Dreams that come from God

Today I wanted to share a message that I received a few years back when I was attending Citywide church. It spoke about dreams that come from God.

I remember early on in my walk with God, I was in my connect group and we were discussing dreams, and how God can use our dreams to speak to us. I distinctly remember this discussion because my dreams were actually a mess. They were distorted because I was feeding my soul rubbish, in the form of movies and tv. It was blocking the way for God being able to speak to me through this channel. From that point I was determined not to feed my soul junk food, but feast upon those things pleasing to the soul, in the form of God's word!

In Genesis 37, we read of the story of Joseph and his dreams. I wont go into too much detail as I recommend you read the story of Joseph, it is actually one of my favorite parts of the Bible. But basically he was given two dreams that highlighted the future God has in store for him, a future where he would be the ruler over the entire land and his brothers would bow down before him. Unfortunately his brother's already despised him, so when he came out and told them about his dream, they were less than impressed. But this highlights an important point, when we do receive a dream from God, we need to be careful who we share it with as some people will not react in a pleasant way.

Even more important though is to test whether the dream is truly God's dream or is just "our" dream? We must realise that if our dream is truly from God, there will be opposition against us. The devil will be against us, but we need not worry because we have Christ with us. If we have faith in Him, he will protect us. We must be expectant on God, that we will recieve the glory and blessing he has prepared for us

But we also must learn to wait upon the Lord, for His timing is perfect. Sometimes we hear a word from God, but are too impatient for the right time. As it says in Psalm 31:14-15 -

But I trusted in, relied on, and was confident in You, O Lord; I said, You are my God. My times are in Your hands; deliver me from the hands of my foes and those who pursue me and persecute me.

This is crucial especially when we are talking about those dreams which appear impossible. Just like with Joseph, he went through many circumstances where he would have felt like he was going backwards from what his dream had predicted. But he never gave up faith in the Lord, he waited upon Gods timing. We must remember not to lose focus when the going gets tough either. We must always remain faithful to what God has shown us in terms of our dream.

We must continually wait upon the Lords timing to ensure He is always with us. Just as Moses did in Exodus 33:15-16 -

Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?"

Moses wasnt prepared to keep going unless he was totally sure that God was going to be with him every step of the way. And what was Gods response to Moses, we read in verse 17

And the LORD said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name."

How awesome is that response from God!

Dreams from God can reveal truly wonderful things that God has in store for us. But we need to be patient and know that Gods timing is perfect. Everything we do must glorify God, for we have a great promise as it says in Romans 8:28 -

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

In reality we are unable to do anything without God. We need only trust in Him. He has an awesome plan for each and everyone of our lives.

Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge

(Psalm 62:8)