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The youthful evangelist, fresh out of seminary, was eager to convert the old sinner. No one had been able to get through to him for years. His dear wife had held on in hopes that the Lord would save his soul before he died, but she had seen preachers come and go with little influence upon her hardened husband. It's a story that's told in every church, in every town. But this story is different.

The night before the zealous young gospel preacher was to call upon the old man and his hopeful wife, he had a dream. He saw himself at their home, sitting in the family room visiting with them. He asked, "May I have a glass of water?" The husband said, "Sure, I'll get it for you."

In the dream the young evangelist saw himself follow the old man into the kitchen. As the two stood chatting, the evangelist said, "You have two of the most beautiful daughters I have ever seen. It's very obvious that you love them and that there isn't anything you wouldn't do for them."

The old man lit up with pride. "Yep, you sure got that right, preacher." Then in the dream the young man of God saw himself say, "It's really too bad that you can't give them the one thing they need the most." "And exactly what would that be?" the man indignantly replied.

The evangelist looked the man right in the eye and answered, "A Christian father!"

To the amazement of the preacher, the man gave his life to Christ right there in the kitchen! Then the dream ended.

The next day the evangelist made the house call. As he sat in the living room visiting with the family, he decided to put his dream to the test. "May I have a glass of water?" he asked, and just as he had dreamed, the husband offered to get it for him. Faith soared in his young heart as he followed the old man into the kitchen.

Like an actor performing a script, the young evangelist guided the conversation exactly as he had heard it in the dream. When the old man asked what it was his children needed the most that he couldn't give them, the young evangelist answered, "A Christian father."

The force of those words visibly shook the father. He could not escape from the conviction of the Holy Spirit. There, standing in his kitchen, the old sinner repented and gave his heart to Jesus Christ-just as it had happened in a dream the night before!

This story is but one of many dramatic examples, both in Scripture as well as in history, of how God can use dreams or visions to accomplish His purposes in our lives. In the book of Job, held by scholars to be among the oldest books in the Bible, we find the first reference to the use of dreams as a means whereby God communicates to man.

The Whispering Angel

As the narrative unfolds, Job has undergone a hideous and diabolic assault through which he has suffered the loss of everything he held dear. All his children have been killed in a terrible tragedy. His real estate holdings have been destroyed, all his livestock has been stolen by bands of thieves, his wealth has been depleted and his credibility throughout the surrounding region has been mercilessly ruined (see Job 1:1-22). In addition, Job's health and well-being are beset with such hellish aggravations that he despairs even of life itself (see Job 2:1-8).

The crowning injury comes from the lips of his beloved wife who, in her own bitterness of soul, says to him, "Are you still trying to be godly when God has done all this to you? Curse him and die" (v. 9, The Living Bible).

Finally, as if all this were not enough, Job's three closest friends arrive on the scene with their hearts fully set on comforting him, but during the initial seven days of mourning they inexplicably turn and condemn him for some hidden sin they feel certain he has committed (vv. 11-13). Job no doubt expected them to console him in his distress. Can you imagine his shock when they tear into him with their smug accusations and stinging denouncements?

First to speak is Eliphaz. He knew well that his opinion alone could not convince Job, so he frames his remarks in a context that best guarantees their unquestioned authority. He says that God has spoken to him about Job's situation in a dream.

"A word was secretly brought to me, my ears caught a whisper of it. Amid disquieting dreams in the night, when deep sleep falls on men, fear and trembling seized me and made all my bones shake. A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end. It stopped, but I could not tell what it was. A form stood before my eyes, and I heard a hushed voice: Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?" (Job 4:12-17, NIV).

Three significant facts are provided in this text. First, the question asked by the heavenly messenger is not a false or misleading inquiry. It endorses authentic truth and has as its purpose the exclusive exaltation of God. So far, so good.

Second, it is clear that no one thought it unusual that a message from God would come "when deep sleep falls upon men." Eliphaz was safe in saying that God spoke to him in a dream because the practice was common enough to be credible. That claim was never challenged by Job or the others.

Third, in support of the legitimacy of this spiritual visitation, Eliphaz testifies of his fear and trembling in the presence of the heavenly messenger. This phenomena is consistently supported throughout the Bible. Abraham, Isaac, Gideon, Daniel, the shepherds in the fields keeping watch over their flocks by night, Simon Peter, Paul, and John on the Isle of Patmos are among the many who shared a terrifying moment of revelation in which the angel of the Lord had to reassure them with the enduring words, "Fear not" (see Gen. 15:1; Judg. 6:23; Dan. 10:12-19; Luke 2:10,5:10; Acts 27:24; and Rev. 1:17).

Once Eliphaz concludes his argument, Job responds with remarkable clarity of thought despite his unbearable suffering. First, he admits that he had spoken rashly because he was in deep grief. "If only my anguish could be weighed and all my misery be placed on the scales! It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas--no wonder my words have been impetuous" (Job 6:2-3).

Second, he confronts Eliphaz for his lack of compassion. "One should be kind to a fainting friend, but you have accused me without the slightest fear of God. My brother, you have proved as unreliable as a brook; it floods when there is ice and snow, but in hot weather, disappears" (vv. 14-17, The Living Bible).

Finally, Job takes issue with Eliphaz concerning the dream. "When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint, even then you frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions" (Job 7:13-14, NIV).

Notice that Job's rebuttal to Eliphaz did not challenge the dream itself, nor even the message of the dream. Rather, he argues against Eliphaz's insensitive use of the dream to terrify him when he was already suffering great anguish of soul. In essence Job said, "Thanks a lot, pal! The one hope of comfort and relief I have is when I fall asleep. Now you have taken that away by filling me with terrifying thoughts of being tormented by nightmares!"

From this point onward the battle of words raged between Job and his friends. Bildad the Shuhite let Job know exactly how he felt: "How long will you go on like this, Job, blowing words around like wind? Does God twist justice? Your children sinned against God, and He punished them. Admit it!" (Job 8:1-2, author's paraphrase).

Zophar the Naamathite wasted no time in leveling his rebuke against Job: "Shouldn't someone stem this torrent of words? Is a man proved right by all this talk? Should I remain silent while you boast? When you mock God, shouldn't someone make you ashamed? You claim you are pure in the eyes of God! Oh, that God would speak and tell you what He thinks! Oh, that He would make you truly see yourself, for He knows everything you've done. Listen! God is doubtless punishing you far less than you deserve!" (Job 11:1-6, The Living Bible).

There is no break in the action as the drama unfolds for the next several chapters in the book of Job. The words are bitter, divisive and ultimately futile--typical of all religious debate. The arguments of Job's friends ultimately fail, and a bitter stalemate is reached in the narrative.

The Champion of Truth

Finally, lest we are to think there is no solution, we are introduced to young Elihu--the champion of truth. Though he was a young man, he spoke with great poise in the face of the awkward silence of the aged. He first rebuked Job's friends for condemning Job without giving an answer to him (see Job 32:1-5). It was obvious they didn't know what they were talking about, and therefore they had no business being so pushy with their opinions.

Elihu next turned and spoke to Job. The first item on Elihu's list of issues to correct with Job is the matter of dreams and visions.

"But I tell you, in this you are not right, for God is greater than man. Why do you complain to him that he answers none of man's words? For God does speak--now one way, now another--though man may not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men as they slumber in their beds, he may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings, to turn man from wrongdoing and keep him from pride, to preserve his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword" (Job 33:12-18, NIV).

In this passage of Scripture Elihu touches on at least seven things that a dream or a vision from God may accomplish in our lives.

1. Dreams provide God's answers to our questions.

In the story of Gideon we find an example of God's answering a man in a dream. By the Lord's doing, Gideon had just experienced the alarming reduction of his army from over thirty thousand men to a mere three hundred. On the other hand, the army of the Midianites numbered in excess of fifty-eight thousand well-trained soldiers. To say the least, Gideon was a man with questions.

One night the Lord said to Gideon, "'Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp"' (Judg. 7:9-11)

Gideon was afraid, so he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp. They arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream.

"I had a dream," he was saying. "A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed." His friend responded, "This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands." The Bible then says, "When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he worshiped God. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out 'Get up! The Lord has given the Midianites into your hands'" (vv. 13-15).

This is remarkable for several reasons. First, it clearly provided Gideon with the answer he was looking for-the Lord had indeed given the Midianites into his hands.

Second, the fact that God let Gideon overhear the two Midianite soldiers discussing the dream greatly impacted Gideon. Had Gideon dreamed it himself, he could have possibly dismissed it as wishful thinking brought on by the overwhelming stress of the impossible situation.

But Gideon didn't dream it; a Midianite soldier did! The dream showed Gideon that he had been afraid of the Midianites for no good reason. The Lord had put the fear of Gideon in their hearts. The dream and its interpretation was God's way of proving that to Gideon.

Finally, God could have just told Gideon all this, but He chose to reveal it through a dream and its interpretation. Why? Because a picture is worth a thousand words--and often much more convincing. Gideon was a man needing a convincing answer, and God gave it to him through an astounding dream.

The Lost Manuscript

In a less serious and more contemporary example of God's answering a man in a dream, let me tell you about a close friend who was quite distraught over the loss of a manuscript he had worked on for several months. He had brought the final transcript home to review it once more before sending it off to the publisher. To his dismay, when he looked in his briefcase that night the papers were missing.

He searched frantically throughout his house, his office, his car and his luggage--all to no avail. The manuscript was gone; he could not find it anywhere. This was but one more thing in a series of diabolical disruptions he had endured while working on the manuscript. It seemed to him that somebody clearly did not want him to finish his book.

That night he dreamed that he was driving along the highway and saw a package by the roadside. When he woke up the next morning, he felt strongly that he should drive along the highway near his home. In doing so he indeed saw a package by the roadside as the dream had indicated.

He stopped to investigate closer and, to his utter amazement, found in the package the very manuscript he had lost! It turned out that it had blown from the top of his car the day before while he had driven from his office to his home. He had forgotten he had placed it there before getting into his car. Remarkably, the papers were undamaged, and he was able to proceed with the publication of his book. God used the dream to lead him to the lost manuscript.

2. Dreams can give us instruction in the things of God.

One example of God's using a dream to give a man divine guidance is known by us all. It happened prior to the birth of Jesus. Joseph did not want to expose Mary to public disgrace when he discovered she was pregnant. His intentions were to divorce her quietly to prevent a scandal.

While he was considering this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins'" (Matt. 1:20-21, NKJV).

It is in dreams that the Lord opens the ears of men and seals their instruction (see Job 33:16). God removes the hindrances to our hearing and reveals the truth to our spirit--in a dream! Then, according to the word of Elihu, He seals the instruction (that is, He puts it in and keeps it in). Dreams have a remarkable ability to stay in our memories as though they are events we have actually experienced.

The Trash Can Dream

Once I dreamed I was driving along a narrow road. I came upon a large trash can knocked over in the road, with all its trash strewn about the street. I could not go around it because the road was too narrow, so I had to stop and clean up the mess.

As I approached, I saw the face of a man appear upon the surface of the trash can--giving the dream a cartoon-like quality. It made the trash can look like a head lying in the road, with trash coming out the top. I was so startled that I jumped back, and as I did, I heard a voice above me say, "Stop filling your head with trash!" That's when I woke up.

This dream proved to be very beneficial in motivating me to correct and moderate my personal walk with the Lord. Following this dream, I identified several examples of how I had been "filling my head with trash." Believing the lies of Satan, cultivating unhealthy self-talk, receiving accusations against others, holding to faulty traditions of men, watching distorted and impure things on television and in theaters, harboring hidden things of darkness in my thoughts, turning away from the Lord by little acts of consistent disobedience, being unfaithful in prayer-all of this is trash.

King Hezekiah said to the priest of Israel, "Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the Lord, the God of your fathers. Remove all defilement [that is, trash] from the sanctuary" (2 Chron. 29:5, NIV). This scripture convicted me, and I began to earnestly pursue the Lord. I determined to put into practice in my personal life King Hezekiah's exhortation. Piece by piece I started "taking out the trash."

It was then that the Holy Spirit prompted this joyful thought in my mind: "If you will stop filling your head with trash, I will start filling your heart with treasure." Wow! What a deal!

3. God can use dreams to warn us about unseen dangers.

The wise men who sought Jesus by following the star found Him in a house with his mother. They bowed down and worshiped Him, opening their treasures and presenting Him with gifts of gold, incense and myrrh. The Bible tells us that they returned to their country by another route, "having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod" (Matt. 2:12, NIV).

As soon as they left, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him" (v. 13).

After the death of Herod, God told Joseph in another dream to return to the land of Israel-specifically to the parts of Galilee. Joseph obeyed the dream and gave us Jesus of Nazareth, thereby fulfilling the ancient prophecy: "He shall be called a Nazarene" (v. 23). The dreams were warnings from God. By heeding their messages disaster was averted.

Rattlesnakes in the House!

I recall a dream in which I saw a nest of rattlesnakes in my house. I was alarmed at their presence, especially because I had young children in my home. I knew to avoid the snakes, but my children would be unaware of the danger. When I tried to discover how the snakes had gotten into my house, I discovered that they had entered through the television. At that point the dream ended.

Awake, I felt the dream was a warning about leaving my kids to watch television programs without adult supervision. Much of today's programming is like a rattlesnake--coiled and ready to strike the unsuspecting who draw near enough to enter harm's way. Once the poison is in the system, it often proves to be fatal!

4. Dreams provide guidance away from wrongdoing.

A father-in-law discovered he had been cheated by his son-in-law. He became furious and vowed revenge. The irony in the situation was that the father-in-law had humored himself by cheating his son-in-law on several occasions. The son-in-law, having had enough, decided to get even. Now that the tables were turned, it wasn't so funny.

The father-in-law gathered several friends and went out into the night looking for the son-in-law, fully set upon exacting his vengeance against the foolish boy. You can read this story in the book of Genesis. It's about Laban and Jacob (see Gen. 29-31).

Once Laban was in hot pursuit after Jacob, the Bible says, "Then God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, 'Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad'" (Gen. 31:24). The dream literally saved Laban's life.

It wasn't that Jacob had the power to stop him from whatever he was intending to do; it was that God would not let Laban raise his hand against Jacob without divine consequences. Laban's best and only option was to leave the situation alone. Therefore the Lord warned him in a dream and kept him from doing the wrong thing.

God Confronts a Philistine King

In another story also found in Genesis, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, had ignorantly taken Sarah, Abraham's wife, into his harem. Abraham, of course, was the guilty party for having lied to Abimelech about Sarah in order to save his own life. Sarah was beautiful and desirable; the king's intentions were clear as he retired to the royal bedchamber. But the unexpected happened, and the king was kept from doing what was wrong.

"God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, 'You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman'" (Gen. 20:3). Abimelech asserted his innocence in that he had acted ignorantly.

God answered his appeal in the dream, "Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against Me. That is why I did not let you touch her. Now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all yours will die" (vv. 7-8).

Abimelech probably didn't sleep well the rest of the night. The Bible tells us that he summoned his official "early the next morning" and told them all that had happened-and they were all struck with fear.

King Abimelech confronted Abraham as he returned Sarah to his side. "What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done" (v. 9).

5. God can use dreams to keep us from pride.

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, wrote, "I had a dream that made me afraid. As I was lying in my bed, the images and visions that passed through my mind terrified me" (Dan. 4:5). He summoned his officials, advisers and magicians to help him sort out the mystery of the dream. But, in a manner of speaking, all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again.

The prophet Daniel was brought before the king and was told the dream. Upon hearing it, Daniel sat there stunned and silent for an hour, aghast at the meaning of the dream. Nebuchadnezzar urged Daniel to speak.

Daniel replied, "Oh, that the events foreshadowed in this dream would happen to your enemies, my lord, and not to you!" (v. 19, The Living Bible). The dream revealed how God purposed to humble Nebuchadnezzar, and it came to pass exactly as the dream foretold. Nebuchadnezzar was driven from the palace in madness and lived among the animals of the field, eating grass as though he were an ox. This insanity lasted for seven years.

"At the end of seven years I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven, and my sanity returned, and I praised and worshipped the Most High God and honored him who lives forever, whose rule is everlasting, his kingdom evermore" (v. 34).

Here is the humbled king's conclusion: "Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble" (v. 37, NIV).

God humbled the man just as the dream had foretold. Could it be that Nebuchadnezzar would have been spared the fulfillment of the dream by believing it and repenting of his pride? Certainly. God does not take pleasure in our humiliation. But, mark this well, He takes even less pleasure in our pride. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

The Laughing Devil

Years ago I became involved with a church that was embroiled in a bitter disagreement. The congregation was solidly divided, and there seemed to be no solution to the conflict. The Bible says, "Only by pride cometh contention" (Prov. 13:10, KJV). I knew that pride was at the heart of the problem and that both sides were at fault. I wondered how I would go about convincing them of this and bringing healing to the problem.

That night I dreamed that I was standing by a church that had been burned down. There was nothing left but a pile of smoldering ashes. The people were gathered on either side of the pile screaming at one another. Those on one side cried out to the others, "You did this!" to which those on the other side answered, "No, we didn't! You did it!" This bickering went on and on, back and forth like what you would hear from schoolyard children.

Then in the dream I saw Satan standing off by himself, bellowing so hard with laughter that he could hardly speak. Roaring with demonic delight, Satan rose up and mocked the defeated church, saying, "You are both wrong--I did it!" He took special pride in saying the word "I." Satan then laughed so hard he fell to the ground holding his sides. The dream ended.

I shared this with the congregation, and God used it to turn the situation around. The people were able to realize that they were not enemies, but brothers and sisters. They saw that their battle was not against flesh and blood, but against the devil. They rose victorious above the strife and preserved the church from splitting. God used the dream to keep His people from pride and the destruction it brings.

6. Dreams can preserve our soul from the pit.

My wife, Belinda, has cultivated a marvelous intimacy with the Lord in prayer and worship. Over the years Christ has become very close and dramatically real in her life. She is more frequently to be found hastening to the house of the Lord in prayer than any other pursuit. Her countenance glows with the glory she has found in those precious hours spent in God's presence.

One night the Lord dramatically ministered to Belinda through a dream. She saw herself attending a conference with several Christians. During a break from the teaching she walked into the hallway and chanced upon two friends, a pastor and his wife, who live and work near us. Without anything being said in the dream, the three of them walked into a private room and began to pray.

Belinda knew that the couple was there to help her work through deep-seated emotional issues she was struggling with at that time in her life. The dream then ended.

When Belinda woke up the next morning, she realized that God had used the dream to heal her emotions and remove the turmoil from her heart while she was sleeping! The dream brought new understanding to a favorite passage of Scripture: "It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors; for He gives to His beloved even in his sleep" (Ps. 127:2, NAS).

7. Dreams can literally save our lives.

Abimelech's life was spared through the dream God gave him concerning Abraham's wife, Sarah, whom he had taken unto himself. The infant Jesus was spared from Herod's horror in Bethlehem by the dream God gave Joseph. Elihu told Job that a dream could keep a man from perishing by the sword. God uses dreams to save our lives.

Jack Taylor, a venerable man of God and a trusted mentor in my own life, was literally saved from death by a dream. He had been seriously ill for several weeks, and the doctors were mystified in searching for the cause of the sickness. Consequently, they were unable to prescribe any real cure.

Jack's condition deteriorated significantly until one night when he was startled out of sleep by a voice that said, "You are taking a medicine that is killing you." The name of the medicine then came to his mind.

Fully awake in the early morning hours, Jack quickly went to the medicine cabinet to verify if that particular medicine was included in the prescriptions his doctors had given him. It was. He called the doctors later that morning and asked them what effect the medicine would have on a man in his condition. They immediately confirmed that it would destroy his kidneys and cause him to die.

He stopped taking that particular medicine and, thankfully, returned to health and effective ministry. Jack's life was saved by following the voice that came in a dream.

The Car Wreck That Didn't Happen

Evangelist James Robison, known and loved by millions around the world, told me how God saved his life from harm through a dream. James woke one morning from an ominous dream that showed him in a terrible car wreck at a dangerous intersection near his home. He shared this dream with his family and asked them to pray for God's protection over him as he traveled.

A week or so later James stopped at the intersection he had dreamed about. As he prepared to accelerate into the highway traffic, a cargo van approached from James' left. The driver of the van decelerated and signaled that he was making a right turn onto the street that James was exiting. James hesitated to make sure that the van was turning, and when he saw that the van had indeed slowed down he went ahead and accelerated onto the highway.

At that very instant James vividly remembered the dream of the car wreck he had seen at that intersection and he immediately slammed on his brakes. Suddenly, a speeding sports car flashed in front of him and raced on down the highway. James had not seen the car coming; it had been blocked from his view behind the slowing van. Had James not stopped when he did, the wreck that he had seen in his dream would have happened right then. James is convinced that it would have taken his life. The Lord saved him from death through the influence of the dream.

God speaks in dreams and visions to accomplish many of His purposes in our lives. While there are always those who will doubt it, there are many more who will tell you that He does. Elihu's words of wisdom have stood the test of time--proven over and over again in the lives of countless men and women through the ages. "In a dream, in a vision, when sleep and slumber comes upon men in their beds, God may speak in their ears."