I. Dreams and Visins Fundatins Dreams/Visins/Listening t Gd Identity - I am a friend f Gd. Numbers 12:6 If there is a prphet amng yu, I the Lrd make myself knwn t him in a visin; I speak with him in a dream. Nt s with my servant Mses. He is faithful in all my huse. With him I speak muth t muth, clearly, and nt in riddles (ESV) Jb 33:14-15 Fr Gd speaks in ne way, and in tw, thugh man des nt perceive it. In a dream, in a visin f the night, when deep sleep falls n men, while they slumber n their beds. (ESV) Spken t in dreams: Matthew 1:20, Matthew 2:12, Matthew 2:13, Matthew 2:19, Matthew 2:22 Hw did Jesus speak t the peple in the New Testament? Thrugh. Gd desn t want t just give us and ; He wants us t it! (Matthew 7:7) Hw t interpret dreams and visins: Daniel 7:1 - yur dreams! Daniel 10:1-3 Pray and n the Lrd. Sme dream symbls (taken frm Understanding the Dreams Yu Dream by Ira Milligan): Snakes Being chased Father Impure dream Nightmare Naked dream Open bathrm Water Frm Gd r frm the pizza? II. Listening t Gd Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, fr they shall see Gd. (ESV)
Ways Gd can speak: dreams, visins, prphetic wrds, the Bible, prayer, & wrship Steps t listening t Gd: 1. Get rid f sin and bring every thught t Christ. 2. Learn hw t identify cmpeting. 3. Stay clse t the. The Spirit f Gd, Satan. Hw sn shuld we expect Gd t speak (Jeremiah 42:4, 7)? When Gd speaks, His wrds will always fllw the will f Gd (the Bible). III. New Identities! I am a friend f Gd (Jhn 15:15). IV. Small Grup Questins 1) Share a vivid dream yu have had; if yu knw the interpretatin, share that as well. 2) What are sme f the ways yu have heard the vice f the Lrd in yur life? Hw did yu feel sure it was Gd speaking? 3) Share abut ne f the lngest times yu have had t wait n the Lrd t speak. 4) Read Jeremiah 33:3. Yu are a friend f Gd and He has many great things t share with yu. What is smething yu can d differently this week t help yurself hear the vice f the Lrd mre clearly? 5) What are the 20 identities we have cvered s far? What des each mean fr us? Memry Verse f the Week
I. Dreams and Visins Fundatins Dreams/Visins/Listening t Gd (Master) Identity - I am a friend f Gd. Numbers 12:6 If there is a prphet amng yu, I the Lrd make myself knwn t him in a visin; I speak with him in a dream. Nt s with my servant Mses. He is faithful in all my huse. With him I speak muth t muth, clearly, and nt in riddles (ESV) Jb 33:14-15 Fr Gd speaks in ne way, and in tw, thugh man des nt perceive it. In a dream, in a visin f the night, when deep sleep falls n men, while they slumber n their beds. (ESV) Spken t in dreams: Matthew 1:20, Matthew 2:12, Matthew 2:13, Matthew 2:19, Matthew 2:22 Hw did Jesus speak t the peple in the New Testament? Thrugh parables. Parables are stries abut peple r bjects that symblize deeper things and are used t teach a truth r lessn. T the average persn, the stries made little sense. Even the disciples wuld have t ask Jesus fr interpretatin, but that was what Jesus wanted. Gd desn t want t just give us faith and knwledge; He wants us t seek it! (Matthew 7:7) As we ask Him fr wisdm and understanding, He gives them t us. In the same way that Jesus spke t the peple in parables, Gd spke t Jacb, Jseph, Daniel, and many ther peple in the Bible thrugh dreams. And what they all understd is that withut interpretatin frm Gd, the dreams are meaningless. But, if we seek understanding, Gd can reveal the symbls and teach us r encurage us in pwerful ways. Hw t interpret dreams and visins: Daniel 7:1 - Jurnal yur dreams! Often times n matter hw strng r vivid a dream might be, we tend t quickly frget details shrtly after waking up. Writing dwn a dream helps us remember it mre clearly and als allws us t check back later. It is imprtant t write dwn the date, what symbls std ut, and especially yur emtins during the dream. Gd tells us ften thrughut Scripture t listen carefully t what He has t say. Jurnaling yur dreams is a way t listen carefully. As yu lk ver the symbls, try and see if there are any cnnectins. Daniel 10:1-3 Pray and wait n the Lrd. Smetimes we will receive an answer relatively quickly, ther times it will take a lng time befre we are able t understand clearly. Jseph had t wait 13 years befre his dreams were fulfilled. Gd is nt tying with us when He makes us wait. Instead He is testing ur desire t knw Him and t receive revelatin. He is giving us an invitatin t really seek Him and t desire His treasures mre than anything else. Sme dream symbls (taken frm Understanding the Dreams Yu Dream by Ira Milligan):
(Allw the grup t guess fr each symbl and encurage them t think it thrugh. These symbls depend n the setting f the dream and als n the persn s circumstances.) Snakes Curse, demn, deceptin, threat, danger, hatred, slander, critical spirit, witchcraft; Fangs = Evil intent, danger; Rattles = Wrds; threats; warning; alarm Genesis 3:14, Psalm 140:3, Luke 10:18-19 Being chased Likely means there is a curse n the persn (that they can t escape until its dealt with). Father Authrity: Gd, authr, riginatr, surce, inheritance, traditin, custm, Satan, natural father Malachi 2:10, Jhn 8:44 Impure dream Spirit f lust: warning t cleanse the mind and pursue hliness Nightmare Spirit f fear: warning t receive cunsel and t grw strnger in identity in Christ Fr bth impure dreams and nightmares, smetimes they are simply attacks frm the Enemy t distract us. After waking up frm such dreams we need t immediately cnfess any sin we may have cmmitted in the dream (including fearing the enemy) and shuld pray the bld f Jesus ver us. Satan wants us t dwell n ur failures r t think abut him. James 4:7 says, [ ] Resist the devil and he will flee frm yu. (ESV) If these dreams repeat, it is wise t find a trusted brther r sister in Christ t share with and pray with. Naked dream Uncvered r Flesh: Nt under grace (Galatians 5:4), impure, ashamed, stubbrn, temptatin, lust, exhibitinism, inncence, pen (revealed), truth, hnest, nature Revelatin 3:17, Isaiah 61:10, Genesis 2:25 Having repetitive dreams f being naked in public might mean that yu are nt clthed in Gd s grace. Yu are like Adam and Eve when they saw they were naked in the garden and tried t clthe themselves. Despite their attempts t clthe themselves, they still knew they were naked and it wasn t until Gd clthed them that their shame went away. When we make urselves justified with Gd by ur wrks, the truth is that we are naked befre Him. Our wrks cannt cver ur shame and make us righteus befre Gd. The nly way fr us t be accepted is t be clthed by His grace. It is by grace we have been saved. Open bathrm A bathrm symblizes desire r cleansing: prayer f repentance, cnfessin f ffenses r sins t anther persn, passin, strng lust. A dream f using a bathrm in public usually means the need t cnfess sins befre peple (preferably a prayer team r small grup f church leaders). Usually Gd is encuraging the dreamer t pen up and cnfess.
Water Spirit: Spirit f Gd, spirit f man r the spirit f the enemy, unstable; plluted water = iniquity, man ways; trubled water = truble, wrry; fld = depressin, verwhelm, temptatin; swimming = Spiritual, serving Gd, wrshiping, perating in gifts f the Spirit, prphesying Sample Dream: I was in a rm and there was a huge cckrach, really disgusting. I tried killing it, but it just wuldn t die. I finally fund a big bk, which seemed like my Krean-English Bible, (it s like a brick), and I set it n the cckrach, trapping it underneath. Later I went t anther rm and fund it filled with cckraches. It was disgusting. S I picked up a big water hse that just happened t be right next t me and I sprayed all the cckraches int a crner where a drain was and washed them all ut. What d yu think cckraches symblize? One wrd wuld be, Invasin. Anther wrd wuld be, Unclean. I sensed that the cckraches represented evil trying t invade. What did I fight the cckraches with? The Bible and the water. And what des the Bible represent? The truth. What des water represent? Gd calls the Hly Spirit the, Living Water. S I fught the invasin with the spirit and the truth. Jhn 4:24 says, Gd is spirit and thse wh wrship him must wrship in spirit and truth. (ESV) At the time f the dream I sensed it was a warning fr the church t be n ur guard against a spiritual attack. I sensed that the church needed t find balance in the Wrd and in the Spirit in rder t vercme. Interestingly, just befre I began t share the dream during a subsequent prayer meeting, ne f the prayer team members had a visin f a great number f cckraches cming ver a hill. Frm Gd r frm the pizza? Nt all dreams are frm Gd. Sme cme frm ur wn thughts. Sme are simply randm. Jurnaling the dreams, writing ut the symbls, and praying ver them will help yu knw whether the dream is frm Gd r nt. If nne f the symbls seem t match up and yu dn t feel any leads after praying and reflecting n the dream, then the dream may have just been junk mail. It is still wise t keep the jurnal entry f the dream. In the future the dream may suddenly make sense. II. Listening t Gd Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, fr they shall see Gd. (ESV) Ways Gd can speak: dreams, visins, prphetic wrds, the Bible, prayer, & wrship (Ask the grup hw Gd can speak in each f these ways; answers shuld be relatively bvius. As fr Gd speaking in wrship, ften during praise the Spirit s presence can grw thick and it can becme easier t hear Gd s vice, whether audibly r simply thrugh the lyrics f the sngs.) Steps t listening t Gd (taken frm Christian Lee s Sermn Vice f the Lrd): 1. Get rid f uncnfessed sin and bring every thught captive t Christ. Guilt, shame, fear, a dirty mind, and a disbedient lifestyle will all keep us frm hearing the vice f the Lrd clearly. The lnger we allw sin in ur life, the mre it rts and cluds ur mind. The sner we cnfess ur sin, the quicker it will leave ur mind and we can mve n. If we see
smething r think f smething that is impure, we need t cnfess it and then fcus n the Lrd. The mre we cnfess t Gd, the mre grace we receive. The mre grace we receive, the mre we knw Gd s lve. The mre we knw Gd s lve, the mre we will knw His vice. 2. Learn hw t identify cmpeting vices. The three cmpeting vices are: Man, Satan, and Self. Friends, relatives, and ther peple in ur lives will ften share their pinins. Smetimes their pinins can shape yur thughts. If yur parents always tld yu t study and that educatin is mst imprtant, then when yu pray abut yur future yu might immediately think f smething t d with studying. While the pinins and encuragements f friends and relatives shuld be cnsidered, we cannt let them shape wh we are. Satan lies, tempts, dubts, cndemns, and brings fear and anger. His vice is usually either negative r alluring. Nearly every time Satan speaks it will be t encurage us t d r feel smething that lacks lve such as t pity urselves, t act selfishly, t yell at smene, r t ignre thers. Our wn self will have its wn vice. It will vice yur wn desires. Usually yur desires are t satisfy yurself and are rted in selfishness. We need t take every thught captive t Christ. We cannt cntinually entertain selfish thughts, r else we will becme selfish peple. 3. Stay clse t the Shepherd. The mre yu talk with smene, the mre yu recgnize his vice. The mre yu spend time with smene, the mre yu knw his character. In rder fr us t really knw the vice f the Lrd we must spend time with Him, whether thrugh reading the Wrd, praying, praising, fasting, r simply listening. Gd is ften speaking t us, but we are s busy and distracted that we never hear what He is saying. Hwever, the mre we spend time with Him, the better able we are t listen t Him and recgnize His vice. The Spirit f Gd leads, Satan pushes. We are always called t FOLLOW Gd, nt g ahead f Him. Usually Gd takes His time in speaking and wants us t pray and wait n Him. Satan will tempt us t act rashly and make us feel like we must make a decisin right away, and that if we dn t then we aren t truly strng Christians. But all thrughut the Bible Gd instructs us t wait n Him. He will lead us in His time (just as He did t the Israelites in the wilderness). Hw sn shuld we expect Gd t speak (Jeremiah 42:4, 7)? Fr even great prphets like Jeremiah and Daniel, they had t wait n the Lrd. Smetimes Gd will speak shrtly after ur prayer, but ften Gd will wait. Why des He wait? He wants us t earnestly seek Him. He wants us t wait s that when we finally get the answer we will be cnfident in it. He wants us t wait s that we will rely n Him and trust Him t meet ur needs. When Gd speaks, His wrds will always fllw the will f Gd (the Bible). Gd will nt tell us t d smething that ges against His written Wrd. His Wrd (the Bible) is eternal and unchanging, s Gd s spken wrd can never g against it.
III. New Identities! I am a friend f Gd (Jhn 15:15). By being a friend f Gd we have a special relatinship with Him that enables us t knw the things n His heart. Gd trusts in us. He cnfides in us. Just as Gd spke t Abraham and t Mses befre He did things, s will He speak t us. We can be sure that Gd lves us and enjys being with us. T serve Him shuld never be a burden but a jy. Repeat after me, I am a friend f Gd! IV. Small Grup Questins 1) Share a vivid dream yu have had; if yu knw the interpretatin, share that as well. 2) What are sme f the ways yu have heard the vice f the Lrd in yur life? Hw did yu feel sure it was Gd speaking? 3) Share abut ne f the lngest times yu have had t wait n the Lrd t speak. 4) Read Jeremiah 33:3. Yu are a friend f Gd and He has many great things t share with yu. What is smething yu can d differently this week t help yurself hear the vice f the Lrd mre clearly? 5) What are the 20 identities we have cvered s far? What des each mean fr us? Memry Verse f the Week Jhn 15:15 Bibligraphy Milligan, Ira. Understanding the Dreams Yu Dream. Shippensburg, PA: Treasure Huse. 1997.