How Are We To Judge Our Dreams?
Hi E____,Hello Is, Was and Will Be team.My Mother-in-law has many dreams which she tells my husband and me. The other day she dreamed that she was seeing a funeral and there were some people that she knew who were part of the funeral party. She has been a dreamer ever since I first knew her. My husband knew the people she was seeing. On our way home my husband asked me what I thought about her dreams and I replied it may be from God himself or maybe it was an idol of her heart.What should be our thoughts on the dreaming?
E____
Thank you for your question.
You asked:
"What should be our thoughts on the dreaming?"
The main scripture which answers your question is Deuteronomy 13:
Deu 13:1 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
Deu 13:2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods , which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;
Deu 13:3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Deu 13:4 Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
Deu 13:5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn [you] away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.
"A dreamer of dreams... giveth thee a sign or a wonder... and the sign or the wonder come to pass."
There is much more on this subject to be read in the FAQ section. Just type the word 'dreams' into the search engine at the upper right hand corner of the iswasandwillbe.com site and you will be given several letters on this subject.
I hope this answers your question about "what should be our thoughts about dreams".
Mike
What does this prove? Does the fact that a dreamer of dreams or a prophet tells you something that comes to pass prove that this is a prophet of God? Not necessarily! If this prophet or this dreamer of dreams is telling you to in any way disobey God, then he is not a man of God. His dream or his prophesy coming to pass is nothing more than "the LORD your God proveth you to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul."
God does not "prove" us to see what we will do. He knows already what we will do. But He proves us to show us what we will do. He will not have His sons disobeying Him just because a prophecy or a dream comes true. The prophecy of the witch of Endor came true, but it did nothing to help King Saul. He died in his rebellion to his God.
So we are commanded by God to "try the spirits whether they are of God:"
1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
So what you say is true. Very often a person who has a lot of dreams becomes attached to his or her dreams and fails to try the spirits to see whether they are of God. Their dreams become 'idols of their hearts.' If the dream comes true, they feel like a prophet and fail to see what is right there in Deuteronomy 13 about the dream or the prophecy coming to pass simply to try us and prove us, yet being contrary to the word of the Lord.
So then this portion of scripture in Deuteronomy 18 must take into account what is said in Deuteronomy 13:
Deu 18:20 But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.
Deu 18:21 And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?
Deu 18:22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, [but] the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.
You see, "if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken," does not say that if it does come to pass then this is the thing the Lord has spoken. The real test is not verse 22, the real test is verse 20:
Deu 18:20 But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.'
The ministers of Babylon are constantly giving so-called prophecies from the Lord, with times and dates given. These dates come and go regularly, and yet they are never called to task for all their false prophecies. This is a testament to how little most church goers read their Bibles and see what God says about prophecies which fail to materialize. A prophecy which comes to pass is to be tried against the word of God to see whether it is of God. But a prophecy which does not even come to pass is to be recognized immediately for the heresy from a heretic which it is.
There is much more on this subject to be read in the FAQ section. Just type the word 'dreams' into the search engine at the upper right hand corner of the iswasandwillbe.com site and you will be given several letters on this subject.
I hope this answers your question about "what should be our thoughts about dreams".
Mike
