“You have tested my heart; You have visited me in the night” (Psalm 17:3) We sleep one third of our lives! Would you think that it is a time when we disconnect from God? (Hehe, that was one of my biggest fears when I was a child.) Our bodies rest and relax during sleep but it's only a fraction of what happens during the night. It's amazing what science has proven: it is during the sleep that our brains get extraordinarily active. The neural activity of our brain increases and the synapses strengthen their routes, which helps us to learn, remember and function better. We actually use our brain more during sleep than when we're awake (and different parts of it). What a perfect opportunity for the Holy Spirit to council, comfort and remind us of things that need to be remembered. God's first language is not English (or Finnish). When God chooses to speak to us in the language of heaven – those words can only be understood in the Spirit (compare to speaking in tounges: For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 14:2)). I know that dreams scare some because of their mysterious and ambiguous language. Still, I propose that we too often despise and miss are our dreams and then wonder why isn't God speaking to us. Yay, I've begun to mark a special mark on the side of the verse in my Bible when it talks about dreams and night visions. There are quite many! Check yourself! To this day God hasn't finished speaking to us through dreams. I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. Psalm 16:7 I have woken up in the middle of my dream for a feeling of excitement when I suddenly realized that God was literally instructing me. Too bad that as I woke up, I (my conscious mind) forgot almost everything He said. The only thing I still remember from that night is that He asked me to connect and stay vulnerable. I think that sometimes we are not even allowed to "hear" what He is speaking with our natural ears and minds. Sometimes God has to hide His instruction from us because He knows how much we would resist Him if He would speak to us clearer. Oh, our reasoning loves to get in His way! We won't usually ignore God when we are sleeping — and dreams may be a way for Him to finally get our attention. We might be too busy during the day and just don't know how to still our hearts and wait upon Him in quietness. And of course, I think God loves to speak though dreams and gets excited every time we lay our heads on the pillow. For God speaks again and again, I have given my nights to God and asked Him to meet me in my dreaming. There have been occasions when God has woken me up to pray in the night or given a word or a Scripture to my mind! Sometimes I have simply woken up praying. In dreams God has given me revelation about my life circumstances, corrected me but also encouraged to keep on going. “When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches.” (Psalm 63:6) Not all dreams are of God. If I eat too much ice cream, it might "manifest" in my dreaming without any deeper meaning (compare dreams from our soul vs from the Spirit). The enemy is also able to give us dreams and make us never want to dream again. Ah, if you suffer from really bad nightmares continually, I encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit reveal to you where they derive from and go talk with somebody from your church. It could be something related to fear, occult or trauma that opened a door for them to torment you (I guess those might be some of the most common ones). The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth who always tells you what's going on! We are not called to fear dreaming but enjoy a refreshing time to our body, soul and mind when we are sleeping. My own experience is that God-given dreams are vivid, peaceful and full of color (spiritual warfare dreams might be black-and-white, dark, haunting and questioning God). Nightmares are full of lies, and it goes without saying that we shouldn't listen to what they say about us. Brush off the bad stuff from your shoulders, turn the other side of your pillow and continue sleeping. I don't think Christians need to suffer from nightmares as a norm. I am so happy God delivered me from really bad nightmares when I was a teenager... I used to be so afraid I sometimes had to put music on when I went to sleep. I say this to tell you that you are not alone! I believe that new dreamers are arising in the Kingdom, that is, people who see visions and dream dreams. Friends, these ARE the last days (Acts 2:17)! Quite many of my friends who "never saw dreams" have begun to see them on a regular basis after we asked God for it. I encourage you to ask Him to lift up the veil and start revealing to you what He is speaking when you sleep! Sweet dreams! Pictures from Pintrest.
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