There will always be opinions and oppositions to what we believe.  Our God encounters sometimes posture us to be in a hot seat, taking responsibility for something that He has invited us to powerfully experience, including facing criticism or being answerable for what they mean and find explanations to convince others.  It takes courage and boldness to be vocal about them in fear of exposure to this opinionated world but when situations like these are perceived rightly, words will just flow gracefully.

Each of us has been given a measure of faith (Romans 12:3).  If and when you hear someone says, “oh I don’t have faith”, just simply smile and say … “yes, you do.”  What differs us from each other is where our faith is anchored on.  “It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that HE EXISTS and that HE CARES ENOUGH TO RESPOND to those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:6 MSG).  If He responds and is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, then we know that He desires to interact, converse, speak and communicate with us.  The question is HOW?

The very way God invites us to encounter Him is infinitely variant.  We cannot box Him. His plans and ways are higher and innumerable.  He may speak to us through dreams, visions, songs, slogans, billboards … anything that you can think of in your wildest thought.  Never limit yourself to what you just hear from someone else nor limit others by your own encounters for He is the Creator of all, the Initiator of all, the “KNOW-IT-ALL” God, the Omniscient One.  He knows how to maneuver us in ways and means that perfectly fits our personalities, our very distinctive character, interwoven with our gifts and callings to fulfill our God-given destinies.

One of His ways in revealing Himself to us is through dreams.  I’m a dreamer 🙂 Some of them came to pass exactly patterned in my dream.  Some of them were answers to my prayers when I asked Him.  They mostly come just as a normal dream but when He reveals the deep secrets behind it’s simplicity, it becomes a powerful message that changes me.

I once thought, are these dreams come as a result of what I’ve just been thinking before sleeping?  Hmmm … it could be!  Or do they come from my most dominant thoughts, thoughts that I always think about? When I shared this with one of my friends, I got a similar opinion.  NOW, when dreams mean a lot to me that I’m postured to believe they are from God and then I get geared to think like it’s just a product of my own thoughts, then questions and doubts start to discredit it.  Thankfully, God always comes to my rescue instantly.  I “happened”to watch a preacher not long after my dream who is into intercessions.  She mentioned that if we think this way, then we just reduced a God-encounter into to a logical matter where we deprive Him to speak to us in our dreams.  Hmmm … nothing just happens.

How about visions?  It’s the same way.  I was in a conference once and when the preacher shouted, “FIRE!  FIRE of the Holy Spirit!  FIRE! while my eyes were closed, I saw a vision of FIRE! I was so overwhelmed that I found myself weeping to have encountered that way for the very first time.  When I opened my eyes, back to my physical senses, hmmmmm … doubt started to creep in.  Did I really see it or where they just flashing lights? Thankfully, God again came to my rescue after a week.  I was checking on the books that I had in my house and I “happened” to see one book that wasn’t familiar to me.  I took it out from the shelf and lo and behold, it was a picture of what I saw in a vision at the conference. The book wasn’t mine.  It was wrongly returned to me by someone who borrowed one of my books that I overlooked to give it back.  My vision got divinely extraordinarily confirmed and the content of that book said what I needed to know about the FIRE of the Holy Spirit.   Hmmm … nothing just happens.

These two powerful God-encounters of mine changed me.  I’m not saying all dreams are vital but I believe the very selective ones that He makes us vividly remember with an excessive effect on us may heavily contribute to our destiny.  Dreams and visions are some of His ways to reach us and reveal to us what He has for us that we are not to neglect or take for granted.  Yes, we wait for confirmations to validate them and yes, He always does it in most mysterious ways.

We are to be on a look out and be alert when the lies of the enemy come against our dreams and visions with these words, “Did God really say that?” Or is it really from God? What I can picture here was the scene when the serpent tempted Eve in the garden where she failed to resist and gave in to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:1).  Let’s not be ignorant of his schemes by focusing on the truth of God’s word that He truly communicates to us in dreams and visions.  I found two verses that carry the same message and when I see two, that means God wants us to catch what He is speaking.

“And it shall come to pass afterward
That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your old men shall dream dreams,
Your young men shall see visions.”  (Joel 2:28 NKJV)

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions, 
Your old men shall dream dreams. (Acts 2:17 NKJV)

I encourage you to make a journal of your personal God encounters.  They are powerful to go through and promising when you go through.  Later on you will realize that there is a faith-path that you have taken that confirms what you have received through your dreams and visions.