This morning I am once again just pondering a dream I had recently about ministering in Papua, the Crosiers and Mango bread. It is just so interesting that those three things stood out from the dream, and I am quite sure I have never read nor seen anything that puts these together, or would give any reason for my mind to present these to me.
Here is my description of the dream - Last night I had an interesting dream where my honey and I were ministering at some island, I thought it was Papua, but never had anyone say that specifically. We were hanging out with the people, had a prayer meeting with them, were learning about their crops (huge onions) and plantings, etc. I specifically prayed for fruitfulness for them as a people as they didn't have many kids. I remember there was some Crosier missionaries that had established Christianity, and they had the greatest mango bread, it was carmelized on the outside.
The question is whether God can communicate real facts to us in our dreams? When I woke up from this dream, I had no known reason to know any of these things, and had no idea if they were true, or even existed (like mango bread) I started to do some research, and I have listed some of the links below:
Mango Bread - https://www.eva-bakes.com/hawaiian-mango-bread/ (The picture in the recipe looks very much like what I saw and tasted in my dream)
Crosiers in Papua - https://crosier.org/about-us/history/ (This fact was the most random, and specific. Indeed the Crosiers established a ministry in Western Papua (not Papua New Guinea), in lowland area like I saw in my dream. I knew next to nothing about the Crosiers and they actually did not send many missionaries to many different countries, but did to Papua)
Onions in Papua - https://www.oxfam.org.au/2019/07/how-onions-are-helping-families-to-smile-in-papua-new-guinea/ (While this is Papua New Guinea, it is still a very specific fact, that one would never randomly think up...)
After reviewing these links, it was clear to me that indeed these "facts" that I had seen or known in my dream were real! Again, I cannot think of any time where I have read about any of these things, seen a documentary about any of these things, or any reason to think about them on my own. I even checked whether there was any TV shows that would have included these things, but nothing that comes up in a search have I ever heard of or viewed, or even aired anywhere near the time I had the dream.
When I told my honey about this dream she blamed my uncanny ability to remember random facts. Again, I can absolutely attest to the fact that these three things were completely new to me, and only verified since having the dream. This brings me back to the central question, can God speak to me in my dreams and provide real data, or facts?
If I look at the scriptural evidence, it is clear that God did use dreams to communicate with people throughout scripture, in both the Old and New Testaments. Dreams are referred to over 90 times in scripture, so there are an abundance of examples. This morning I am just going to look at a couple of instances where God provided specific details or information in dreams. The first that comes to mind is the story of Joseph interpreting Pharaoh's dream found in Genesis Chapter 41. In this case the Pharaoh's dream was prophetic, and came true (seven years of abundance, followed by seven years of famine). This was not so much a providing of facts in the present as a prophetic picture of the near future (next 14 years), but certainly is a good description of how God can use dreams, even in the lives of those that do not know Him.
Here is the account of Pharaoh's first dream - Genesis 41:1-4 NIV:
[1] "When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing by the Nile, [2] when out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds. [3] After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile and stood beside those on the riverbank. [4] And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up."
Here is Joseph's description of the dream - Genesis 41:25-27 NIV:
[25] "Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. [26] The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream. [27] The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind: They are seven years of famine."
And here are the results - Genesis 41:46-48,53-54 NIV:
[46] "Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from Pharaoh's presence and traveled throughout Egypt. [47] During the seven years of abundance the land produced plentifully. [48] Joseph collected all the food produced in those seven years of abundance in Egypt and stored it in the cities. In each city he put the food grown in the fields surrounding it."
[53] "The seven years of abundance in Egypt came to an end, [54] and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all the other lands, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food."
Again, this is not exactly similar to what I experienced, but a great example of God providing "future facts" to someone in a dream. The second example comes from the Gospel of Matthew, in which God again provides specific information in a dream that would not have been known or available. Here is the account - Matthew 2:13-14,16 NIV:
[13] "When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” [14] So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt,.."
[16] "When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi."
These two examples show how the Lord can communicate to us in our dreams, sometimes specifically in words, other times in images and symbology. Personally i have had many dreams where the Lord is apparently showing me things, sometimes future events, sometimes providing insight into what is happening around me, and sometimes random facts that prove to be true.
I think in this particular instance God is reminding me of His ability to speak in and through dreams. He is capable of communicating with us, if we will pay attention and learn to listen.
Lord, I pray that You would continue to speak clearly to me, to all of us, so that we might hear what You are saying and act.
Amen and Amen!
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