A Dream From God Has These 6 Clear Characteristics - JOHN E. THOMAS CHARISMA NEWS

Does your dream pass these six tests? (Pexels/Tookapic)

A Dream From God Has These 6 Clear Characteristics

8/26/2017 JOHN E. THOMAS  CHARISMA NEWS

I love dreams. I love the contours of God's voice, the creativity He puts into His relationship with each of us. I enjoy interpreting dreams because every dream from God is an expression of His heart to the dreamer, and I get to see one more facet of His love.

In my last post, I addressed this question: "How do I know if my dream is from God?" I explained that dreams can come from one of three sources—the enemy, the human soul or God—and I mentioned some of the ways we can recognize dreams from the enemy and dreams from the soul. In this post, I want to explore how to recognize dreams from God.

Dreams, being a form of revelation, hold to the same rules as revelation. To be from God, a dream needs to do the following:

• Agree with Scripture;
• Carry the character of God and fit His personality;
• Be truthful, accurate;
• Bear good fruit;
• Point to Jesus and
• Be full of color and light.

The Scripture Test

A dream from God will not violate what He has already revealed in Scripture. Like other forms of revelation, dreams are never intended to create doctrine or establish a rule of faith or practice for all people at all times—only the Bible can do such a thing.

It isn't a dream from God if it tells you to steal, commit adultery, murder or violate any other moral commandment. Similarly, it isn't a dream from God if it tells you not to pray, that another god is God, that you shouldn't go to church or share your faith, that you shouldn't serve or give. Dreams from God will not change Scripture.

The Character Test

One of the keys to recognizing God's voice is knowing the difference between conviction and condemnation. Conviction is about activity, whereas condemnation is about identity. Conviction is specific, whereas condemnation is vague. Conviction cuts to the heart but leaves hope for change, while condemnation strips us of hope for change. When we are dealing with condemnation, we begin to believe the weight of our sin is so great that we will never be free.

The Holy Spirit shows us where we aren't living out the new life we have in Christ, so we can repent and come back to His heart. The enemy, meanwhile, slanders and accuses us until we are left hopeless and feeling defeated. When the Holy Spirit brings conviction, we can repent and turn back to His ways and the weight of the conviction lifts. But when the enemy is condemning us, it doesn't matter how much we repent—it won't feel like enough.

A dream that leaves you feeling hopeless, like you will never be good enough for God or like you've done something that forever marks you and holds you back from His purpose for you—that is not a dream from God. It is from the enemy. Rebuke such dreams and don't believe them. Instead, ask God to show you His heart for you.

The Accuracy Test

The word "revelation" refers to something you didn't know previously. Just because a "revelation" is accurate doesn't mean it is from God (see Matt. 7:21–23). At the same time, God doesn't lie, so all revelation from Him will be accurate.

Understanding the difference between what is from God and what is not from God will keep us from chasing after deceptive signs, wonders and even deceptive revelation. Though the accuracy test is important when determining if a dream is from God, the other tests need to be employed as well.

The Fruit Test

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22–23). A dream from God will never direct you to hate someone, become fearful, lose control or accuse another person.

 But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, do not boast and do not lie against the truth. This wisdom descends not from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, and devilish. For where there is envying and strife, there is confusion and every evil work.

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy (James 3:14-17).

The Jesus Test

In Deuteronomy 13 and 18, God gives keys to recognizing true and false revelation. When discerning the source of a dream, this is the main question we should ask: "Does the revelation point us to a god other than Jesus?" The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus (Rev. 19:10), which means that all true revelation will lead us to Him.

Did the dream tempt you to put your trust in anything other than Jesus? Or did it cause your heart to fall more in love with Him?

The Color Test

God is light, and around His throne is a rainbow of color. The Bible often uses "light" vs. "dark" and "day" vs. "night" as metaphors for good and evil, God and Satan. A dream from God will often be full of color and bright light.

The Main Thing to Remember

The foundation of discerning your dreams is relationship. As you draw closer to God, He will reveal what is from Him and what is not. If you approach dreams and supernatural experiences from a position of relationship, you will find yourself walking on safe, steady ground. Your Father is good and He wants to speak to you. When you ask Him for bread, He won't give you a stone (Luke 11:11–13). 

John E. Thomas is the president of Streams Ministries and the co-author of The Art of Praying the Scriptures: A Fresh Look at Lectio Divina with John Paul Jackson. Teaching on prophetic ministry, dream interpretation and the kingdom of God, he travels internationally and works to help restore the awe of God to a world that has lost its wonder. John and his wife, Dawna, live near Dallas, Texas.

To learn more about dreams and dream interpretation, check out Dream Foundations as well as other resources from John E. Thomas and John Paul Jackson atstreamsministries.com.

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Is This Dream From God? - MAUREEN D. EHA CHARISMA MAGAZINE

Is This Dream From God?

 6/9/2016 MAUREEN D. EHA  charisma magazine

Here's how God brought to pass the dreams of some of our heroes in the Bible. (Roksolana Zasiadko)

Nearly 10 years ago, after having been saved and Spirit-filled for 14 years, I experienced a personal revival. Many truths in God's Word became revelation to me, and I learned to live more according to the Spirit than according to the flesh. During this season, I came to understand that God had created me for a unique destiny.

I was SO excited! For the first time in my life, I had purpose—a true sense of calling. As I continued to press into God, He began to speak to me through dreams, visions and prophetic words about the things He would have me do.

He even began to move me in the direction I would need to go to fulfill some of the words. Though they had nothing to do with ruling and reigning, I felt as Joseph must have after he had received supernatural input about his future.

What I didn't know was that, like Joseph, I too was headed for a pit. It was a figurative rather than a literal one—but it was nevertheless a place of betrayal and rejection that caused me much disillusionment and pain.

I couldn't make sense of my experience or find a resolution for it. Slowly but surely the dreams began to fade, and the desire I had to become all God wanted me to be fizzled out.

By His grace, I didn't completely give up at this point; I kept running to Him. And when I pressed in to study His Word, I saw something. I wasn't the only one who had experienced the death of a vision on the way to fulfillment! Many characters in the Bible went through a similar time in their journeys.

Moses was appointed by God to be a leader of His people—to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. He didn't ask for the job; in fact, he resisted it. But once God convinced him of his call, he took the necessary steps to begin walking in it.

What happened? Every time he appealed to Pharaoh to "let God's people go," Pharaoh said, "No." It's a little difficult to lead a group of people if you can't get them moving in the right direction! Moses must have wondered whether he had really heard God about the appointment in the first place.

Joseph dreamed that he would rule over his own family; then he was sold by his brothers as a slave. In any society, a slave is a far cry from a ruler! And his chances of fulfilling his destiny got even slimmer when he was thrown in prison for something he didn't do.

David was anointed as a young boy to be king over the Israelites, but he spent the next 15 years trying to stay alive long enough to make it to the throne. He probably thought Saul, the reigning king, would be the one to train him up and prepare him for the job; instead, Saul sought to kill him.

David must have felt the prophet Samuel had made a big mistake in pouring the anointing oil over his head. The way things were going, he was more likely to become mincemeat at the end of a sword than the next king!

Paul was called as an apostle to the Gentiles. He traveled all over Asia preaching the gospel—until he was apprehended and put in jail. Suddenly, his ministry travels came to a screeching halt. How was he supposed to reach the people God had sent him to?

Perhaps you are in the place today that these godly characters once were, trying to hang on by a thread to a promise or a vision or a prophetic word and wondering why the realization of it seems so impossible—or at least far away. Perhaps you are feeling, as I did, as if you can't go on.

Don't worry. You aren't responsible for putting the wind back in your own sails. "For God is the One working in you, both to will and to do His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13). He is responsible for taking you from the promise to the presentation of it. And He knows that the season in between—the time of preparation—is often difficult.

But He also knows what it will take for you to carry out the commission He has given you, and He wants to be certain you are prepared for the task. He uses the time of preparation to patiently and carefully equip you, going so far as to work all things together for your good so that His purposes ultimately will prevail (Rom. 8:28).

We don't know for certain all that God had to work into—or out of—the biblical characters I mentioned to make them ready for their destinies. But we do know the end results.

Moses led God's people out of Egypt and through the wilderness to the brink of the promised land. Joseph was named second in command to the highest ruler in the nation. David became king over all Israel—not just over one of the two kingdoms. Paul wrote letters while in jail, now called "epistles," that have "spoken" to Gentiles and believers alike for centuries as a part of the New Testament.

Did these men fulfill their destinies? You bet they did! And you will too. The Bible tells us that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Heb. 13:8), so you can rest assured that God will do for you what He did for them.

Don't let the season of preparation discourage you or dampen your faith. Don't let it obscure your vision. Hang on! If you have a promise, you'll see the presentation—just like all the saints who have gone before.

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4 Ways to Tell If Your Dream Is From God - Audrey Lee

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4 Ways to Tell If Your Dream Is From God

3/22/2014 AUDREY LEE  CHARISMA NEWS

It would be naive and irresponsible to suggest that all spiritual dreams result in a true God connection. Dreamers who mistake their own subconscious thoughts or even demonic influence as divine instruction can make grim and historic mistakes. Recently a woman in a rural village sacrificed her child in the river out of obedience to what she thought was a dream from God. So how can you discern whether a dream is from God?

1. It’s biblical. Make sure it doesn’t contradict the Bible. Scripture forbids many kinds of spiritism, including sorcery and consulting psychics (see Lev. 19:31, Deut. 18:10-13). It’s a good idea to get counsel from a trusted pastor or Bible teacher.
2. It’s convicting. “Usually, when you are very in tune with spiritual things, if you have a dream you are convicted by it,” says Abraham Sarker, author of Understand My Muslim People. (See Is. 6:1-6.)
3. It lingers. Unlike most dreams that fade from memory, a dream from God lingers and might bother you until it fulfills its purpose. 
4. It comes to pass. Many dream conversions are based on testimonies of people whose dreams literally come true, as in the account of Saul and Ananias (Acts 9:10-19). An aid worker tells about a woman in Indochina who cried when she first met the worker’s friend. She recognized the man from a dream she had. In the dream, this man told her he had a message for her. “So she talked with him, and he led her to the Lord,” says the worker. This type of experience is commonly reported in the underground church.
5.