Do you believe in dreams? Perhaps even that question gives you the hibby-jibbies (is that how you spell that?) to think of the mystical world of dreams. As a fundamental Baptist (since I was in the nursery), I will admit that I had a hard time coming to grips with the possibility that God could still use dreams for His glory.
I would like to qualify upfront that I do not believe in dreams as taking the place of God's Word. God's Word is final. No amount of prophesying, or "words from the Lord" should ever replace or usurp the Word of God. After saying all that, I will relate that I believe God still can communicate to mankind in any form He chooses.
Please refer back to a recent blog named "Being in Place" to read a true-to-life story that happened to me back in 1997 while a missionary in a small town in Ivory Coast, West Africa. The man that asked me to show him the way to God only knew to request that of me because of a dream that he had almost two years before that.
Amos was sick with TB and was being transported to a Red Cross clinic in a nearby town. It was nighttime and he was lying in the back of a pickup truck. He said that he was feeling very sick and began thinking that he might die soon. It scared him to think that he didn't really know the Creator that he had always believed existed, but never took the time to seek out. However, that night he cried out to this Creator. He told God that he didn't know how to find Him and that he wanted to live long enough to do that. Soon he was lulled to sleep by the motion of the truck on the gravel road and he dreamed. In the dream, he said that he was in a small town, and he walked past a blue car. Beside the blue car was standing a white woman holding a Bible. Amos said that it was clear that this woman standing beside this blue car would be the one showing him the one to God. Almost two years later, he was passing by my blue car at the same time I was walking to it. I will never forget the look on his face as he quickly looked from me to the car and back to me. Amos said that he didn't even know that white people lived in that town, but that anytime he saw a blue car, he did always look for a white woman! This was my first understanding that God will reveal Himself and communicate to those who truly are seeking Him - in whatever way He chooses.
Back about four years ago, we were in another larger town in Ivory Coast. This town was large enough to have actually three grocery stores. I dreaded to go to the grocery stores because you had to deal with the endless numbers of beggars perched by the parking lots; and then there were the young teenage boys who made their living by helping you find a parking spot and then "guarding" your car while you were in the supermarket. Actually, it is more like, if you didn't pay them a little bit, you might come out to find your car damaged in some way. To simplify my life, I chose one young man and told him that he would always be my "car guard". His name was Gameau. There were days that I even got agitated with Gameau, but it was better than dealing with different ones every time I needed to shop.
One night, after a particularly difficult shopping experience where I left without giving Gameau anything except a piece of my mind (gasp! missionaries losing their tempers on the field??), I slept and dreamed that about 10-15 years had passed and a man came up to me, carrying a Bible under his arms and smiling at me. He said that he was Gameau, and that he was now a pastor. He thanked me for telling him about Jesus those many years ago. Then I awoke, crying and feeling utter shame because I had NEVER, up to that day, told Gameau anything about Jesus Christ. I was always so intent on my discomfort when I arrived at the supermarket; Satan had used that as a shield to what should have been the most important thing to ever relay to Gameau -- or any of those boys! Good news: I went straight back to the store the next day and invited Gameau to church. He started attending the French services and was soon saved! Since then a civil war has erupted in Ivory Coast, but I'm assured that if Gameu still lives, God is still preparing him for great things. Whatever the reason for the dream, call it my conscience or bad pepperoni, I am thankful for the message relayed on that night in that way!
Both Amos and Gameau will be in Heaven with me one day. If those specific dreams helped to etch the way for them, then I say Glory to God.
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