Dreams and Visions

When I asked myself what I could obey when reading through Genesis 40 (about Joseph). I want to guard my heart against having favorites. All my daughters are my favorites because of their unique character traits. Choosing a favorite child causes lots of pain in a family. 

Joseph has his own book in the Quran.

As was prophesied in Joel and spoken by Peter on the day of Pentecost:

" In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all People. Your sons and daughters will prophecy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophecy." Acts 2:17-18

My constant prayer for the people in this region ( being a predominantly Muslim place) is that Jesus would give visions and dreams to each person. To shop owners, children in schools, Mama's who are hustling to make money to feed their families and Father's who are just going about their business each day. As soon as I step out of our compound I "rub shoulders" with so many who do not know Jesus as the Savior. Sometimes a language barrier will not allow me to tell about the gospel and sometimes the conversation did not lead in that direction. Despite this I am confident that God can reveal who He is- even if it's not through my lips or the lips of other believers.  I have heard of testimonies from former Muslims that they had a dream that lead to their discovery of Christ. "Mission Frontiers Magazine has reported that out of 600 Muslim converts, 25 percent experienced a dream that lead to their conversion " This article went on to say that often times after the initial dream (a man in white appeared and spoke to them) the individual went to discuss the dream they had with a believer (sometimes a missionary) and thus their journey of faith had begun.

Dreams occur while we are asleep "while visions are received while the person is awake and they are often 'in the Spirit " says www.patheos.com. Dreams and visions are both found in the Old and New Testament. The first dream that was mentioned in the Bible was given to King Abimelech as a warning that the woman he had just taken (Sarah) was in fact married to Abraham- even though Abraham had said Sarah was his sister. Abimelech immediately returned Sarah upon waking up from this dream. 

My daughters and I recently got to go through a DBS on Genesis 37 with some young ladies. This is when Joseph had 2 dreams and when he told them to his brothers "they hated him all the more" and when he told the dream to his Father, his father rebuked him. God can communicate to us through dreams- and  our family members might totally discredit the dream. This reality is so relevant in the Muslim community, but my hope is that if and when a person has a dream/vision they would have a desire to seek out truth-to search for a deeper meaning. One of the young ladies told me the story of Joseph is also found in the Quran. When I got home Jason showed me that there is actually a book on Joseph in the Quran- hey I learned something new. God changes not. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So just as he gave dreams to Abimelech, Jacob, Laban, Joseph ×2 (one in the Old Testament one in the new), Nebuchadnezzar, the Maji and others- He can surely speak to us in dreams now. We need only to recognize what God is saying and leading us to do.

In Genesis 40 and 41 Joseph interprets the dreams for a cup bearer and  baker while all 3 of them are in prison. Then Joseph was "brought from the dungeon " to interpret two different dreams that Pharoah had- but Joseph gives credit to God - that in fact it is God who gives the answer of what the dreams signify. As a result of all this Joseph found favor in Egypt and the prophecy in his very first two dreams were fulfilled. I am sure Joseph was very confused at times in his life-and questioned if he had really heard from God in the first place. God had told him he would be a leader in the future and it certainly did not seem like that would be the case. When he was sold to Potiphar  and falsely accused which put him in prison- I would guess that he felt like God had forgotten about him. We can learn from him that God has a plan and can turn evil around for His good- and this can take years to do so. We definitely need help to be patient and to trust God is at work, even when we don't understand what's going on.

In the scripture I wrote out at the top, it starts off with the words, "In the last days". The last days are what are currently living now. " The last days began at the close of Christ's ministry on earth, and will continue until His second coming. And while each day brings us closer to His return, we are not to fear or be troubled by the things that we see taking place around the world." says www.Biblestudytools.com. This scripture goes on to tell us that the Spirit will be poured out on all People, no matter what gender, what age, or rank. This is happening whether we know about it or not. May we also be intentionally waiting to hear His voice leading us, and not write it off that we must have eaten something bad, the night before . May we ourselves see visions and dreams and pray for others to also.

A look at the book of Joseph in the Quran.