SWEET DREAMS

I have always tried to be aware of what I view on t.v., at the movies, and on the computer. This is a practice not only to keep my integrity in check, but to keep my dreams nice and half-way reasonable also. However, according to Scripture, a wonderful life is not required to have really interesting dreams.

Joseph, Mary's husband, had quite a few dreams. The interesting thing about these dreams is that they had a spiritual directive element to them. As we look back now in Scripture we might observe - sure it was Father God making certain that His Word became flesh in Mary's womb, relations happened between Joseph and Mary, the family was protected and Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled. However, each time Joseph went to sleep and dreamt, an angel was charged with delivering important instructions for the family.

Just to ponder Joseph's encounter makes me wonder if I will ever receive this kind of visitation - an angel implanted in my dreams. In the universe we have the physical, the mental, and the spiritual. The spiritual permeates the other two. In the story of Joseph (Matthew 1-3) we see God inserting the spiritual (angel) into the mental (sub-conscience of Joseph). It's amazing and wonderful how God uses what He uses when He uses for His purpose(s). 

Joseph did not marry Mary and then find out she was pregnant. No. Joseph found she was "with child" while they were "pledged to be married" or engaged. Joseph still married her with intentions of divorcing her quietly so that the shame or "disgrace" of being pregnant out of wedlock would be avoided for Mary. Scripture calls Joseph a "righteous man". I agree. 

The next verse (Matthew 1:20) brings the supernatural into the picture. God only knows if this was a test - of who would be the right husband for Mary - by God. But the way Joseph acted toward Mary's situation and observing Heaven's response, I believe they made a great pair, although we don't hear much about them anywhere else in Scripture.

The catch-phrases here are - "the Lord appeared to him in a dream" and "having been warned in a dream".

1. "...the Lord appeard to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife,..." (Matthew 1:20)
2. "...an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. 'Get up,' he said, 'take the child and His mother and escape to Egypt.'" (Matthew 2:13)
3. "...an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 'Get up, take the child and His mother and go to the land of Israel,..." (Matthew 2:19)
4. "Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth." (Matthew 2:23)

An angel was inserted in Joseph's dreams after he displayed his integrity. It was God's choice to use His angel within Joseph's dreams to accomplish His will. Believing we are in "The Last Days" and have been since Christ ascended or at least since 1948 (Israel's rebirth) reconsider Acts 2:17 - “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.'" So, before you go to sleep tonight, especially if you consider yourself an old man/woman, fill your mind with Godly thoughts and images and think on how God used an angel within a dream to preserve His Plan of Salvation.....Sweet Dreams.