Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Throughout the Bible, we have many examples of God leading HIS people and showing HIS people things to come through dreams.
God
gave Joseph a dream to show him that the baby that Mary was carrying
was of the Holy Ghost so Joseph would not "put Mary away".
Mt.
1 ... Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his
mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was
found with child of the Holy Ghost. 19Then Joseph her husband, being a
just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to
put her away privily.
20But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph,
thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that
which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. 21And she shall bring
forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his
people from their sins.
God protected the baby Jesus by giving the wise men a dream showing them not to return to Herod after seeing the baby Jesus.
Mt.
2 ... Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of
Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
2Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his
star in the east, and are come to worship him.
3When Herod the king had
heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4And
when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people
together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. 5And they
said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the
prophet, 6And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least
among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that
shall rule my people Israel.
7Then Herod, when he had privily called
the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
8And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for
the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I
may come and worship him also.
(But Herod was trying to deceive the wise men for his goal was to kill the baby Jesus.)
9When they had heard the king, they
departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before
them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. 10When they
saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. 11And when they
were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother,
and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their
treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and
myrrh.
12And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
Dreams were given to Joseph to protect the baby Jesus and to show Joseph what to do.
Mt. 2:13 ... And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying,
Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt,
and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young
child to destroy him. 14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:15 And was there until the death of Herod:that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
Mt. 2 ... But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream
to Joseph in Egypt, 20Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his
mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought
the young child’s life.
Mt. 2 ... And he arose, and took the young child and his mother,
and came into the land of Israel. 22But when he heard that Archelaus did
reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go
thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he
turned aside into the parts of Galilee: 23And he came and dwelt in a
city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the
prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.
Job said this concerning dreams ... Job 33
For
God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. 15In a dream,
in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in
slumberings upon the bed; 16Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth
their instruction, 17That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and
hide pride from man. 18He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his
life from perishing by the sword.
Part 1: Dreams as anchor for faith
Often humans will not understand what God is trying to get done, so
sometimes God will give a dream to show man what to do. Later that same
dream may be used by God to help us to have faith that it was God who
gave us the plan.
In 2001, I had a dream where I
was building a house. I was shown the area around the construction
site. But at that time I was not planning to build a house. I lived in
Clovis, NM (USA) where I was helping with my mother. She died at end
of January, 2002, and I made plans to move to Lubbock. I met with
realtor who showed me existing properties but I couldn't forget the
dream where I was building house. So I met with contractor and was
shown building sites in Lubbock.
One lot looked exactly like the area I
had been shown in a dream the previous year so I bought that lot and
built house on that lot. Later more desirable lots opened up for
building in Lubbock but each time I thought of how I would like to live
in those areas, I was reminded of that dream where I was shown the
construction site where this Lubbock house was built. This caused me to
settle down and know that God had selected this place for me to live.
And
we have the following scripture telling us that God puts us on the
earth at the time set for us and God puts us in the exact place where we
are living.
Acts 17:26 (NIV: Original translation) ... HE determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.
========
In
the 1980's, I was traveling all over the United States to cities where I
was on radio. I would rent meeting rooms at hotels or at convention
centers and meet with radio audience.
Then in 1982, I had a dream showing me great danger for me if I went out as I had been doing. And I heard these words in that dream. "Don't go until you see Exodus 15."
Immediately, I cancelled all meetings that had been planned for that year and the next year. A woman said to me, "But you must go out ... If you go out and have meeting they will give money ... but if you don't go out you will lose money. "
I replied: "God
has shown me not to go out so I'm not going." (Though offerings decreased there was no problem
concerning money. I had everything I needed as I stayed at home. The expenses were less.)
Part 2: God uses dream in NT Church
Concerning God using dreams in NT Church in Bible we have the example of Paul ...
Acts
16 ... Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of
Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in
Asia, 7After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia:
but the Spirit suffered them not. 8And they passing by Mysia came down
to Troas. 9And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There
stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into
Macedonia, and help us. 10And after he had seen the vision, immediately
we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord
had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.
=======
At the end of March, 2012, I had a dream. A woman was singing. I said, "This is a nice little voice. It is not a great voice. But it is a nice little voice." Then in the dream,
I saw this was a way for us to function as the church where we come
together and everyone can speak as led by the Spirit of God as Paul
instructed for the gathering of the church in I Cor. 14:26-40. I
awoke knowing to set up a "blog" on Internet where we could share and
everyone who had heard from Spirit of God was free to share. Within
about 3 days, we were publishing these writings on Internet.
At the
time we set this up, we were just doing what we believed was instructed
by God. It never occurred to any of us that these writings were going
to go all over the world. It is amazing to us and is still amazing to
us. We can write as many pages as we want to write, publish it
instantly all over the world, and it doesn't cost us anything to do
this!
=======
One way the Holy Spirit is used by God is to "show us things to come" ...
Jn. 16:13 ... Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will
guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but
whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. Often this is done through dreams.
In the 1980's I had 3 dreams about one event.
In one dream,
I was in a tall, glass building. Something began happening outside.
The whole building began to shake. It was as if bombs had fallen on the
building and it seemed the building was going to fall in on us. In the
dream I was told this was not the first bombing but the second. And
life would never be the same again for us.
Then there was another dream,
where ambulances and fire trucks with sirens blaring were going down
the street. One vehicle after another passed by where I was standing.
Something had happened.
Then there was another dream
where the skyline of NYC had been destroyed. I was looking onto the
tip of Manhattan and you could see little but large clouds of smoke.
These
3 dreams were about the destruction of the World Trade Center, Towers I
and II, in New York City in 2001. Each time I have seen this on TV
since this time, I have recalled these 3 dreams and the TV pictures of the smoke were exactly the same as the views shown me in the dreams. Also
in the dream, it was not the first bombing of the World Trade Center,
but the second. There was a first bombing in the garage area of one of
the towers in the 1990's. This dream was the second bombing which
destroyed the towers.
Part 3: God uses dreams to reach us today
In the mid-1980's, I had a dream where
the earth slipped on it's axis. People were terrified. The
politicians, scientists and religious leaders were meeting together to
see what they could do. A TV newscaster was trying to tell of the event
but he was so frightened he could not get through the newscast. (Newscasters
on TV who report tragic events are not like this. They just babble on
from one story to another. They know they are not affected. But in
this dream, the newscaster knew he was affected along with everyone else
in the world and he was terrified and just stopped speaking in the
middle of the newscast.)
I think this will happen when God shakes the earth as we read in the following scripture.
Heb.
12 ... See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped
not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape,
if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: 26Whose voice then
shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
27And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things
that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which
cannot be shaken may remain. 28Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which
cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably
with reverence and godly fear: 29For our God is a consuming fire.
Isaiah
2 ... And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness
of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that
day. 18And the idols he shall utterly abolish. 19And they shall go into
the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of
the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.
20In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of
gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and
to the bats; 21To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops
of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his
majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. 22Cease ye from
man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted
of?
Before the coming of Jesus, the earth will be moved out of place and there will be signs in the sky.
=========
In 1979, I had a terrifying dream and like Daniel I was upset several days over this dream and at first I didn't know what the dream meant.
In
the dream, a meeting was going on. A man was speaking to a group of
people and one chair was vacant on an aisle. I went into the room and
sat down and began listening to the man who was speaking.
A second man
rushed into the room and went to the front of the room and said: "Stop ... wait ... can't you see ... it's too late ... it's already begun."
After he said that, I looked out the window to see what was happening.
There was a tall, yellow civil defense type warning speaker and out of
it was coming a poisonous gas which I knew would kill us.
The shocking
thing was the gas was coming from the speaker which was supposed to warn
us. Instead it was poisoning us.
I looked at the man sitting next
to me. He was sitting up in his chair looking directly at the man who
was speaking. His eyes were open. He had big smile on his face ... but
he was already dead ... he was a corpse!
I looked around the room
and saw all the people who were listening to the man who was speaking
were dead. And as I sat there listening, I felt myself beginning to
fall asleep.
It was many months before I understood what this dream meant.
I
was at a Wednesday night service at the church I attended. All of a
sudden, it felt like I was surrounded by dead people. Everything felt
dead to me. The people looked like they did in that poison gas dream.
I got up and went to Ladies Room and began talking to God.
I said to God, "I think you are showing me to leave this church
group. I'm going to get into my car and drive away but if you want me
to return I will."
God didn't want me to return. HE began showing
me some serious errors in doctrine being preached at that church. And
then I realized this was an example of the poison gas dream. The
speakers who should have been warning us were killing us with their
doctrines. And if I sat there among them, I would fall asleep and die.
Since
that time, I've seen many church groups like this. They fail to
correct the people. They teach a type of "I'm OK, you're OK" doctrine.
And as a result of no correction, the people in the congregation fall
asleep. And I have seen preachers even add things to the Bible. Each
time I witnessed this, I would go to the preacher (in private) and show him the Bible
and he would not correct himself. He just got angry with me and tried
to accuse me. I've never yet seen a preacher correct himself when he was speaking things not in the Bible.
A
prophet once told me she would go into speak to groups at churches and
she knew the message would cause them to be angry so she would speak for
several minutes about other things and lead up to the message. As she
spoke leading up to the message she noticed the people in the
congregation seemed to be asleep. But when she began the warning
message, they awoke and got mad at her.
They ran Jesus out of town because of the message he was speaking.
Lk. 4 ... concerning Jesus ... And all they in the synagogue, when they
heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29And rose up, and thrust
him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their
city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. 30But he
passing through the midst of them went his way,
They did same to Peter and Paul. And when we speak those things given us by God, we will often find a type of persecution.
Part 4: God comforts us with dreams
When I built the house in Lubbock, the contractor fired his bookkeeper
during the construction. As a result there were some expenses we did
not expect. When he gave me the bill, I was shocked. I told him to
just put the house on the market. I couldn't pay for those extra
expenses.
During this time God gave me a dream to show me what would happen:
In this dream, a meteor was outside my kitchen window. It was just
"standing" there. Then it lifted and went over the house. I was
waiting for the explosion which would blow the house and me away. But nothing happened.
Also I was given a scripture as follows:
Isaiah
65 ... And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall
plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. 22They shall not build, and
another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days
of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the
work of their hands. 23They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth
for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their
offspring with them.
While it looked as if I would lose the house, this did not happen. God showed me to borrow the money for the extra expenses from one of our church members who offered the money without my asking for money. I did borrow from her and within 6 months had fully repaid her.
Part 5: God instructs us through dreams
After my mother died, a cousin tried to get me to move to the city where
she and husband and 2 adult sons live. She said the sons would be such
help to us as we got older.
But God gave me a dream showing
me that I could not go through my cousin's house. I had to find
another way to go. So I did not move to city with my cousin but went in
opposite direction, 350 miles away.
Part 6: God gives us information through dreams
Pam Padgett, in our church group, told the following interesting story.
Pam said: while still in high school, my family had
gone to see my sister who was away at college. When we got home,
my mom's friend, whose husband owned the wrecker service in our
town, called and told my mom that there had been a serious car
crash. That night I had a dream in which I was shown that Steve,
one of my classmates, had been killed in the car crash and that
another guy was also in the car. The next morning before I got
up, my mom's friend called and told her who had been killed. My
mom knew that Steve was in my class and came to tell me. But
before she could tell me, I told her that I knew that Steve had
been killed in the crash. She thought I had overheard her talking
on the telephone with her friend, but I told her I hadn't. God had given me this information in a dream.
Although I knew it was God giving me information, it was very
scarey to me that God would communicate with me like this. Having
been raised in the Catholic church, which always seemed so
"spooky" to me, I was afraid of God and didn't understand His love
for us and that He has given us His Spirit to help us and comfort
us. After this experience, for years before going to sleep at night, I would pray and
ask God to please not give me any dreams. The idea of God
communicating with me was terrifying to me.
Even though I was trying not to have God communicate with me, HE
showed great mercy toward me and gently and gradually taught me
truth about Himself. It was a great help when I went to college
and met a friend who read the Bible and she gave me a Bible. She
shared many things with me that helped me, although I don't
remember her saying anything specifically about the Holy Spirit.
I can remember trying to explain that it was like there was
something "in" me that had something to do with God, not knowing
that the Holy Spirit was in me. It was so helpful when I finally
saw what Paul said ... What? know ye not that your body is
the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of
God, and ye are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6:19)
When thinking back over these things, I am so thankful for God's
great mercy toward me. I was reminded of the following ... Like
as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them
that fear him. (Psalm 103:13)
========
Here is another example given by Pam ... in John 16:13 we're told that the Holy Spirit will show us things
to come. Several years ago I had a dream in which one of my
grandmothers died, but no one told me this had happened.
Some
months later, this is exactly what happened. I started to become
upset that no one told me she had died, but then remembered this
dream. Knowing that God had cared so much about me to show me
this beforehand, was very comforting to me, and I wasn't upset
that no person had told me.
========
Part 7: God warns us through dreams
I know of a woman who had a dream concerning her grandson. She dreamed he was in motorcycle accident. She told her
daughter and they promised the boy (who was college age) would no
longer ride motorcycle. A few months later, the boy was killed on
motorcycle.
Part 8: God showing through dreams what other people are doing
I have had many times when God has given me dreams to show me what other persons are doing.
There is a young woman, who was like a daughter to me. I loved
her very much. God gave me two shocking dreams to show me what she was
doing and to warn me. In one dream, she was very deformed, like a
dwarf. She was walking down hallway and could hardly walk she was so
fat and she was very short. I knew God was showing me to leave her
alone. I was given 3 or 4 dreams about her and in the dream she just
kept getting worse.
I had several dreams about another woman, who was in our church group for more than 30 years.
In four of these six dreams, I was shown she was getting worse.
Several months passed and I was shown her in a dream where I felt it was
telling me in the end she was going to be okay. Then I had another
dream which seemed to show she was back with us helping me.
Part 9: Working of the Holy Spirit
Jn. 14:26 ... But
the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my
name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your
remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Jn.
16:13 ... Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide
you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he
shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
4 things done for us by the Holy Spirit Who dwells in us:
- HE teaches us all things
- HE reminds us of everything Jesus has said
- HE guides us into all truth
- HE shows us things to come
Sometimes the Holy Spirit does these things through dreams.