Acts 2:16-19

“But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams, and on My manservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.”

When I was a little girl, I had nightmares. They were mostly about me running away from being smashed or suffocated by large boulders or being squeezed to death by giant masses of land. I was also plagued with nightmares about my loved ones not being saved when Jesus returns and me desperately begging Jesus to let them come to heaven. The nightmares were so intense that I would literally run around my room in my sleep, wake up crying, and experience immense fear and anxiety. Even remembering these nightmares and writing about them makes me feel yucky. 

My parents were usually there with me as I would come out of the nightmares. They had some gentle tactics for getting me safely back to peaceful sleep. Eventually, I stopped having nightmares consistently, and was only affected by them here and there as I grew older. As I became more aware of what was happening, (the enemy was torturing my sleep), I began to pray the peace of God over my mind every night before I’d go to sleep. Along with the nightmares, I can see, looking back, that I was also having dreams from the Lord. But I gradually closed myself off to dreaming, in general, because of the horrible fear I experienced when I had the nightmares. I’d just rather not dream at all! 

Fast forward to a women’s conference that I attended 2 years ago…Andi Andrew was the speaker and she released a word to the “dreamers” in the room. She said that there were women who had been plagued in their sleep with nightmares and had closed themselves off to dreaming, but the Lord wants to re-awaken dreaming in our lives. She encouraged us to pray, “No dreams unless they are dreams from God,” before we fell asleep at night. Of course, my spirit quickened in me when she said these words and I received it for myself. Since that day, I have been dreaming dreams from the Lord, nearly every week.

How do I know a dream is from the Lord? Well, first of all, I actually remember the dream when I awaken. Then I write it down and ask the Lord if He is trying to communicate something to me through the dream. Then, usually over the course of a few days or even sometimes weeks, I began to see and understand what the dream was really about. I’m learning more and more about biblical symbolic aspects of dreams and how they line up and are in agreement with the Word of God. Sometimes He shows me a picture of my calling or the people He has entrusted to me, sometimes it’s about spiritual warfare and the authority and power I have over the enemy, sometimes He lovingly urges me to rest in Him, sometimes it’s about me keeping my focus on what He wants me to focus on, and so on…It’s pretty amazing!

If you are a super busy person and have a hard time “hearing” from God because of all the commotion in your life, ask Him to speak to you in your sleep! He has your undivided attention when you are in a state of true rest!

I share all of this with you so that you can also anticipate dreams, visions, prophecy and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in your life. We ARE living in the “last days’ and the Word promises that God will pour His Spirit out on all flesh, young and old, women and men!

Why should we desire these things? Dreams and visions encourage us, warn us, confirm things for us, comfort us, etc. And prophecy edifies and builds up the Church, the Body of Christ! Edification is the building up and encouragement of the church through sharing of spiritual insights and messages. In these days that we live in, we could all use encouragement and support as we function as the hands and feet of Jesus!

Are you a dreamer? Have you seen visions from the Lord? How about prophecy? Is this something the you desire? I encourage you today to open yourself up to whatever God has for you. Surrender to Him and draw near to Him and see what He has to say to you!