05/23/2023
Does God visit with us day and night? Do we allow Him full reign over both our waking and sleeping hours? Have we ever had a divine visitation while sleeping, and if so, did we consider it real? This is the subject of my thought today.
I used to be a member of a three man intercessory prayer team at the church I attended, and one evening as we prayed, I found the presence of the Holy Spirit to be an exceptionally powerful blessing. All through the remaining night my thoughts, dreams, and rousings, were inspired, and filled with praise and conversations with God. My dreams that night were rich and full. Do you ever walk with God through the dreamland between consciousness and slumber, or converse with Him in dreams so deep that you feel yourself awake? Does God inhabit your nights and days alike?
“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 here of dread and trembling in his description of a night's dreams, not all are such. My dreams are often wonderfully wrought and filled with praise, visions, and amazing 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. When the Lord is with us in this way, we should be careful not to awaken ourselves too quickly, and thus, through our reliance on our conscious human logic and our worldly desires, leave His presence by rationalizing it to be nothing more than indigestion, or having drank too much coffee before bedtime.
“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 our nights, and dreams. Scripture tells us this when it instructs us to pray always without ceasing; we are not simply told to pray during our waking hours. Although on most nights we sleep soundly without much remembrance of what transpired as we slept, we frequently awaken to find that we remember our dreams, and that they have been filled with God, Jesus, God’s divine Word, conversations, callings, and spiritual visitation. On such mornings we remain fixed on Their presence, and moved to waking praise and worship.
“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 biblical accounts of dreams, nighttime visitations, and the stories of spiritual wonders, many of us attempt to explain them away in our own lives, and often say... "Jesus doesn't speak to me like that" or "No, that wasn't an Angel, just a dream; just my imagination!" So as we look at our own lives, which do we choose to believe? Is the Bible true, and are our sleeping times inhabited by dreams and visitations that actually bring us through the veil into heaven, and the presence of our God, or is our faith at night nothing more than the work of an overactive imagination, or a slice of day-old pizza?
We are told in Acts that dreams and visions are not things of the past, and that they carry on even into the end times. So, are we willing to sleep, and in that gentle slumber be called into the presence of God, or will we awaken ourselves and leave Him in our disbelief for a waking world of touch and physical logic? Is our world limited to the physical one that was created by Him, or can we allow ourselves to experience a spiritual inhabitation that extends 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 during our sleeping hours? Do we limit ourselves to those waking moments when touch, sight, and smell make things feel real to us without having to employ our faith? If so, then we need to question how we seek the Lord, and ask ourselves how we will ever know Him when at last He comes for us. Are our dreams just as powerful and important to us as the sights we experience during our waking hours? Does our belief require touching and the other senses, or does it lean on a fullness of faith?
“Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.””
John 20:27-29 ESV
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 for unasked 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