Prophetic Dreams & When to Speak

[Guest SoulSeekingPassion]

Hi, I'm a new..... oldy here, haven't been here fora couple of years.

Just wanting to know how you know when the right time is to share a prophetic dream with others about a situation. You know the dream is God given with out a shadow of a doubt.

I've had several prophetic dreams but none pertaining to a situation outside of our family and as with your notes and the reference to Jeremiah in the info about this forum I don'twant to run ahead of God...... How do you know when you are not ?????

Edited October 14, 2006 by SoulSeekingPassion

[Christ's Free Servant]

SoulSeeking,

I don't know if there is one formula to follow, but I just ask the Lord and I spend a lot of time with him in prayer and in his word - at his feet daily. And, I don't know that I have it 100% correct, but I step out in faith and follow him in obedience and trust him with the results.

First of all, when I have a dream that I remember, I write it down on paper. Then, I ask the Lord to show me what it means. Sometimes it is just a dream, and other times His Word will speak so clearly to what the dream is about. Sometimes it will be a scripture I read a day before or two days before and he'll remind me of it or sometimes it will be a scripture that I will read that day that will just jump out at me and say "this is what the dream was about."

As far as when and who to share it with, the dream and the scriptures usually will help me to see the urgency. As far as to whom, the Lord showed me to share it in the congregation, at the temple gates, to write it down on a tablet and to let a runner run with it, etc. Basically, he covered all the bases. If the message is to believers, I would share it with believers. If it is to specific people, I would share it with just those people. If it is a general message to the world, I would share it anywhere God opened a door.

[felix]

Today many people are skeptical about dreams meaning anything prophetic. I think these people are also skeptical of the gifts of the Holy Spirit as well. To some degree that's understandable since at the same time such things are practiced by the occult and "spiritual". These things outside Jesus Christ are especially dangerous (including buddhism, islam, and I would be bold enough to say Judiasm). In my opinion, this is at work most of the time:

1) Those who truly have had spiritual dreams feel hesitant to share it because they feel they will be judged by man indignantly or in annoyance. Man will treat it in disbelief and look down upon the dream and the person sharing it.

2) Those who did not have a dream of spiritual meaning at all (the person clearly knows it was nothing but tries to make it something), will eagerly share it because their true intent was just to have man judge them (in a good way they hope).

I hope that makes sense. Anyways, we are hindered by Man judging us and some are motivated by Man judging them. That's my main point. As Christian soldiers we shouldn't stand in man's judgement of us, rather we should always stand in the Judgement of God. In this manner we will always be sure we do what God wills and not what man wills.

You know without a doubt that this is a spiritual dream and anything from God is for the building up of His Kingdom. For me I would like you to share it but definetely write it down and pray over it and then God will do the rest. Sometimes we may receive something from God be it material (money, food, etc) or spiritual (scripture revelation, word of encouragement, etc) and there is a timing with it. God has his way with us in timing and how these things are carried out to build up God's kingdom.

What messes this up most of the time is when the person does it for man and not exactly for God. Like I give food to someone so they'll like me...not exactly for pleasing God. Say for example I share with a pretty girl what God revealed to me but I know that this word is not for her...it was meant for that other girl who no one talked to. For me to believe I was doing any work for God would be ridiculous, wrong, and stupid!...I was doing it for myself!

Sorry, that's sort of going off track. the main thing is not to regard man's judgement on you and to do things for God and not for man (others and yourself). I would like you to share it here. Lord Jesus, your will be done. May God bless you and use you greatly.

[Marnie]

I would also add this from Paul:

I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say.--2 Cor. 12:1ff

Of course, he is talking about himself. He sets a wise precident, IMO.

[terter]

Dreams and visions are given for a purpose. It is a difficult matter to know when to share and when they're given for us just to pray about privately. I understand when someone has been "burned" as indicated in the above post and the advice that they would give. The first couple of posts are good, I would only add -

After praying and you definitely feel that it's to be shared - and sometimes a lot of time will pass before you know for sure - then is there someone who has the same type of and has had lots of experiences that you can talk with about it? Sometimes they can tell you immediately and sometimes it will take time - maybe months before they can give you feedback. This person won't mind telling you if necessary, don't share this with anyone else - it's just to be prayed about by us. Of course, it'll be left up to you if you take this person's advice or not.

[Candi770]

I don't share until I get some interpretation when it is spiritual. If it is a prayer of warning for me to pray for the lost or who ever the Lord lets me dream about; I continue in prayer till I see how the Lord intervened. Sometimes I'm at liberty to tell the person other times I'm not; God is so good. I tend to share with my parents, because they also have prophetic dreams about me and as they see fit they tell me.

blessings

candi

[GymRose]

This is SoulSeekingPassion............ When I came here to post this question I couldn't remember my password and I had deleted my hotmail address i thought my GymRose account was attached to sometime ago........ It was just easier to sign up again but YEAH I remembered my password the other day.

Thanks for the responses. I haven't posted a reply up until now because I did notmean for the question to offend anyone or anything and the other reason is more because of the replies I had left me feeling exactly as Felix stated and this is also why I posed the question.

This dream was about this time last year and when I had it I first thought it was about me but because our pastor at the time and his wife were in this dream along with it being church orientated in a very clear way I shared it with the pastor's wife who told me just to pray about it. I prayed about it for quite some time because I couldn't let it go, but eventually put it on a shelf.

This year our church has gone through tremendous upheaval. I don't just mean a few niggles here and there I mean our pastor and his wife seperated, we had a new leadership team come in who have strewn deception right through the congragation and whilst no one has termed it a church split because it hasn't been a case of a huge group walk out and either go somewhere else a whole, half the congragation has left. We have come aside for a time to rest in another church with a much trusted pastor but feel asif we will be going back in due course. When I say deception I mean the entire eldership and board have their eyes closed to things that go strictly against Biblical truth and there is no one to turn to for support in the leadership.When I say deception I mean those that are deceiving others are just as much in deception themselves. Many have been lost to the thought of church altogether through this and others have been so deeply wounded that it will take quite some time to trust.

During the last 6 months which has been spiritually devestating and hurtful this dream came back to me and God gave me the interpretation to it which showed what has been happening in the church within the last 6-12months.

We have continued in a home group with some members that continue to go to the church one of which keeps wanting to talk to me about dreams I've had because of a conversation we had one night, I haven't known her long but I do believe her and her husband are very trustworthy and their eyes are open to what is happening which is why they have supported our decision to come aside for a time.

We have family that are still at the church and very much under the influence of whatever it is that is keeping peoples eyes closed to the truth.

I think the posts above have answered my questions but feel free to make comment on any thing I have said.

I do understand the post that says to keep it to yourself, I understand poor judgement and pride can cause wrong actions resulting in hurting people, I've experienced that. But I've also experienced words of encouragement through others dreams or prophetic words and I know not eveyone believes in speaking out prophetically.

[terter]

Sorry that your church is going through such a difficult time and many churches are. Just encourage you to hear from the Lord prior to leaving b/c He had you there for a reason. (Deut 5:32 (KJV)

[Candi770]

This is SoulSeekingPassion............ When I came here to post this question I couldn't remember my password and I had deleted my hotmail address i thought my GymRose account was attached to sometime ago........ It was just easier to sign up again but YEAH I remembered my password the other day.

Thanks for the responses. I haven't posted a reply up until now because I did notmean for the question to offend anyone or anything and the other reason is more because of the replies I had left me feeling exactly as Felix stated and this is also why I posed the question.

This dream was about this time last year and when I had it I first thought it was about me but because our pastor at the time and his wife were in this dream along with it being church orientated in a very clear way I shared it with the pastor's wife who told me just to pray about it. I prayed about it for quite some time because I couldn't let it go, but eventually put it on a shelf.

This year our church has gone through tremendous upheaval. I don't just mean a few niggles here and there I mean our pastor and his wife seperated, we had a new leadership team come in who have strewn deception right through the congragation and whilst no one has termed it a church split because it hasn't been a case of a huge group walk out and either go somewhere else a whole, half the congragation has left. We have come aside for a time to rest in another church with a much trusted pastor but feel asif we will be going back in due course. When I say deception I mean the entire eldership and board have their eyes closed to things that go strictly against Biblical truth and there is no one to turn to for support in the leadership.When I say deception I mean those that are deceiving others are just as much in deception themselves. Many have been lost to the thought of church altogether through this and others have been so deeply wounded that it will take quite some time to trust.

During the last 6 months which has been spiritually devestating and hurtful this dream came back to me and God gave me the interpretation to it which showed what has been happening in the church within the last 6-12months.

We have continued in a home group with some members that continue to go to the church one of which keeps wanting to talk to me about dreams I've had because of a conversation we had one night, I haven't known her long but I do believe her and her husband are very trustworthy and their eyes are open to what is happening which is why they have supported our decision to come aside for a time.

We have family that are still at the church and very much under the influence of whatever it is that is keeping peoples eyes closed to the truth.

I think the posts above have answered my questions but feel free to make comment on any thing I have said.

I do understand the post that says to keep it to yourself, I understand poor judgement and pride can cause wrong actions resulting in hurting people, I've experienced that. But I've also experienced words of encouragement through others dreams or prophetic words and I know not eveyone believes in speaking out prophetically.

I continue in prayer till I feel released to stop praying concerning the matter. There is a reason that he calls intercessors to pray. The Lord usually gives me plenty of warning time to pray for individuals, my family or myself. There would have been nothing wrong with seeking out the intercessors in the church, you wouldn't have to reveal the whole dream-but you could allow the Holy Spirit to speak and everyone be in agreement that intercession over the church is needed-calling for fasting and prayer concerning the matter.

My first real dream, I saw a dramatic seen of a car accident, and all I thought was that it was cool, because it was so real looking and I was flying over the top of it. This happened something like 2 months prior to the real thing. I didn't know the individuals, but they worked for the company I used to work for. 4 people died and 1 child lived. I vowed to God that if I had another dream like that, I would pray. I started dreaming prior to medical issues were known for family. I would pray and God would intervene on their behalf. Then I had another car accident dream, I started praying hard, it ended up being my brother's (who is no longer alive) good friend. He came out of a coma, He happened to be on the same floor where my mom worked at the hospital (my mom didn't know), He called my mom's phone number to let her know what was going on and asked for me to call him. The Lord led me to pray intensely for a long season for this guy. He knows that God saved him for a reason. I've even dreamed of a near accident that I would have had, when I went out in the middle of a storm (in real life) to get my daughter from school, I didn't know how bad it was going to be and I had been really tempted to go to McDonald's, but when the weather picked up (in real life), I had people who I do business with me who called and warned me, then I remembered the dream and the prayers of protection over me and my daughter. In the dream, I had a ambulance that the wind blew over the top of the van, besides myself, it was unusual that I only had my daughter with me (my son was at a sporting event that day). In real life-the area that was destroyed the most was right near the mcdonalds and the car dealership right beside it had cars thrown to the other side of the street. But at the red light, when that dream came to memory, I pushed through the red light and booked it home in time for the thing to jump over us and we are safe. The Lord was looking after this not so smart sheep. He protected our property and destroyed things right beside it-God is go Good.

[Joshua-777]

Pray and fast about it, seeking Gods guidence, Be lead by the spirit, if the spirit is willing so should you be, with this dream, seek council, and pray and fast. Thats the only thing I really can tell you.