What are prophetic dreams? Does God give prophetic dreams to people today?
Prophetic dreams can be loosely defined as dreams or visions that contain foresight or insight into the truth of a situation. The Bible has many accounts of prophetic dreams occurring, and they are not limited to prophets.
The prophet Daniel had prophetic dreams (Daniel 7:1), but so did the evil King Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2). In this case, King Nebuchadnezzar needed to have his dream interpreted by the prophet Daniel. When Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dream, he was intentional about giving praise to God, the one who provides the wisdom to interpret dreams (Daniel 2:20–23, 26–30).
In other situations, God spoke to ordinary people through dreams and there was no interpretation required. This was the case in Genesis 20:3–7 where God revealed Abraham's lie to King Abimelech. Abraham had told the king that Sarah was his sister, when in reality, she was his wife. And God revealed this to Abimelech in a dream.
Does God give prophetic dreams today? Since He is the same God yesterday, today, and forever, it is safe to assume that God can still provide people with prophetic dreams today (Hebrews 13:8). He may use dreams to guide people to salvation, and there are plenty of stories of people who had dreams where Jesus appeared to them and shared that He is the path to salvation. These examples are anecdotal, so, of course, there is no way to prove that they were prophetic dreams. However, they are in line with the revealed truth of Scripture and have produced good fruit.
We need to be alert to the danger that deceptive voices try to sneak in, as well. If you believe you may have had a prophetic dream or if someone else claims that they have had one, it would be wise to compare the contents of the dream with the truths contained in Scripture. If the dream contradicts the truth the Bible contains, it is not of God. God will not contradict His Word. It is wise to ask God for wisdom in these situations (James 1:5) and trust that He will reveal the truth or prophetic elements of a dream in His way and in His timing. Don't rush to action. We need to wait on Him if we are not sure He is the one who has spoken.
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