The Importance of Dreams | Prophecy, Dreams, and Visions Season 2

Rabbi K.A. Schneider: I remember years ago, I had intended on moving to Toledo, Ohio, and we found a house. We wrote a contract on the house. I said, Lord, is this the right house? That night I had a dream. We are in a series, beloved ones, that I'm calling, Prophecy, Dreams, and Visions. Listen to this simple but profound statement: To disregard your dreams is to disregard God. It is a proven scriptural fact that God speaks to his people through their dreams at night. In fact, when the Holy Spirit came, as I've been proclaiming in Acts chapter 2, Peter stood up and he said, what you're seeing is the fulfillment of what Joel prophesied when Joel said in the last days the Lord will pour forth his spirit on all flesh and the sons and daughters will prophesy, the old men will dream dreams, and the young men will see visions. And so when God's spirit is poured out upon us, one of the things that automatically happens as a result of having his spirit is that God speaks to us by his spirit, whom he's poured out upon us and now lives in us, through our dreams at night. Dreams are very important. And to disregard them once again is to disregard the voice of God speaking into your life. Because, you see, there's elements in your life and in my life, there's areas in our life, details about our life, that the Bible doesn't give us specific information on. And I know if you've been tuning in with me on the earlier broadcast, you've been hearing me say this, but for the benefit of those that are tuning into this series for the first time, you see, the Bible doesn't tell you whether you should move to a certain city or not. The Bible doesn't tell you whether you should make a particular investment or not. The Bible doesn't tell you who to marry. There's so many particular decisions that we need to make in life that are detail oriented. We want the mind of God about these decisions, but the Holy Spirit hasn't communicated the details in the scripture. If you're a young person, the Bible didn't tell you which college to go to, but you wanted the mind of God to determine the right decision as to which college to go to. God wants to speak to us about the details of our life, and sometimes, beloved one, he'll do that through a dream at night. Now, during the course of this series, I've laid a major foundation. I've talked about the different types of ways that God speaks to us in our dreams, and the different reasons he speaks to us in our dreams. And I left off last time saying that oftentimes the Lord will speak to us in our dreams to give us direction and strategy. Now, let me make the comment, so no one misunderstands, I've made it before. I'm not saying that every dream you have is from God. In fact, my experience has been, a small number of them are. Let me give you a personal example. And the reason that I'm sharing these personal examples with you isn't to lift up my own experience, but to help you to understand this is for now, it's for today, and it's for you. I had a dream that really communicated a deep spiritual truth to me. In this dream, I was once again in a small room. It was like a one-room cabin I was in. It was like in the middle of the woods somewhere. And in the cabin, there was a simple little picnic table, and there was a man sitting across the picnic table from me, and I was the only other one in the cabin. This one-room little cabin, man over here, picnic table, me on the other side of the picnic table, and there was one window where I could see outside. And I knew as I was observing and taking part in the dream, that I'd been sitting in this room with this man for a very long time. And I also perceived in the dream that the man that I was sitting across from was a familiar friend. It wasn't like I saw his face. I just saw the man, but it wasn't like his face or anything stood out. All I perceived was I was sitting across from this man. He was a familiar friend, and I'd been sitting across from him in this room for a very long time. Suddenly I began to get really antsy. I wanted to get out of the room. It's like I'd been sitting there long enough, and I just wanted to get out and do something. And then when I looked out the window and I saw the outside beauty, I wanted to get out of that room and get outside. As I began to get up from the picnic table to escape the room because I'd been sitting there for so long, the Ruach HaKodesh, the Holy Spirit, spoke to me, and here's what he said. He said, that man that you're sitting across from, that familiar friend, that's Jesus. And if you'll just keep sitting across from him, he is going to make you completely whole. And what the Lord was showing me there, beloved ones, is to spend time continuing to do what I'd been doing already, just sitting before the Lord. It's a discipline. It's agonizing sometimes to do nothing but be still when we're so used to being active. But the Lord was instructing me through that dream to be still, to sit with Jesus, to just spend time alone with him, not run from the experience. Don't run because you want to go do something that you think's going to be more exciting or more stimulating. The Lord was saying to me, just keep spending time alone with me. Just keep sitting before me. And as you do, the Lord was saying to me, I am going to continue to make you whole. The importance of spending time alone with God every day. You see, the Lord will give us specific strategy and direction for our lives through, beloved ones, our dreams. I want to make it clear, as I've stated before, not every dream that we have is from the Lord. The dreams that I'm sharing with you, these aren't like I have these types of dreams every single night. But I have them often enough that they have dramatically impacted and shaped my journey. You see, I've even been warned in dreams at night of things that could happen if I didn't heed the counsel. There's a lot of scriptural examples of this. For example, when we go to the book of Matthew chapter 2, verse 12 and 13, listen what the scripture says here concerning Joseph. And having been warned by God in a dream, not to return to Herod, the Magi left for their own country by another way. Now, when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him. In other words, we find ourselves in the midst of the story. Mary had given birth, Miriam, we call her in Hebrew, had given birth to Yeshua. Joseph, obviously, being not the biological father, but Jesus's father that was raising him on earth. And Herod was going to kill the male children during this time because he had heard that a Messiah had been born. And so the angel came to Joseph and said, get out of Israel, because Herod's going to kill the new borns here, and go to Egypt. How did Joseph gain this direction and this strategy? Through, beloved, a dream. He was warned in a dream. God can warn you for making wrong purchases, making wrong decisions in relationships. He can help you to stay on track if you'll pay attention and particularly to the warnings God gives you at night. And this is what Elihu wrote about in the book of Job. Elihu was the one counselor that wasn't rebuked. And what Elihu said was, the Lord can save your soul from the pit if you'll listen to God's warnings to you through your dreams at night.
Dustin Roberts: You're listening to Discovering The Jewish Jesus with Rabbi Schneider, and he'll be right back. But first, did you know that this program is available in Hebrew, Russian, and Spanish? If you know somebody who speaks one of these languages, now's your chance to share the blessing. To access the language version that's right for them, just go to discoveringthejewishjesus.com and click the watch/listen tab and choose an available alternate language channel right there.
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Rabbi K.A. Schneider: I remember years ago, I had intended on moving to Toledo, Ohio, when my youngest daughter had graduated high school, because I was shepherding a congregation there. And so I said, it doesn't make sense for me to be living so far away, but I don't want to pull my daughter out of high school in the middle of her high school years, but when she graduates high school, I'm going to then move to Toledo, which was closer to the congregation I was shepherding. So my youngest daughter had graduated high school. Immediately, I contacted a realtor. Cynthia and I began to look around at houses in the Toledo area, and we found a house. And we really liked the house. We liked it so much. We wrote a contract on the house. It was Friday afternoon. That Friday evening, I went to minister at the congregation I was shepherding. And then late into the evening after the ministry time was over, I drove my car back over to the house that I'd written a contract on. And there was a kind of a chair, it was more like a stool in the backyard. So it's the middle of the night now. You know, I don't remember 12 o'clock in the morning, even later. I sit on the bench. I'm literally now in that physical premise. I'm at the property. I'm sitting on the bench and I'm praying. I said, Lord, is this the right house? It seems right. It feels right. I mean, I still had some outs in the contract, you know, if it was inspected and the inspector saw things that I didn't like, etc., but I'd signed the contract. I'm sitting on the bench in the backyard, middle of the night. I hear the crickets chirping. I say, Lord, is this the right house? Lord, this is a big decision. I guess opened my heart up, beloved, and prayed. Then after praying, I got back in my car and drove back to the rabbi's quarters where I was sleeping. That night I had a dream. I saw myself in the dream in a stockade. You know what a stockade is? It's like two pieces of wood and there's a little hole in the bottom piece where you can put your neck in and your two wrists in, and then a piece of wood comes on top so that you're stuck there. I mean, I never thought about a stockade in my life. I mean, what does a Jewish boy like me know about a stockade? I'm not a military guy. I didn't study ancient military history. But it was so clear, and the imagery was so strong. I mean, you couldn't miss it. The Lord was saying to me, if you buy that house, you're going to be trapped. You're going to be in a stockade. And it was so powerful. I woke up the next morning, I couldn't wait to pick up that phone and call the realtor and say, cancel that contract. God saved me from making a decision, beloved ones, that would have dramatically impacted my life and I would have suffered greatly for, had I not been warned by the Lord and listened to his warning. God will warn you to keep you from making bad decisions through your dreams at night. I remember going back almost 20 years ago. And there was a particular Messianic congregation. I won't name where the city was, huge Jewish population. And they invited me to come and minister to them. They were looking for a rabbi. And they housed me in one of the elders' homes that night after I ministered. And as I slept in that elder's home that night, the Lord showed me what would happen to me if I came and pastored that congregation. And because of the information that I received in the dream, I was able to have clear direction and say to the board of elders, listen, I don't think this is a good fit. And of course, it dramatically helped me to fulfill the destiny that God had for me. Are you seeing how important dreams are? And how much you can be blessed by following God's leading to you through your dreams? This is why Joel and Peter in the book of Acts said to us that because you now have the Holy Spirit, God's going to speak to you through your dreams at night. To disregard your dreams, beloved, is to disregard the counsel of God. This is very critical and very, very important. Do you know, sometimes, the Lord will even speak to us audibly in our dreams at night? I mean, sometimes it's just an imagery. Most of my dreams, it's just imagery. Simple pictures, of scenes and people and so forth that communicate a message. And I talked in some of the previous broadcast how the language of dreams is symbolic, just as the parables of Jesus were symbolic. We have to search the Lord and ask him for understanding. The Lord will sometimes, however, speak to us even audibly even in our sleep. Listen, for example, what happened with Solomon. I'm reading in the book now of First Kings chapter number 3. Hear the word of God. In Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night and God said, Solomon literally heard the voice of God. And God said to Solomon, ask what you wish me to give you. Sometimes God will literally speak to us in an audible voice. I've had this happen on several occasions. I remember one time in a spiritual encounter I had with the Lord at night, it was like there was a river of fire rolling into me, back to God, into me, back to God. It was like a circling river of fire. And then the Holy Spirit spoke audibly to me. It was the voice of Father God, and here's what he said to me. I'll never forget it. He said to me, seize my word and don't let anything else in. That was close to 15 years ago. He said to me, seize my word, and don't let anything else in. There's nothing in the world that can ever make me doubt that I heard the voice of the Lord that night, that I heard the voice of Father. I've grieved over it. I've prayed about it even to this day, Lord, help me to seize your word and not let anything else in. Father, help me to understand what your word is, and how do I seize the whole Bible, because we speak of the whole Bible as the word. How do I do that, Lord? And as I began to pray and seek the Lord, the Lord began to help me understand what he was saying to me, to seize the portion of his word that he's highlighting to me at this particular season in my life and don't let anything else in, whether it's the written word of God, or whether it's something that he said to me through a dream or prophetically. Seize his word and don't let anything else in. The enemy's always out there trying to give us his own false perception of reality. God is saying, don't let the voice of darkness in. Don't let the enemy's perception of reality invade your consciousness, but seize my word and don't let anything else in. God can speak to us audibly, beloved ones, in our sleep. Sometimes he'll do it with music. Maybe some of you, in fact, I'm confident that some of you, and don't feel bad if you've not had this experience, but I know that several of you at least have had the experience a few times where you've heard heavenly music in your sleep. I probably had that happen to me about a half dozen times over 40 years where I've literally in my sleep heard heavenly music. How do I know it was heavenly music? Because it was so beautiful, so utterly beautiful and moving, something that I've never heard before. I knew it was coming from heaven itself. And one time the music was mixed with the actual voice of God, where there were literal words. On most occasions, I just heard the music with no words. But one time, I heard the music with words. And here's what the Lord said to me, the one time I heard his voice with the music. He said to me, take the details out of the detail and leave out the decimal point. I mean, think about it. I really have had a lot of prayer about that because it's something that again, it's a riddle language. He said, take the details out of the detail and take out the decimal point, or remove the decimal point. There were two different elements that he was saying. The first thing he was saying is, don't get bogged down in the details. Give enough detail to make my voice clear, but don't become so detailed that people get lost in the details and they're unable to be moved in the same way by the message. Take the details out of the detail. Not that details aren't important, but for my purpose, the Lord doesn't want me to get so detail oriented with you that the message isn't coming through. And then he said this to me. He said to me, remove the decimal point. What did he mean by that? He spoke about giving and loving. Give big, take out the decimal point. Love big, live big. Remove the decimal point. Live life big, give big, love big, dream big. Beloved, God speaks to us. I'm speaking about all of us. I'm speaking about you and me in our dreams. As we close out this series now, I want to begin to prepare you for what we're going to do next time. I'm going to pray for you, and I'm going to give you very specific strategies for how you can begin to recall your dreams better and get more out of them. Beloved, I love you. I can't stress how important this series is. Dreams are for everybody, and to disregard your dreams, beloved ones, is to disregard God. Baruch HaShem.
Dustin Roberts: You know, people if they're going to make an offering to the Lord in a ministry, they want to feel like their offering is being used for pure purposes that are bearing fruit. And some of you that are tied into the ministry, you know we're doing so many things right now. One of the things that I'm really excited about is we have launched an app that's going into the prison systems, and I think we have right now about 280,000 inmates each month that are getting the app that has our program on it, that the federal prison that they're in is giving them. I'm so thankful to be able to reach prisoners with the gospel. So I want to ask you today for your financial help, beloved friends, because without God's people, without friends of this ministry, financially supporting it, we can't reach the world with the gospel. It really is a partnership between you and us. I want to thank you in advance for your love and for your help, and I want to ask you if you feel the Holy Spirit leading you to make an offering today, please just be obedient and do it. Now, Dustin, can you share with our listeners how they can support us and give?
Guest (Male): Of course. If the Lord is calling you to give to Discovering The Jewish Jesus, a gift of any amount today, be sure to go online to discoveringthejewishjesus.com or call us at 800-777-7835. You can also text your donation to the phone number 88777. All you have to do is type the word "give," and then we'll send back instructions to you where you can give right there on your phone. And finally, if you'd like to send your donation in the mail, just send it to Discovering The Jewish Jesus, P.O. Box 777, Blissfield, Michigan 49228. Once again, that address is P.O. Box 777, Blissfield, Michigan 49228. And you know what? We really appreciate you. So when you give, we want to send you our latest newsletter. It's full of exclusive additional content, exciting ministry updates, and we'll also send you a monthly exclusive teaching booklet. Each month we dive into another topic like prayer, the feast days, and you can keep learning from Rabbi even when you can't catch the program. It's really a nice thing that you can do as a devotional on the daily, or you can read it all at once. It's a great booklet. And then I want to let you know if you haven't yet reached out and connected to get our free self-deliverance teaching bundle. I want to encourage you, Rabbi has a step-by-step PDF guide where he explains how to recognize spiritual footholds and close open doors to the enemy through scripture. It also comes with an MP3 audio file. Make sure to get your free bundle right now. Go to myfreegift.com/freedom. And now here's Rabbi with the Aramaic blessing.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: What I love about the Aramaic blessing is that it did not originate with man. The words actually proceeded from the very essence of God himself. The blessing comes from the book of Numbers chapter 6. So listen to these words and receive the blessing of the Lord into your life today. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up with his countenance and the Lord give you, beloved one, his peace. And now in Hebrew.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: Y'varekh'kha Adonai v'yishm'rekha. Ya'er Adonai panav eilekha v'yikhuneka. Yissa Adonai panav eilekha v'yasem l'kha shalom.
Rabbi K.A. Schneider: God bless you and shalom.
Guest (Male): I'm your host, Dustin Roberts, and this program is produced and sponsored by Discovering The Jewish Jesus. Please join us again when Rabbi Schneider explains further on how to interpret your dreams. That's coming up Friday on Discovering The Jewish Jesus.