God is Using Dreams

In this excerpt from his book, Jesus in Iran, Eugene Bach shares how God is using dreams and visions to draw Muslims into a relationship with Jesus the Messiah.

 

I would like to state that I am not much into visions and dreams. In Christian circles, I am in the minority. After serving for more than fifteen years in the underground house church in China, I am an endangered species. I personally dislike the idea of living life based on a vision or a dream. I am not saying that it is wrong; I am only saying that I don’t like it because it doesn’t make sense to me.

I like things that I can touch, taste, smell, or measure. I like things that I can observe or hold in my hands. I watch TV shows where people are explaining to others what their dreams mean or I listen to Christians talk about the iconology of dreams and I try to learn, but I can’t help but feel like an outsider, because those ideas are so far from my own reality.

If I have an intense dream about driving a car through a crowd of Africans riding on pandas speaking Persian, the first thing that I assume when I wake up is that I ate too much chili the night before. I do not assume that God is trying to speak to me or that something in my dream is pointing to an omen in my future.

Prophetic interpretations can really make me nervous. One time I traveled to see a mission director in the southern part of the United States who has since become a good friend of mine. We were supposed to spend some time together speaking about mission work. Instead, he had set up for me an appointment with a room full of prophets. I was sure that it was a gag. Anyone who knows me knows that I believe that God uses prophets greatly, but I like to observe; I do not participate.

“Eugene, we are just going to go up to our prayer room and spend time with you and see what God is saying over your life,” my friend said to me as we stepped into the elevator. Eight other people joined us in the elevator. They all looked at me and smiled, knowing I was going to be their pet project for the day. They were the team of prophets, otherwise known as the “God Squad,” who were tasked with praying over me.

I was nervous and felt out of place. “So … where are you guys from?” I asked as we waited for the elevator to move. I have lived in Hong Kong for almost half of my life, where time is short, people are busy, and the elevators move like roller coasters. After experiencing Hong Kong elevators, American elevators feel like they take a lifetime to move up or down. Someone needed to break the silence on the slow American elevator.

Tags: dreams, featured, god

Category: Spirit, Spring 2019