"DREAM ON," SAYS THE LORD

Have you recently had God speak to you? As of late, has He shown you things to come? The Bible says the Holy Spirit will show us things to come (Joh. 16:13). ALL believers are included in this great promise! Not just prophets! Not just saint so and so. All believers! God is giving dreams to people all over the world. We have Muslims seeing Jesus in dreams. Politicians and newscasters are having Jesus appear to them in dreams. Celebrities are hearing their names called out by Jesus in dreams. Why should you be left out? You should not! Get ready to have dreams. By the time you get to the end of this article and agree in faith with the written blessing, you will have God speak to you in a dream.

Have you been one of those who have said, “I never dream.” Well, that is not exactly true! God has made every one of us to dream. You may not remember it, but it is scientifically proven that you dream every night. On average, dreams occur from one to two hours EVERY night with EVERY person. There is no exception. Moreover, we can experience four to seven dreams in one night!

In the natural, God gave dreams to benefit humankind. Dreams serve the purpose of helping one to live healthy and be productive in their waking hours. Dreams are given to de-stress, work out problems, process emotions, consolidate memories from short-term to long-term storage, stimulate brain regions used in learning, clear unnecessary clutter from our brains, help maintain physical health such as immune function, metabolic balance, and increase the production of proteins. (I think I just heard someone say, “This sounds good to me. I need my brain de-cluttered!”).

Did you know that there are sleep cycles which repeat at least four to five times a night (could be as many as seven times a night), with each cycle lasting an average of 90–110 minutes? Vivid dreaming occurs in the REM portion of a cycle, which usually begins 30–70 minutes after falling asleep (or beginning a new cycle) and occupies 20–25% of total sleep. So, what is a sleep cycle?

NREM (Non-Rapid Eye Movement) Sleep:

Stage 1—light sleep; transitioning to sleep; muscles relax; slow eye movements

Stage 2—deepening sleep; heart rate and breathing slow down

Stage 3—deep sleep; brain waves slow down; minimal eye movements

REM (Rapid-Eye Movement) Sleep:

Stage 4—most restorative part of sleep, dreaming sleep; brain activity is as active as when awake, like wakefulness, rapid eye movements (eyes go back and forth, looking at visual images), becomes longer during each cycle

Sleep studies show that when a person is awakened before the sleep cycle is completed, and they fail to enter REM Sleep, meaning they do not dream, they experience detrimental effects on their health, even causing them to have nervous system problems.

In the spiritual, God gives dreams for many reasons. One of my favorite reasons for God giving dreams is to impart gifts, as He did to Solomon. While Solomon was dreaming, MEANING WHILE HE WAS SLEEPING, God imparted to him wisdom of the heart and mind! Look for God to impart a special gift, anointing, or talent to you in your dreams. An important note is to recognize that before Solomon had his dream in which he received an impartation from God, he generously presented offerings to the Lord.

“⁵ In Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night. and God said, Ask what I shall give you.” (1Ki. 3:5)

In Verses 5–8, Solomon gave his reason in detail for God to answer his request of wisdom, and it was to lead and judge His great people. He summed it up his request with the following words:

“⁹ So give Your servant an understanding mind and a hearing heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and bad...” (1Ki. 3:9)

Solomon’s speech pleased the Lord. Your words matter!

“¹⁰ It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. ¹¹ God said to him, Because you have asked this and have not asked for long life or for riches, nor for the lives of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to recognize what is just and right, ¹² Behold, I have done as you asked. I have given you a wise, discerning mind, so that no one before you was your equal, nor shall any arise after you equal to you. ¹³ I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings equal to you all your days. ¹⁴ And if you will go My way, keep My statutes and My commandments as your father David did, then I will lengthen your days. ¹⁵ Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream...” (1Ki. 3:10–15).

Other reasons why God gives spiritual dreams to us is to communicate messages from Him, to warn, to bring to remembrance something forgotten, to show us things to come, to reveal what is happening at the present or in the past, to reveal His purpose, plan, and wisdom, to solve problems, to impart new ideas, and give new inventions.

Dreams give a witness of God’s greatness; He is omniscient. Daniel said, “But there is a God in Heaven that reveals secrets and makes known to the King Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days” (Dan. 2:28). Moreover, dreams, combined with the gift of being able to interpret dreams, can bring exaltation (i.e., Joseph). God used dreams to put His people in places of influence.

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"DREAM ON" (Continued)

My husband, Scott, had a dream a few days ago. He woke up one morning crying. It’s rare for me to see him cry, so naturally I was disturbed and began to question him, seeking to comfort him. I saw clearly that something had greatly affected him. He could barely get the words out of his mouth. Finally, he whispered, “I SAW JESUS.”

For many weeks, Scott has had an intense desire to have his own supernatural encounter with the Lord. One night after I had ministered on a broadcast about dreams, he asked God to meet with him. He wanted this more than anything in his life. That night, he went to bed praying. However, the night came and went with no God dream, but surprisingly he was not deterred in his faith. Instead, he dug in and believed the Lord would soon speak to him. After all, dreams are God’s universal language to all people, sinner and saint alike. In the Bible, there were two kings who were nonbelievers and God gave them dreams, showing them the future. Surely, Scott reasoned, God would give him, who is a believer, a dream. Joseph and Daniel were called upon to interpret the two kings’ dreams. Dreams are to be understood! It’s wise to pay attention to your dreams!

A dream can either be comforting or disturbing. Abraham dreamed of his descendants enslaved (Gen. 15); Nebuchadnezzar dreamed of his own demise (Dan. 4); Pilate’s wife dreamed of Jesus and His mistreatment (Mat. 27:19); Gideon’s enemy dreamed of their defeat by him (Jdg. 7:13). Yes, God speaks in dreams and reveals secrets!

As Scott shared his dream with me, I knew immediately the interpretation of it. It was a wonderful dream, and it not only held a message personally for him, but it also revealed the season which Church is in. It’s important that we understand the times in which we live.

The short version of Scott’s dream was that we were ministering to people of all races and cultures and were serving and cleaning the kitchen. He excused himself and went to the bathroom. The toilet would not flush, and a woman was waiting in line to use the bathroom. With no plunger, he reached in and unstopped the toilet for her, and then he went to the sink to wash his hands. It was then that he saw Jesus. Scott saw the Lord in the flowing water and began to touch His face.

There are several factors involved in his dream:

• Kitchen—It represents the heart, the center of the home (ministry), provision, warmth, and love.

• Serving—We were ministering from our heart, in the love of Christ, to the people.

• Bathroom/Toilet—It represents a place of cleansing. Since Jesus did not hesitate to talk about bodily functions when He came the first time, then why wouldn’t He speak about them in dreams? He said in the Gospel of John, “...whatever goes into the mouth goes into the stomach and then into a toilet” (Mat. 15:17).

• A humbling of self, even ‘getting his hands dirty’ to help others—This came before He saw Jesus.

• The Lord appeared in the water. This reveals the present season of the Church. The Lord is cleansing His Church. Paul wrote, “...so that He might sanctify the Church, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word [of God]” (Eph. 5:26).

Take note that when God ‘moves upon’ or ‘within’ a person, it is often compared to the flowing of water. Get prepared, for God is cleansing you, so that He might use you greater than He has ever used you before!

I pray that you dream! I pray that God speaks to you in dreams. I pray that you encounter God in your dreams. In Jesus’ name.

 EXAMPLES OF THE BENEFIT OF DREAMS

·       Elias Howe and the Sewing Machine: “Elias Howe invented the sewing machine in 1845. He had the idea of a machine with a needle, which would go through a piece of cloth, but he couldn’t figure out exactly how it would work. In his dream, cannibals were preparing to cook him and they were dancing around the fire waving their spears. Howe noticed at the head of each spear there was a small hole through the shaft and the up-and-down motion of the spears, and the hole remained with him when he woke. The idea of passing the thread through the needle close to the point, not at the other end, was a major innovation in making mechanical sewing possible.” (One Man’s Dream, George O. Pabo)

·       Albert Einstein and the Theory of Relativity: “Of the most influential science theories today is the Theory of Relativity. While everyone knows the equation E=MC2, most people don’t realize that a young Albert Einstein would discover this in a dream. Einstein had a dream one night that he was sledding down a mountain and was going faster and faster, eventually approaching the speed of light, it caused the stars to change their appearance. From this he began to develop his principle of relativity which would eventually lead to his general theory of relativity.” (Dream Stop)

·       Jack Nicklaus Finds a New Golf Swing in a Dream: “Golfer Jack Nicklaus found a new way to hold his golf club in a dream, which he credits to improving his golf game. In 1964, Nicklaus was having a bad slump and routinely shooting in the high seventies. After suddenly regaining top scores, he reported: ‘Wednesday night I had a dream, and it was about my golf swing. I was hitting them pretty good in the dream and all at once I realized I wasn’t holding the club the way I’ve actually been holding it lately. I’ve been having trouble collapsing my right arm taking the club head away from the ball, but I was doing it perfectly in my sleep. So when I came to the course yesterday morning, I tried it the way I did in my dream, and it worked. I shot a 68 yesterday and a 65 today.’” (One Man’s Dream, George O. Pabo)

·       Frederik Banting and Insulin for the Treatment of Diabetes in 1921: “It came to Banting in a dream one night: the Nobel-prize winning idea of how to treat diabetes with insulin. With the help of Charles Best, he finally isolated the compound that has changed the lives of millions of diabetics ever since. (Sir Frederick Banting Legacy Foundation, Carla Friedman)

·       James Watson and Double Helix Structure of DNA “Nobel laureate James Watson opens TED2005 with the frank and funny story of how he and his research partner, Francis Crick, discovered the structure of DNA. James Watson, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, reported stumbling upon the double helix image for the DNA chain through his dream of a spiral staircase.” (Ted Talk)

·       Abraham Lincoln and His Death: In Lincoln’s words, three days before his assassination: “‘About 10 days ago, I retired very late...I soon began to dream...I heard subdued sobs, as if a number of people were weeping. I thought I left my bed and wandered downstairs...I went from room to room...I saw light in all the rooms; every object was familiar to me; but where were all the people who were grieving as if their hearts would break?...What could be the meaning of all this?...I kept on until I arrived at the East Room, which I entered. There I met with a sickening surprise. Before me was a catafalque, on which rested a corpse wrapped in funeral vestments. Around it were stationed soldiers who were acting as guards; and there was a throng of people, gazing mournfully upon the corpse, whose face was covered, others weeping pitifully. ‘Who is dead in the White House?’ I demanded of one of the soldiers, ‘The President,’ was his answer; ‘he was killed by an assassin.’ ...although it was only a dream, I have been strangely annoyed by it ever since.” (Lamon, Recollections of Abraham Lincoln)