Thursday, July 11, 2013

Does God Speak Through Dreams?

English: Joseph made ruler in Egypt
English: Joseph made ruler in Egypt (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


For God does speak—now one way, now another
    though no one perceives it.
15 In a dream, in a vision of the night,
    when deep sleep falls on people
    as they slumber in their beds,
16 he may speak in their ears
    and terrify them with warnings,
17 to turn them from wrongdoing
    and keep them from pride,
18 to preserve them from the pit,
    their lives from perishing by the sword.

Job 33:14-18

New International Version (NIV)

         If you are familiar with the Bible, you can probably recall many references to dreams and dream interpretations.   There are significant stories about Jacob, Joseph, Daniel, and many others who had dreams or interpreted the dreams of others.  Most believers would acknowledge that God does speak to some in dreams and perhaps has even spoken to them.  

       While I have had dreams that were very spiritual and others from which I awoke feeling as though I might have been given a spiritual message, I cannot say for certain that I have ever had a dream where God or any spirit has communicated to me through my subconscious mind.  Therefore lacking that experience, I will submit this to the readers.

        Have you ever had a dream where you believe God or some spiritual entity has spoken to you?   Do you know of anyone who claims to have had this experience?   What are your opinions on this matter?  

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12 comments:

  1. yes, I have had those kinds of dreams, but always...the details get lost soon after waking and I'm left wondering - if this dream was important, why can't I remember it?

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  2. Enjoyed the post Lee.
    If God speaks to us in dreams I sincerely hope it isn't him speaking with the sort of dreams I get.

    Yvonne.

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  3. No, never happened to me, probably because I am an atheist. I had a few dreams about my dad after he died and a particularly uncanny one right before Christmas the year he died. I dreamt that he called me and said "I sent you that thing you wanted." And hung up. It was so real. I made sure that I told a few people about it just in case and they were all pretty blown away when Christmas Day arrived. I opened up a gift that my mom sent, and inside was the cobalt blue 1979 Christmas decanter that they had in their decanter/bottle collection that I have coveted since 1979. Ever since I was 14 I would say over and over, 'don't ever give that one away or get rid of it, I want it. OK? Promise?' Of all the years for my mom to send it, and I have that dream that dad called to tell me he sent me 'that thing I wanted.'

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  4. I've never had God speak to me in a dream, but I did have a spiritual dream right after my grandfather and favorite dog passed away. It let me know they were together and all right.

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  5. Lee-

    If in fact, God does speak through dreams...

    That recurring dream with the Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders, a case of peppermint schnapps and fireball, and a trampoline...

    What is He telling me?

    OK, I kid of course. While I have said in the past I do not think God speaks to us, I do believe that through dreams would be the one way He might.

    I really do not remember my dreams, so if He is talking to me, He's getting the dream equivalent of a busy signal.

    LC

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  6. I don't think God has spoken to me in dreams, but I think my father spoke to me in a dream, saying something he had never told me when he was alive, something I very much needed to hear. Or was I reassuring myself about his loss and lack of communication? I'd like to think he spoke to me. In general, I think God communicates with dreams when it's the best way to get his message across.

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  7. I have dreams in which very particular celebrities turn up, and each of them seems to serve a purpose, as if whatever is trying to communicate with me has chosen these guises so as to better my understanding. Also, Hermes comes around in my dreams pretty regularly. Unfortunately, I often can't remember what he tells me!

    ~MPL
    PepperWords
    Sculpted Dreams

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  8. I have long been interested in my dreams but have never once thought that a dream was GOd speaking to me. But, I admit, I don't really know anything about God speaking to me.....What I do strongly believe is that some dreams are conversations between me and me. Maybe some would call that God talking?

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  9. BOIDMAN LEE ~
    As you know, I have had lots of spiritual dreams. In some, I've been contacted by people I loved who have passed away. Jesus has contacted me in my dreams two or three times. And, I had one dream in which I believe God gave me a preview of Heaven.

    So, for me, the answer is decidedly "YES!"

    Just last night, or very early this morning, I had a dream that I believe was intended as a message to me from the spiritual realm.

    The dream was very vivid and, like many of yours, it had lots of details and a story that seemed to go on for a considerable length of time.

    The funny thing is that some of the details included things that have been in my mind over the last few days, but they were twisted in some way in the dream.

    For example, just last night I left a comment on Bryan's blog, 'A BEER FOR THE SHOWER', in which I remarked that I liked his (black striped) "Pat Metheny Shirt".

    Well, in my dream, Bryan's shirt turned up being worn by my old friend Eric, when Eric entered a bar called ‘Jack Daniel’s’, where I was hanging out with my brother Nappy's friend, Mike.

    Now, I just happened to mention Eric to Bryan the other day in the comment section of my own blog. I deliberately, jokingly mixed up Bryan's best friend Brandon with my former best friend Eric. Then Eric shows up in my dream wearing Bryan's shirt while I’m hanging out with Mike, my Brother’s best friend. Pretty funny how best friends and the shirt were all mixed up in this bar scene.

    Then there were the two Mafia-looking characters wearing suits, ties and Frank Sinatra-like hats who I was heading toward a fight with. Some buxom blonde wearing a tight, shiny gold lame circus dress and waving a lit sparkler around in the bar. It was as if every “type” of person you’d find at Venice Beach on a typical Summer Saturday was jammed into that bar. And there was a pudgy Black waitress who showed up at the very end of the dream. She sets down her pad, leans over the table, pen poised above the pad, and she just looks at me. “Order now?” I ask her. “Order now,” she replies.
    *END OF DREAM*

    Despite all the wacky stuffs in the dream, in the end, I woke up with a clear message that I feel was the main point of the whole dream: I have been really uptight and in a bad mental place for the last approximately two years. And I feel the dream was telling me to just "Relax, trust God, and enjoy what's left of my ride through this life, because there's a good place waiting for me in the spiritual realm once this physical life is done.”

    A crazy dream delivering a good, clear, spiritual message.

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

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  10. Depends on what you mean by God.

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  11. I'm an atheist, and so don't believe there is a god. I have had some very vivid and 'real' dreams involving dead relatives, but I don't believe it was them contacting me, or god trying to get something across, but myself wishing that persons was still alive and able to communicate with me.

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  12. Thank you all for this wide variety of very interesting comments. This might be a topic of more exploration in the future. A lot to think about that goes beyond the realm of dreaming.

    Lee

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