If you are familiar with the church atmosphere of America, then you will be familiar with the concept that not all churches believe that the gifts of God are for today or that God still speaks to us, let alone that God speaks to us through dreams. The only place that I have read in the bible where “god” doesn’t speak is through false idols that are mute and speechless, deaf and dumb. The God that we worship, the God that gave his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, He is most definitely speaking to us in this age in one way and then another.
While pondering on this notion that God doesn't still speak today, I was reminded of a passage from 1 Samuel 3 that reads, "The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions." I realized that words from the Lord were rare because the priests were wicked. Phineas and Hophni were taking meat meant to be sacrificed to God for themselves, they were seducing women at the alter to sleep with them, and they were committing adultery, they would send their servants to take the meat and if refused they would take it by force. They had no respect for God and his ways. Eli, their father simply tolerated this behavior and very lightly chided them. That was not the right decision.
I noticed that in the bible that the times where there seemed to be little or no words from God were times when Israel was fully steeped in idolatry and sin, adultery, false prophecy, theft, abuses of many kinds, drunkenness, not sacrificing, keeping the best for themselves and a litany of woes that many of the prophets were told by God to call out.
This leads me to believe that if God is not "speaking" today, it is because the people are not putting God first, they don't want to hear him, they are being wicked, their ears are closed, or we are in a seriously grievous state of affairs where God will no longer speak to us. When someone tells me that God doesn't speak today, I can't help but laugh because I know he hasn't changed, ever. I have heard the voice of the Lord audibly, I have met Jesus, I have been standing before God in dreams where he speaks to me directly and tells me what messages I need to speak and share with you all (which I have shared in blogs for the most part), and I have seen his words come to pass daily. Oh God doesn't speak today? Must be the devil declaring God's word to all these people and preaching revelation of the gospel of Jesus Christ... NOT! That's straight-up blasphemy. if you aren't hearing God speak, you're either not listening or you are in sin. You better ask God which one and hope he doesn't say it's sin, and if he does, you better repent quick.
Understanding that God speaks to us today is the first step in learning how to interpret dreams. Dreams are a parabolic language that God speaks to us nightly. Dreams are God’s words that he so gently spoke into our ears as he curled up beside us in bed as we slumbered, and told us how proud he is of us, what he wants us to change so we can be more like him, what we will do for him in the future and a myriad of other things that we can’t fathom with our own lower, Human rationale.
God must surely speak to us today. If he spoke to the prophets in the old testament, and the new testament then he must still speak to us today. Hebrews 13:8 and Malachi 3:6 tells us that God never changes and that Jesus (who is God made flesh) is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
It is logical to deduce that since God never changes, and he spoke to us throughout the bible throughout history, that he is still speaking to us now. Any other deduction will deny God’s consistence and is a false doctrine that exalts itself against the word of God.
Scientifically speaking, it has been found that the average person dreams 6-10 times per night. Typically, we will only remember one, maybe two of those dreams. This is a fact-based on scientific research. Even if a person argues that they don’t dream the scientific evidence states that all people dream regardless of whether or not they can recall their dreams.
Some people will argue that all dreams, nightmares and night terrors are all caused by different chemicals being released while you are sleeping. When asked about this I found an interesting correlation in how a person’s brain responds to dreams and to other external stimuli. For instance, studies have shown that your brain responds the same way to movies as it would if you were doing something in real life. It has been proven that dreams cause the same reaction in your brain and the same areas of the brain light up as they would in a dream or when you are watching a movie.
Since this is the case you could conclude that your brain responds to external stimuli. Since your brain lights up the same when you are doing something, or watching something, or even dreaming then it’s evident that dreams are a result of some third-party external stimulant that is influencing the way you dream. This correlates to what the bible states when it says God gave someone a dream, a person’s soul caused someone to dream, or in Job 4 where a spiritual entity paralyzed a body during a nightmare and spoke to Eliphaz.
The typical person will sleep an average of 6-8 hours a day (some days more, some days less). This equates to approximately 20%-33% of your day and your life that you are dreaming. Since God has portioned out your life in such a manner and clearly said in the word that he speaks through dreams, then I would propose to you that you should take your dreams a little more seriously. One-third of your life God is speaking directly to you in a manner that is personal and one to one. This is just one of the many ways that God speaks to us daily.
Throughout the bible, you see time and time again that God spoke through dreams and visions to his people. Starting with Abraham when he came to him in a vision in Genesis 15:1.
In the book of Job, chapter 33:13-18 it states,
“Why do you complain to him
that he responds to no one’s words? For God does speak—now one way, now another—
though no one perceives it.
In a dream, in a vision of the night,
when deep sleep falls on people
as they slumber in their beds,
he may speak in their ears
and terrify them with warnings,
to turn them from wrongdoing
and keep them from pride,
to preserve them from the pit,
their lives from perishing by the sword.”
The word bachalom is used for dreams in verse fifteen. The prefix “Ba” denotes that someone, or something, is coming or going. The fact that this word is prefaced by ba indicates that God literally comes to you at night while you are sleeping and gives you dreams, and visions.
The same prefix used in bachalom is also used in Genesis 15:1 when God is dealing with Abraham. The very first vision that is mentioned in Genesis 15:1 where God comes to Abram (soon to be Abraham) and tells him of his future plans for Abraham. The word used for vision in this verse is completely unique to Abraham.
It is used only one time, and this is the time. Bamachazeh means Came through vision. Ba, in Hebrew, means to come or to go. We learn from this that God literally chose to show up to speak to Abraham through a vision rather than manifesting himself in front of Abram as he has done with Adam and Eve, or even with Abram at other times throughout his life.
I find this interesting because the word Machezeh, without the prefix attached to it, is used multiple times throughout the bible as vision. A deeper investigation into this word reveals that these types of visions are equivalent to looking through glass or a window. When God is showing you a vision, coming to you in a vision, or giving you visions at night or day, he is actually giving you open Heaven to look upon.
In summary, it is not only biblical that God speaks, but it is also biblical that God speaks to us through dreams. He not only speaks to us, but he Comes directly to us and opens the heavens that we may peer into to depths of that mighty, magnificent glory that is God Almighty.