Devo Week 10

A Gentile Dream - Spiritual Guidance

God can speak His truth through unexpected and unlikely sources. Both dreams and the interpretation of dreams are gifts of God. But, not all dreams are from God, so discernment is key. We must actively seek and pray for discernment to cooperate with the Holy Spirit. This reality is important to consider in our lives and those around us.

Key Concept: Spiritual Guidance through Dreams

Both the Akha and Akeu are animistic and ancestral in their worldview and belief system. Basically, this means they believe that spiritual beings control the physical realm. Such a worldview guides most of the larger world religions as many of them have a similar overarching worldview with spirits engaging the natural realm. It is also very close to the biblical worldview with spiritual beings and rulers engaging and interacting with mankind and nations. (Eph. 6:12)

Animists tend to view life through the lens of misfortune, fortune and circumstances. Dreams, consequently, are a common mode of communication among animistic people. They are also biblical. At key times in Jewish history, spiritual guidance through dreams significantly impacted the lives of Jacob, Joseph and Daniel. During the exile in Babylon, God used the gift of dreams and the interpretation of dreams to further His Kingdom. Dreams were also significant around the birth of Jesus and continued throughout the New Testament with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:17)

We have encountered spiritual dreams among followers of Jesus and those who are not yet followers (like the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar). Among the Akha and Akeu, we never encountered atheists, but rather those who were constantly relating life to the spiritual realm. This kept us constantly praying, as the Apostle Paul taught, for a spirit of wisdom and revelation to rest upon us. (Eph. 1:17)

In Devotional 10, I mentioned our disciple Mi Sha who was given divine favor to live with the Akeu shaman's family. Being from an unreached people group, this family had not yet been given the opportunity to hear and receive the Good News. They knew Mi Sha was a follower of Jesus. The Akeu shaman's dream, we discerned, was a warning that Mi Sha should move out and allow time and space for him to choose his allegiance. The shaman had been given clear communication that Jesus had died and come back to life as the Holy God. His dream was consistent with what Paul had written in I Cor. 2:8-10 and was proven to be a divine visitation, as a few months later he chose to follow Jesus.

Key Word Definition: animism (noun)

-- the attribution of a soul to plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena.

-- the belief in a supernatural power that organizes and animates the material universe.

Excerpt from Devotional 10 with highlighted word:

"Like with Nebuchadnezzar, the Lord may speak in a dream, or by another means of revelation to anyone, from the highest to the lowest in society. We witnessed this many times among the Akeu, an animistic and ancestral worshipping tribe who had not yet received Christ ... One time, in particular, one of our Akha disciples moved into the Akeu village to live with the shaman’s family. After a few weeks, the shaman commented that there was too much spiritual warfare in his house. 'Some of the spirits to whom I sacrifice killed your God, but your God was holy and came back to life. Even though I like you, there is simply too much spiritual warfare for you to continue living here,' he said ... He had spoken one of the deepest truths."

Scripture: Daniel 2:45

“The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy.”