05/23/2017
Does God visit with us day and night? Do we allow Him full reign over both our waking and sleeping hours? Have you ever had a heavenly visitation while sleeping, and if so, did you consider it real? That is the subject of my thought today.
My intercessory prayer service was an especially wonderful blessing last evening, and all through the remaining night my dreams and rousings were filled with praise and conversations with God. My dreams were rich and full. Do you ever walk with Him through the dreamland between consciousness and sleep, or sit with Him in dreams so deep that you feel yourself awake? Does God inhabit your nights?
“Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake. A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up. It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice: 'Can mortal man be in the right before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?”
Job 4:13-17 ESV
Although Job speaks of dread and trembling in his description of a night's dreams, not all are such. My dreams last night were wonderfully wrought and filled with praise, visions, and conversation. God uses dreams and visions for many purposes, and sometimes they are meant to do nothing more than allow Him to be with us in love and conversation. He prepares us in our dreams, and gives us instruction and callings as well. Be careful not to awaken yourself too quickly and, through your reliance on human logic, leave His presence by rationalizing it as nothing more than indigestion, or too much coffee.
“And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, "Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people."”
Acts 18:9-10 ESV
When our minds are fixed on God he inhabits even our slumber. We are instructed to pray always and although on most nights we sleep sound without much acknowledged thought, we also find that on occasion our dreams are inhabited by our prayers, and fixed on His presence.
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV
Even as we read the various accounts of dreams, nighttime visitation, and the stories of spiritual wonders, we attempt to explain them away in our own lives... "Jesus doesn't speak to me like that" or "No, that wasn't an Angel, just a dream; just my imagination!" So which is it? Is the Bible true with dreams actually bringing us into the realm of heaven, or is our faith itself nothing more than a night's work of an overactive imagination?
We are told in Acts that dreams and visions are not a thing of the past, and that they carry on even into the end times. So, are you willing to sleep and in that gentle slumber be called into the presence of God, or will you awaken yourself and leave Him for this world of touch and physical logic. Is your world limited to the one that was created by Him, or can you allow yourself to experience a spiritual inhabitation beyond what can be explained?
“"'And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;”
Acts 2:17 ESV
Do we say that we are seeking God, and then deny Him when He is there before us? Do we limit ourselves to those waking moments when touch, sight, and smell make things real to us without employing faith? If so, then we need to question what we are really seeking, and how we will ever know it when at last we have found it.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your presence in my life. I thank you for walking with me in dreams, and revealing your will to me in visions and wonders. I praise you for answered prayer, and unasked for blessings. Lord, you know my needs and desires before I call out to you because you inhabit my thoughts and dreams... you move effortlessly through all that is me, and acquaint yourself with my darkest thoughts and most glorious longings. Nothing escapes your eye... and yet you love me. Holy Father you are my companion, my friend, my Lord, and my God. You fill every need within me, and provide all that sustains me. When I sleep and find you there in my dreams I know you are good and that it is your will which you will impart unto me. My heart is in your hand, and my life your open book. You call to me in the night and I know that I can answer "It is I" without fear because no harm can come to me as you hold me in my sleep.
Rich Forbes