Dreams & Visions Seminar Session 3

Transcription

1 A dream that is not understood remains a mere occurrence; When understood, a dream becomes a life-changing experience-john Paul Jackson Thus speaks the LORD God of Israel saying, Write in a book for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you. Jeremiah 30:2 Dream interpretation basics 1. Record it as soon as possible Date Time Possibly draw a diagram 2. How are you participating in the dream? Observer Participant Observer/participant Main focus 3. Find the focus who or what is the dream about? Write down the main facts What object or thought occurs most often and what remains with you when the dream ends? Observe the sequence of things What questions linger about the dream? Is the dream black and white or color? What is in color and the rest black/white? 4. Look at the context of the dream Remove the filler things that don t help clarify the focus Keep the main thing the main thing The tone of the dream: hope, fear, peace, etc. What is God presently dealing with in your life? 5. Use contrast why is this used instead of that? (why a blue car instead of an orange bike) 6. Title your dream 1 P a g e

2 Categories of dreams 1. Healing spiritual, physical, emotional 2. Flushing enables us to see God cleansing us from daily activities 3. Calling clearer revelation = higher cost factor 4. Warning not to do certain things 5. False lead us astray 6. Body affected by illness, i.e., fever 7. Chemical drugs, alcohol, spices 8. Self-condition lets one know where he stands with God 9. Courage develops character to go into new places 10. Correction brings areas to attention that need addressed 11. Direction opens our eyes to God s ways 12. Intercession causes us to pray for someone else 13. Prophesy and revelation foretells future 14. Dark second heaven dreams, dull and/or muted. Not to agree with but to come against 15. Spiritual warfare awareness of the forces of evil 16. Fear too much focus on the negative 17. Inventions entrepreneur type, music, and art 18. Word of knowledge solution and answers 19. Deliverance removing demons and their attacks 20. Soul personal desires Dreams seem to reside in a non-dimension, free from the limitations of time, space, and logic. Then the dream enters into our memory, it moves into a world bound by time, space, and logic. Our minds then translate the dream into three dimensions, while our hand must translate the dream into the two dimensions of ink and paper. Dream images are written in our minds with disappearing ink. If we do not re-experience them immediately, dreams become invisible, as the fast turning pages of our waking consciousness take over our mind. 2 P a g e

3 Creatures Snakes long tale being told. Wisdom, constricting, poisonous Horse power or authority Ox or cow slow laborious change Rat feeding on dead garbage or dead things Spider demonic attack or occult Bees/hornets the greater the swarm the greater attack Armadillo annoyances Flies lies Squirrel prepare for future Eagle prophetic, eat only live prey and snakes Seal deep calling Bat occult Penguin see things black and white. Comfortable in the Word. Monkey mocking, stealing Panther, tiger, leopard witchcraft Bear ravenous, judgment, reverential fear of God Wolf travel in packs, cunning White snake religious spirit Alligator powerful mouth, long tail (tale), takes large chunks 3 P a g e

4 Goats lack of discernment, stubbornness Elephants religious spirit, holding to past. Huge impact, great memory, easily retrained Deer dear of heart, Jezebel spirit (seductive eyes) Lion Satan devouring, Lion of Judah Rabbit lust or quick multiplication Dinosaur coming out of dark past Apes/gorilla big and strong, demonic strength Turtle slow, laborious, steady, longevity Sheep hear His voice Head lice pestilence, nuisance 4 P a g e

5 Dream Interpretation Exercise Sandy had the following two dreams. They are good examples of dreams containing symbols, colors, and emotion. We will take a few minutes to interpret this individually, then get together in groups to come up with a group interpretation. We will then discuss our group interpretations. Sandy sought God and used the list of symbols and their meanings to help bring her to what I feel is an accurate interpretation of this dream. It started out that I was with Gaye and Evan and we were at Creation (it looked nothing like Creation so I was wondering if the word has anything to do with it). As we were standing around, a great dust cloud came toward us and we ran for cover. A huge orange submarine came toward us. A monkey was driving it and a young child was in the back looking out of the window. There was a man lying on the ground and the submarine almost ran over him but a single woman stopped it before it could happen. The next thing I knew, I was driving to church and I realized that I had missed my meeting with Pastor Bob because the clock in my car was flashing 11:16. When I came into the church, I ducked into your office to apologize for being late and you looked at me very angry and said Well, He certainly will use the foolish to confound the wise, and wouldn t talk to me. The End (a few weeks later) Next dream was that Pastor Bob was away and I was to be tending Sarah, his cat. Andrew was feeding her and I was going to stop to give Sarah her shot. It suddenly hit me that he left on Friday to go wherever and it was now Wednesday and I had forgotten to give her her shot. I was in a panic and was thinking that she may be dead! I asked Andrew how she was and he said he hadn t seen her, which he assumed she was hiding. Needless to say, I was very happy to wake up. The end. Thoughts to consider How would you title this dream? Is Sandy an observer or participant or both? What seems to be focus objects? Try to take both dreams into one or two pictures and what view do you get of the overall scene? Refer to last week s notes for additional help 5 P a g e

6 Lucid Dreams Lucid Dreaming or Altering Dreams (taken from Dreams and Visions by John Paul Jackson) Lucid: to have clarity of thought and full use of one s facilities The more memorable dreams we have May actually be closer to a vision than a dream You have a measure of conscious activity and control in your dreams It is the ability to finish a dream you did not get to finish The ability to change a dream you do not like It is in the lucid state of sleep that we leave this present earthly dimension and enter into the realm of the Spirit-a great realm for creativity. 1. Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote the poem Kubla Khan from a dream in which he said he heard all 200 lines of the poem. 2. Rembrandt painted many of his paintings from elements he saw in his dreams. 3. Handel wrote The Messiah because he first heard it in a dream. 4. Elias Howe invented the sewing machine because he saw it in a dream. 5. Einstein s theory of relativity came from a dream. Finishing incomplete dreams Pray and ask the Lord to bring back to your spirit what He wanted to communicate to you. Ask Him to allow you to go back to sleep so that you can finish the dream. Try to recall your dreams (focus issues, themes, or plots will often be repeated over several nights). Repeat the dream in your mind. Highlight the title, theme focus, and sub-focus of the dream. Do so over and over until you fall asleep. The spiritual world may be changed in our dreams Sometimes a dream will reveal Satan s plan or will be about an issue of spiritual warfare. We can dialogue with others in dreams. In color dreams these others are often angels. In dark dreams or spiritual warfare dreams, others will often be demonic beings even if they look quite attractive or resemble insects or animals. As we become more skilled at discerning the people in our dreams, we will actually be able to fight against demonic forces. As we learn to change dark dreams and spiritual warfare dreams, we will notice that when they are changed to God s purposes, the dreams will also transform from dark or black and white dreams into full-blown color. 6 P a g e

7 Purpose Often the Lord will allow these dreams to reveal to us a weakness we have. As we address our weaknesses, we become spiritually stronger and more sensitive to the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. Entire purpose is to advance God s Kingdom. Prepare Ask the Holy Spirit to increase the level, intensity, and clarity of your dreams. Be consistent in going to bed with the intent of recognizing when you are dreaming. Before going to sleep, ask the Holy Spirit to help you stay in the dream until you learn to do His purpose for which He allowed you to have this dream. Try to form a habit of never going to bed anxious. Meditate on an attribute of God. Consider one of His names and what it means. Imagine the Holy Spirit hovering over you, taking chaos out of your life, and bringing order to it as He brought order to the chaos of the Earth for you were made of dust. (Genesis 2:7) Feel the Holy Spirit breathing over you, blowing all the dust out of your life. Remember that God wants you to walk and live in the spirit. Remind yourself that God wants His Spirit to blanket you and to tell you the things hidden deep within His heart. Indicators of getting closer to lucid dreaming You will start to remember former dreams in the current dream you are having. You may find yourself in the dream saying, I ve dreamed this part before. You will begin to recognize patterns of people, places, and things and who or what they represent to you as you are dreaming. Weather Storms white; God gray; turbulence Tornado storms in life. Take note of the color. Snow depth of righteousness Wind adversity or Holy Spirit Rain teaching, spirit, judgment, cleansing Volcano fiery judgment Earthquake something being shaken up 7 P a g e

8 Hurricane big move of the Spirit or great destruction Body Parts Thigh faith, truth Nose discernment Beard nightmare, maturity Hair wisdom Joints relationships Hand direction or relationship Arm strength, might, and faith Teeth- ability to understand Incisors decisions Eyes vision, discernment Pupil of eye ability to see Wisdom teeth either act with or losing wisdom Nakedness transparent, selfless ambition, vulnerable Breast glory of God Neck stick-necked Hip stubbornness Feet preparation of Gospel of peace Side vulnerable, new relationship Back dependability 8 P a g e

9 Fingernails weapons Peg leg part of purpose cut off and compensating for it A Word of Caution and a Word of Comfort Caution We know from the Word that God can and does directly affect our dream life. Nowhere does it say that Satan can directly give us dreams. Luke 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. What is in the heart is what is going to come out of the heart. Whatever is the content of our heart will come out in our dreams The treasure of a good heart will bring good dreams The treasure of an evil heart will bring evil dreams Source of troubling dreams God bringing awareness and healing of a wound within Garbage in, garbage out (movies, books, etc.) Involvement in cult activities God may be speaking a warning, exposing the enemy s plot or attack on another person Daniel 8:27 Daniel was grieved in his body for days as to what he saw The book of Revelation is full of images of demonic nature False dreams and prophecies Jeremiah 23:16-17, speaking out of the deceit of their own hearts and vision of their own minds God is the creator and Satan is the counterfeiter. Since Satan cannot create our dreams, he tries to counterfeit our interpretations. -Joy Parrott, Parables in the Night Seasons Comfort We can go to sleep confidently at night knowing that God gives us peace and safety during the nighttime hours. Psalm 16:7 I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night season. (Also Job 33:14-18) 9 P a g e

10 Psalm 4:8 I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. Personal dream and interpretation I had a very powerful dream last night and one that I could understand the symbolism. I was in a town I think was York and a huge old building was being restored to its original look or appearance but offices were going to be moving into it. The men were still restoring it and they were uncovering signs exposing the original messages on the signs that were covered up for years with something else. I do remember being right there as the men were uncovering one of the big old signs and there was a word written in light blue lettering on white. We were not sure what the word said but felt we would know. One thing I remember was the beautiful gold-leaf that was being restored to the ornate carving near the outside top of the building. In short what I feel the message was...is that God is restoring and uncovering His purposes. He is not quite finished for us to move into the place He is making ready. We may not quite understand what is being revealed but the understanding will come when it is time. He is restoring His purity at top visible areas in the church and those moving in their individual areas of ministry will be strategically placed together within. Also individuals will be able to easily settle into the places that are being prepared. The building itself is a place we have never been but is being prepared specifically for our needs. Pastor Bob 2/9/05 10 P a g e