05/23/2025
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? Dreams will be the subject of my thoughts today.
One Monday night my intercessory prayer service was an especially wonderful blessing, 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 the Lord through the dreamland between consciousness and sleep, or sit with Him in dreams so clear and deep that you feel that you are awake? In short, does God inhabit your nights? Do you have spiritual visitations like Job did?
“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 on that Monday 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 for what is to come as we dream and gives us instruction and callings as well. Be careful not to awaken yourself too quickly because, through your reliance on human logic, you might prematurely leave His presence by rationalizing it to be nothing more than indigestion, or 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 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 mightily 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 often find ourselves attempting to explain them away in our own lives. We might think to ourselves… "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 close proximity to heaven, or is our faith itself nothing more than a fantasy, or the uneasy product of a restless night and an overactive imagination?
We are told in the book of Acts that dreams and visions are not a thing of the past, and that they carry on even into the end times. So, are we willing to sleep with anticipation and great expectation? Will we sleep lightly in a gentle slumber where we can be easily called on by God and angels, or will we awaken ourselves prematurely and leave His divine presence for a mundane world of waking touch and earthly logic? Is our world limited to the physical one that was created by Him, or will we allow ourselves to experience His robust spiritual inhabitation and be carried by His Spirit to a place far beyond this world?
“"'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 but limit Him to our waking hours? Do we deny Him when He is inexplicably 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.
” But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
John 4:23-24 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your presence in my life. I thank you for walking with me in my dreams, and revealing your will to me in visions and wonders. I praise you for answered prayer, and for providing me with 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 righteous longings. Nothing escapes your eye... and yet you love me. Holy Father you are my constant 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 desire to impart unto me. My heart is in your hand, and my life your open book. You call out to me in the night and I know that I can answer "Here am I" without fear because no harm can come to me as you hold me in my sleep... just as you do in my waking hours. Holy, Hoy, Holy are you my God who whispers in my ear and speaks silently into my mind and heart just as easily. Holy are you who sent your Son Jesus to redeem me and your Holy Spirit to teach and comfort me. Merciful and good are you Abba who inhabits my dreams, and appears to me in visions. Help me to open my spiritual door to you when you knock. Whether night or day, in slumber or when awake, let me receive you like a child receives his father who is returning from a long trip. Hear the excitement in my voice and feel my arms as I throw them around you. Praised be your name for revealing yourself to me, and being in a loving relationship with me always. Let me hear you and obey you Father so that all I do will glorify you and bring honor into your courts. No matter how you come to me, or when, I pray that I am attentive and waiting for your arrival
Amen, Amen, Amen!
““And it shall come to pass afterward,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.”
Joel 2:28 ESV
“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
Rich Forbes