Dreams, Visions & the Prophetic Word

     I realized recently that when God gives you a dream or a promise for something, at the same time He sets in motion an appointed time for that thing to come to pass. "This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed."   Habakkuk 2:3 New Living Translation

      It was a young hairdresser some years ago who started me taking my dreams seriously.  She said, "God speaks to me in my dreams..."  And she went on to explain some of those things He had spoken.  The establishment of her very successful beauty shop was a result of a God-given dream.  I researched scriptures about dreams and how God spoke to mankind through them.  The God-given dream to Joseph, who was bethrothed to Mary was a crucial part of the most important thing God would do for the world.  According to Matthew's Gospel, Joseph agonized over Mary's seeming illegitimate pregnancy but protected her and the unborn Jesus by accepting her as his wife after an angel appeared to him in a dream and directed him to do so.  There were several Biblical instances where important messages from God came in dreams.  So I began praying for God-given dreams and He responded.

     The dreams have been prophetic and concern my family, ministries I've been involved with, the Church and information for me personally.  The dreams have given me insight and perception into people that would impact my life and ministry, as well as identifying spiritual opposition to plans the Lord has for me and others.  Some dreams speak of future events-- things that will happen that might otherwise shock me or take me by surprise if God hadn't prepared me, such as the deaths of family members.  Others tell me of things the Lord is giving me, such as a new car or home.  Sometimes the dreams have been simple and easy to understand and other times they have required interpretation. 

     Dreams requiring interpretation seem to have layers of meanings that have immediate significance and future significance.  These more complicated prophetic dreams were recorded and reviewed often, as life progressed, and more instruction is gleamed from them.  Many of the dreams guided me through difficult situations in ministry or in churches showing me the unseen spiritual forces and identifying those entities I must take authority over in prayer.  These dreams I shared with other prayer warriors, intercessors and church leaders.  As a novice I was anxious to share these dreams and interpretations.  Sometimes the information was accepted and other times not.  But even when some leaders resisted the knowledge, God would show me that in private they marvelled at the dreams and interpretation as God brought things to pass in their churches and in the lives of their flock.

     The prophetic, revelatory ministries are a hard thing to carry because of the rejection and isolation one feels, even persecution.  But God told me as I despaired and was feeling overwhelmed by the negativity coming my way, that if they didn't reject me I wasn't truly bringing His prophetic word.  I was awed and shocked by that.  I wanted to be accepted and liked.  I couldn't believe that this rejection and persecution was going to be my life.  I became even more introspective and uncertain that I wanted this kind of spiritual burden.  Later I heard a local Aglow leader talk about the prophetic ministry God had given her and the rejection and persecution that was to be encountered, and her response to God was, "Who wants that!"  So I thought I'd give him the same response.  And in the middle of a prophetic assignment (at a new church start) I dropped the responsibility, and unfortunately one of my fellow intercessors who desired the prophetic giftings was given a dream (and she didn't usually dream prophetically) that I had thrust a baby into her arms for her to take care of.  And so she did.  She accepted the responsibility and also suffered the persecution and rejection that comes with the prophetic.  (My fellow intercessors likened me to a young Black actress who spoke the infamous words, "Miss Scarlet, I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no baby."  To which she promptly received a slap in the face since bragging that she knew everything about it.)  It is good to laugh at ourselves.  We cannot take ourselves too seriously no matter the callings on our lives.  We are still human and subject to human frailties and failings. 

     The calling of a prophet (or seer) are decided by God, even before birth, just as those of a pastor, evangelist, apostle, etc., but all of us can have prophetic giftings and should pray for them that we can hear God more clearly for ourselves and those God gives to us.  We can be more effect in our prayer life, more effective in the work place, and more accurate and influential in our assigned sphere in the world.

     As I reflected on past dreams and prophetic words it seemed that all God had promised or foretold had already come to pass, including the death of my husband, which I am finally getting over.  I have accepted his death as part of God's plan, even though when He told me in a dream, I put it out of my mind.  I so completely disregarded that word that I didn't even remember God said it until I came across the note in my prayer book a year or so after John's death.  I prayed fervently for my husband's healing and actually I believe on the day of his death, he was completely healed.  Early that morning he had fallen into a sleep from which he couldn't be awakened, and I rushed back to the hospital later that morning to see him.  I called his name loudly as I entered the room and commanded him to wake up.  He did wake up.  He was talkative and ready to go to rehabilitation, which I had arranged in faith the day before, and he gave the announcer of the good news a thumbs up when she came to tell him the timetable of his transfer. When she left he threw his covers back ready to get out of bed.  I insisted he wait until he was transfered to rehabilitation.  Then something happened. 
     My husband's eyes became transfixed on an invisible spiritual entity in the corner of his room-- maybe it was an angel, maybe the Lord.  And though I calmly and deliberately asked him to tell me what he saw, he did not seem to hear me.  I refused to take my eyes off of him fearing something could happen that I would not see.  John was intently looking and listening to what I believe was a messenger of God.  As he accepted the message, before my eyes I saw his facial expression respond and react to the separation of his spirit from soul and body.  God had taken the spiritual part that came from Him.  John lived several hours more in a comatose state.  He could hear me as I spoke to him and responded in actions, making me know that his mind (soul) was still alive in him.  But he never opened his eyes again.  He stopped breathing and slipped away in the wee hours of the morning when I fell asleep and could no longer guard him from death.  

     I have not been ministering to churches or even seeking spiritual dreams for the last few years since John's death, but as my blog readers know I just recently began interceding and praying seriously for our President and other things God is puttting on my heart for our Nation.  I continue to be a prayer warrior for my family and praying a hedge of protection around them always.  Now with the realization that God puts a time table on visions for the future, I am awakened again to the promises of God and a vision He gave a prophetess for me.  The vision was given in the 1990's, almost two decades ago.  It tells of my future, the order of some things that will happen, things I will do, and a more detailed description of the calling on my life, which may lead to a new ministry.  I believe the remaining elements of this vision and prophetic word will come to pass in God's appointed time.  I look forward to God's next assignment for me with joy and anticipation, and I look forward again to those wonderful, refreshing times in the Lord's Presence.