The document discusses the important role that visions and dreams have played throughout biblical history in guiding God's people. It provides several examples, including Joseph's dreams that foretold his brothers bowing down to him, visions that warned Joseph and the wise men to flee from Herod, and the visions of Cornelius and Peter that led to the inclusion of Gentiles in the early church. The document emphasizes that God still uses visions and dreams to provide guidance to believers today.

1. VISIONS &
DREAMS
Lee Gilliam

2. God has often used visions and dreams as a way to
share with His people the purpose or plan He wants
them to accomplish.
Sometimes the plan is for a specific time and place.
The event given in the vision can come to pass
quickly and be short-lived. The vision could also be
for a future time of manifestation. Some are so
life-changing, that they cause major changes which
affect decisions and determine spiritual access to
God.

3. Vision and dreams are very similar. Dreams occur
when you are asleep and visions usually occur while
you are awake and in the presence of God in prayer,
worship, or meditation.
Visions or dreams can create life-changing events for
the person receiving the vision or dream as well as
those for whom the experience is intended.
The Word of God is full of accounts of individuals
receiving a vision or dream resulting in major life-
changing events.

4. In Genesis, chapters 37-50, God gives Joseph a
dream.
He dreams that in the future his brothers would
bow down before him.
He has a second dream. He dreams his father and
mother would come and bow down to him.
His brothers became angry with him because of his
dream. They threw him into a pit and sold him as a
servant.

5. The ones who bought him, in turn, sold him to
Potiphar, who lived in Egypt.
God blessed Joseph in all that he did. He was
promoted to oversee all of the businesses of
Potiphar.
Potiphar trusted Joseph with all he had. The favor
of God was upon Joseph and prospered all that
Joseph put his hand to.
Joseph refused. Finally, she lied to her husband and
said Joseph tried to force her to have a sexual
encounter.

6. Potiphar sent Joseph to prison. While in prison, God
gave Joseph the ability to interpret the dreams of
two others. The baker was hanged and the butler
was restored to the direct service of Pharaoh.
Two more years pass. Joseph is still in prison. God
gives Pharaoh a dream that troubles him greatly. No
one can interpret it. The butler remembers Joseph
and the accuracy of his interpretation. Pharaoh calls
for Joseph and tells him the dream.

7. Joseph interprets his dream. There are seven years
of great prosperity and harvest coming, followed
by seven years of great famine.
Pharaoh promotes Joseph to be second in command
of all of Egypt. Only Pharaoh is over him
Joseph stores up so much food that it is impossible
to count it all.
Seven years of famine begin; the famine is
worldwide. Many countries are coming to Egypt to
buy corn.

8. The father and brothers of Joseph hear that Egypt
has corn for sale. The brothers come to Egypt to
buy corn without knowing it is their brother Joseph
who is in charge.
They bow down before him. The vision that God
gave Joseph has been fulfilled just as Joseph
dreamed it.
God gave Joseph a vision of what He wanted. He
gave Joseph the God-like faith that it would come to
pass. Joseph spoke it into existence when he told
his brothers and father the dream.

9. Joseph did not know what challenging days would
come upon him because of his vision. However, God
gave Joseph the grace and strength to walk out the
path that eventually saved his family and the people
that would become the nation of Israel.
When one receives a vision or dream, they seldom
know what they will have to walk through in order
for the vision or dream to come to pass.
When one receives a vision or dream, they seldom
know what they will have to walk through in order
for the vision or dream to come to pass.

10. Amazing!
Visions and dreams played an important role in the
life of Christ.
In Matthew 2:7-8, Herod told wise men to come and
tell him where Jesus was once they found Him.
Vs. 12 – God gave the wise men a dream and
warned them not to return to Herod, so they went
home a different way.

11. Vs. 13 – After the wise men left, the angel of the
Lord appeared to Joseph, husband of Mary, and
said:
“Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and
flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee
word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy
Him.”
Joseph, Mary, and Jesus lived in Egypt until the
death of Herod. After Herod died, Joseph had
another dream:

12. Vs 19-20: “But when Herod was dead, behold, and
angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in
Egypt. Saying, Arise, and take the young child and
his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they
are dead which sought the young child’s life.”
As Joseph was taking Mary and Jesus to Israel,
Joseph had another dream.

13. Vs. 22-23: “But when he heard that Archelaus
did reign in Judaea in the room of his father
Herod, he was afraid to go thither:
notwithstanding, being warned of God in a
dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:
And he came and dwealt in a city called
Nazareth:”
Joseph gets very little credit for the important
role he fulfilled in the life of Christ. He was a
spiritual man. On three occasions, an angel of
the Lord appeared to him and he obeyed the
instructions given him, preserving the life of
Jesus.

14. Vision and dreams from God continued in the
New Testament. They were given by God to
provide guidance for a specific purpose. They
continue today as God speaks to His people
through visions and dreams as prophesied by the
Apostle Peter.
Acts 2: 17-18 – “And it shall come to pass in the
last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit
upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy, and your young men shall see
visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
And on my servants and on my handmaidens, I
will pour out in those days of my Spirit, and they
shall prophecy:”

15. Visions, dreams, and prophecies provide spiritual
experiences that allow the Holy Spirit to give
specific and clear guidance to God’s people.
Let’s look at Acts Chapter 10 to see exactly how
this works:
There was a man named Cornelius from
Caesarea. He was known among the people for
four things:

16. 1. He was a devout man; today we would refer to
him as a righteous man;
2. He regularly provided many things to the
people who needed help;
3. He prayed consistently;
4.He had a hunger to know more about God.

17. One day, while Cornelius was praying, he saw a
vision. He was told to send men to Joppa and find
the Apostle Peter. This was unheard of. It was an
impossible thing to do. It was not allowed. The Jews
(Apostle Peter) have no contact with Gentiles
(Cornelius). Despite the culture of the day,
Cornelius obeyed the vision and the next day sent
his men to Joppa to find Peter.
When the men were close to Joppa, Peter, knowing
nothing about the vision given to Cornelius, went up
on the house top to pray.

18. Peter became hungry and while he waited for a meal
to be prepared, he fell into a trance. He had a
vision. Heaven opened and he saw a vessel
descending to him. It looked like a great sheet knit
at the four corners and lowered down to earth.
On this great sized sheet were various four-footed
beasts of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and
fowls of the air.
A voice comes to Peter saying, “Rise, Peter, kill, and
eat.”

19. Vs. 14 – “But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have
never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”
Vs. 15 – “And the voice spake unto him again the
second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not
thou common.”
This happened three times and then the vision was
received up again into heaven.

20. While Peter pondered what this vision could
possibly mean, because it agreed with nothing that
he currently held to be true, the men from the
house of Cornelius were at the gate where Peter was
staying.
Vs. 19-20 -”While Peter thought on the vision, the
Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee.
Arise therefore, and get thee down and go with
them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them.”

21. Peter went down and met the men. They told Peter
about the vision Cornelius had received and that
Peter was to come and talk to them about God.
Peter brought them in the house to stay with him
overnight.
The next day Peter and some fellow believers went
with them to the house of Cornelius.
Cornelius had gathered together family and friends
to hear the Apostle Peter speak what God would
say.

22. Peter’s first words were to address the fact that he
was not supposed to be there because the Jews did
not keep company with non-Jews.
But God had showed him in a vision.
Vs 34-35 – “Of a truth I perceive God is no respecter
of persons: But in every nation he that feareth Him,
and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him.”

23. Before Peter could finish speaking:
Vs 44-48 – “While Peter yet spake these words, the
Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the Word.
And they of the circumcision which believed were
astonished, as many as come with Peter, because that
on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the
Holy Ghost.
For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify
God. Then answered Peter,
Can any man for bid water, that these should not be
baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well
as we?
And he commanded them to be baptized in the name
of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain
days.”

24. What a turn of events! The Jews are preaching
Jesus only to the Jews. The 120, in Acts 2, in the
upper room, were all Jews. The Apostles were all
Jews. The deacons were all Jews. The Jews had no
dealings with the Gentiles.
God recognizes a devout or righteous Gentile who
consistently supplies the needs of the people. He
gives him a vision to find the Apostle Peter and ask
him to come to his house. He obeys the vision and
sends men to find Peter.

25. As they are close to knocking on his gate, the Holy
Spirit gives the Apostle Peter a vision to accept and
preach Jesus to those who, before this day, were not
welcomed to accept Christ as Lord and Savior.
Truly astounding: The Jews think they have it figured
out: Jesus and God belong to them. The Gentiles are
out. But then, God gets directly involved through the
experiences of visions and dreams and all plans are
changed. The Jews are walking down a straight
road, then boom, God directs a right turn and
Christianity is changed for eternity.

26. I call this a spiritual paradigm shift.
We, as Gentiles, today, enjoy Jesus Christ as our
Lord and Savior, and call heaven our home because
of the obedience to the distinct vision that was
given to these two great men of God.
Visions and Dreams. What a blessing to the Body of
Christ.

27. The pattern of Visions and Dreams follow five
foundational steps.
1. God gives the vision or dream to someone He
chooses;
2.God gives God-like faith to the recipient of the
vision or dream to cause it to come to pass;
3. The recipient of the experience speaks it forth
with God-like faith to back it up, thus activating
the supernatural forces of God to move time,
people, places, and events;

28. 4. God gives His grace and strength to the
recipient to overcome the fears and challenges
to “walk it out”;
5. God brings it to a conclusion and the vision or
dream is manifested and fulfilled.
While there are many such experiences in the Word
of God, I have shared only three with you. However,
these three experiences changed the world from
then until now.

29. 1. Joseph, who received a dream from God and
saved his family, was the grandson of Abraham
and was the future of the Nation of Israel;
2. The wise men and Joseph were obedient to
the dreams God gave them and preserved the
life of Christ;
3. The Apostle Peter and Cornelius, two great
men of God, obeyed God’s vision which
resulted in our ability to be saved, as Gentiles, by
the blood of Jesus Christ.
God will share visions and dreams with you if you
need them to complete your mandate of service to
Him. Look at who He used to change the world:

30. 1. A very young man with very little experience in
life saved the future Israel;
2. A carpenter and a teenage young lady to save
the life of baby Jesus;
3. A fisherman and a soldier making Christ
available to us.
These three spiritual events show the way God
changes events on earth. The benefit to God’s
people and the direction of mankind has been
unchanged for many centuries.

31. We have a great deal of respect and appreciation for
this handful of people who continue to change the
course of history.
Remember, the Apostle Peter prophesied that God
would pour out of His Spirit in the last days and
vision and dreams would be ours.
We need to learn all we can about visions and
dreams.

32. Truly, Visions and Dreams are a part of God’s
Wisdom Language.
We at Total Life Center are involved in a research
project. We need you. We need to know about
your experience. You have an opportunity to teach
the Body of Christ about God’s voice to His people.

33. Prayer:
“Father, in Jesus name, I ask the Holy Spirit to
encourage those who have been blessed in receiving
and releasing your great Gift of Visions and Dreams
to share with us their experiences for all to learn
and gain wisdom from. We desire to surrender our
lives more completely, and have more
understanding of your gifts to us, so You can have
more access to us and we have more access to You,
in our daily lives, Amen.”

34. If you would like to read some visions and dreams or
share a vision or dream click on the appropriate box
below.
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