George F. Richards once said, "I believe in dreams, brethren. The Lord has given me dreams which to me are just as real and as much from God as was the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar, which was the means of saving a nation from starvation, or the dream of Lehi who through a dream led his colony out of the old country across the mighty deep to this promised land, or any other dreams that we might read in the scriptures." Dreams are not the stuff of fiction or only what happens in the Ensign; they are real and true. The question is how does one have a dream or vision?
Nephi tells all about dreams in his acount in 1 Nephi. In chapter 10 verse 19 he says that "he that diligently seeketh shall find." Nephi then shows us that it works by doing it in chapter 11 verse 1 when "after (he) desired" he was granted knowledge. In this case the knowledge that he recieved was in the form of a vision, but our case usually it comes in the form of a feeling or just a thought that crosses our mind. This, however, isn't always the case as Joel puts it in Joel chapter 2 verse 28 "your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions."
What else can we do to help obtain visions, dreams, and spiritual promptings. Well, in Genesis chapter 28 verses 11-12 Jacob has these same desires, so he "lighted upon a certain place." That means he went to a holy place to get inspiration. For us that could mean going to the temple, finding a quiet place, or, for me at least, heading to the outdoors. These are places that the chaos of life is left behind and time can be devoted to pondering and praying.
An important purpose of these visions and dreams is to focus our testimony like it did for George F. Richards, "I had a dream which I am sure was from the Lord. In this dream I was in the presence of my Savior as he stood mid-air. He spoke no word to me, but my love for him was such that I have not words to explain. I know that no mortal man can love the Lord as I experienced that love for the Savior unless God reveals it to him. I would have remained in his presence, but there was a power drawing me away from him. As a result of that dream, I had this feeling that no matter what might be required of my hands, what the gospel might entail unto me, I would do what I should be asked to do even to the laying down of my life." That is the power of dreams and visions, to strengthen a testimony and help set the course.
Dreams and visions are divine communications that are meant to help us as God's children. We can help obtain these by "diligently seeking," pondering, and taking ourselves to a holy place. The result of these can be powerful stuff. Visions and Dreams are in the rhelm of possibility if we will just try a little bit.
Works Cited:
Spencer W. Kimball, "The Cause is Just and Worthy," Ensign, May 1974, 118 (quotes George F. Richards)
Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 10:19
Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 11:1
Holy Bible, King James Version, Joel 2:28
Holy Bible, King James Version, Genesis 28:11-12
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11 comments:
Chadd, I would love to hear more of your thoughts on this! It's a really interesting topic and you have found a lot of great stuff in the scriptures and in your other research. It felt a little bit abrupt and underdeveloped. You used a lot of quotes but didn't seem to probe a lot of questions. Why do you include the quotes? If you provided an introduction to each quote, it might help the reader understand what you are trying to say better.
I like the way that you began with the George Richards quotation and then you went back to Brother Richards again near the end of the piece. The posting has a good clear direct tone.
I liked how you explained that dreams can be testimony builders; I think that even reading about other people's dreams--such as the prophets of old--can strengthen our testimonies as well.
I love how you explain dreams and their purposes and how wonderful they can be. Thank you.
I loved the quotes you used to support your topic on visions and dreams. Good job!
What I really liked was when you said that you go outside to receive inspiration, because nature is a beautiful place and when you can't make it to the temple, a quiet place outside is a good place to go. When you think about all the wonderful inspirations that came to people who were outside, you realize how close you can be to the Lord when you are in a quiet place in nature and that when you are there you can receive visions and inspirations. Don't forget that Joseph Smith was in a beautiful grove when he had the First Vision.
I like how you show that in genesis it was necessary to go to a holy place, and compare that to us having to go somewhere where we can receive inspiration.
I enjoyed your personal experiences. Good job!
Chad, I liked how you metioned how we can use the visions and dreams, good job!
I'd never heard that story about George F Richards dream, neat! Thanks for sharing!
I like how you posed the question "how do we obtain dreams and visions?" Its hard to know if dreams are from Heavenly Father or if they are from our own conscience. We need our Father's guidance.
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