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From the desk of Andrew Burchett...

Years ago my wife, Linda and I had just our first two children and longed to have more.  After several painful miscarriages and years of waiting, it occurred to us that maybe the Lord just didn’t want us to have any more kids.  We prayed and prayed, consulted with doctors and nothing happened. 

It was around that time that a spiritual father in my life asks me, “Why don’t you ask the Lord for a dream where He will reveal to you His will?”  It had never occurred to me that the Lord uses dreams to guide, inspire, comfort and reveal Himself to us. 

The Lord has always used dreams to communicate with people. 

·         Jacob dreams and sees a stairway to heaven (Gen. 28)

·         Jacob also receives wisdom from God in a dream about how to mate goats (Gen. 31)

·         Laban is warned by God to be kind to Jacob (Gen. 31)

·         Joseph has prophetic dreams foretelling his exalted position over his family (Gen.37)

·         Pharaoh has dreams that are warning him to prepare for famine (Gen 41)

·         Solomon is offered a gift from the Lord in a dream and he chooses wisdom (1 Ki. 3)

·         King Nebuchadnezzar has dreams about his kingdom & is warned by God (Dan. 4)

·         Paul in the New Testament is called by God to Macedonia in a dream (Acts 16)

·         Paul also is informed that he will stand before Caesar (Acts 27)

The most notable dreams in the Bible are a part of the Christmas story. 

Matthew 1:18-20 (NIV)
18  This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19  Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 20  But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

It was a dream that kept Joseph from leaving Mary and jeopardizing God’s salvation plan through His son Jesus.  The text explains to us that when Joseph woke up he did what the angel commanded him to do.  Crisis averted.  The holy family is intact.  God directed Joseph and he obeyed right away. 

After hearing this admonition from “pops” Duarte, I went to bed that night and asked the Lord for a dream.  I prayed as I climbed into bed that He would direct us as a family and let us know what He wanted us to do. 

That night I had four successive dreams, one of them was a quick snapshot picture of what seemed to be bigger versions of my first two kids, and a littler girl holding hands with them.  I took that on faith that the Lord was giving us hope to believe that He would send a little girl to us.  A few years later, Linda gave birth to our third child, Amy.  It was a dream that gave us the faith to believe that there was another child in our future. 

Are you at a crossroads?  Are you in transition?  Maybe you know that whatever got you here won’t get you where you ultimately want to be?  If you are trying to discern God’s will and plan for your life and having difficulty understanding which way to go, it might be time for you to ask the Lord for a dream. 

Malachi 3:6 (NIV) says, 6  "I the LORD do not change.”

The same God who inspired and led Joseph through dreams can do the same with you.  If you do get a dream that you believe is from the Lord and the meaning is not clear, please let us know, let us pray with you and for you to be able to rightly discern what God might be showing you.  

Perhaps this Christmas will be known for being the season where God spoke and led you through a dream.