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Study Aid: Blue Letter Bible:
Bubby
Riddle -- 2 years old
Riddle
Family: (from your
left to right) Leah, Charles
and Susan holding Easton,
Michael, Amber, Addison,
Susan's mother (Mrs. Noone)
John holding Collin, Charles'
sister, Mary Ann under John,
and Charles' mother, Mrs. Riddle.
Charles and Susan Riddle
Marrled 31 years in March 2009
Susan
was blessed
to atttend the
International Worship Conference
in Dallas Texas this summer
(July-2003). She is pictured here
with Hillsong's Darlene Zschech.
Michael
and Ashlyn and their son,
Landen Michael.
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DREAMS AND VISIONS - PART 1
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
Back
to Teaching Index | Dreams
and Visions - Part 2
This
is a excert from the book,"In A Dream, In A Vision of the Night”
copyright secured: 1998;
revised 2003/1stBooks
Dreams and Vision can be a part of the body of Christ in this day and time if we will open our Spiritual eyes and ears and listen to His voice. When the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, Peter quoted Joel in saying, “17 - And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams, 18 - And on My men servants and My maidservants.” Peter was speaking of the days before the return of the Lord. No one knows the day or hour that He will return, but He did tell us to discern the times. The signs we see today of the eminent return of the Lord are very clear. The light of the Lord is getting brighter, while the darkness is getting darker. Though the devil is busy blinding the eyes of the world, the Lord is beginning to pour out His latter rain! The Spirit is beginning to move in the body of Christ like never before.
One of the ways that he is moving in and through His people today is in dreams and visions. This is more and more evident as the end of this millennium approaches. There is rarely a day that goes by that some sort of communication from someone in the body of Christ about a dream or vision they have received from the Lord is shared. The Lord has poured out his anointing on me in order to be able to reach in the Spirit and discern what a dream may mean according to the Scriptures. At times I am able to see by the Holy Spirit the dream or vision as though I had the dream myself as they are telling it to me! Other times, revelation is received from the dream after a period of prayer. One thing is certain, none of the ability to interpret dreams or visions comes from the wisdom of man. If the Lord does not reveal the interpretation by His Spirit, there is no interpretation. As the Lord continues to pour out His Spirit in these last days, more and of God’s people are going to see and hear the Lord through dreams and visions.
What
Does the Bible Say?
At one time in my life I was led to believe that there is nothing in the Bible which tells us as believers that dreams and visions are for us today. It is very important that we search the scriptures out ourselves on any and every matter. The enemy knows the scripture. He twisted the Word of God in the garden with Adam and Eve, as well as in the wilderness with Jesus. Even if you talk to someone about a dream or vision that you have, don’t take my word or anyone else’s word as LAW! People are human and make mistakes. Seek the counsel of others you trust in the Lord, but seek the Lord and His Word by His Spirit through prayer and reading the Word of God. A dream interpretation should be regarded like a prophecy , word of wisdom, word of knowledge, or any word from anyone. There should be confirmation from deep down in your spirit as well as from the Word of God. Remember, it was your dream, not the interpreters’ dream. Human’s can miss it! You have the Holy Spirit in you, the teacher! Listen to Him. If you feel a lack of peace about what you are hearing, don’t judge the interpreter, just the interpretation! A constant study in the Word on a daily basis will keep you fresh in the Word as well as fine tuned to the Spirit of God. As is stated in 2 Timothy 2: 15, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
There is certainly a lot in the Word of God about dreams and visions. In the research that I have done personally, dreams are mentioned about 122 times in the entire Bible. The trance is mentioned about 4 times. Visions are mentioned about 101 times.
In the Greek language of the New Testament and the Hebrew language of the Old Testament the word “dream” is translated simply to dream, or a dream. In the Greek language, the word “trance” is translated as a displacement of the mind. In the Hebrew language the word “vision” is translated in several ways. One is a view, an appearance, a shape. Another translation is a dream, revelation oracle, a sight, or a striking appearance. Another translation is to gaze at, mentally perceive, contemplate, behold, prophesy, see. A last translation found is mentally to dream or a seer.
In Webster’s Dictionary the definitions for these very same words are as follows:
Dream: A series of thoughts, images, or emotions, occurring during sleep.
Trance: A state of partly suspended animation or inability to function.
Vision: Something seen in a dream, trance, or ecstasy. A supernatural
appearance that conveys a revelation.
Paula M. Cavu, in his book “Dreams and Visions With a Difference for all Believers”, tells us that the period of time that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were on the earth the Lord communicated a great deal through dreams and visions. (Genesis 12 through 49). Cavu says, “Because we, the church, live in the time of the fulfillment of the promise of Abraham in Jesus Christ we become interested in the way in which God spoke to the people of this era. We would expect God to be speaking to us in similar ways.”
Many of the Prophets of old saw visions and had dreams from the Lord. Ezekiel saw the throne of God (Ezekiel 1), Daniel dreamed dreams that deeply disturbed him and were prophetic (Daniel 8: 27, Daniel 10), Isaiah saw the seraphim worshiping God (Isaiah 6) In the New Testament, John, in the book of Revelations, saw most of what is in this book as a vision. Peter was resting and saw the vision of the sheet and the animals (Acts 10: 9-22). It even says in verse 17 that Peter was perplexed and wondered what the vision meant. He wondered within himself what the vision was, after thought and prayer it was revealed to him. In Numbers chapter 12: 6 it says, “If there is a prophet among you. I the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision, And I speak to him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses; He is faithful in all my house. I speak with him face to face, Even plainly, and not in dark sayings; And he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?” The Lord is specifically pointing out that he speaks to us in different ways. Moses had a particular purpose that he was to accomplish. The Lord chose to speak to him face to face on Mount Sinai. But the Lord points out that he speaks to His prophets in dark sayings, dreams and visions.
Even in the New Testament, Jesus spoke to the disciples and others in parables. Parables are much like dreams. They needed to be interpreted. In Matthew 13: verses 10-14, Jesus speaks about why He spoke in parables. The disciples asked Him,“Why do you speak to them in parables?” Jesus answered them saying, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.” Jesus is still speaking to us in parables today. In verse 13 Jesus said, “Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” However, those of us that are called to the mysteries of the kingdom can know and interpret the parables we receive from the Lord in the form of a dream, trance or vision. Those that are not believers do not understand as well as cannot understand the language of the Spirit. Proverbs 25: verse 2 says, “”It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings to search out a matter.“ We as kings and priests need to search out all of the golden nuggets that contained in the Word of God. Speaking to us in parables, dreams, and visions is one way that the Lord causes us to dig deeper into the Word.
I love the scripture in Mark chapter 4 verses 33 and 34. Mark says, “And with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples. If we will draw away from the crowd everyday spending quality time with our Lord, He will speak to us also. He will explain all things to us. We are meant to know the mysteries as we walk with Him everyday.
In Job there are a couple of scriptures that are really interesting. When Job was questioning God’s continuing trials, he said this, “When I say that my bed shall comfort me, my couch will ease my complain, Then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions, so that my soul chooses strangling and death rather than my body.” (Job 7: 13-15) What I understand this to mean is that when we are in danger of feeling too comfortable where we are, an where we are is in danger, the Lord loves us so much that he will warn us in a dream even to the point of scaring us. This may be at times what it takes to get our attention. In Job 33: 14-18, it says, “For God may speak in one way or in another, Yet man does not perceive it. In a dream in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, While slumbering on their beds, Then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction. In order to turn man from his deeds, and conceal pride from man, He keeps back His soul from the Pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.” What I understand this to mean is that if we have a dream which we cannot understand, we can rest. The Lord will seal the instruction of the dream. In other words, we will understand what we need to understand while the Lord does the rest.
Certainly, dreams, trances and visions are not the only way that our Lord speaks to us. There are many other ways in which we can hear the Lord and receive direction, counsel, revelation, etc. The purpose of this writing however is to deal specifically with the voice of the Lord in the form of dreams, trances and visions.
Are All Dreams and Visions from God?
The answer to this is a definite NO! In John 10: 4 the Lord clearly says that the sheep know His voice. In verse 5 it states that they do not even know the voice of a stranger! The devil, our enemy, does attempt to speak to us in the night season. It is up to us to know the Word of God as well as yield to the Spirit of God in order to discern what is of God and what is not. The kingdom of darkness will try and tempt us to sin, discourage us, lie to us, scare us, and many other things.
An example of this in my life was several years ago. I dreamed of a dark angel who came up to me and said that I would never finish the race in the Lord. He proceeded to tell me that I would die a sick alcoholic. When I woke up I was deeply disturbed. At first, I thought the Lord was telling me my fate. But as I began to meditate on the dream, the realization came that this dream was not from the Lord. As I realized that the angel was dark, I knew that the dream revealed the evil plan of satan, not the victorious plan and perfect will of the Lord!
At another time several years ago, I kept having a recurring dream that greatly troubled me. I will not reveal the content of the dream to avoid giving glory to the enemy. The dream was causing me to dwell on the temptation to a certain sin. At first, I thought that the Lord was trying to show me what was in my heart. Yet, I would never even think of this sin until I would have the dream. For days after the dream I would fight for my life not to give in to temptation. I was too embarrassed to talk to anyone but my husband about it. I was so afraid that Christian friends would judge, then write me off. Finally one day I told a sister in the Lord all about it. She shared these words, “The Lord would never give you a dream in order to show you the evil desires in your heart that would tempt you to sin. The only reason He would give you the dream would be to help you overcome, not fall!” I cannot tell you how those simple, true statements SET ME FREE!! I prayed with her and rebuked the enemy in the name of Jesus. As a result, I NEVER HAD THE DREAM AGAIN! God is good!
Another place that dreams can come from is out of our own heart. (Ecc. 5: 3) Recently I had a dream about my father waiting in line at a doctor’s office. There was a long line, and I kept looking at him to be sure he was fine. A year ago, in reality, my father left this life and went on to be with Jesus. Months before he died, we spent many hours at the doctors office waiting. The very day before the dream my mother and I had been to the doctor for a medical problem she is now experiencing. The dream about my father was probably from the business of the day before. The fact that he was waiting to see a doctor was probably in the dream because we had waited the day before, and it brought back the memory of what we had been through with my dad.
The only three places that I know of that dreams come from are the devil, ourselves and from the Lord. The Lord will speak to us in this manner for many different reasons. Some of these reasons may be to tell us something about ourselves that is good, or that needs to be changed. Another reason may be to warn us of things to come. Sometimes the Lord may desire to reveal a spiritual truth. Other times He may reveal something to you about a brother or sister so that you can pray for them (He will only do this if He knows He can trust you not to gossip with what He has shown you). It is not always God’s purpose for us to go to a person with information God has revealed. This must carefully be considered in prayer to know from the Spirit what the Lord’s will is concerning information a dream from the Lord has provided. The Lord may want to confirm something to the dreamer. The Lord may want to give direction in a dream. It is best to seek confirmation and not make a decision too soon when it comes to serious changes in life and ministry. One should never make a change based on a dream alone.
A very important thing to remember is that if we listen, we will hear the voice of the Lord in many different ways. We must be sure to stay in the Word of God and seek counsel from those in the body whom we know walk close to the Lord. (Proverbs 11: 14) Then, we must take it all to the Lord in prayer, as we wait for direction!
Be sure and read Part 2 of this teaching - “Symbols in Dreams”  (click here)
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