Does God reveal things to us in our dreams?

[Brando112747]

I had 2 separate dreams last night on the same subject. I've been going through a hard time in my life for the past little bit and been asking for help. I'm wondering if it's just my brain telling me what I want to hear, or if it could be God helping me. Not sure what to do because if it's God then I should do what he says. Does God talk to us in our dreams, or is that just for general authorities?

[Jennarator]

I don't see why it couldn't happen. Pray and ask.....

I know for me, just a couple weeks ago I had a dream that really made me think this could be. If not, it still helped me realize I need to get past a few thing from my past that happened to me. For me it was like my own person parable. Really made some sense to me. Simple dream with a lot of different meanings for me.

[Anddenex]

Yes, God speaks to us through dreams. Examples in Scripture:

Joseph in Egypt.

Daniel.

Peter.

Modern examples:

Joseph Smith.

Brigham Young.

Myself.

Friends.

Converts.

Family.

As pertaining to your two dreams, that is private between you and the Lord. Some dreams mean nothing, inspired dreams are from God.

[Gwen]

I have had at least 2 dreams that I know were revelation. One was a dream within a dream. When I finally woke up for real I really didn't know if I had woken up and fallen back to sleep or if I just dreamed I woke up and the entire thing was a dream. Took me a good 20 min to sort it all out. Very unique experience.

[RipplecutBuddha]

Whenever God reveals things to us, it is in accordance with our realm of responsibility. Using myself as an example, God has taught me, and led me through dreams in the past, but he's never revealed church-wide doctrine or policy changes to me. Those are well outside my realm of responsibility (thank heavens...). Lehi recieved many revelations through dreams for his family, and was blessed and prospered by the LORD for being obedient and mindful of them.

Just remember how important each of us are to Christ. Whatever methods are the best to use to reach us, God will use them to guide us.

[Ijustforgotit]

I know he uses dreams to communicate. .. I have had multiple dreams that I feel saved my life and we're a dorm of Devine intervention. If you want to pm me I'll tell you about them. This was when iwas transitioning out of my drug/alcohol life back to the gospel

[DMGNUT]

Yes.

[HiJolly]

Whenever God reveals things to us, it is in accordance with our realm of responsibility. Using myself as an example, God has taught me, and led me through dreams in the past, but he's never revealed church-wide doctrine or policy changes to me. Those are well outside my realm of responsibility (thank heavens...). Lehi recieved many revelations through dreams for his family, and was blessed and prospered by the LORD for being obedient and mindful of them.

I have received revelation on someone's life that was beyond the scope of my stewardship. I pondered long & hard on it. I saw what came to pass in that person's life.

My current belief is that it was a divine teaching opportunity that could not have come in any other way.

Just remember how important each of us are to Christ. Whatever methods are the best to use to reach us, God will use them to guide us.

AMEN!

HiJolly

[lds2]

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2001/10/living-in-the-fulness-of-times?lang=eng

In this talk President HInckley said that visions of Joel have been fulfilled and it talks of prophecy, dreams and visions.

But of course there are still pizza dreams and you are more likely to dream (just regular) about what concerns you during the day.

So it is REALLY important to pray and ask for confirmation through the Spirit before acting on your dream.

Also dreams are not always literal, i.e. I have had friends that have now passed on who had dreams they thought were very real and would literally be fulfilled, and while their dreams may have had a purpose for their progression the literal fulfillment of the dream was not it.

Of course there is also the most important test whether the dream is in keeping with the commandments and gospel and Spirit of Jesus Christ. And as someone else said whether it falls within your very limited stewardship.

[Martain]

Dreams can be tricky indeed because there is opposition in all things.

I have a friend who constantly receives revelatory dreams. He tells me that the only problem is that most of those dreams aren't from God. He really hates the visions and dreams pressed upon him by the devil and he says when ever he gets a revelatory dream/vision, once fully awake, he prays to God asking for a confirmation that it was from him but almost always receives confirmation by the Spirit that it was not.

My friend says he thinks of it like this: If he receives a dream/vision and doesn't know the source, he asks God. If he doesn't receive a witness that it's from the Lord, he does his best to ignore and forget it.

He told me learned first hand how cunning the devil is how easy it is to mistake his visions as being from the Lord. He says that without the Gift of the Holy Ghost and prayer he would have accepted many of them as falsely being from the Lord.

Chapter 33: The Spiritual Gifts of Healing, Tongues, Prophecy, and Discerning of Spirits

“It is evident from the Apostles’ writings [in the New Testament], that many false spirits existed in their day, and had ‘gone forth into the world,’ and that it needed intelligence which God alone could impart to detect false spirits [and false dreams/visions], and to prove what spirits were of God [see 1 John 4:1–4]. The world in general have been grossly ignorant in regard to this one thing, and why should they be otherwise—‘for no man knows the things of God, but by the Spirit of God.’ [see 1 Corinthians 2:11.] …

There always did, in every age, seem to be a lack of intelligence pertaining to this subject. Spirits of all kinds have been manifested, in every age, and almost amongst all people. … All have their spirits, all have a supernatural agency, and all contend that their spirits are of God. Who shall solve the mystery? ‘Try the spirits,’ says John [1 John 4:1], but who is to do it? The learned, the eloquent, the philosopher, the sage, the divine—all are ignorant. … Who can drag into daylight and develop the hidden mysteries of the false spirits that so frequently are made manifest among the Latter-day Saints? We answer that no man can do this without the Priesthood, and having a knowledge of the laws by which spirits are governed; for as ‘no man knows the things of God, but by the Spirit of God,’ so no man knows the spirit of the devil, and his power and influence, but by possessing intelligence which is more than human, and having unfolded through the medium of the Priesthood the mysterious operations of his devices. …

“

“A man must have the discerning of spirits before he can drag into daylight this hellish influence and unfold it unto the world in all its soul-destroying, diabolical, and horrid colors; for nothing is a greater injury to the children of men than to be under the influence of a false spirit when they think they have the Spirit of God. Thousands have felt the influence of its terrible power and baneful effects. …

“As we have noticed before, the great difficulty lies in the ignorance of the nature of spirits, of the laws by which they are governed, and the signs by which they may be known; if it requires the Spirit of God to know the things of God; and the spirit of the devil can only be unmasked through that medium, then it follows as a natural consequence that unless some person or persons have a communication, or revelation from God, unfolding to them the operation of the spirit, they must eternally remain ignorant of these principles; for I contend that if one man cannot understand these things but by the Spirit of God, ten thousand men cannot; it is alike out of the reach of the wisdom of the learned, the tongue of the eloquent, the power of the mighty. And we shall at last have to come to this conclusion, whatever we may think of revelation, that without it we can neither know nor understand anything of God, or the devil; and however unwilling the world may be to acknowledge this principle, it is evident from the multifarious creeds and notions concerning this matter that they understand nothing of this principle, and it is equally as plain that without a divine communication they must remain in ignorance. …

...

“… Our Savior, the Apostles, and even the members of the Church were endowed with this gift, for, says Paul, ‘To one is given the gift of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discerning of spirits.’ [see 1 Corinthians 12:10.] All these proceeded from the same Spirit of God, and were the gifts of God. … No man nor set of men without the regularly constituted authorities, the Priesthood and discerning of spirits, can tell true from false spirits.”18

“Lying spirits are going forth in the earth. There will be great manifestations of spirits, both false and true. … Every spirit, or vision, or singing, is not of God. … The gift of discerning spirits will be given to the Presiding Elder. Pray for him that he may have this gift.”19

[missmollymormon]

It was during a dream that my mother actually gained her testimony before deciding to be baptized. She had a dream similar to that of Lehi's dream (she had never heard of Lehi's dream before) The very next night, the Missionaries came over and taught her about Lehi's dream. She "freaked" out- in a good way, and realized that it was heavenly Fathers way of telling her that she was on the right path and that she should be baptized. :) The Spirit speaks to us all in different ways. I am a bit of a music freak, and sometimes I will find that a hymn or song will seem to follow me around- just hearing it at random times, shopping, etc. When I look into the lyrics, I realize that they are always related to what I have been praying about.

[ElectofGod]

Dreams are a gift of the spirit which ALL should seek after. Lehi was informed in a dream to leave Jerusalem... etc

I have had some myself... One I had 3 days in a row. All different. The first one taught me 3 principles, they were very distinct but still seamed somewhat like dreams in the past. Another one I had was absolute perfect clarity that its impossible to even think it was not scripture. A parable was spoken to me and than it told me what it meant imediately. It felt like I was reading scripture. I felt the spirit in some of them but others I just felt like the Lord was "informing" me. Other times I dream they may or may not be from God.

Write it down IMMEDIATELY or you will forget. One I thought it was nothing when I woke up but wrote it down anyways. I realized after I wrote it down it was inspired. I would not have realized that if I didn't write it down.

Here are a few quotes on the matter.

Full talk below:

how-to-obtain-revelation-and-inspiration-for-your-personal-life BY Richard G Scott in General Conference

Revelation can also be given in a dream when there is an almost imperceptible transition from sleep to wakefulness. If you strive to capture the content immediately, you can record great detail, but otherwise it fades rapidly. Inspired communication in the night is generally accompanied by a sacred feeling for the entire experience. The Lord uses individuals for whom we have great respect to teach us truths in a dream because we trust them and will listen to their counsel. It is the Lord doing the teaching through the Holy Ghost. However, He may in a dream make it both easier to understand and more likely to touch our hearts by teaching us through someone we love and respect.

When it is for the Lord’s purposes, He can bring anything to our remembrance. That should not weaken our determination to record impressions of the Spirit. Inspiration carefully recorded shows God that His communications are sacred to us. Recording will also enhance our ability to recall revelation. Such recording of direction of the Spirit should be protected from loss or intrusion by others.

Joseph Smith said in the Words of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

God has so ordained that when he has communicated by vision no vision [is] to be taken but what you see by the seeing of the eye or what you hear by the hearing of the ear—When you see a vision &c pray for the interpretation if you get not this, shut it up. 34—There must be certainty in this matter. An open vision will manifest that which is more important. Lying Spirits are going forth in the Earth.

Widtsoe, John A.; Whitney, Orson F.; Roberts, B. H.; Smith, Joseph Fielding; Smith, Joseph; Ehat, Andrew; Smith, Lucy Mack; Cannon, George Q.; Taylor, John (2012-02-25). Words of Joseph Smith - Deluxe Study Edition including the LDS Standar Works, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Lectures on Faith, History of the Church, History of Joseph by His Mother, and More (Kindle Locations 417-419). Packard Technologies. Kindle Edition.

Notice he says to pray for the interpretation. Two of my dreams, one was so clear I didn't need to. Another one I prayed for it and I begun to understand through impressions what each element represented.

I have a paper of early saints who had dreams and what they were. If you are interested.

Edited April 23, 2013 by ElectofGod