How to Interpret Dreams and Visions Perry Stone

before it is too late. The first thing to do is what Daniel did when he received a troubling vision or dream: he set his heart for prayer and understanding. (See Daniel 9.) Pray first before sharing this type of dream. Now, if a person comes to you with his or her dream and asks for a possible meaning, then you have more freedom and permission to search for the understanding. When I was eighteen, I was earnestly seeking God during a fast, and the Holy Spirit revealed to me many forms of ministry I would use to reach entire nations. All of the words He gave me then have since come to pass after thirty four years of ministry. I was so excited, and I recall that at ages eighteen and nineteen I sat with other groups of ministers and told them what I saw and felt that the Lord would accomplish through my efforts. Some read this revelation as some form of pride or arrogance, which was not in my heart. Their response and actual rejection of the information could have discouraged me. Wisdom later taught me that it is not wise to publicly tell all the secret things God reveals to you. When the angel told Mary she was pregnant, she went to the one person who would understand her strange circumstances, her cousin Elizabeth (Luke 1). After all, can you imagine Mary, an unmarried virgin, running through a Jewish community yelling, “I’m pregnant! I saw a vision of an angel, and I’m pregnant, and the Lord did it— the Lord did it ”? First, who would believe it was the Lord alone who helped her conceive? Second, imagine how Joseph would have been persecuted and Mary forever rejected if the community thought she was pregnant out of wedlock! There are times to make information known and times to hide and ponder things in your heart (Luke 2:19).