 How to know a dream or a vision is from the Lord. Now, because we have the Holy Spirit, we can interpret the things of the Spirit. When people of the world tap into the spiritual realm, it's all very topsy-turvy. They kind of catch glimpses and maybe some things aren't structured. Maybe there's no form or shape to the things that they're seeing. Maybe there's no detail in what they're hearing. Maybe there's a muffled voice or certain figures and shadows and parts and things that don't always make sense. That's not the way God speaks. If you look throughout Scripture, it was always clear and coherent. Now, whenever you see that someone had trouble understanding their dream, you would find that it was always someone who wasn't spirit-filled, someone who wasn't connected to God in the way that they should have been. Pharaoh had to go to Joseph. Nebuchadnezzar had to go to Daniel. Different people have to go to different men of God to say, hey, interpret my dream. Why do they have to do that? Well, they had to do that because they didn't have the Spirit. And because they didn't have the Spirit, they couldn't interpret the dream. Here's what the Bible says in Genesis chapter 40 verse 8. And they replied, we both had dreams last night, but no one can tell us what they mean. And here is where Joseph speaks. Interpreting dreams is God's business. Go ahead and tell me your dreams. So here we see in the Scripture that when it comes to the interpretation of dreams, this is something that God does, and this is something that God's servants do. So those who have the Holy Spirit are able to interpret dreams. In fact, I think this is one of the ways that God can evangelize the lost. They have a dream. They don't know what it means. God's speaking to them, but they don't understand it. Then you get a spirit-filled believer to come along and interpret their dreams using biblical truths, pointing always, always, always, always pointing to Jesus. And once things have clicked in them, it makes sense. And the message is delivered in a way that they're ready to receive it. If you aren't hearing from God, it's not going to be clear and coherent. So we have to get rid of this idea that sometimes God just kind of takes a bunch of little images, throws them at us and goes, figure it out. He's not doing that. He's not hurling imagery and shapes and sounds into our heads at night from the balconies of heaven going, hey, do something with that. I'm sure you'll figure it out. He doesn't leave us puzzles per se when we're spirit-filled. Now, of course, we understand in the Old Testament, the prophets spoke in shadow, but they never spoke in nonsense. Anything they ever said was descriptive, clear, coherent. You could picture what they said. You could grasp at least the descriptions they were giving, and ultimately it led to a message. So dreams from God for the spirit-filled believer are going to be clear and coherent. They're not just going to be left up to random interpretation in the way that people look at fortune cookies. No, when God speaks, he speaks clearly and coherently. So this is an important thing to note because some believers get stuck here. They'll eat maybe some food really late at night, go to bed super late, watch some weird documentary, and then have some strange dream and go, what is God trying to say to me? I don't know what he's trying to say to me. What did it mean? What did it mean? And they obsessed about it for weeks, months. I know people who have obsessed about dreams they didn't understand for years. And then they're all fearful wondering, God, that I miss it, what were you trying to say? And they think God's going, well, you didn't figure out the puzzle I sent that's on you. No, he's not doing that. God is not doing that. When he speaks by the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit speaks with clarity and coherency. Now, this doesn't mean that we're not going to get bits and pieces. What this does mean is that the bits and pieces he speaks will at least have coherency to them. So dreams from God are always clear for the spirit-filled. That's one of the signs it's from God. If it's not perfectly clear, at least it will be coherent. So it's not going to be just some thing you can't describe, put into words, or even write down. Why? Because God at least is going to give you the coherency with that dream so that if he hasn't given you the interpretation for some reason, he will give the interpretation to someone else. And you can go to those who have counsel and those who have wisdom. You can go to other believers. You can pray about it. And if it's from God, he's going to reveal that meaning to you. And that's important to note. So if not perfectly clear, at least they'll be coherent, and there will be a purpose to them. Now, if you live right, your dreams will be clear. If you live wrong, your dreams will be confusing. You see, God speaks to his servants through dreams, and we who are spirit-filled, if we're walking with the Holy Spirit, are going to be in the right frame of mind to decode and interpret that dream by the spirit. So the people who have confusing dreams, the people who don't understand what God is trying to say, A, it's because God wants to possibly cause you to go and seek another believer who can help you figure it out, pray about it, maybe a wise leader. But there's going to be some coherency to it. B, it's because they're an unbeliever, so it's not going to make any sense, of course. Or C, it's because they're a believer who's not living right. And because they're not living right, it's not that God isn't speaking. It's that they're not listening. With their lives, they're not listening. And when you live right, there's a clarity that comes, a perfect picture that begins to unfold before you. So if you don't understand a dream, A, make sure you're saved, which of course, if you're watching this, you probably are. B, see if God perhaps is maybe giving you something that will take counsel of other believers. And that's okay. Not always is it 100% clear, but again, it will at least always be coherent so that you can describe it for the sake of counsel. And if none of those work, C, ask yourself, is there something in my life that's not in line with the will of God? Am I living in sin in some areas? Is there some area of my heart that I've not fully surrendered? Am I too busy, too distracted to lend my spiritual ear to the voice of God? And if none of those are the case, then I think you can safely dismiss the dream. If none of those are the case, I think you can say, okay, maybe that wasn't from God. So number one, it'll be clear. And if not clear, at least coherent. Number two, it will always be biblical. Second Timothy chapter three, verses 16 and 17 say all scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. The word, the word, the word, the word, never will God contradict his word in your dream. Never, not a chance. Oh, the Lord told me in a dream to date that unbeliever, not a chance that was God. Or oh, you know, I had a dream that I was demon possessed last night. That must be true. No, if you're a believer, we know biblically speaking, you can't be. So no, God would not tell you you're possessed in a dream, if you're a Christian at least, or a true believer. So there are things that people have dreams of and they'll say, well, this must be God. And it's not because they never check it with the word and therefore they elevate their experience above the truth of the scripture. They elevate their dreams above the authority of what God has already said. So your dreams from God will always be biblical. They will never in their message contradict the word. Now you may have dreams about, for example, this may be a bit of a violent example, but let's say you have a dream of someone being murdered and God's showing you a certain individual murdering another individual. Maybe God's showing you that that person has hate in their heart toward that individual or even toward you. Okay, that could be the message. But you say, oh, but David, you know, murder is not allowed in the scripture. So was that biblical? What I'm saying is that the overall message of the dream won't be unbiblical, but you may see some unbiblical things in your dream. Like for instance, demons attacking people or another person getting violent with another person, or maybe somebody lying in their dream. So things like that do happen. You may witness wrongdoing in your dream. When I say it needs to be biblical, what I mean is that in the overall message that the dream is delivering, it will ultimately align with the scripture. Never will the message of the dream contradict the ultimate truth of God's word. So number one, how do you tell your dream revision is from God? Number one, it's clear and coherent. Number two, it will always be biblical. And number three, it will be faith producing. Romans 10, 17 says, so faith comes from hearing that is hearing the good news about Christ. In other words, the word produces faith for what it promises. So when God communicates a truth through a dream, he's going to give you the faith to go along with it. So if God through a dream tells you start that ministry, he's going to give you the faith to start that ministry. If God through a dream tells you make that sacrifice so you can give to that ministry, he's going to give you the faith to make that sacrifice so you can give to that ministry. If God tells you separate yourself from that person because they're not in line with my will, he's going to give you the faith to separate yourself from that person. Even dreams of warning, even dreams of correction, God will give you the faith to obey that which he has commanded you to do. So no matter what it is, God will give you the faith. If it's your mistake, he'll give you the faith to correct your mistake. If it's the mistake of others, he'll give you the faith to pray that they correct that mistake. But God's dreams and visions will always produce faith. They may not always produce pleasant emotions. They may not always produce the thought patterns that we would prefer. Sometimes God will warn us things and will say, Lord, why did you show me that? I wish I didn't see that. And sometimes he'll just show you those things, okay? But in the end, they will always produce faith to go along with what God is saying. So number one, always clear and coherent. Number two, biblical. And number three, faith producing. So what really causes dreams and visions to happen? Nothing you can do in your own strength and power can increase your dreams and visions. It's not like you can go and just kind of pool on heaven and say, hey, give me more dreams. Give me more visions. God is sending dreams and visions to who he wants to send dreams and visions to. But if you want to make sure that you're in a position to clearly hear from God in those dreams, to clearly hear from God in those visions, then here's how you do that. First of all, in Acts chapter 22, verses 17 through 22, we see that Paul was praying, so prayer when he had a vision. In Revelation chapter one, verses nine through 13, we see John the Revelator was worshiping when he had a vision. So worship. And number three, we see in Isaiah chapter six, verses one through eight, that Isaiah the prophet was serving when he had a vision. So you should serve. So if you're praying, worshiping, serving through both ministry and holy living, you're in a position, you're a candidate to be a recipient for these dreams and visions from God. I remember one time I was working in the sound of guys of all places, the sound room. I was working the laptop, nothing fancy, switching the words on the lyrics. When all of a sudden the Holy Spirit told me, look, I look over to my left and I saw a white flame guys before the Lord. I'm telling you this. I saw a white flame with the face of a lion in it, just flashed toward me and like it hit my body. I remember when it hit my body, I like reacted. It like hit me. And I noticed from then on that there was a real increase in the prophetic and healing on my ministry. I don't really know what it all meant. Again, it was coherent. I can explain it to you and it had a real purpose in that I was able to see a manifestation of that in the ministry, but it just happened while I was serving. So how do you tell your dream or vision is from God? Number one, it's clear and coherent. Number two, it will always be biblical. And number three, it will be faith producing. I believe God positioned you by his divine providence to hear this message and receive this prayer because he has a message for you. Wow, Lord, I thank you for the anointing of the Holy Ghost. And I pray Father that you would begin to speak to your people. Open our spiritual eyes. Open our spiritual eyes. Type these simple words, chat. Just type, let me see. Wow. Whichever one you're led, type, let me see or open heaven or both, whatever you're led to write live or on replay. This anointing is flowing. Thank you, Jesus. I give you the glory. Father, let them take your word and apply it now. We lend our ear to you. Speak for your servants or listening, Lord. Trust us with the mysteries of heaven and revelation, I pray. Dreams and vision, open heaven, open heaven, open heaven. Lord, I pray that many even tonight, when they sleep, that you would speak to them clearly. Thank you for watching EncounterTV. Don't forget to subscribe and click the notification bell. Also, help us spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Make a one-time donation or become a monthly supporter by clicking on the donate link now.