Dreams

"he said, "Listen to my words:
"When a prophet of the LORD is among you,
I reveal myself to him in visions,
I speak to him in dreams." Numbers 12:5-7

I believe that God does speak to many of his people in dreams. In fact, I believe he speaks to most people through their dreams, but we're taught that dreams are silliness and don't mean anything. In fact, I suspect a lot of dreams mean something. If we stop and look at our dreams sometimes, they can tell us something about ourselves, and show us what areas of our life we maybe need to work on. But today, I'm thinking about the dreams that wake me in the night. Just last night, in fact I had a dream about a church that we had recently visited. It was a wonderful church, and the pastor is fantastic, with heart full of Jesus. I enjoyed our visit there, and I've enjoyed subsequent opportunities to fellowship with the pastor and his wife. I had a dream of being in their building with the members of their church and just praying fervently. It woke me, and at first I puzzled about this dream, did it mean something? I have no idea, and maybe down the road an answer to that will come, but to me the important part there is what I did then. I prayed. I prayed for that church, for the people and especially for the pastor and his wife and family.

I think that is a majority of what the dreams we have may mean. There are often times where I'll have a dream about someone or someplace, and I'll just wake, feeling a need to pray for that person or place. One of the things that I heard recently is that women, in general, tend to be real prayer warriors and intercessors. And do you know why that is? Especially for those of us who are not in the work force, but I know I find myself praying while I'm working. I'm cleaning my house and I'm praying. I'm doing dishes and I'm praying. I'm tending the garden, and I'm praying. All day long I have a stream of little prayers running towards heaven. Andy, not so much, because he is busy working. He's working hard to earn an income, so he needs to focus and do his job well. Me, not so much, who really is going to notice if I don't quite get all the weeds pulled because my mind is elsewhere. I love that thought, and since I have this running stream of prayer, when I have a strange dream at night, my first instinct is to pray about it.

"And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions." Joel 2:28

And yes, from time to time there may be those real and true dreams, those dreams of God talking to me. I've had two for sure that I know of. One I shared here not too long ago, and the other was a little tidbit just for me that I'm slowly following through on. But you know, once I learned that God could actually talk to me about my dreams, I began looking at them differently. I look at all the ones that wake me, or that I remember upon waking, to see if they have any hidden meaning. Many are discarded as nonsense or silliness, but sometimes, like this morning, they stir something up and I pray. That church is going to be in my thoughts and prayers likely all day today.

The whole point of this post today is just to encourage you to look at your dreams. Are they telling you something? I certainly couldn't tell you, but God can, and sometimes all you need is a little prayer to reveal the answers. You can also ask God to reveal Himself to you in your dreams. He may do just that. But one thing is certain, you can also use your dreams for practice. Whether you think your dreams are God inspired or not, take the opportunity to pray for those who you dream about. I mean, let's be real, who couldn't use a few more prayers on their behalf? Dreaming and praying go hand in hand, and every night I go to bed wondering what I'll be dreaming. I pray that I will continue to be open to the possibilities that God would have for me, and may he truly bless those he's brought to my mind this morning.