This morning as I continued my reading through Genesis, I came to the beginning of the story of Joseph. Within five verses of this massive story in Genesis the narrator makes mention of Joseph’s dreams.

His first dream was that of a sheaf of grain that he bound standing upright, while his brothers’ sheaves bowed down to his (Gen. 37:7). And then his second dream had the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowing down to him (v. 9).

As some of you know, these dreams weren’t random psychological effects that happened in Joseph’s brain while he slept, but they were from God and prophetic. They spoke to a future reality that was to take place—which did in fact take place (see Gen. 37-50).

The Bible is sprinkled with stories of how God used dreams and the interpretation of dreams to make his will known and advance his purposes. In fact, even with the birth of Jesus did dreams play an essential role (see Matt. 1:20; 2:13, 19-20, 22).

The reality is this: in the Bible, one of the ways God revealed truth was through dreams.

So the question is, is that still a reality today?

I believe it is.

Not only do we see the examples of God using dreams for his purposes in the New Testament (see Acts 16:9-10), but we also read in Acts 2:17 that prophecies, visions, and dreams will be part of the Spirit-baptized church.

So, if that’s the case, what do we do about this reality?

Here are a handful of points I’d make about dreams, in no particular order:

Pray that God would reveal his will to you through dreams, and that you’d remember them.
If you dream a dream, and are not sure if God is involved or not, ask him. And if you’re still unsure, talk about it with a mature Christian.
Not all dreams are God’s revelation to you.
Compare your dreams to Scripture, for Scripture is your testing ground and foundation for God’s revelation. If, for example, you had a dream that you were being applauded for separating yourself from church community, then you’ll know right away by comparing this dream to Scripture how to interpret it—at least in part. You’ll know at least that the dream isn’t God leading you to separate yourself from church community, because Scripture calls us in to church community.

I’m sure there are other important points to make, but these are the first that came to mind.

Let’s ask and expect God to use dreams to reveal his truth to us.