Dreams and Visions (2)
Dreams come from three sources: Holy Spirit; natural man; demonic realm. Dreams from the Holy Spirit can come in different categories.
- Dreams of Destiny: They reveal part of the progressive calling regarding your life, guidance and vocation. They relate to your sphere of influence. They can be extrinsic regarding God’s redemptive plan for the region or intrinsic regarding your life. They may relate only to the present or cover past, present and future. They are inspiring and charge our faith to soar to new levels.
- Dreams of Edification: They are inspirational in tone that instils a sense of hope and confidence even if you do not remember the details. Jacob’s ladder in Genesis 28 is one example that not only inspired but changed the course of his life as this type of dream can do.
- Dreams of Exhortation: They can be called “courage” dreams that involve some form of action to take. They impart inspiration and motivation to get up and do something for Jesus’ sake. They can reveal an accurate, detailed picture of what is going on behind the scenes.
- Dreams of Comfort: Comfort dreams serve to heal our emotions and our memories. They give us a heavenly perspective on an earthly situation so that we can receive emotional healing. Just recently a lady had a dream about her late mother that comforted her and assured her.
- Dreams of Correction: They reveal personal changes – character issues, heart issues, repentance issues – that we need to make in order to be able to move forward. They don’t condemn. That is not how the Holy Spirit works. There is a conviction as a heavenly mirror is held up before us to see clearly what God sees.
- Dreams of Direction: These contain a high level of revelation and are prophetic in nature. There is often a sense of urgency. Their purpose is to give specific guidance, which may include a warning. One example is the dream of the wise menin Matthew 2, whom God warned not to return to Herod.
Read the dreams found in Matthew 1:18-2:23. How many dreams are in this part of Matthew? Are they intrinsic or extrinsic dreams? Do any fall into the categories described above?
Last week we described 6 categories of dreams from the Holy Spirit. We continue with the last six.
- Dreams of Instruction: These dreams instruct us with God’s wisdom. Scriptures can be highlighted in these dreams and frequently you will hear a voice speaking to you. They can be doctrinal in nature but they seek to impart knowledge and wisdom.
- Dreams of Cleansing: These dreams deal with cleansing issues ie sanctification. You could find yourself in a bathroom or toilet or shower. They are used to wash us from the dust and dirt that we pick up by walking in the world.
- Dreams revealing the Heart: These are dreams of self-disclosure or self-condition. These dreams show us where we are, tell us what we need to do and reval where he wants us to go. For example, you have a dream where you are in a car and stuck in a cul-de-sac. The car represents your life or ministry and the cul-de-sac reveals that you are going around in circles or a dead end . You need to get out of the cul-de-sac and back onto the highway of life; ie back to your original calling and purpose.
- Dreams of Spiritual Warfare: These are calls to prayer. They are intercessory type dreams that reveal hindrances that are in the way and may include calls to worship and fasting. Their purpose is to inspire us to press through to victory to the cross of Cross, tearing down strongholds and overcoming every obstacle or barrier that stands in the way.
- Dreams of Creativity: These type of dreams involve such things as designs, inventions and new ways of doing things. Elias Howe's machine had a needle with an eye at the point. The needle was pushed through the cloth and created a loop on the other side; a shuttle on a track then slipped the second thread through the loop, creating what is called the lockstitch. His idea came through a dream about soldiers and their spears.
- Dreams with Impartation: These dreams are used to activate any of the various dimensions of the gifts of the Spirit. An angel may appear in your room to touch you and release one of Heaven’s many power encounters. This can happen especially when you are to go on a mission trip and God imparts what you need for that trip through a dream.
Read the dreams found in Daniel 2 and 4. What sort of dreams were they? What did you learn from these dreams and their interpretation by Daniel.