I have never had a dream from God. My dreams are muddled and confusing.
So today we are looking at some dreams that 2 other people have had
- the biblical Joseph, and my friend.
I want to introduce you to my dear friend, Nagham.
She grew up in the Syriac Catholic community in Mosul, before it was captured by ISIS.
In about 2006 she had these dreams:
‘I wasn’t really in a good place with Christianity or God. I wasn’t on that road at that time.
I dreamt that I was running in a local market – one of those with spices and old streets. It was busy and crowded, with loads of people. There were men in black running after me, with their faces covered and I knew they wanted to kill me.
I was scared. I was panicking and I just found this spice shop. I went inside and Jesus was standing there. He looked like a picture I love. He was standing there and the place felt so warm, like you are entering a cosy home or something.
He looked at me, with a smile and he said,
'Don’t be afraid. Just say – Jesus I trust in you – and nothing will happen to you.’
I literally made this sound ‘phwagh’.
No way. I have to hide. I found a place to hide under a table.
The two men came in.
They did not see Jesus, but they found me, where I was hiding, and they cut off my head.
I woke up in fear.
When I went back to sleep again. Exactly the same dream happened again.
This time when I entered the shop, Jesus looked at me and he said,
‘I told you. Just say that you trust me'.
I also laughed and said, ‘No way.’ I went and I found another place to hide in that shop. Both of the men came in and they found me and they cut off my head.
This time I woke up really, really terrified, but when I went back to sleep for the third time, exactly the same events happened again.
This time when I entered the shop, Jesus looked at me and he said,
'Isn't it enough?
I just told you.
Just say that you trust me.’
And in this moment, I felt peace. I was just looking in his eyes and I felt peace. I felt that I was in a different place, that I was surrounded by some kind of protective power.
I smiled. I looked at him and I said, ‘Jesus, I trust in you.’
I really believed that, when I said it.
I stood by his side.
They came in the shop. They did not see me. It was just like I was invisible, but they saw him. They took him. They made him kneel in front of me. He was looking at me, smiling and they cut his head off.
This time I didn’t wake up. I continued sleeping. When I woke up in the morning, I understood I got to live, but he died – and all it took was just for me to trust him.
I tried to find an explanation, but I didn’t understand our priest. Then I just let it go. It was just a dream – probably because I loved the picture. I understood later what it meant.’
Nagham and her family managed to escape as her home city was overrun by ISIS.
She now lives in the West.
I have heard many stories throughout the Middle East of God speaking directly to the unconscious mind in dreams. For many this is part of their story of salvation.
Throughout history people have had significant dreams. In Genesis we read about a young man called Joseph, who had such dreams, which were prophetic. Unwisely he shared them with his family and his brothers hated him for it.
If you haven’t read his story and how the dreams were fulfilled, I suggest you take some time to read on in Genesis. It's a great story. Today's song is about dreams that Joseph interpreted for the Pharaoh.
This is the account of Jacob’s family line. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him.
When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had:
We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”
His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?”
His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
Genesis 37 v 2-11
If your dreams are incoherent and rambling, like mine, they are not from heaven.
Dreams from God are clear and will speak to you directly.
If you have had dreams from heaven, accept them as a gift.
If you don’t understand them, ask wise Christians you know.
If, like me, you haven’t had a dream from God, don’t worry.
The Lord will talk to you in another way.
It is the Lord's prerogative to choose how He talks to you.
I am convinced that if you open your ears and your heart, He will speak to you.
That is my prayer for everyone who reads these thoughts.
Song of the king (seven fat cows)
Let's join the fun of the musicals, where Pharaoh is revealed as Elvis in this 1999 production of Joseph’s Techni-Coloured Dream Coat, by Andrew Lloyd-Weber.