Dreams and Prayer
Job 33:15-16 (Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition): “By a dream in a vision by night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, and they are sleeping in their beds: Then he openeth the ears of men, and teaching instructeth them in what they are to learn.” This version is a very old rendering of this scripture; but I find that it is the most interesting translation of this verse. I want to share with you some of the thoughts that I have on prayer and dreaming. As this scripture says, I believe that the night hours are times when God can provide guidance to us for our daily lives. This passage says that when men are asleep at night, God opens their ears by a dream in a vision, in order to teach or to instruct. I find this is a very interesting way to describe the experience that I have when God speaks to me through dreams. There are times that I know that my dreams are from God. The information becomes almost perfect. I can feel his presence in the dream; and in these times I hear in such a way that I know that I know that God just spoke to me. A long time ago I learned to ask God questions before I went to sleep. I don’t do this every night, but there are times when I have issues that I am dealing with that really need God’s wisdom and instruction. So before I settle for the night, I silence my mind. I become quiet and I begin to ask the Lord to guide me through a dream as I sleep. He never fails to answer me. Here’s an example of how this works for me: recently, God revealed to me through dreams that he wants me to move into a bigger home for my family. In one dream he showed me that my time was up in my present house. Once I determined where he wanted me to search for my house, I began to asking him to guide me. I needed a house at a certain price that could fit my growing family, but I couldn’t find such a house on the market. Most of these houses were generally $100,000 more than what I could pay. Through research, I discovered the best option for me was to build a new home. I found a development that was in the exact kind of area where my wife and I wanted to live, and was also in the price range we wanted to pay. It had enough bedrooms and the layout was perfect for our big family. I put a small deposit down to have the house built, but then, this is when I got frightened. One of my friends told me that the developer that I was working with was known as the worse developer in the region. He insisted that we shouldn’t do the deal. I decided to step back from the deal. I started to search again, but everywhere else I looked the houses just were not what we wanted or they were outside of our price range. One day I said to my wife “well the lot that we currently live on is big. Perhaps what we should do is just expand the house.” So I sat down and drew up a mock sketch of what an expansion of our current property would look like. I called a contractor and asked him to give us a price on what such a project would cost. That night while I was in bed sleeping, I had a dream. Jesus appeared to me as my pastor. He walked up to me. I had my sketch of the renovations in my hand. He didn’t even look at it. He said to me “your previous plan was better.” Again, I tried to show him my plan but he was not interested in looking at it, and just continued on his way! I awoke feeling sad, and, to be honest with you, a little annoyed that Jesus would not look at my plan. But in my heart, I heard God speak; and he said, “I can’t bless the plans you have for your own life, but only the plans that I have for your life.” It took me a few hours to get over the pain, but I did. With this, I decided to go back to the developer that my wife and I had considered in the beginning. We then found another option that fit perfectly for us. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." One of the blessings of the Christian life is that God will speak to those who seek him with all their hearts, souls and minds (Jeremiah 29:13). He does this for me and he will for you as well. The great thing is, God is interested in every part of your life. He will give you wisdom for every decision that you have to make. If you will seek him for answers in prayer, he will answer you. One of the ways he speaks is through dreams. I pray that you will be open to him speaking to you in this way. It is so exciting when he does.
