“A dream is a wish your heart makes,” as was told by the famous Cinderella as she sung about love to her mice friends. We all have dreams of our hearts desires whether it is of true love with a handsome prince or a thrilling adventure of a high-speed chase. Dreams are what we look forward to each night as we shut our eyes to rest and we are excited to share them with everyone when the morning arrives. Most people consider dreams to be somewhat of a bonus when we are sleeping, like a movie to entertain us as we sleep. However, according to the Bible Dictionary, a dream is one of the means by which God communicates with men.
A dream is a vision or prophecy that the Lord will bless his righteous servants with. These visions enable the righteous to receive counsel and commandments of the Lord. In 1 Nephi 2:1-2 the Lord came unto Lehi in a dream to inform him that since he obeyed and testified of the destruction of Jerusalem the people were angry with him and sought to kill him. The Lord then told Lehi to depart in the wilderness with his family for safety. Lehi and his family were saved thanks to the Lord. Also, in 1 Nephi 8 and 11, Lehi and Nephi see the tree of life in a vision. They can understand what the path is like to eternal life and what needs to be done in order to receive the kingdom of God.
Sometimes we receive dreams that we don’t understand. In Daniel 2:3 the king states, “I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.” Whenever I have a dream that I don’t understand the meaning of I make it a point to ask someone like a friend or a family member. They will give me good counsel allowing me to more fully understand the meaning. Also, when I am confused about a certain dream I am able to ask of God for guidance because he knows all things. In Genesis 40:8 it says, "We have dreamed a dream but there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me them, I pray you." God is the one who gives us dreams so if we are troubled it is smart to ask God in faith for help since He gave it to us in the first place.
The prophet receives revelation from the Lord to help guide the saints in these latter days. Also, bishops and patriarchs receive guidance from the Lord. Although it may seem that only the members who have high callings in the church receive visions I know that God blesses all those who are righteous with dreams and revelations. The important thing to remember is that God manifests visions to those who are righteous. He won’t make things known unto the wicked and hardened hearts; otherwise it would have been Laman and Lemuel receiving the visions instead of Lehi and Nephi. They would not have known what to do with the information and would not ask of God for guidance.
We need to be worthy to receive the counsel of God. For myself, there was a time when I was truly worthy. It was when I was a sophomore in high school. I had the desire to attend seminary my sophomore year because I didn’t attend my freshman year. Gordon B. Hinckley advised us to read the Book of Mormon, so I did. I had a change in heart and my attitude changed to be more righteous. Because I was obedient, I had a dream given from the Lord…
My grandpa was not a member of the church and he had passed away, a nonmember, when I was a freshman in high school. Well, one night I had a dream where I was sitting with my grandpa, my mom (my grandpa’s daughter), and my friend. My grandpa looked at me and told me that he could never hold me or see me again. I was heart broken at these words. My friend was confused because she didn’t know my grandpa but my mom told my friend it was because he wasn’t a member. My friend understood and said oh.
...Then I woke up and was extremely sad and I told my mom about my dream. We knew that what my grandpa meant was that he couldn’t see me again because he was not sealed to my grandma or my mom yet. My mom and I started crying. My mom told me to call my grandma and tell her my dream and then my grandma started crying. My grandma told me that she was almost finished with my grandpa’s paper work and that they would be sealed together as soon as possible. I am glad to say that my grandma and grandpa and all their children are now sealed together for all time and eternity. I was so honored to have received this dream for I knew it was from God and that He wanted me to help my grandma get my grandpa’s paperwork done. I was on such a spiritual high the rest of that day and was so grateful that the Lord would bless me, a young fourteen year old. I just realized that I was the same age as Joseph Smith. Wow. The Lord will bless the righteous and innocent with great things.
Dreams are a wonderful gift from God. The prophets of old have been saved when in danger and knew what the Lord wanted with them. The prophets today are able to give us counsel and guidance from the Lord. And we, the people, receive personal revelation to help us in times of trouble and confusion. I am so grateful for dreams and visions and I hope to remain worthy to receive them throughout my life on this earth. Amen.
Work Cited
Bible Dictionary
1 Nephi 2:1-2
1 Nephi 8,11
Daniel 2:3
Genesis 40:8
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5 comments:
What an interesting post! Thank you. I enjoyed reading especially about your personal experience with dreams. Do you think all dreams are given from God?
Thank you for this message about the role of dreams in our spiritual development and family relations. I am glad that your grandfather's temple work is done and that your family has enjoyed the blessings of being sealed together in the temple. I like the way you said that we can ask priesthood leaders to help us understand the meaning of dreams that seem to have spiritual significance. When I was in graduate school, I had a recurring dream about returning to a beautiful place in the mountains. My Bishop said that the dream was to help me continue with my education so that I would be ready to teach at BYU if the Lord needed me there.
I love the way you open this. It really caught my attention. You added a lot to your blog by adding your personal experiences. Good job!
Thanks for this post Hiilei! Dreams is one of my favorite topics of discussion. I absolutely believe that we need to be ready to receive dreams and even revelations that may accompany them. My dad had a dream last year where a man walked up to him and said, "my name is daniel alcott" and then walked away. At this time my parents had been working hard on genealogy and had gotten stuck, not knowing where to go. Curious, my dad got up in the middle of the night and searched that name. Daniel Alcott is an ancestor of my mother and opened up a whole ton of information on my family. What an amazing experience! Our Father really does talk to us in our dreams! Nice job!
Wow... I loved your blog... I like how you talked about how we can ask the Lord about our dreams. I have never thought about taking my dreams to Him even though I should take everything to him. I also like how you siad that we need to be worthy to receive the counsel of God. If we are not worthy, it wont come. Thank you for sharing your precious experience. It was truly touching. Thank you for your strong testimony!
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