Can God Speak Through Dreams?

Joseph’s story shows us the importance of praying
carefully before we share our dreams. Much unnecessary turmoil can be
avoided if we act wisely. Paul prayed that God would give the Christians
at Ephesus wisdom in addition to revelation (see Eph. 1:17). Revelation
without wisdom can cause great heartache and pain; both must be
utilized in proper balance to accomplish God’s ultimate purposes.

After many years in slavery and prison, Joseph became
prime minister of Egypt and helped the country survive seven years of
famine. When his brothers came to Egypt for provisions, they bowed
before him just as the dreams had foretold.

The dreams gave Joseph hope, guidance and encouragement
during difficult times and kept him from forsaking the God of his
fathers. God had a destiny for Joseph that would be fulfilled only after
many years of holding fast to Him in a strange land and under trying
circumstances.

Joseph’s faithfulness to God was the key to his success.
God in turn remained faithful to Joseph and, in His time, fulfilled His
word and brought these dreams to pass, saving not only Joseph and his
family but the future nation of Israel as well.

Dreams and visions may reveal your future ministry and
destiny, but they rarely reveal the process God will use to bring about
their fulfillment.

Assurance and Healing

We were building a new home, and anxiety about the cost of
the tile roof was stretching my faith. Then one night I dreamed that we
were putting a very strange roof on our house—a roof made from dried,
preserved tarantula spiders!

In my dream, everyone was excited about our new roof, but I
couldn’t see what was so exciting about these strange tiles. Then I
visited the homes of people I knew and found them raising baby
tarantulas with great joy and excitement.

I awoke perplexed. I looked up “tarantula” in the
encyclopedia. It said that in the Middle Ages people believed that
anyone bitten by the tarantula spider became ill with tarantism—an
imaginary disease that gave the victim a strong desire to dance! In
reality, the bite of a tarantula is not harmful to humans.

The dance, the disease and the spider were named after a
town in Italy called Taranto—which called to mind the Canadian city of
Toronto, where there had been highly publicized outpourings of joy among
God’s people.

The Lord used my dream to tell me that He was going to
cover our home with rejoicing—symbolized, strangely enough, by a
tarantula. In the Middle Ages, people feared the spider’s bite without
cause in the same way I had feared not having the provision for the
roof. God was assuring me that my worries were unfounded because He
would provide joy and abundance.

The dream showed me that His joy would be poured out in
every home in our congregation, producing a boldness to go forth in His
name and destroy the strongholds of the enemy. I was overcome with joy
and laughter and filled with faith. Who would guess that a tarantula
could cause rejoicing?

Just as dreams can bring assurance, they can reveal
unresolved matters in our hearts. When we dream about suppressed issues,
we become aware of them so we can deal with them and be made whole.
Often when we have built walls around areas of emotional pain to shield
us from the hurt, God uses dreams to bypass those walls and go directly
to the source of the pain.

On a conscious level, we may feel that we have dealt with
those past wounds, but our subconscious minds recognize areas that still
need healing. By bringing such matters to mind, God makes us aware and
begins the healing process.

A man who had lost several family members in a short
period of time came to me because he was troubled by dreams of his loved
ones. Consciously, he felt that he had accepted their deaths, but still
he dreamed about them.

I asked if he had grieved over his losses or if he felt
that he had to be strong for others who were grieving. He replied that
he had never let himself grieve. I prayed with him, asking the Lord to
help him process his grief. From that night forward the dreams ceased.

This man’s conscious mind had not let him feel his grief,
but his subconscious mind would not let him forget it. God spoke to his
need through his dreams and prompted him to seek the Lord for emotional
healing.

From these examples we see that God often identifies a
need in our lives, then gives us a message related to that need. The
need may not be met immediately; however, promises revealed in dreams
and visions give us the determination we need to press through difficult
circumstances until promises are fulfilled. 

Jane Hamon is a gifted teacher and author of Dreams
and Visions (Regal). She and her husband, Tom, pastor Christian
International Family Church in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. Adapted from Dreams
and Visions by Jane Hamon, copyright © 2000. Published by Regal
Books. Used by permission.