Last week Joseph showed us how
close his walk was with God. He walked so close to God that he was
not only confident that God will interpret Pharaoh's dream, but
that He will also give a favorable answer to Pharaoh. Joseph didn't
hesitate in declaring his faith in his Almighty God. He didn't care
what Pharaoh thought or did, he was focused on God and on declaring
His power in revealing the answers to Pharaoh's dreams. It truly is
amazing to witness how bold Joseph was. Despite being in the
presence of royalty after being in prison for years, Joseph spoke
with a wonderful boldness and with confidence.
Pharaoh then started to tell Joseph
what his dreams were. Firstly he dreamt of seven ugly cows that
came out of the river and ate up seven beautifully fat cows. Then
he dreamt of seven thin and blighted wheat heads that came up and
devoured seven full and good wheat heads. These two dreams upset
Pharaoh greatly. Pharaoh instinctively knew that these two dreams
were important and that it must be interpreted. I am certain that
Pharaoh must have had dreams before, but these two rocked him to
his core.
Today I also believe that God can
speak to us through dreams. There are a number of examples of how
God spoke to people through dreams in the Bible. And I believe that
it is true of us today as well. After all God said:
"And it shall come to pass in
the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all
flesh; your sons and daughters shall prophecy, your young men shall
see visions, your old men shall dream dreams." Acts 2:17
We are certainly living in the last
days and I truly believe that God speaks through dreams and visions
today more than ever. However we should be careful. Not ALL dreams
are from God. Dreams can come from many sources. It is our
subconscious talking to us and processing things of the day, or
things that we have been thinking about a lot. So not all dreams
should be taken as if it is from God. But when it is from God, you
will simply KNOW! Either the dream will be repeated (this has
happened to me before), or the dream is so vivid you cannot get it
out of your head, or you truly KNOW that this is a dream from God.
It will be a deep knowing, as it was with Pharaoh.
Now the 'difficult' part comes.
What does this dream mean? How do I really know what God is saying
to me? Well, I bought a book - Hearing God: Dream Dictionary by
Martin van der Merwe. This book will tell you if you dream for
instance of a lion - this is what it possibly could mean. If you
dream of a rainbow, it could possibly mean this. It is helpful and
gives guidance, but it doesn't interpret the dream. What you need
to do is to sit still with God and present the dream to Him. He
will help you to interpret it. He certainly will. This has happened
to me before that I get anxious about a dream and do not know what
it means even after consulting the Dream Dictionary book, and then
I go and sit with God. And before long God gives me the
interpretation in my heart and I instantly know what it means. He
will help you understand. You must just make the time; His Spirit
will reveal all things to you. He won't give you a dream without
the interpretation. He simply wants you to make the time to come to
Him and show Him reference that you truly want to have His
interpretation. God loves to speak to His children. Simply make the
time.
Next time when you have a dream
that you know is from God, then go and spend time with Him. He
would welcome you in and share with you His deep secrets. He wants
to and longs for special time spent with you.
Father, thank you for speaking to
us. Either through dreams, visions, Your Word, through other
people, through Your Spirit etc. We love hearing from You. Please
speak clearly so that we can hear exactly what You have on Your
heart for us. We ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen