My dear friend/brother in our fellowship, Sean, wrote an article on dreams and looked at the subject from a Biblical perspective. True they should be tested/discerned & interpreted, and many have false dreams/visions (which they simply made up, that's the lying part), but God gives His people dreams, particularly when they are open to it as a Body, and they are seeking to grow in the Lord, are allowing the Lord to search their heart, and are open to the Holy Spirit.
Obviously there are those who have lying dreams and visions. Their are also those that prophesy falsely. That doesn't negate true prophecy. There are those who manifest false lying signs and wonders, but that doesn't negate real ones. There are false manifestations of the Spirit with false tongues and hype, but that doesn't negate the true Baptism/Filling of the Spirit, true tongues, praying in the Spirit, etc.
That's why the devil sows such tares, is to plant doubt and unbelief and have people "throw out the baby with the bath water." I have seen a lot of falseness, fruitiness, flesh, and deception in these areas in the name of God. I have also seen/experienced the genuine. Discernment is something only the genuine I filling of God's Spirit can give. It is crucial in this hour and in the days ahead till Christ's return. This is why Prophets are needed so desperately to be cultivated in the Body. This is why the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Body is so needed in our midst. Otherwise, "everyone does what is right in his own eyes" and lives/discerns merely by the dictates of the flesh and the carnal mind of mere logical conclusions. That's old covenant living at best. We are to be a people of the Spirit. That's what is so great about the New Covenant and the Day of Pentacost. We still are called to "test all things/spirits to see if they are of God" for sure, but not rule all as false because we are uncomfortable with any fruit because we have seen so much false.
The Lord graciously gives me dreams all the time. He does it a lot in our Body. It usually is a warning from the Lord, an encouragement, or shining light on an area that we have been spiritually blind to. It's happened MANY times. It's beautiful. God gave dreams to Joseph, Daniel, Jacob, Pharoah, Gideon (at least to his enemies?) Jeremiah, Job (at least he mentions dreams from heaven), mentioned in Joel ("I will pour my Spirit on all people, your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will DREAM DREAMS, ......."), Peter had a vision ("don't call anything unclean the Lord has made clean..."), Agabus predicted a famine by the Spirit for the church in Acts, etc.
Again, the Spirit of God never contradicts the award of God, but confirms it, but just reading, memorizing, and following thenBible to the best of your ability isn't ALL the fullness of what the Lord intended new covenant living to be. God puts His Spirit in us and is with us, and manifests gifts in our Body fellowships as He sees fit. This is all New Covenant Kingdom Living. This is/was the promise that the OT prophets saw afar off (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc.).
Check out this article: http://preachingjesus.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/maybe-it-was-bad-pizza/
Blessings in Him, Jeff |