For some people, a claim that God has spoken through a dream seems naïve. And yet, the Bible reports many instances where God spoke through dreams.

Dreams in the Bible

At times God spoke through a dream to warn a person (Genesis 20:3 and 6) or to give encouragement to a person (Genesis 28:12-15).

Sometimes the dream seems to be symbolic of something, like Joseph’s brothers bowing down to him as sheaves of grain (Genesis 37:6-7).  At other times, the meaning of the dream is straight forward, without symbolism, like when an angel of the Lord told Joseph that Mary would give birth to Jesus (Matthew 1:20-21).

And sometimes within a dream God directly spoke to the person having the dream (1 Kings 3:5), whereas at other times God clearly used the dream (or “spoke through” the dream), even though God isn’t a “character” that spoke in the dream (consider again, Joseph’s dream of Genesis 37:6-7).

But does God still speak through dreams?

Someone might protest that, “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son” (Hebrews 1:1-2). The implication here is that God used to speak through dreams, but that God doesn’t speak that way any longer now that God has spoken through Jesus. Some people would add that God definitely doesn’t speak that way now that we have the Bible—even though this is clearly not what the Bible is saying here.

The problem with the above protest is that God did still speak to people in many ways after Jesus ascended to heaven (e.g., Acts 10:19 and 13:2). Moreover, the Bible itself promises that after Pentecost, God would give dreams to people—”In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams” (Acts 2:17).

So, yes, the Bible supports the idea that God still speaks through dreams today.

“ The Bible itself promises that after Pentecost, God would give dreams to people.

How often does God speak through dreams?

While the Bible does record dreams from God, it doesn’t include that many dreams. So I’m not sure that it happens on a regular basis.

I do not think every dream is from God. In fact, I dream regularly (almost every night!), and yet I can only think of one other time that I thought I had a dream from God.

I was preparing to speak at a church. The pastor had asked if I wanted to lead communion that Sunday since I was going to be the guest speaker. I don’t remember if we decided they would do communion another Sunday or if he was going to lead it. Either way, I ended up having a dream with me leading communion, and I took it as direction from God that I should lead communion.

I went, I preached, I led communion. Nothing miraculous happened—not that I expected it to. I’m still not certain the dream was from God, but I figure it probably was—I had a sense that it was. I likely prayed about it too.

How do I know I had a dream from God?

What about last night’s dream? I’m not certain it was from God either. But I woke up thinking it likely was. In this case, it was not something I had been thinking about recently and it seemed to come somewhat out of nowhere.

God doesn’t promise that when he speaks through a dream, it will be an out-of-this-world-crazy dream. It will not will always be obvious when God speaks to us in a dream, just like it isn’t always obvious when God is speaking to us in general.

Consider, for example, when Samuel was a boy—God literally spoke to him with an audible voice, and yet Samuel thought it must have been Eli the priest (1 Samuel 3). It wasn’t obvious to Samuel that God was speaking to him.

I am convinced that God speaks through dreams more often that most North American Christians think. The Bible states explicitly that we won’t always be aware of it:

For God does speak—now one way, now another—though no one perceives it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber in their beds, he may speak …” (Job 33:14-18)

What about discernment?

I certainly affirm that if we think a dream might have come from God, then we should submit that to a process of discernment. Jeremiah’s warning about some false prophets should give us caution:

I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds?” (Jeremiah 23:25-26).

So, just as I wrote in my book Simply Spirit-Filled, we should test anything we believe we are hearing from God, including, of course, against the teaching of the Scripture.

And this discernment might involve more than just you. For example, Paul once had a vision at night (perhaps a dream) where he saw “a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us’” (Acts 16:9). Afterward we don’t see Paul proclaiming what this meant for him and his fellow-travelers. Instead, we see that the group of them concluded “that God had called us to preach the gospel to them” (Acts 16:10).

Side note—I find it interesting that the Bible doesn’t record Paul ever meeting this man (perhaps the vision was more symbolic or directional rather than foretelling the future).

Dream away

If God does speak through dreams sometimes, and it seems clear from the Bible that God does, then we should be open to discerning when God might have spoken through a dream, rather than living in practice as though it never happens. Unfortunately, the latter is probably the default position for many Christians, including even many Pentecostals and charismatics—well, at least in North America.

You might also be interested in these posts:

• Myth #1: “Prophecy is all About the Future”
• 5 Surprises About “the Anointing” in the New Testament
• There is Power in the Tongue, but Not for Declarations and Decrees

Andrew K. Gabriel, Ph.D., is the author/editor of six books, including Simply Spirit-Filled: Experiencing God in the Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit. He is a theology professor at Horizon College & Seminary and serves on the Theological Study Commission for the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. You can follow him on Facebook or on Twitter.

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