Stephanie Ike - Are Your Dreams From God

Throughout scripture, God used dreams and visions to speak to people, and today we're learning how to dissern his boys. Come on join us. How can we hear God and how can we experience a spiritual connection with Him that makes a difference in our home and in our workplace. And my testimony is that some decades ago, and I'm telling this from some decades ago because it's already born fruit, so to spirit. In other words, you can look at the story twenty years later. That's why I'm sharing this. My husband and I had a difference of opinion. I know you're all shocked. We've never experienced that. Go on. I've married almost fifty years, so now and then we've had a different uptunity and we're still married. And what had happened was he was feeling led to make some big decisions which would involve our family, involve me, changed the course. Of our life. And what it was about was moving across the country to take ministry in a different direction. He had been an evangelist, and that means, for people that are maybe listening, somebody who travels around every week, and he had done that for almost twenty years. But he had come to this place that he felt something different needed to happen. Well, I felt everything was perfect and we didn't need to change anything. And I wasn't in the mode of going to the Promised Land because I was in the Promised Land. And he had this stirring Now why am I sharing this? Because we talked about it, sometimes loud, sometimes very aggressively, sometimes quietly, but in that there was this over and over. He was saying yes and I was saying no. So time went on and we were visiting in Miami, and we were visiting at a church and they wanted us to come, and I had visited with him, and we were there and we talked with the leaders, the board and everything, and I had an experience where I was like, there. Is absolutely no. Way where I the soccer mom from Seattle, with my Nordstrom's credit card and my Starbucks cup and my black Navigator, I am. No way going to Miami. And this was in the we could use the word urban, it was more like the hood. It is what I'm telling you, and I just no way am I doing this. So we're down there visiting and I'm being polite because they've invited us to come, and my husband, and I had my little boy with me and he was eight years old at the time. So we go to bed, we go to sleep in the hotel, and all of it was a big fat no way. Many people didn't speak English. There was a very fragile part of the community, people who needed more. And I didn't think I was called to give it. I didn't think I was qualified. I didn't think I was the person. But believe me, I didn't look like anybody who was there, so that meant that was evidence. That I wasn't supposed to do that. Well, I went to bed, and we're in this hotel, and this is something that I believe. Is available to all believers, and that. Is, you have this trouble, whatever that is, and you go to sleep and you give it to God. Is what you say, Now, Lord, I don't have the answer, not enough of me. What do I do? And you close your eyes? And I believe that God allows us to go to sleep for a purpose. And the Bible talks a lot about sleep and a lot about dreams. And I didn't really know this at that point, but I went to sleep, and when I woke up, there was a dream. There was a release. Now I can't give you exactly what I sa saw in that dream. One of the things my husband reminded me on the phone last night, he said, Robin, you talked about how America was moving back to the city. Well, being a suburban lady, that wasn't something I was into. And I talked at that moment, and again, this is history, so for people listening, they're a big deal. But I talked about having an African American president come. Now, at that time, there had never even been that conversation. Of course, it was a dream for America, but that had never been in my consciousness. I had never thought about that. And I looked at my husband and I said, you know, I feel the dream of possibility is awaken me this morning, and I have the faith to agree with you for this move to Miami. So we brought our four sons and we started in this little, tiny church and we began. Now why that changed our life is because my sons now are all in Menace and the idea of diversity and equity, all that was just at the tip of the spear in the consciousness of America. But thankfully God honored me enough to be part of that ministry. And to move forward in that way, even though I'm the most unlikely forty five year old lady at that time to bring my four Abercrombie looking boys and stick them into this church where people were so kind that they put up with my unawareness of the American experience in this very diverse place. And I'm so honored that he used this dream, see this dream, and every day I can go back to that experience and i can say I'm in the right place, I'm okay, the miracle is here if I will just continue to walk that out that God revealed through that dream. Dreams have been a constant for me and God. There was so much training ground that He's used with dreams. I've had dreams we have met the Lord. I've had dreams where things have been explained to me. I've had dreams with my life. I've had all kinds of dreams, dreams, and I'm aware that I'm in the dream and I'm being taught in the dream. I had dreams that the Lord will tell me what he wants me to teach, you know, on the service, and he will. He will teach me the word in the dream, and I will wake up and I'm like, oh my gosh, let me. Go back to that scripture. So what I've learned about dreams is that it is holy ground. But similar to Moses, when Moses encountered God in the burning bush, there was an awakening that Moses that where you're standing is holy ground. Take off your shoes. It had to come to him that you might think this is just a regular place, but this is holy ground. And when we begin to understand that dreams are holy ground, we approach it differently. We approach going to bed differently. And I think that. Dreams are so critical to the life of every believer because similar you know, the Apostle Paul. We'll be talking about prophecy, right the Apostle Paul says that above all desire that you should prophesy. But when you think about the natural life, you know, researchers will tell you that the average person sleeps for twenty six years of their life, twenty six years of your life. You're sleeping. God is so into us that he doesn't want that to be wasted space that while you're sleeping that I can download revelation, prophetic direction, and insight about your life. And so even when we look at Moses again. You know when the Lord will say things like, if there is a prophet among you, I will speak to them through dreams and visions. But Moses, my servant, I speak to face to face. We ignore what God just said, if there is a prophet among you, that I release prophecy through dreams and visions. So there was a huge part that he was trying to. Highlight right there. And so with dreams it's powerful, but we have to engage it properly. And how do we do that. It's practical. Right when you're going to bed, have a moment, even in your prayer. Lord, as I'm going to bed, speak to me about my day. Because one of the things I learned in Genesis, the night started the day. When it would say. That and a new day was created, it will say there was evening and there was day. So the nighttime starts your day. So when you're dreaming, when you're in your sleep state, you go to bed and you have an expectation that God. As I go to bed, I know. I was just watching something on television, but don't let that influence this space. Lord, I'm giving you my dream. I'm surrendering that to you, and expectation looks like works. It means that you may have a journal by your bedside. It means that when you wake up, you're not quick to be distracted and let what you received in your spirit leave you, but you're quick to seek the face of God and all of a sudden. That's why, randomly throughout the day we're like, oh my, gosh, I had a dream that you had hours ago, but something was able to awaken you to like, oh my, and this dream was so critical for my life. Yeah, so fascinating, it's so good. I felt like in m my walk with the Lord, I've not had all dreams or visions. That wasn't something I was at least aware of. And so in this last season, I've just been so desperately seeking him. I like, Lord, I know that dreams are biblical and visions are biblical. So I asked him. I was like, give me a dream or a vision. Well, right around the time that I was making this hard decision last fall, like we were talking about, I had a vision. I was so I was awake, but it was like I was awaken. I was conscious, but it was like it appeared before me and I was walking through this tunnel, and the tunnel was really closed in and really dark and just kind of scary, you know what I mean, Like you couldn't see your right or your left or what was right. But it wasn't super long. It was kind of like medium length. And Jesus was with me. I was not alone. He was walking with me. And as we got through the tunnel, which was scary and unknown and I couldn't really see much, it just opens up and it's bright white and you could just see forever. And the thing that I felt like the Lord was affirming in me at that moment was, you know, there's been a pattern where, especially years ago, where the Lord would ask me to do something obey and I would expect that I was going to get a standing ovation for my obedience. I was gonna get a plause, maybe a parade. In my honor, matching T shirts like well done, Christy, you obeyed. No, Typically, the obedience leads me right into the wilderness, and I'm like, what I but. Aren't you proud of me? Like, don't I get a pat on the back? You almost start to doubt because when he leads you into the wilderness, because he's doing something in you preparation, and this. Is again is biblical. It could make you doubt that I make the wrong decision because it got hard. You obeyed and it got hard, and I just felt like that vision from the Lord was, yes, you remember that it's gotten hard before when you obeyed, and it will get hard again. But don't let that make you doubt. You are not alone. And just because you can't see doesn't mean I don't know where we're going. And so I just I think a lot of times God can give us visions or dreams, like you said, to reveal something, but also to just confirm something. You could ask, say, Lord, give me a dream to confirm this. I'm sensing this, but I'm not sure. Would you give me a dream to confirm this? And I love how you said about how much we sleep like that that's an opportunity for him to speak to us and down things to us that you know he doesn't want to waste that time. It's such a good perspective. Yeah, And I love what you said about dreams, you know, sometimes leading you into a season of adversity or difficulty. We see that with Joseph, he gets these unbelievable dreams about his future and his destiny. And he starts talking and then hands him in a bit and in a prison. I mean talk about delay. We talked about delay and waiting. I mean, he's your man. But then we see the fulfillment of the dream. And I've had that in my own life where God gave me a dream. He gave me a dream about one of our children before I was even pregnant with our second child. I had it by a dream, and I really believed. I heard God say, you're going to have a son, and you're to name him Noah Luca, but he'll be known as Luca, a bringer of light. I look up Luca. It means a bringer of light. I'm not pregnant. I'm like, Matt, we need to have a chat. I feel pregnant. I end up early delivery and my son is whisked away. It's a terribly scary situation. Matt's like, look out of the window, massive rainbow, and I'm thanking God. No matter what's happening right now, God spoke to me before he was born. This is a season of adversity right now. I don't know what's happening, but there's a rainbow. God saying I spoke to you about his name. I spoke to you about his life. Trust me for the promise. And I have so many times just literally just said his name. I say, no a Luca, No a Luca. It's like, why are you using my whole name. I'm like, I'm actually prophesying. I'm prophisying from. Before you were even a thing. And I've also had a vision only one time. In my life. I don't know if you've ever had a vision where you were just speaking about that. And that's different, and these are all in the prophecy family, right. But I was awake and I was in a prayer meeting and I had a vision. I was about nineteen years old and I saw someone come towards me. Who now I can tell you it was my husband. And in the dream, he's coming towards me and he's doing this, he's doing bodybuilding. I'm like, oh, okay. I don't know if this is the Lord, and he's coming towards me, and I just hear the Lord saying this vision, he's coming to get you to take you to do bodybuilding. Write down. Matt Redman appeared to me in a vision. He's going to take me to do bodybuilding. You know, I didn't even know him at that time. Later on, I end up in his bath and he says, there's a job going. We'd like to interview you. He says, we would like you to lead our disciplaship training course called Bodybuilders. This was years later. Now. If I'd have gone around like Joseph. Saying, oh my gosh, I have this vision Matt Redmond Bodybird, I mean I would have sounded he would have never spoken to me. I just held it in my heart and I ended up leading this discipleship program called Bodybuilders. God blew my mind. Prophecy ends up exalting, magnifying, glorifying Jesus, And I was so grateful. In both cases it was confirmation, encouragement, comfort. Yeah, that's so good. Good. You know. I love that Joseph didn't get free till he actually interpreted somebody else's dream, yes, you know, and he declared the faithfulness of God when he had yet to see it. Yes. And I think that's something. That for all of us, like, if we really believe that there's a promise on the other side, we can actually declare him promise her to other people. I know, for me, I had a very vivid, I would almost say a night vision. It was a dream, is large, pregnant with my fourth child, just surviving, just you know, wanting all my children to go to bed and be quiet. My husband is traveling and speaking, and I'm editing his book. From ten o'clock at night till. Two am in the morning, called The Bit of Satan, and I'm staying up typing. You know, I'm just needing my kids to go to bed so I can edit a book and. Get it out. And I go to sleep, exhausted, and I find myself awake standing in front of a platform of stone with a lioness laying on her side, and behind it was just this magnificent colors. I don't even know how to describe all of them. On the front of the platform was the word numbers and then the Roman numerals X X three. And I'm looking at this magnificent lioness, and even though she hadn't moved, I realized that she was more alive than me. And as I looked at her, I felt like something inside of me in large. And when I felt like I couldn't take anymore in, I heard a voice say with the birth of this sun, you will awaken a lioness. And everybody had said I was having a girl. We hadn't had this onnogram yet. And I came fully awake, immersed in the presence of God, reached over, picked up my Bible, open it up to numbers twenty three in verse twenty fours. As these people rise like a lioness. They roused themselves like a lion and I'm like, what in the world, But that's what happened. There was a fierce awakening in my life when I gave birth to Arden. His name Arden Christopher means fiery, determined, anointed one. And I've just watched how God's faithfulness when he woke me up, it gave me the power to actually share that and see. Other women have a fierce wake up. And so I believe that whenever God gives us a dream, just like when he gives us word, it's always to serve and build up others, not just to build up ourselves. So good and it prepares you know, the way you talk about dreams with pregnancy and even the lioness, it reminds me of a particular dream that I had when God was showing me a daughter I have not had yet, and he was talking to me about ministry, and it was that she would not be in ministry, but she would be in ministry in a different way. And he showed me how she would be someone who would be captivated by journalism, but journalism in like war torn countries. I said, oh, my gosh, no. And then he tells me her name. Her name would be Ariel, yes, lion of God. And I said, of course that's her name. It would need to be because she would. Need to be a liar, she would need to be fierce for what he's already revealing to me about her. And in that dream, I hold onto that so much because when that time comes, that has to anchor me, because I don't think any mother would be so quick to say, go ahead, just go to that war country. I would pray that she was a different career, you know. So even through that, God starts to prepare you for things that would be hard, yes, in your future. I love that we're talking about how sometimes we'll say something and we don't even realize what we're saying, and then in hindsight, the Lord's going, hey, remember what you said recently? The last like six months or so, I feel like the Lord has been saying, Hey, this is the path for my son, Conley, my middle son, this is the school he supposed to go to with his brother and so on. And it's been kind of like a lot of different decisions because he's got some challenges and developmental things, and so we really felt like we were on the right path. And I mean I was believing God like speaking it over him, and it's not about this school is a thing, but it was more symbolic of that he's doing well versus having to go a different route and that type of thing. And I feel like the Lord affirmed it and affirmed and affirmed it. And so what I had said through the whole last four months, I just kept saying out loud, whatever decision they come back with, I'm gonna trust whatever decision because we've given all the information, We've covered all the bases. Everybody's on the same page with all the reports and assessments and all the things. Whatever they come back with. And I got the call they. Don't feel like he's ready, And it was like everything in me, like I got lioness in me. I'm like everything in Me's. Like, okay, like everything he wanted to fight and advocate for him and be like, look at the reports and Lord, I thought you said and all of that, and I feel like the Lord's remember what you said. You said, You're gonna trust whatever you said. You're gonna trust whatever decision they come back with is the right decision for this year. It's not forever, but for this year. But it's very hard because I felt like I'm being obedient, following the path. All the signs are pointing in the struction, and then God will take you on a turn that you didn't see coming, or it doesn't play out like you thought. And for me, I felt like. The Lord brought me back towards I had said, just kept saying out loud, I'm gonna trust what they come back with. I'm gonna trust what they come back with. And now the Lord goes, hey, you need to trust what they come back with. And so sometimes we will say things that we don't realize what we're saying at the time, and he'll bring it back to us even if we don't recognize it afterwards. He'll go, remember what you said, Remember what you said. It's dreams that are in our hearts that we are born with, because I believe each of us has purpose. And there is a dream that comes alive when we are sensing, or we are in prayer, or maybe we're in a moment of need and something comes to live. Well, it's not supposed to be like this. Well, that's because there is this. God dream in us, and that is that creative miracle. I mentioned that prophet spoke to me about a regenerative miracle. Well, for your boy, there's a creative future that's coming out of your heart, a God dream for him. And as Stephanie was talking, and I just admire her so much because she's one of. These naturally spiritual people. I just love everything about you know, I mean, gorgeous, smart, all that stuff, and then she has this amazing spirit. Well, the good news is that if you don't think you are that spiritual person in life, God is using circumstances like with your son, like with your son, like with my son, all of our families and children. He uses like yours. He uses these circumstances to help us see this God dream. And you were talking earlier about the idea of going to sleep, and there's twenty years or plus and I've come to realize that that is the magic time in my life. Today, this very morning, I went to bed with a problem, an issue. I like to call it an opportunity. I didn't know what to do, and I've learned that as you go to sleep and you close your eyes, that's God's way of putting a period on yesterday's problem, yesterday's situation. For me, sometimes I need to forgive someone the word release someone, or I need to let go of my heartbreak. And with that, I've come to realize that sleep is the answer, because even this morning, I woke up and the answer was there. I call that a dream. God answers with a dream of a solution every day He allows that. I think too, one of the things we've talked a lot about kids like I think there's something too with our dreams for our kids, and our dreams and our hearts and the visions we have for them. And I think for me, one of the things I've struggled with as a mom is I have a picture in my mind of what it's going to be like, and then either circumstances don't turn out like I think it's going to be like, or that align with the dream. And I think there's something really difficult but really powerful in letting go of the picture. So like Carter and Conley are eighteen months apart, we had them super close together. We one of the best friends, go to school together. And so now this is more than just it's not about the school, right, Like, it's not about school at all. It's about the picture I have right of my boys being best friends and going into the lunch. Yes, And so it's trusting going okay, God, your picture is always better than my picture. Your plans are always better than my plans, your ideas, your ways are always better. And so for us to even when things are moving in a direction, or someone gives you a word in a different direction, or things you praying life over them, and then maybe the timing isn't what you wanted or hoped, but to go, okay, God, I can trust you with your picture, even though I can't see it, and maybe it's not what I had in my hand head, But I tend to hold on to the picture. I had, you know, in my head of things, which is hard. Yeah, because even when I talk about like what gotcham me about the daughter that I will have, I always envision that, you know, I'll train this little girl into ministry, reach a machine, and then that just you know, took that away. I'm gonna tell you that's not all you know, but it's to realize. And I think all of these things bring us back to the truth, right, that we are only stewards. That we don't own anything. You know, you don't own your children, you don't own even the blessings of God, the promises of God. None of it is yours to own. Right. We are only called as stewards over that. And so when we even live in that place of stewardship, then it's easier to receive instruction from the Lord. It's easier even when you wake up and there's a solution in your heart because you recognize that I'm only managing what comes from God, right, and so you have a trust that even if I went asleep with this issue, Lord, as I awaken You know, I love when you talk about waking up with that solution in your heart because it reminds me about when the Scripture says that His mercies are making you every morning. You know that it just brings us back to that. I love that we're tying that in because the prophetic. Again, a lot of times when we think about the prophetic, we want to think about the blessings that God bless. Me, give me this, you know, and rich my life. And it just. Comes back to God gives instructions for things because it's all about Him. It has nothing to do with us owning anything, but just managing what comes from Him. Yeah. And you know, the Bible even talks about not going to bed with anger. Yes, it does, you know. And you mentioned earlier about the idea that you lay down. What I do is I put my hands on my heart and I close my eyes and I say Lord, I love you. I do my gratitude, I use my fingers and count my blessings, and that brings me to a place of peace. And I've learned that as I go into that slumber, I can trust God. Like you talked about, that the answer will come. And so I'd like to pray with all of us, I'd like you to agree with me that there are those that are listening right now that are really a desperate moment, and yet there is a solution. As we go to sleep tonight, we can trust him. So Father, we lift up our friends who are watching right now, and even in this circle, we agree together that the answer is on the way, that revelation is coming into our lives. What's revelation a new idea? And thank you. God that we start over every morning brand new. So Lord, we say yes to what you're bringing to us, even tonight and all day long, in Jesus' name, Amen, Amen at TBN. 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