GOD SPEAKS THROUGH
DREAMS AND VISIONS
In the Bible there are many accounts of God speaking to
people through dreams and visions, but this is one of the
least common ways that God speaks to us. We can’t
assume that every dream is a godly dream. If we do, we
may misinterpret images that will lead us astray.
I dream a lot, but most of my dreams are not prophetic. I
haven’t had many dreams that I feel were spiritual
messages, but I have had a few that I know were from
God, because either I received an interpretation
immediately upon waking up, or it simply would not fade
from my memory until God revealed its meaning.
Here is an example of a spiritual dream I once had. I had
left my job at a church in St. Louis to go out on my own. I
was really scared to step out into full-time ministry. One
night I dreamed this dream:
I was driving down a road, and I was in a line of traffic.
All the other drivers were suddenly pulling off the road
and parking on the side of it, or they were slowing down
to find a place where they could turn around and go back
in the other direction.
I wondered what was going on ahead of me that was
causing all those people to park their cars or turn around
and go back the way they had come. I strained to look
ahead, and I saw that the highway led to a bridge that was
totally submerged in water. Of course, I realized why all
the people were afraid to keep going forward.
I looked at the bridge, then I turned to look back from
where I came. Then I looked at the bridge again and
turned to look back from where I came.
The minute I woke up, God spoke to me saying, “Joyce,
you’re on a new journey. You’re on a road that will
sometimes look a little bit dangerous or unsafe. You are
going to be a little unsure.” But He said, “There are always
going to be plenty of places in the road where you can
park, plenty of places where you can turn around and go
back where you came from, but I’m looking for someone
who will go all the way through and do what I tell them to
do.”
I knew right then what God was telling me, and I’ve
trusted that word many times when I’ve been in struggles
or when things have seemed hard. I remembered how
God warned me in the beginning that I would be tempted
to park myself right where I was or turn myself around
because I didn’t know what was ahead for me. Knowing
that difficult times would be part of His plan kept me
moving ahead through uncertain paths.
During a certain period of time, God was dealing severely
with me about my attitude. He chastised me concerning
my actions over a couple of rough, rebellious days. It was
obvious God was not going to relent until I humbled
myself to His instruction.
In this time of discouragement, I dreamed of a row of five
or six fine-looking model homes on display in a new
subdivision. The houses were varied in size, and the
particular house I noticed was one of the bigger ones. I
watched people enter the house. As they toured the
rooms, they saw all kinds of trash left from the
construction crew. Bits and pieces of unattractive scraps
were everywhere, all over the house, and especially in the
one room that everyone entered. As I woke up, I
understood immediately the interpretation of that dream.
The Lord said to me, “We are getting ready to go on
television in just a few weeks, and I am getting ready to
put you on display; but when the people look into your
life, I don’t want them to find trash.”
That dream comforted me, because it was a positive word
from the Lord. Even though it was hard to endure His
correction, I understood that He really could not put me
on display as He wanted to until I conformed more to His
plan.
On the other hand, I have had literally thousands of
dreams that didn’t make any sense at all. Actually, if I
tried to make them say something specific, I could get
very confused and possibly cause lots of trouble. Dreams
are interesting but usually very unstable in giving us
direction. As you may have heard, many dreams are
“pizza dreams” or “taco dreams”; in other words, they are
the result of eating some spicy food before going to bed
that prevents us from falling into a deep, restful sleep, so
we dream rather unusual things most of the night.
My daughter recently dreamed that I was the president of
the United States and that everyone was angry with me
because I was letting people get sick. I was put into prison,
but the court agreed to let my daughter go with me so she
could take care of me. She loaded up the car with all the
things I like so I would be comfortable in prison; she even
had the sparkling water of which I drink many bottles
each day.
Dreams are interesting but usually very unstable in giving
us direction.
She saw the guard suddenly go off to do something else,
and so she told me to get in the car and make my getaway.
I jumped in the car and drove off at high speed while she
stood calling after me trying to let me know that I had
forgotten my cell phone.
I actually know people who would try to “interpret” this
dream and make something spiritual out of it. The fact is
my family teases me about becoming the first woman
president; that my daughter is in charge of many of the
details of my life, including packing me for trips; and that
our entire family are on our cell phones far too much. I
really don’t know why we dream so many unique and
seemingly mixed-up things. But one thing is for sure, in
my opinion, people who try to make too much out of their
dreams are asking to be deceived.
We realize God does speak through dreams. He spoke to
Joseph in a dream, and Joseph interpreted dreams for
Pharaoh, as well as for Pharaoh’s servants, with whom he
was in prison (see Genesis 40 and 41). There are
numerous others recorded in the Bible to whom God
spoke through dreams. Joel 2:28 states that in the last days
the old men shall dream dreams, and the young men shall
see visions.
I have a friend who has many spiritual dreams. I have
known her since 1983, and during those years she has
shared four dreams she has had about me. Each of them
has been amazingly accurate.
Dreams are certainly one of the valid ways God speaks,
but this is also an area in which people can easily get out
of balance, simply because so many people worldwide
dream almost nightly and they are not all spiritual
dreams. Use discernment, wisdom, and balance, and I
believe you will have confirmation in your heart if a
dream you have is God trying to speak to you or show you
something.
God also speaks to us through visions, which differ from
dreams that occur while we are asleep. I have
experienced two kinds of visions. One I refer to as an
open vision, which happens when my eyes are open, but I
see only the spirit realm instead of the room around me.
God gave me a brief vision that showed me I was to take
our ministry north, south, east, and west. I had entered a
special time of prayer and fasting. It was the first time I
had ever tried to fast with water. I was desperate to hear
from God, because I thought He was telling me to leave
my job at a church and begin my own ministry. It was a
serious decision, so I wanted to be sure I was hearing
clearly from Him.
God doesn’t give us visions just for fun; I believe that God
speaks to us in these more spectacular ways during times
in our life when we need definite direction. Visions also
seem to come to people when they are specifically seeking
God.
Another kind of vision I have experienced more
frequently is when I see things in the spirit. There have
been occasions when I was looking at someone, but in my
spirit I was seeing something concerning that person that
my natural eyes did not perceive. Usually when I see
something in the spirit realm for someone, I am also given
prophetic words to give specific encouragement to him or
her.
Visions are much like dreams; they are definitely used by
God, but we must be cautious and test the spirits as the
Bible instructs us to do (see 1 John 4:1-3). I do believe
there are people who are gifted in visions and dreams
more than others.
I have known a few people who seem to always be seeing
something in the spirit realm. They talk about seeing
angels the way I see people. I don’t want to assume they
don’t see angels simply because my gifts don’t function in
that way; neither do I try to make something happen
myself just because some people have told me it happens
to them. I have learned to leave these things to God. In
this book, I choose to speak more about what normally
happens to most people, not what may happen to a few.
I think if we exalt what happens to a few, it makes all of
those who don’t have similar experiences think they are
lacking in some way—that they are spiritually dwarfed or
that they simply don’t know how to hear from God. I
know people to whom Jesus has appeared several times,
even sitting on the side of their bed and carrying on a
conversation for a lengthy time; but that has never
happened to me.
When I was less secure in my own spiritual gifting, I
compared myself with those people, wondering, What is
wrong with me? I have since learned that I am a unique
individual, with a unique, individual calling. I have
received gifts from God accordingly, and they are all for
His purpose and in His plan.
I am content and satisfied, and I strongly encourage you
to adopt the same attitude. After all, “A man can receive
nothing [he can claim nothing, he can take unto himself
nothing] except as it has been granted to him from
heaven. [A man must be content to receive the gift which
is given him from heaven; there is no other source]” (John
3:27).
GOD SPEAKS THROUGH
DREAMS AND VISIONS
In the Bible there are many accounts of God speaking to
people through dreams and visions, but this is one of the
least common ways that God speaks to us. We can’t
assume that every dream is a godly dream. If we do, we
may misinterpret images that will lead us astray.
I dream a lot, but most of my dreams are not prophetic. I
haven’t had many dreams that I feel were spiritual
messages, but I have had a few that I know were from
God, because either I received an interpretation
immediately upon waking up, or it simply would not fade
from my memory until God revealed its meaning.
Here is an example of a spiritual dream I once had. I had
left my job at a church in St. Louis to go out on my own. I
was really scared to step out into full-time ministry. One
night I dreamed this dream:
I was driving down a road, and I was in a line of traffic.
All the other drivers were suddenly pulling off the road
and parking on the side of it, or they were slowing down
to find a place where they could turn around and go back
in the other direction.
I wondered what was going on ahead of me that was
causing all those people to park their cars or turn around
and go back the way they had come. I strained to look
ahead, and I saw that the highway led to a bridge that was
totally submerged in water. Of course, I realized why all
the people were afraid to keep going forward.
I looked at the bridge, then I turned to look back from
where I came. Then I looked at the bridge again and
turned to look back from where I came.
The minute I woke up, God spoke to me saying, “Joyce,
you’re on a new journey. You’re on a road that will
sometimes look a little bit dangerous or unsafe. You are
going to be a little unsure.” But He said, “There are always
going to be plenty of places in the road where you can
park, plenty of places where you can turn around and go
back where you came from, but I’m looking for someone
who will go all the way through and do what I tell them to
do.”
I knew right then what God was telling me, and I’ve
trusted that word many times when I’ve been in struggles
or when things have seemed hard. I remembered how
God warned me in the beginning that I would be tempted
to park myself right where I was or turn myself around
because I didn’t know what was ahead for me. Knowing
that difficult times would be part of His plan kept me
moving ahead through uncertain paths.
During a certain period of time, God was dealing severely
with me about my attitude. He chastised me concerning
my actions over a couple of rough, rebellious days. It was
obvious God was not going to relent until I humbled
myself to His instruction.
In this time of discouragement, I dreamed of a row of five
or six fine-looking model homes on display in a new
subdivision. The houses were varied in size, and the
particular house I noticed was one of the bigger ones. I
watched people enter the house. As they toured the
rooms, they saw all kinds of trash left from the
construction crew. Bits and pieces of unattractive scraps
were everywhere, all over the house, and especially in the
one room that everyone entered. As I woke up, I
understood immediately the interpretation of that dream.
The Lord said to me, “We are getting ready to go on
television in just a few weeks, and I am getting ready to
put you on display; but when the people look into your
life, I don’t want them to find trash.”
That dream comforted me, because it was a positive word
from the Lord. Even though it was hard to endure His
correction, I understood that He really could not put me
on display as He wanted to until I conformed more to His
plan.
On the other hand, I have had literally thousands of
dreams that didn’t make any sense at all. Actually, if I
tried to make them say something specific, I could get
very confused and possibly cause lots of trouble. Dreams
are interesting but usually very unstable in giving us
direction. As you may have heard, many dreams are
“pizza dreams” or “taco dreams”; in other words, they are
the result of eating some spicy food before going to bed
that prevents us from falling into a deep, restful sleep, so
we dream rather unusual things most of the night.
My daughter recently dreamed that I was the president of
the United States and that everyone was angry with me
because I was letting people get sick. I was put into prison,
but the court agreed to let my daughter go with me so she
could take care of me. She loaded up the car with all the
things I like so I would be comfortable in prison; she even
had the sparkling water of which I drink many bottles
each day.
Dreams are interesting but usually very unstable in giving
us direction.
She saw the guard suddenly go off to do something else,
and so she told me to get in the car and make my getaway.
I jumped in the car and drove off at high speed while she
stood calling after me trying to let me know that I had
forgotten my cell phone.
I actually know people who would try to “interpret” this
dream and make something spiritual out of it. The fact is
my family teases me about becoming the first woman
president; that my daughter is in charge of many of the
details of my life, including packing me for trips; and that
our entire family are on our cell phones far too much. I
really don’t know why we dream so many unique and
seemingly mixed-up things. But one thing is for sure, in
my opinion, people who try to make too much out of their
dreams are asking to be deceived.
We realize God does speak through dreams. He spoke to
Joseph in a dream, and Joseph interpreted dreams for
Pharaoh, as well as for Pharaoh’s servants, with whom he
was in prison (see Genesis 40 and 41). There are
numerous others recorded in the Bible to whom God
spoke through dreams. Joel 2:28 states that in the last days
the old men shall dream dreams, and the young men shall
see visions.
I have a friend who has many spiritual dreams. I have
known her since 1983, and during those years she has
shared four dreams she has had about me. Each of them
has been amazingly accurate.
Dreams are certainly one of the valid ways God speaks,
but this is also an area in which people can easily get out
of balance, simply because so many people worldwide
dream almost nightly and they are not all spiritual
dreams. Use discernment, wisdom, and balance, and I
believe you will have confirmation in your heart if a
dream you have is God trying to speak to you or show you
something.
God also speaks to us through visions, which differ from
dreams that occur while we are asleep. I have
experienced two kinds of visions. One I refer to as an
open vision, which happens when my eyes are open, but I
see only the spirit realm instead of the room around me.
God gave me a brief vision that showed me I was to take
our ministry north, south, east, and west. I had entered a
special time of prayer and fasting. It was the first time I
had ever tried to fast with water. I was desperate to hear
from God, because I thought He was telling me to leave
my job at a church and begin my own ministry. It was a
serious decision, so I wanted to be sure I was hearing
clearly from Him.
God doesn’t give us visions just for fun; I believe that God
speaks to us in these more spectacular ways during times
in our life when we need definite direction. Visions also
seem to come to people when they are specifically seeking
God.
Another kind of vision I have experienced more
frequently is when I see things in the spirit. There have
been occasions when I was looking at someone, but in my
spirit I was seeing something concerning that person that
my natural eyes did not perceive. Usually when I see
something in the spirit realm for someone, I am also given
prophetic words to give specific encouragement to him or
her.
Visions are much like dreams; they are definitely used by
God, but we must be cautious and test the spirits as the
Bible instructs us to do (see 1 John 4:1-3). I do believe
there are people who are gifted in visions and dreams
more than others.
I have known a few people who seem to always be seeing
something in the spirit realm. They talk about seeing
angels the way I see people. I don’t want to assume they
don’t see angels simply because my gifts don’t function in
that way; neither do I try to make something happen
myself just because some people have told me it happens
to them. I have learned to leave these things to God. In
this book, I choose to speak more about what normally
happens to most people, not what may happen to a few.
I think if we exalt what happens to a few, it makes all of
those who don’t have similar experiences think they are
lacking in some way—that they are spiritually dwarfed or
that they simply don’t know how to hear from God. I
know people to whom Jesus has appeared several times,
even sitting on the side of their bed and carrying on a
conversation for a lengthy time; but that has never
happened to me.
When I was less secure in my own spiritual gifting, I
compared myself with those people, wondering, What is
wrong with me? I have since learned that I am a unique
individual, with a unique, individual calling. I have
received gifts from God accordingly, and they are all for
His purpose and in His plan.
I am content and satisfied, and I strongly encourage you
to adopt the same attitude. After all, “A man can receive
nothing [he can claim nothing, he can take unto himself
nothing] except as it has been granted to him from
heaven. [A man must be content to receive the gift which
is given him from heaven; there is no other source]” (John
3:27).
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