Dreams and Visions

Jeremiah 1:6-7

New International Version (NIV)

⁶ “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”

⁷ But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.

     The Lord has me reading in Jeremiah lately, one of the few books of the Bible He has me studying.  Many times I have said to God, "Why me?  Can't you send someone more experienced?  I am a baby believer."  To which He replies, "Infancy to infantry.  You can choose to drink milk or you can step out in faith."  Stepping out in faith does not mean success, comfort, or support from other believer's.(They may support stepping out in faith, but not the particular stepping out God has asked of you.)  Sometimes the only one happy with me stepping out in faith is the Lord. 
     If there is one thing I could give to every believer, and the Lord has told me He wants me to pray this over people, is how to listen to God's voice.  He is talking to us in many ways.  I was recently validated by a man who shared many of the experiences I have had and it has given me more confidence to speak up.  With all the deception in the world today, we have to know His voice.  We must know how to hear Him.  He is the only one we can put our complete trust in.
     I had a conversation with a friend last night and through her tears she expressed how much she loves the Lord.  She could not put it into words, but her face showed it all.  Her hunger for Him is out of control and He loves that about her.  As I listened to her, I heard Him, "It is that desire to be near to me that I have for all my children.  She has the ability to express to others my love for them."  We have had many conversations about how frustrating it is to know how much He loves His kids, but they still refuse to listen, to accept His love and to obey Him.  I think as parents we identify with this even more.
     It's also frustrating when He gives us visions and dreams about what He is doing and how people do not see it.   I compare it to standing on a hill, looking down at a group of people and from the top of the hill, I can see the enemy coming toward them, but they can not  see the enemy or hear my warning cries.  I can scream, cry, beg, but they choose not to hear at times.  I am labeled crazy and told to go.
     In the last days, the bible says He will give us visions and dreams.  I have had quite a few people ask me about dreams they have had or ask me to pray that they would have visions and dreams.  Within days I usually hear back from them, excited over a dream God has given them.  Many times they were having dreams, but unsure what they meant or if they were from God.  Praying over them, I believe was more like giving permission for them to hear or acknowledge God speaking to them in this way.  English is not His first language or communication choice. 
     When I decided a couple years ago to follow Christ completely, I had a dream.  I tore that dream apart trying to figure it out.  I even asked for help.  I never felt like I really understood.  About 6 - 8 months ago, I asked God about the dream and what He told me was totally different than my earthly thinking.  he didn't give it to me all at once and looking back, I can see why. 
     Sometimes He gives us dreams and visions to reveal something to us, about us, that needs His attention.  This could be un-forgiveness, a character defect, or even a demonic spirit that is controlling an area of our life.  One time in a dream I had there was a dog who kept wandering between my feet and the feet of the person I was talking to.  The person I was talking to actually represented someone else.  The dog smelled really bad and neither of us did anything about it.  The Lord told me it was demonic.  I then asked Him what demonic spirits were interfering in our relationship and He told me.  The fact that the dog belonged to the other person in the dream, meant that even though we both needed to deal with the spirits, they were on the other person. 
     Other times God gives us dreams about the future.  They can be blessings that are coming, or warnings.  I have a lot of warning dreams about the Church so that I can pray against it.  Though sometimes God will ask me to pray for a specific part of the situation.  For example, I had a dream that I was standing in front of a church.  The Lord told me there was going to be an earthquake and I was to go inside and warn the people so they could get out of the building.  I ran in yelling for everyone to get out of the church, but the pastor yelled at me to "Get out of MY church!"  I looked around at the faces of the people and I knew they would not hear me, they would not follow me out.  I turned and left with the pastor right on my heels, yelling all the way.  A few people followed us out.  Once we were outside of the building and standing in the parking lot, the earthquake hit and the building went down, in a pile of rubble.  The strange thing about the pile of rubble was it was all cement blocks, not twisted metal.  The Lord showed me that the cement blocks were man made rock.  Soon after the building came down, Jesus appeared in the sky with His arms outstretched and many spirits rose up from the rubble and joined Him.  The pastor said to me, "I told you there were good people in my church."  I responded with, "I knew that.  I never said there weren't."  Just then, many dark spirits came scrambling out of the rubble, twice as many as had gone with Jesus.  This is where the dream ended. 
     Right away, I start questioning, "Is this you God or the enemy?"  I ask Him for confirmation.  Within a short time an article popped up on my computer about natural disaster dreams and the first disaster mentioned was earthquakes.  The man said that sometimes it is a warning about a literal earthquake, but other times not.  He said if the dream takes place in a church it most likely means there is a shake up coming that will divide the people.  There is huge division taking place.  This is a pretty simple dream to interpret and God has done so over time. 
     Sometimes we will see a recurring issue, person or such in a dream.  I have dreamt about blue and red trucks doing damage.  I have also talked to others who receive prophetic dreams and they too have been seeing red trucks and blue trucks.  In one dream a blue truck was running over the legs of a pastor.  In another dream I had, a red truck and blue truck were tearing up the landowners property.  I asked God what this means and He showed me blue represents the high priest/religion.  It was actually the high priest who called for the crucifixion of Jesus, because He believed He was following the rules set by God.  When I asked about the red truck, the first thing the Lord said was anger.  Then He asked me how many times He says do not fear in the bible.  Well, I have heard it is 365 times, but I don't know that for sure, I haven't counted.  I do know it is a lot.  Then He reminded me that all anger is fear based.  Then He asked me, what does your flesh want to do when you are angry or afraid?  Control.  Usually control the situation by manipulation.  Hmm.  This goes along with the Jezebel spirit.  The religious spirit and the Jezebel spirit are going after God's Church.  Pride, arrogance, lack of repentance all fit in here. 
     It's frustrating to see this and try to talk about it and people laugh.  I had a dream once where I was sitting in a chair and next to me was a couch full of people laughing at me.  They were all in leadership and there were too many on the couch.  I was being choked by a demon I could not see and they continued to laugh instead of pray it off me.  Then I yelled out to Jesus to help me and He raised me up out of the chair and the demon stayed behind and I could see it, but they still wouldn't acknowledge it.  The Lord told me two very important facts about this dream.  Sometimes we have to be separated from the demonic before we can see it clearly and they were not literally laughing at me, but they were not taking me seriously.
     I know a lot of people have dreams from God and they are different than flesh dreams.  I have learned a lot through them.  A while back I told God that I didn't believe any of it.  I was not going to share my dreams and visions any longer.  He let me have some time to cool off and then riding down the road in my car one day, completely out of the blue, He said, "I have always given you dreams."  He went on to remind me of two I had as a kid.  Dreams especially, but even visions, is one of my favorite ways to hear from God.  A picture says a thousand words. 
     When God gives us a warning in a dream or vision and tells us to share it with someone, we have to.  If we see the danger and don't blow the trumpet, the sin is on us.  I believe He told me to write this post today and that the blood is not on my hands, because I have obeyed Him every time He has sent me with a word.  It's not easy and I have begged Him to send someone else or talk to the person directly.  I remember one night, crying out to God, "He is not listening to me."  God replied, "No.  He is not listening to me.  I have warned and warned, but he is refusing to hear.  Your hands are clean."
     Most importantly, if God gives you a dream, vision or word for another person, it has to be given in love.  This is difficult to learn and I have made mistakes in the past, but what God has explained to me is that when it is a warning, often times He sends someone we know loves us.  I had to confront a woman once about a spirit on her, but before He would give me the word, He showed her that I loved her.  So the word came through love, even if I didn't verbalize it exactly how He wanted.  Our motives have to be in love.  They have to be pure and in His love.  And sometimes, the words He gives us are only so we know how to pray and He doesn't asks us to share them.  In regards to the earthquake dream, I was specifically supposed to pray for eyes to be opened to His will, before the need for the earthquake.
     I argue with God more than I should.  I ask Him all the time if my words were His and to please stop me if I am doing the work of the enemy.  Yesterday, He gave me this verse and confirmed it, because if any one person goes to hell because I did not obey - well that terrifies me more than being wrong.

Jeremiah 1:17
New International Version (NIV)

17 “Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them.