Dreamers

And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.—Acts 2:17

Dreams. Visions. Many of us have heard the stories of individuals from unreached people groups, seemingly with no opportunity to hear the Gospel, having dreams through which God is speaking to them, or where Jesus is appearing and calling them to follow after Him. But are these encounters real? Is Jesus actually calling people during the night when they are sleeping? In brief, yes, he is calling through dreams and visions. In many cultures, dreams carry great significance, and that is no less true when Jesus, Lord of all things, appears in one’s dreams calling them to follow after Him.

The following account is of one man who was called by Jesus through such a dream.

That’s What They Said in My Dream

A man in his eighties, Amad had already lived longer than most of the people he had known. In years past, he was known as one of the greatest farmers in the region, farming large fields of grain, mainly millet, with all the work of preparation, planting, and harvesting being done by hand. Now, he was a revered man in his village, and one of its oldest members. Why had God given Amad such a long life, when so many of his friends and neighbors had already passed on? Death had claimed them.

At the invitation of Yaya, who had attended a series of discipleship meetings just a few kilometers away in another village, we stopped in his village to greet him and his family before leaving the region. While greeting Yaya’s family, we met his father—Amad.

Amad welcomed our team into the room where he was seated and working, and immediately began telling us of a dream he’d just had the night before our arrival. He wanted to know if we could possibly tell him what the dream meant. With great excitement, Amad shared that in the dream he could see himself asleep in his bed. However, he could also see “foreigners” standing all around him. Although they were talking, he couldn’t understand anything they were saying, except for one phrase, “What once was lost has now been found.”

After listening to Amad share about his dream, our team of volunteers and indigenous partners shared the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As a part of our message, we told Amad of a father who had two sons (Luke 15). When the younger son returned home after wasting the inheritance his father had given to him, his father declared, “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” Immediately, Amad spoke up, declaring, “That’s exactly what they said in my dream.” At that point, we told Amad we wanted to pray for him, and ask God to give him a clear understanding of his dream. At first, he was afraid of what it might mean for him to turn from the only path he’d known for more than 80 years. Then, as the Spirit of God continued to work in his heart, Amad said, ”I understand, and I want to become a believer now.”

Over the next two years before his death, Amad sought to know God more deeply and follow Christ more faithfully. Prior to his dream, he’d lived his whole life in the grip of darkness and false religion. But now, by grace through faith in Christ alone, he had been given the hope of eternal life. Amad lived his remaining days full of Joy—a testimony of God’s grace and tender mercy. God spoke to him in a dream and revealed Himself through the power of the message of the Gospel.