What does it mean to dream? If you look up the dictionary’s definition of dreaming, they give you two different kinds of dreams: 1) a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person’s mind during sleep; 2) a cherished aspiration, ambition, or ideal; a yearning, daydreaming, a longing for or setting one’s heart on.
It is amazing how often God spoke to people in the Bible through dreams. Sometimes, people had images and scenes played out in their dreams that gave them insight into God’s future for them or for others. Sometimes, angels came to them in their dreams and spoke to them or revealed things to them. Sometimes, it simply says that God spoke to them in a dream, but the point is that dreams are one of the vehicles through which God comes to us, encounters us, and speaks to us. One of the classic examples in the Old Testament is Joseph’s two dreams about God’s future destiny for him, and a classic example in the New Testament is the Lord speaking to the other Joseph. Joseph was given some of the most important revelations God has ever given anyone in his dreams. Why does God use things like dreams to speak to us instead of just speaking to us all the time in an audible voice? He could do that if He wanted, but he chooses to come to us and speak often in prophecies, visions, and dreams. I’m sure there are many reasons, but I believe that one of the reasons God speaks to us through these trans-rational ways is because He wants to remind us and cultivate in us that imagining unreal things or otherworldly things is a part of our DNA. It is a part of our built-in childlikeness to be able to imagine, and being childlike is imperative if we are going to explore all the wonders of the kingdom of heaven. God coming to us in dreams as we sleep, I believe, provokes us to dream dreams while we are awake. If you don’t believe in the ideals beyond what your eyes see and your mind can reason, then it is hard to believe in God, for no man has seen God at any time. It is true that Jesus has revealed him, but in speaking to Thomas, Jesus said after Thomas believed after touching the wounds of Christ, “Blessed are those who haven’t seen but who believe.” I also believe that the Joel prophecy that was fulfilled at Pentecost concerning old men dreaming dreams is very strategic because old men, in particular, tend to lose the ability to dream for things that aren’t reasonable or rational, that don’t look like everything they’ve already known. In light of that Joel passage, I believe that the Holy Spirit’s presence in men as they get older releases a particular anointing to dream big dreams and to imagine the unimaginable. In light of that scripture, I also believe that it is a unique work of the enemy when older men who are Christians become cynical and are afraid to dream.
In Genesis 40:8, Joseph finds himself in prison after spending 11 years as a slave in the house of Potiphar, when Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker have their dream. Joseph notices that their face seems to be saddened, and he asks them what is wrong. When they tell him that they have had a dream and there is no one to interpret it, Joseph says to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell it to me, please.” When Joseph was 17 years old, God gave him two dreams. In those dreams, God revealed to Joseph that his destiny was to rule and be in a place of great authority. After those two dreams, everything in Joseph’s life went in the opposite direction, and instead of ruling, he had been a slave and now a prisoner and yet, his response and eagerness to interpret the cupbearer and baker’s dream tell me that even though he had experienced much pain and disappointment over the 11 years since his dreams, he had not given up on dreaming. My prayer for me and for others, particularly for men, and specifically for older men, is that no matter how much pain we’ve experienced over the years and how much disappointment we have suffered in light of some of the dreams that we dreamed, we would not quit dreaming. As a matter of fact, I pray that my dreams will be bigger than ever, and therefore, I often imagine what it will look like to manifest the fullness of Christ, exhibited in the Gospels, in my own life. I’m not content with seeing some people I pray for get healed; I want to see them all get healed, and I’m convinced it can happen. I do want to be content that I’ve had some victory over the power of sin in my life or that I have loved people at a certain Christlike level; instead, I want to be controlled by the love of Christ, and I want to see the righteousness of Jesus radically and completely manifested over the power of sin in my life. God is good; therefore, I believe in “happy endings,” even if it takes years and years for the “works together for the good” to reveal itself. I want to keep dreaming about the good, knowing I will see it one day as all things are summed up in Christ. I don’t want to be practical if practical means lowering my expectations so that I and the people around me won’t be disappointed. I don’t believe that I have hoped for too little, but I do believe that I have, at times, not hoped for enough. I am in Christ, and I have the mind of Christ. What kind of dreams does he have? Those are the ones that I want to hitch my wagon to. I want to dream with Him and, in union with Him, reimagine the world. Don’t you? Remember, only the expectant give birth to anything.