In this message we are going to establish the Scriptural foundation that God speaks through dreams. It is one of the ways that He speaks. In fact, as we shall see, it is His nature to speak through dreams in all 3 major eras shown in the Bible:
– the era before the Law (i.e. before the Old Testament that was established when God gave the Law to Moses);
– the era of the Old Testament, when the nation of Israel was under the power and obligation to observe the Law, right up to the days of Jesus;
– the New Testament era, when seeing dreams was/is one of the major manifestations of the promised Holy Spirit that was given on Pentecost.
God speaks through dreams, and many are the Christians who desire earnestly to listen to God’s Voice. After this teaching some may find that God begins to speak to them in their dreams, because they have believed what He is teaching us through the Bible.
Every dream is from God, in the sense that:
– when a dream reveals, e.g. the worry and anxiety of our troubled soul, it is still of God who wants to reveal to us what is happening within our soul, so that we can deal with it;
– when a dream reveals a demonic attack, it is still of God who wants us to be aware of the demonic attack, and so on.
gave us the capacity to see dreams, so that many things can happen through them:
– He may be able to speak to us, from His Spirit to our spirit;
– He may reveal hidden and secret things in the sense of warning;
– He may reveal the state of our own heart or soul or other issues;
– He may show us the future concerning something that He wants us to know, e.g. our calling; and so on.
When we wake up in the morning, one of the important reasons why we need to take the time to pray before we start the day, is because in that time of prayer we may remember a dream that we saw in the night, which we forgot as soon as we woke up. But when we pray first thing in the morning, the dream comes up, out of our spirit where it has been stored, and is made known to our mind, so that we may remember it. Then, through prayer, we may also receive the interpretation.
The interpretation of every dream is provided by God to our spirit together with the dream. So, every person carries the interpretation of the dream within our spirit. However, for the most part, we need prayer to discern and “read” what was imparted to our spirit through the dream.
By experience I have come to the following conclusion about trying to understand what a dream means/says: I can never, as in NEVER EVER, and under ANY circumstances, figure out the meaning of the dream by using my mind. The more I try to use my wits to get the message, the farther and farther away I am drifting from coming to the place of receiving the interpretation. There is only way to receive the correct interpretation; that is to shut my mind and thoughts about it, and pray until the message is “unzipped” (as in “unlocked”, “unpacked”), and is given to me.
When the message of the dream is “given to me”, I know it is given, because I know I could have never thought of that myself. The message that is given is always different to what I thought I understood. Therefore, when at first we feel at loss that we do not understand the dream we saw, that is good! It is a strong indication that it is a message from the Lord that needs prayer so that it may be revealed.
While praying to receive the interpretation of a dream, it is highly advisable that we humble ourselves and lay down our agendas, ambitions, desires, fears, or whatever emotion or memory may affect us and deceive us.
I believe many people have been deceived because they chose the interpretation of their dream that suited their emotions. This is also shown in the Scriptures, that people can be “encouraged” to see the dreams of their own desires. In such case, the dream is still of God, who wants us to see our own hidden desires; but then He delivers us to our own choices.
What we see in the dream may carry a different message from person to person, depending on their culture. I remember they used this example: if an African sees a dog in the dream, it is an enemy, it is danger. But if a European or American sees a dog, that is a trusted and devoted friend.
The speakers of the Conference in Athens of March 2008 and their books. You can learn a lot more about dreams and interpretation from them.
Dr. Joe Iboje
Illustrated Dictionary of Dream Symbols: A Biblical Guide to Your Dreams and Visions
Pastor Gary Fishman
Dream Interpretation: New Revised Edition: A Beginner’s Manual and Dictionary