Prayer VIII: GOD speaking through dreams and visions

How else does GOD speak? Through dreams and visions. Everything we have said about keeping quiet, opening your mind to positive  and spiritual things, etc, etc still apply in this case. You have to be attuned to a spiritual channel and ready to receive for GOD  to speak to you.  Having said that, there are many examples of GOD speaking via this medium in the bible.

A dream is  a series of thoughts, images, or emotions occurring during sleep  (Source)

Today, we begin by highlighting two famous dreamers in the bible:


1) GOD showed Joseph his future in a dream:

Gen 37: 5-10
Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. 6 So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: 7 There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.”
8 And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
9 Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”
10 So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?” 11 And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

The dream came true here:
Gen 42:5-6
5 And the sons of Israel went to buy grain among those who journeyed, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.6 Now Joseph was governor over the land; and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the earth.

2) And now jumping over the new testament, we have GOD giving another Joseph specific instructions in a dream:
a) First to prevent a broken relationship:
Matthew 1: 18-24
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. 20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”
22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, 25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son.[e] And he called His name JESUS.

b) And secondly, to save the life of a very special child:
Matthew 2: 13-14
13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”
14 When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt,

We can also talk about visions:
A vision is ": something seen in a dream, trance, or ecstasy; especially : a supernatural appearance that conveys a revelation" (source)
One of my favorite examples of visions in the bible is the calling of  Isaiah to be a prophet as found in Isaiah 6:

Isaiah 6: 1-8
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said:
      “ Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
      The whole earth is full of His glory!”

 4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 So I said:
      “ Woe is me, for I am undone!
      Because I am a man of unclean lips,
      And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
      For my eyes have seen the King,
      The LORD of hosts.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said:

      “ Behold, this has touched your lips;
      Your iniquity is taken away,
      And your sin purged.”

8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:

      “ Whom shall I send,
      And who will go for Us?”
Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

Look at the sense of awe that the presence of GOD elicited in Isaiah. We can get close enough to GOD that we experience some of these things too. They are not limited to a special group of people.

GOD is speaking to you today, are you listening?

Today's song speaks of  Isaiah's vision: