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Have you dreamed about anything interesting lately? 

Scripture is filled with important dreams that carried messages from God. In the book of Genesis, we read about how Joseph was valued because of his ability to interpret dreams:

“And they replied, ‘We both had dreams last night, but no one can tell us what they mean.’ ‘Interpreting dreams is God’s business,’ Joseph replied. ‘Go ahead and tell me your dreams.’” – Genesis 40:8 (NLT)

I first realized that my dreams might mean something shortly after Gary and I were married. We both grew up in the Christian church and dreamed a lot, but we had each been taught that dreams sent from God were something that happened during the Bible times and didn’t happen anymore.

Like so many things in the kingdom of God, the logic and comfort brought by some people’s theology has unfortunately led to a distancing of mankind from the very beneficial gifts that God created us to use.

There were two dreams in particular that got my attention during this time. The first was actually multiple similar dreams that both Gary and I were having. In these dreams, we were both independently dreaming about a big mansion that we were living in.

Because these were recurring dreams, Gary and I would talk about them and we started a playful competition about whose mansion was bigger and better. Both of us thought that maybe these would be the mansions we would one day live in when we arrived in heaven.

One day after both dreaming about our mansions, we compared notes. To our astonishment, we were both dreaming about the same mansion! This did not make sense to us. If these dreams were God’s way of giving us a sneak peak of where we would live in heaven as we previously thought, we also knew Scripture says there is no marriage in heaven. So why were we dreaming about the same mansion? We were confused.

The second dream that grabbed my attention was about two boys, one taller than the other. Both boys were getting off a school bus on the block where I grew up. It was a sweet dream and I treasured it.

At this time in my life, Gary and I were living in South Minneapolis and didn’t have children. I wondered if it was some sort of ESP type of dream, since I still didn’t believe that God would communicate with us through dreams anymore.

I tucked both these dreams away in my heart. I never forgot them, but I did not understand that God was actually trying to speak to me through my dreams.

Later on, two things happened that reminded me of these significant dreams. Gary and I had two sons. They were born four years apart – one was very tall and the other average height. AND we unexpectedly moved to the same neighborhood where I grew up.

Yes, my sons did take the bus to school and were dropped off every day exactly where I dreamed they would be. Was this a strange cosmic fluke or did the God I serve have more to say through my dreams than I had been taught?

I would talk to God and tell Him that I wanted any gift that He had to give me. But I wanted to be sure that it was Him. It was important to me that I was not deceived by people who may have had good intentions but were spiritually misguided.

At that time, I worked as the Equipping Pastor at my church. It was my role to “equip the saints for the work of ministry.” We had been teaching the Alpha Course and people were coming to know the Lord and the Scriptures with depth and passion. The spiritual gifts were flowing, including prophetic words and dreams. This was a wonderful season. However, these gifts were new to almost everyone. Because our church wasn’t properly trained on how to use their spiritual gifts to bless and honor others, there were some unfortunate messes. It became my role to help, teach and encourage the healthy use of spiritual gifts at our church.

I prayed, studied the Scriptures and asked the Lord to lead me to the right resources that were both Biblical and powerful. One of my friends introduced me to John Paul Jackson and his teachings on Hearing God and Understanding Dreams.

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to get involved in all of this. I knew it it might get messy. Yet I wanted all that God wanted to give me.

Then I had another dream about my mansion. This time I was finding new rooms and it went on and on. I knew that this dream was important, yet I had no idea what God might be telling me. I felt drawn to go to find out more about the ministry of John Paul Jackson. When I got connected, not only did I get my dream interpreted from a Biblical standpoint, but I was so blessed by the strong, Scriptural teaching that went along with it all. I was inspired and hungry for more.

Decades later, I am still passionate about helping people to walk out their destiny by learning to recognize and respond to God’s voice in a variety of ways, dreams being one of them.

I am paying attention to the interesting dreams I have been having lately. I encourage you to do the same. Jesus paid an invaluable price for you to be able to talk to Him at all times. Because of His Spirit in us, we can talk to God as a friend. It is astonishing!

The God who created you and me, created us with the ability to dream. He told us that a sign of the Spirit being poured out is dreaming.

“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.” (Acts 2:17).

Through these dreams you can have a conversation with a God who is your Father, Friend, Comforter and Healer. You can receive warnings, get prophetic insights, receive healing, and have time to talk with the Lover of your soul.

The Talmud (a Jewish book of law) says, “A dream which is not interpreted is like a letter which is not read.” I don’t believe all dreams need to be interpreted, but there are dreams where I definitely know something special is being communicated. I want to pay attention.

If you would like to learn more about your dreams, I have some suggestions for you:

• Sign up for our Understanding Your Dreams online course! This will great foundation for at understanding your dreams.

   

• Listen to our Dare to Believe Podcast. During several episodes we take dreams sent in by our listeners and interpret them from a Biblical perspective with the Holy Spirit’s guidance. You can listen to us talk about how we listen to the Holy Spirit for the interpretation and learn more about the basics of understanding your dreams.

   

• Submit a dream for interpretation! If you have a dream that feels significant and you would like to know what it means, we have a team of DTB Dream Interpreters who would love to walk through your dream with you!

The God who created you intends for you to pay attention to your dreams. What will you do about that?