I believe some dreams and visions are Gifts of the Spirit, a panoramic delivery of Tongues, Discerning of Spirits, Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith, Healing, Working of Miracles or Prophecy that impacts all the senses as well as our mind, will and emotions.

Tongues: A friend of ours had not spoken in tongues until he dreamed that the elders at his church laid hands on him. In the dream he began to speak in tongues as they prayed. Suddenly he awoke, still speaking in tongues!

Discerning of Spirits: I dreamed there was a doctor in my parent’s house. He was very pleasant and seemed like a friend though I did not remember seeing him before. He walked around in my parent’s den as though he was totally at home there. I stood in the entry hall watching him and thought he was extremely nice; yet I was ill at ease for some reason. Then he turned and asked me in a sympathetic tone, "Does my friend, Kathy, have cancer?" Suddenly I was trembling, terrified and unable to speak. Somehow I knew I had to answer "No." But I still could not speak, so I slowly shook my head, "No." It took me four days to get over the fear of the experience so I could question the Lord about the dream. During that four days, I was even wondering if the dream was a sign to me to go to the doctor, but I could not reconcile that to the uneasy feeling I had about the "nice doctor". When emotion subsided, I could hear God clearly as He made me to realize that the "doctor" in my parent’s home was a "familiar spirit" that had free-run in our home. For years the spirit had come by to insinuate sickness and infiltrate conversations and situations with dread of physical maladies. Of course, the dream and discerning the cunning wiles of a spirit, posing as an authoritative "friend" that we were used to having around, was for intercessory, deliverance purposes for my whole family. Praise God!

Word of Wisdom: In a dream, I was seated by Marty in church. Suddenly I looked over my right shoulder as three men whirled into the room. They were 7' tall and huge otherwise as well. All three were almost glowing with an aura around their head and chest and were dressed in full, black robes with a strange black head gear suspended over their heads like the sail of a hang glider. They were evil and strongly anointed to be so. Somehow I knew that they would change into normal sized, average men if they were not under this evil anointing, and their whole countenance, size and even eye color would change in the metamorphose. In the next moment Marty and I were in a car and I was in the driver’s seat. The leader of the three men came and stuck his head in the driver’s side car window. He was unnaturally white, bald and had small, beady blue eyes that were bloodshot and piercing. I pulled away as he got right in my face saying, "That’s the trouble with you women. You always try to curse us." I drove away quickly, urgent to get out of his reach but also excited like a reporter with an inside scoop. As I awoke, I wondered if the evil man was attacking me on the basis of gender; thinking that made me more easily intimidated. But then I realized that my position in the car as driver was intercessory, (due to the fact that I only drive when Marty is tired or studying to minister.) His intended intimidation and slur had actually given him away. The attack was on my intercessory position and I knew I should take advantage of his disclosure and focus on the blessing of the Lord to displace him and shut him down in this three-day meeting we were beginning. I found scriptures to confirm this Word of Wisdom: Rom 12:21-Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good and Ps 109:28-29 - Let them curse, but bless thou: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let thy servant rejoice. Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle. Then I received a tape by Ed Silvoso, an intercessor for cities. He said, "The way to take a city was to begin to bless it with the peace of God; for peace will overtake any and every curse because Peace is more powerful. Peace clears the airways and allows the people to have an ear to hear."

Knowledge: Joseph received a word of knowledge through a dream: "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. And Joseph did not hesitate." Through a vision, Paul knew Ananias was coming to lay hands before Ananias even got there. A missionary friend of mine dreamed what was happening to her family back in the States thousands of miles away and already knew the details when she spoke with them. Recently I dreamed that my nephew walked into the room and I grabbed him and began praying for healing of his blood cells. Weeks later, the doctor was certain that the boy had a mole that was cancerous. But the doctor didn’t know God had already sent word that there was a condition that needed prayer. The tests proved God had already intervened!

Faith: With the mandate of a dream came the faith to act on it obviously because Joseph awoke and acted accordingly. Matt 1:20 But 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. Matt 1:24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:

I believe the gifts of Faith, Healing, Working of miracles and Prophecy can be imparted to us in dreams or visions that we could only describe as rehearsals. And I believe the principle is that we are much more apt to do what we have practiced, even if it was practiced in a dream. For years, my husband Marty has described his dreams and visions with tears and trembling. His soul and spirit were enlarged, transformed under the awesome anointing he experienced as he stood in unfamiliar scenes doing mighty deeds or making proclamations that literally delivered the hearers. His spirit groans to release the gift of Healing like he did in the dream where a young businessman stood to the right of him. The young man was hit by the power of God and began to stumble around while shaking violently. Two women grabbed him and tried to help him stand. He was looking at Marty with horror. Marty walked over to him and touched his chest on the right side saying, "you are eaten up with cancer in this area, aren’t you?" The young man couldn’t talk but shook his head in agreement. Marty then said, "Be healed in the name of Jesus!" The young man shook violently and was held in place while receiving awesome divine healing. The gifts of the Spirit are living seeds in his soul, growing there until the time of fruit-bearing. At that time he can give such as he has been given.

Working of Miracles: Marty’s heart has been impregnated, positioned and prepared to raise the dead by the Working of Miracles as he did in a dream in Africa. He stood by a platform where corpses were laid out awaiting burial. He walked over to a corpse, a man in a blue shirt, laid hands on his chest and prayed in tongues. The man jerked and halfway fell back over the side of the platform. As he laid hands on him again, he sat up, jerked his head and began to look around. A man standing by the platform was a relative of his and began to yell! One corpse was a very old man and Marty wondered if it would work on him. The old fellow sat up just as soon as Marty touched him! Marty was laughing and weeping saying, "This is so much fun!" Our daughter Melissa has experienced the gift of Working of Miracles in a dream as she was challenged by a gang to prove the power of her Christianity. She picked up a piece of the face of a young girl whose body had exploded and called forth a creative miracle. All the gang members witnessed the girl return to life as her body re-formed, growing out of the piece of flesh in Melissa’s hand!

Prophecy: I dreamed that Marty and I and another minister were in a field where these huge trees had been cut down. You could see trees and forest in the distance, but in this area there was a big cleared field. There were gigantic stumps everywhere like all the trees had been cut down. The stumps were 15 - 18 inches high and 5 to 8 feet in diameter. We would walk up to a stump and Marty would lift his hands. I could see his mouth moving but heard no sounds. As he lifted his hands and spoke, huge, golden drops of rain would start falling slowly on the trunk, just within its parameters. Then we would move to another stump. But then I heard a voice behind me say, "You water the stumps and I’ll bring the fruit!" I woke up at 3:30a.m., suddenly aware that I had heard a word of prophecy that was saying to boldly prophesy and expect miracles - like fruit coming from stumps!. In scripture, I found one of the meanings of "prophesy" is, "drop as rain!" And a scripture study of "stumps" in Isaiah 6:13 indicated a remnant of strong people (oaks) of God, having been cut down, would yet bear resurrection life through that ministry of prophecy.

Dreams and visions are definitely doors to experiencing the gifts and enabling grace of God. It would probably be impossible to recall all the gifts of the Spirit we have been given in dreams and did not receive them as such; but realizing that the Spirit of God can minister to us in this way should definitely motivate us to reposition to the receiving mode. Since we can only give what we have received, it is important that we not refuse His gifts and glimpses of His power. Rather let us position ourselves to be prepared and equipped through dreams and visions.