Merriam Webster defines dreams as “a series of thoughts, images, or emotions occurring during sleep”. For the most part of my life, I never took my dreams seriously or even considered them important. Two reasons accounted for that; first, I had a wrong teaching about dreams and second, most of my dreams seemed meaningless to me. Thinking about it, we should all be knowledgeable about dreams because every human has the ability to dream or has had at least a dream in their lifetime. This speaks volumes about the importance of dreams. God gave us this ability on purpose and that is regardless of our origins, gender, religious stance, education or any other criteria. It is like instinct and conscience, no one was left out by God – The Creator.
The late Dr Myles Munroe said “when the purpose of a thing is not known, abuse is inevitable”, so it is important for us to understand the purpose and value of these visual encounters we have when we go to bed. You see, an absence of knowledge, wrong knowledge or insufficient knowledge about a topic often lead to the same result. So a person like me who was taught that dreams are meaningless and unimportant in our days and a person who knows they are important but doesn’t know what to do about them are both stuck and unequipped. They waste precious information.
Proverbs 16:4 (ESV) – “The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.”
God gave us the ability to dream as a means through which He could communicate with us and as a source of information to us regardless of whether we are Christians or not. Given that we are spirit beings first, dreams allow us to pick information or signals from the spirit realm which then transit through our soul as dreams. It happens when we are asleep because our spirit doesn’t have to wrestle with the various activities in our soul (our thoughts, emotions, mindsets and so on). So, because our mind is finally at rest while we sleep, we can perceive things that our spirit being wants us to be aware of.
Let us look at the Bible for a while. We can see throughout scriptures various examples of instances where people had dreams for various reasons and that regardless of whether they believed in God or not, regardless of their gender, their age, social status and even environment.
Job 33:14-19 (ISV) – “God speaks time and time again but nobody notices – in a dream or night vision, when a deep sleep falls on mankind while they sleep on their beds. That’s when he opens the ear of mankind, authenticating his messages to them, turning a person from his actions, keeping him from pride, sparing his soul from the Pit and his life from violent death. He is being reproved by painful bed rest, with continual aching in his bones”.
However, just because God is the creator of dreams doesn’t mean that He is the author of every dream we have. In order to make correct use of the information we get from our dreams, it is important we know the source. Besides God, there are two other sources of dreams.
- The Soul:
Not all dreams are from the spirit realm because our soul also has the ability to serve us information in the form of dreams. Have you ever watched a movie so much that you dreamt of it? Or have you ever thought about a person, situation or event right before bed and as a result of that you had a dream about it?. This is the kind of situation I am talking about. These kind of dreams don’t need to be dissected nor demand any interpretation because not only are they straight forward but we often know what led to them.
Ecclesiastes 5:3 (NKJV) – “For a dream comes through much activity, And a fool’s voice is known by his many words.”
The soul can pick up information from various places with or without our consent. As such, an information manifesting as a dream can come in from our eye gate, ear gate, environment, thoughts and even emotions.
Just as examples, I can talk about a time when I used to watch a show called Grimm which featured strange beings living amongst humans and I found myself dreaming that they were after me. Another experience is when I dreamt of myself in different scenarios with people I had recently met as a result of a change of environment.
2. The Devil and other Evil Spirits
Dreams are a common weapon used by the devil against humans. The devil is interested in everything God has created, uses and shows an interest in. So, the devil can hijack this portal of communication. However, not every bad dream or nightmare is from the devil. As previously stated, nightmares can also come from the soul but a lot of spiritual attacks from the devil manifest in our dreams.
So, how do I distinguish if the source of a nightmare is my soul or the devil?
Ask yourself if what you see in your dreams result from what you’ve heard, seen or experienced; is the dream recurrent or does it come at certain precise turning points of your life?; have you realized any effect of these dreams on your body or mind after waking up or in your life after having them?
Dreams from the devil are very distinctive and often carry certain patterns which enable us to identify him as the source. Although there might be exceptions and uncommon cases, these negative dreams are often recurrent, they often leave you exhausted, depressed, anxious or in fear and in some cases manifest just when you are about to experience a breakthrough or cross a significant milestone in your life. Its important to take note of your emotions both in the dream and after you wake up.
Some common examples are dreams with a sexual character, eating in your dreams, encounters with the dead, dreams of you in your old home, writing exams and not finishing them or going back to school, dogs or other fearful animals running after you, beings fighting you in your dreams, seeing yourself having an accident, seeing yourself sick or in the grave, being harmed in a dream, being in a pit, just to list a few.
These dreams often result from attacks against you in the spirit realm and show what is being planned or has been planned against you. In showing you these dreams, the devil’s aim is to create fear in you so that your fear opens the door for his plans to manifest. It is not the time to panic but to refuse them because God has given you authority.
The most important thing is what you do after these dreams. You have the power to cancel, rebuke and abort every evil scheme against you in prayer using the Word of God and by declaration.
Matthew 18:18 (NKJV) – “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Isaiah 54:17 (NKJV) – “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their righteousness is from Me, Says the LORD.”
I cannot begin to tell you the number of times I have had nightmares, whether it was dogs after me or seeing myself going back to school and writing exams that I am not able to finish. I know too well that the devil’s objective is to weary me, plant seeds of fear and even delay so I wake up and boldly declare the Word of God concerning me: “But my path as a just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day; I go forward ever and backward never; no weapon formed against me shall prosper; if my enemies come against me in one way, the spirit of the Lord shall cause them to flee in seven ways…” and so on.
If these dreams are recurrent, I suggest that besides praying before going to bed, you plead the blood of Jesus over your dreams and read Psalms 91 out loud.
3. GOD
You must have understood by now that God uses dreams to send information from the spirit realm to us through our soul but these information can come in various forms:
- Prophetic dreams
A prophetic dream is one which carries information relevant to what is likely to happen in the future. Notice that I used the word likely and this is because an event can be real and approved in the spirit realm but can be aborted, delayed or never manifest in the physical realm.
What is characteristic of these dreams is that they generally don’t carry deadlines; so you can see yourself having a baby in a dream today and it manifests at the appointed time in 2 years.
Another distinctive characteristic is that although they can be straight forward and easy to understand, most of them are generally full of symbolism and analogies (see Pharaoh’s dream in Genesis 41) and need wisdom to decipher.
Genesis 15:12-14 (NIV) – “As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the Lord said to him, Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.”
- Warnings
These dreams warn us from indulging into an action or decision that is unpleasant to God.
Matthew 27:19 (NIV) – “While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”
God also uses dreams to warn you about a negative situation which is about to manifest like a death or sickness for instance. Generally, God warns you so that you can pray against it.
- Directional
These dreams help us make decisions when we have different options before us and don’t know which way to go.
Matthew 2:13 (NIV) – “When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
- Instructional
These dreams guide us on what we have to do at the moment or at a given point in time.
Acts 16:9 (KJV) – “And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.”
- Insightful or revelatory
Such dreams reveal to us things which are hidden to the natural man and which our human intellect cannot find answers to or comprehend. They can come as answers to inquiries we have made from God.
Genesis 28:11-15 (NIV) – “When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it c stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
- comforting
These dreams bring comfort and strength in difficult moments or periods of trial.
Acts 18:9,10 (NKJV) – “Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent;for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city.”
- Transactional
1 Kings 3:5, 11-13 (NLT) – “That night the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you! So God replied, Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people with justice and have not asked for a long life or wealth or the death of your enemies I will give you what you asked for! I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no one else has had or ever will have! And I will also give you what you did not ask for riches and fame! No other king in all the world will be compared to you for the rest of your life!”.
These categories are inexhaustible and a certain category can look like another. The purpose here is just to show various instances and objectives of the communication of God with men through dreams. Don’t hold on to these as a doctrine but keep in mind that God’s desire is to communicate with you, guide you, bless you, warn you and protect you from danger.
Like I previously said in the case of evil dreams, the most important things is what you do with the information from a dream and this is also true with dreams from God. They might demand that you enforce their manifestation through faith and prayer, that you take the appropriate action as instructed by God, that you avoid a certain action as instructed by God or that you have clarity concerning a certain situation. Act accordingly and with wisdom.
I would be wrong if I didn’t tell you that just because a dream has these characteristics or is positive doesn’t mean it is automatically from God. The Bible tells us to test spirits so it is important that you gauge your revelations in the light of the Word of God, if unsure don’t take major decisions just based on dreams but pray about it for other confirmation signs and share your preoccupations with at least a mature trustworthy believer.
If your desire is to be and walk in the will of God for you, the Lord sees your sincere heart and He will guide you as you surrender to Him. Just ask Him for directions and guidance and be patient.
Lastly, another important indicator that often comes as a sign of the Lord guiding you through dreams is peace. Whatever dream you believe you have received from God, if it doesn’t come with peace then you might want to ask God for clarity and check the source.
PRAYER FOR PURIFIED DREAMS
Heavenly Father, I now know that dreams are for divine encounters so I ask that you purify my dreams so that I may receive only the dreams you send through this divine channel. You are my shepherd and I accept to be led by you and not by my own thoughts or a stranger. As such, I plead the blood of Jesus over my dreams and close the door to any encounter that is not from you.
I pray for wisdom and clarity to rightly interpret my dreams, for the ability to always remember my dreams, strength to act upon my dreams accordingly and discernment to rightly identify the source of my dreams.
I cancel, rebuke and abort every evil plan and evil seed planted in my life through my dreams and declare that every tree that is not from you in me is now uprooted in the name of Jesus.
I thank you Father for peaceful and restful sleep for it is written that in peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety in the name of Jesus I have prayed, amen.
Salvation Prayer (Please say it out loud wherever you are): - Romans 10:9,10
Lord Jesus, I recognize that you are the Son of God, that you came on earth, died for my sins on the cross, resurrected on the third day and You are now seated at the right hand of God the Father. I acknowledge that I cannot be righteous by my self and accept the righteousness purchased by your precious blood on the cross for me. I proclaim that by this I have now defeated Satan, hell and the grave. I ask you Lord Jesus to fill me with your Holy Spirit now.
Congratulations brethren and welcome to God’s family!
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