How to interpret dreams Evening service 21 April 2013 There are all types of dreams people have. As we open up this topic on interpreting dreams let s have a bit of fun. Tell me what this dream means: 1. John dreamt that he was fighting zombies and that through all kids of skill and ingenuity he had to defeat 20 all by himself and save his girlfriend. What does that dream mean? A. Too much play station or TV 2. Jackie dreamt that she was a giant marshmallow, floating above the ground and waving royally to the crowd until a bird landed on her shoulder and brought her down to the earth. What does Jackie s dream mean? A. Too much pizza 3. Mary and Stephen are having problems in their relationship. Last night Stephen dreamt that Mary was having an affair with his best friend. The dream was so real and deeply disturbing. What does it mean? A. It is an attack of satan as are dreams of your children getting hurt. They often happen during the waking moments (i.e. shallow sleep). If it happens to you wake yourself up, declare the truth i.e. My wife loves me. My children are protected by the Lord. and let the truth grip your heart before returning to sleep. Many people do spiritual warfare in their dreams. It is often necessary to ask God what is the root cause, the area of vulnerability that has allowed this nightmare? 4. Dianne woke, the dream she had in the night was so vivid and she could remember all of it in detail. It left her wanting to get closer to God and at peace even though she didn t know what it all meant. She saw herself in a boat, on calm seas being drawn to a beach that felt like home. What did her dream mean? 1
A. This was a dream from God. The water in the bible represents either cleansing or the support of the Holy Spirit. God was showing her that He had her life and was leading her towards heaven. Throughout the bible old and New Testament people had dreams and interpreted dreams. Who is best known for this in the Old Testament? A. Daniel. E.g. Daniel 7:1 When the Holy Spirit was given on Pentecost, the first day of the church s existence and people began to speak in new prayer languages. Peter said Joel 2:28-29 28 Later, I will give my Spirit to everyone. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will have dreams, and your young men will see visions. 29 In those days I will even give my Spirit to my servants, both men and women. Old or new Testament, dreams are the sleep language of God. God loves to speak to people in dreams. Some cultures seem to be more open than others to God speaking to us in our dreams, but you can be very sure that He wants to speak to all of us as we sleep and in our dreams. Sometimes God will give you an image or show you a picture in your dreams that will help you understand something that our rational minds could not comprehend. I still remember the first dream from God I ever had. I was just married to Juliette. We were incredibly poor and living in a boat shed with dirty water and a long drop toilet outside. There was this family of 4 teenage Maori boys. Mum was an alcoholic and morally loose. They would often come to ours for food during the week and usually stayed with us over the weekend. We loved these kids. While in that boatshed I had a dream. 2
I was living in a large glass house. It was totally transparent. Occasionally people would throw stones at the glass but they could not break it. In this dream I saw myself tucking in bed these boys plus some other people who I felt I loved but I didn t know. The next day I carefully put all the people into my car and took them to the most important rendezvous they would ever go to. I didn t know what the dream meant when I woke up but even today still vividly recall what I saw. So I prayed and asked God for the interpretation. What do you think it meant? A. The house represented my life. God wanted me to live a totally transparent and holy life. Others may criticise and try to hurt me or my charges inside but their stones would bounce off my life. I was to care for and protect the people God had given me to love and prepare them one day to go to meet the Lord (impression rapture). Now it s really hard to differentiate from Scripture what is a dream and what is a vision. Because it s possible to get a dream from God with your eyes open e.g. Ezekiel 1:1. Dreams are a kind of language mirroring the spirit and the soul. Dreams come in the form of a secret code, like a series of pictures that don t always make sense to our minds initially. Most of our dreams are subjective, that is they are about ourselves and about the things that are important to us. They are very rarely ever literal. The biggest problem with dreams is their interpretation. That is because they are full of imagery and symbolism and instead of asking God for the interpretation or searching the scriptures for what those images and symbols meant in the word we kind of make the dream say what we want it to say. Guidelines to understanding dreams 1. Dreams have their own language. They need to be interpreted. Joseph knew this. In Genesis 40:8 when the cup bearer and the baker had dreams and they were looking for the interpretation Joseph said do not; interpretations belong to God. 2. Write them down. Don t try to interpret them straight away. If your dream is written down you can take time to interpret it properly. 3. Ask Jesus for the interpretation, ask Him for understanding. 4. As you look at the dream consider what type of dream it is; 3
Is it prophetic, is it personal, is it speaking to an issue that has been on your heart. 5. Break it into parts and work on it, one section, and one symbol at a time. There may be different scenes in the dream if it is a long one that have a different message behind them. 6. Look for objects or symbols in your dream that seem to stand out. The interpretation of these particular objects and symbols are keys to getting the right understanding. Ask yourself questions regarding those specific objects. Do they represent you in some way? 7. I believe that the most important key to interpreting dreams is to search the scriptures to see what the symbols, objects, pictures you have seen in your dream mean in the biblical context e.g. a sword, helmet, white horse. The more you are familiar with the language and the symbols of scripture the more easily you will interpret dreams. How does you dream measure up with the teaching of the Bible? Does it conflict with the Word of God? 8. Some symbols and images in your dreams will be specific to you. For instance with me personally fishing imagery would mean evangelistic activity to me. People - in your dreams? Do you know them personally? What characteristic about that person stands out in your mind? Are they selfish, loving, arrogant, important etc. What is the person doing in the dream? Is what they are doing a reflection of something you have been wrestling with or going through? Car may be a symbolic of your life. In the dream is it you behind the steering wheel or someone else? Is it Jesus? Who is in control of your life? Death usually relates to a physiological death or a death to a part of a person s life or personality (not a physical death) Animals quite often play an important role in our dreams, they can relate to our emotions e.g. a bull might be a symbol of aggressiveness; a snake a symbol of deceit. An animal may represent lust, pride, anger etc... N.B. a dog may symbolise friendship to one person and yet aggressiveness and fear to another. Birds are seen flying in the air can represent thoughts or ideas. A Dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit as can be oil. 4
Houses represent our lives or areas in our lives. Who do you see in your house? Is it empty, full of joy??? Clothes what we wear tells others how we want them to see us i.e. casual, formal, neat, traditional Flying In a dream from God could indicate that you are supernaturally soaring above your situation or being given a higher perspective of a situation. Trees can represent your sphere of influence and or character. E.g. King Nebuchadnezzar, tree chopped down. Or a solid tree planted by the water strong faith. Notice how many birds or things shelter in the tree. How big the tree is? Etc Water usually relates to the presence of the Holy Spirit if calm or occasionally cleansing/ purity. Angels are messengers that carry out spiritual missions and God s will. They may appear in our dreams in human form. The father gave men dreams to help them see the door to His dwelling place. He will only dwell in men s hearts, and dreams can be a door to your heart, which will lead you to Him. That is why His Angels so often appear to men in their dreams. In dreams they can bypass the fallen mind of man and go straight to his heart. Rick Joyner The Final Quest Questions Interpret some dreams Prayer together: Dear heavenly Father. We thank you that you love to speak to us in our dreams as it is your way of speaking to our hearts. We would love you to speak to us in dreams any time You want to. Shield our minds from the attacks of the evil one and fill us with Your thoughts while we sleep Amen. 5