“So Pharoah asked his officials ‘Can we find anyone else like this man so obviously filled with the spirit of God?” Genesis 41:38
I’ve just begun another roundtrip journey through the Bible, but this time I’m taking better notes. Specifically, I’m hunting for dreamers, angel visitations, and any mention at all of the Holy Spirit. Genesis is ripe with all of the above and much to my delightful surprise I didn’t have to read very long before I found the first reference of Joseph being a “Spirit-filled man,” because of his dreams. But, even though this was the first mention of the Spirit, we know from previous scripture that Joseph came from a lineage of dreamers! This subject of dreams and the interpretation of dreams has been on the forefront of my heart and my conversations for the past few years, and it seems God is awakening His people in this season and dreams are stirring in greater measure at a quickening pace. I know this to be true, because just a few months into my marriage, my husband who was not a believer, started having dreams about the future. He once dreamed that his friend’s daughter was pregnant and two days later he got a phone call confirming that she was. Another time, we both dreamed the same dream on the same night. What I find so incredible and magnificent is that God will use one willing dreamer to unleash His channel of nightfall communication inside an entire household. Being in a place that welcomes and begs for God-dreams will certainly change the atmosphere and every sleeper will surely experience a holy invasion. He doesn’t just come for one … He comes for all.
I believe our dreams can be the greatest realm of spiritual warfare in our lives. While our flesh is resting, our souls are fighting against the powers and principalities that rage on even when the physical world appears to be quietly at ease. I had a dream about my ex-husband following our family around on a vacation. Every time we’d come back to our hotel, he would be waiting for us in the lobby and we’d run to our room. In the dream, we kept changing hotels and were anxious every time we’d have to return to our hotel for the night, because he would always find out where we were staying. Near the end of the dream, I decided to walk up to him and confront his disturbing presence. As I got close to him, I told him to leave us alone and not to follow us ever again. A deep sadness was in his eyes and as he reached his hand toward me, it began to wither and looked like a dead tree branch. I knew he was overtaken by a demon, so I asked for the demon’s name and he told me. In the dream, I rebuked him as I reached out and held onto my ex-husband’s hand and when I cast out the demon in the name of Jesus Christ, the branches of the withered tree fell off and his hand was restored inside of my hand. I woke up and felt like my hand was on fire and all day long I found sticks and small branches in places I’ve never seen them before or since. So, I prayed with all my heart that my ex-husband was somewhere experiencing a freedom that could only come from the heart of Jesus.
Other times, God gives us solutions to problems in our dreams. Sometimes, He even answers relational conflicts or mends broken hearts through revelations in our sleep. I once dreamt about a dearly loved couple in my life. In the dream they were living in the same house, but never saw each other. I met with them one on one and found out they no longer considered themselves married. Each one cried and lamented over the losses suffered in that home. I woke up with a sense that the Father was restoring intimacy and healing their marriage, so in faith, I reached out to my friend and told her about the dream. She confided that they’d just had a conversation the night before about making a stronger commitment to be more intimate and rekindle the flame in their marriage. It got me thinking what if all of our dreams were meant to posture us in prayer for those He gives us insight into?
More recently, I had a dream where I co-wrote a song with a woman in my life I truly admire. In the dream, we penned a song based on a verse in the Bible. As she left, she told me to send it to her, but I didn’t get around to it that night. In the morning, I called her to apologize, but instead of being upset, she was so excited. Somehow the song was taped to every door in our city overnight and there was a growing anticipation as a movement began to gain momentum all around us. That dream ended with our families gathered around a fire waiting for a glorious encounter with God. A week or so later, I dreamed another dream where I could see all the lyrics to that song written out. In the first dream, only the title of the song was revealed, but in the second one, God graciously gave me every word of every line to taste and see.
I think God loves how surrendered our hearts are and how open our minds are when we are no longer controlling our thoughts and movements. I think He yearns and even craves for our attention while we are asleep. And I know He is the first one to meet us on the other side of our eyelids, ready and able to take us deeper into places we can only go when our bodies are at rest, but our souls are re-awakened. He wants to give us more access to realms we can’t imagine in the natural and He’s looking for those who want more than just a good night’s sleep. I am praying for more dreams for you. I am contending for a world where dreamers unite and interpret and change hearts for God’s glory. I am believing that every time the sun goes down and the moon comes up, we will go on an adventure with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and we will wake up to revelation, hope, destiny, and a love unreachable by consciousness alone.
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