Does God speak to us in dreams? If he does, how can we know it was from him? What does the Bible say about dreams?
The average person has 4 to 6 dreams every night, with a majority of these dreams being quickly forgotten. Most of us have had dreams that we wake up from and say, ” Where in the world did that dream come from?” Was it something I ate last night, or was it God trying to tell me something?
God Does Speak Through Dreams
The Bible is clear that God has used dreams as a way to speak to people in the past, and he will continue to do so in the future.
(Numbers 12:6) He said, “Listen to my words: “When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams.
(Job 33:14-15) For God does speak – now one way, now another – though no one perceives it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber in their beds,
(Acts 2:17) “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.
Examples From The Bible
From Joseph and Solomon in the Old Testament, to the wise men and Joseph in the New Testament, we can see several times where God spoke to people by dreams. Sometimes it was prophetic in nature, and other times it was to warn them.
(Genesis 37:5) Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.
(1 King 3:5) At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you”.
The Wise Men And Joseph
(Mathew 2:12-13) And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned yo their country by another route. When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream…
Not all Dreams Are From God
(Jeremiah 23:25) “I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, I had a dream! I had a dream!
(Jeremiah 23:32) Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams, declares the Lord.
False prophets with false dreams were a problem in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and certainly for us today. Whether it is someone else’s dream, or your own, the key to knowing if it is from God is does it line up with what the Scriptures teach. If it’s not in the Bible, it’s not from God. We are given a clear warning about this in (Galatians 1:8) But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!
How Will I Know If It’s From God
Most of our dreams obviously are not directly from God. We dream of things we think about during our day, and sometimes we dream about things so silly you just have to laugh about it when you wake up.
(Ecclesiastes 5:3) A dream comes when there are many cares,
(Ecclesiastes 5:7) Much dreaming and many words are meaningless, therefore fear God.
We certainly shouldn’t say God never speaks to us today in our dreams. The Lord is not so small that he can’t get his message across. If he wants to let us know something by a dream, or by any other means, I think it is one of those things where you will know it when it comes from God.
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