Does God still speak to us through dreams and visions? (Visions are sometimes referred to today as ‘pictures’.) In a word: Yes/Sometimes. Do you ever dream; ever had a nightmare – a bad dream? Are all dreams from God? No. What then causes us to have dreams? It could be too much cheese before you went bed; or it could be that you are overly tired, anxious or worried and your imagination is playing overtime in your sleep. Ecclesiastes 5v3 tells us: “A dream comes when there are many cares.” A bad dream could be an attack from the enemy to create fear, or it could be because you have watched something ‘unhelpful’ on the TV before retiring – and you opened yourself up to wrong images and bad thoughts playing on your mind! OR… a dream could be from God; a way of God communicating with you, maybe to warn you. How can we tell which is which?

Joseph, the gifted-interpreter of dreams, was at pains to point out that “interpretations belong to God” (Genesis 40:8). Joseph’s comment completely wipes out explanations coming from mediums, spiritualists or dream-interpretation books, as well as astrology, horoscopes, clairvoyants and the like, as a means of gaining spiritual insight or divine guidance. Church, stay away from such things! They’re not harmless; they are deceitful and dangerous, and leave people wide open to all sorts of dark and evil things. It’s worth noting that in Scripture, whenever anyone experienced a dream from God, God always made the meaning of the dream clear, whether directly to the person, through an angel, or a prophetic word. When God wants to speaks to us, He makes sure His message is clearly understood.