How to Interpret Dreams and Visions Perry Stone

Does the Bible tell you if you should drive, fly, or avoid that trip you are planning? The Bible is God’s inspired Word, and it gives us promises, prophecies, and practical teaching for living on Earth while walking with God. However, there are many practical aspects in life that must be discovered through prayer and intercession or through a word of wisdom or knowledge (1 Cor. 12:7–10), including a word of instruction given in a dream or vision. It was a dream that opened the door for Joseph to initiate a plan of provision in the time of famine! The second purpose of a dream or vision is to turn us from our own direction [“deed”] to the direction of God. A dream or vision can reveal God’s will or plan for your life. When the wise men came to Jerusalem, inquiring of Herod as to where the Hebrew prophets said the Messiah would be born, Herod consulted the religious Pharisees, who in turn reported back that Bethlehem was the anticipated town. Herod instructed these Persian Magi to return to him once they knew of the whereabouts of the infant child (Matt. 2:8). After a visitation with the holy family, the wise men were returning to Jerusalem when an angel of the Lord warned them in a dream not to return but to depart another way (v. 12). In this instance the Lord was interrupting their prearranged plans and providing protection for them through an alternative route. The same angel would later warn Joseph to get out town with the infant Christ and His mother, because Herod was sending soldiers to slay all children under two years of age (v. 13). Another reason for visions and dreams is to keep our soul