Samuel Daniels

Why we Dream: The Transformative Power of our Nightly Journey

Welcome back, my amazing Cronies!

I will start out with a simple definition. A dream is a succession of images, thoughts, or emotions passing through the mind during sleep [1]. Dreams are a gateway to the spirit realm, where God lives. They are regular and reliable. They are accessible and available to everyone, they provide a meaningful, powerful way to hear from heaven and connect to the very heart of God [2]. 

Come with me on this adventure as the mysteries of dreams unfold before your very eyes. God wants you to understand your dreams and how they influence your life. He wants to restore your ability to communicate on this spiritual plane.

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Dream Language Restored

Many people today, particularly in the Western culture, never recognise God speaking to them in this way because they have been conditioned by a skeptical and sophisticated society to discount the language of dreams. Unfortunately, this includes many Christian believers as well. For many years, much of the Church has virtually lost dream language as a viable language of the Spirit. Yet, within our own generation, the tide has begun to turn. God is reawakening His people to the efficacy of dreams in their lives. He is reconnecting us to a vital part of our spiritual heritage that had all but disappeared [2a].

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God loves speaking to us

God is a communicating God, speaking to us while we are awake as well as asleep. He told us to “pray without ceasing” [3], which means He wants to be having a conversation with us continually. He wants our hearts connected with His all day and all night [4]. But mostly, we don’t hear Him for a number of reasons.

The first is that we may not be familiar with His voice.  Recognising the voice of God is important in order to attach seriousness and respect to whatever He tells us. 

The second reason is that there is too much noise around us; the noise of our needs and wants, the noise of social media, the noise of politics, etc. In this twenty-first century, there are too many things that seek to compete for our attention, as a result, we sadly miss God in the process.

It’s not that God stops speaking, it’s that the noise of the world is so loud we stop listening [5]

God’s Alternative Way

When God wants to speak to us about an issue of great importance, He communicates it in different ways to us. Sadly, sometimes, we don’t realise He is the one speaking. And yet because He loves us and desperately wants to save us from any kind of danger, or to communicate some urgent issues, He meets us while we sleep – away from the noise of our daily routine.

When the dust settles, as foxes return to their holes and birds, their nests, there is a place God is sure to meet us and get our full attention, and that is the place of sleep. No matter how long we spend outside trying to get ourselves busy, we always return to that place of sleep. Job 33:14-18 says,

For God speaks in one way, and in two, though people do not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on mortals, while they slumber on their beds, then He opens their ears, and terrifies them with warnings, that He may turn them aside from their deeds, and keep them from pride, to spare their souls from the Pit, their lives from traversing the River.

There are mostly symbolic and mysterious elements to dreams. Jesus often spoke in parables to conceal the truth so that only those hungry for God would gain understanding. He said, “I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand” [6].

God still speaks in parables

In the same way, the Holy Spirit often speaks to us prophetically in dreams and visions using parables. Only those who are desperate to know God’s heart will understand what He is saying. Therefore, it is important that we be cautious and not overly confident and dogmatic in giving interpretations to dreams [7].

The bible illustrates that dreams are a legitimate connection to the realm of the spirit and a bridge to the kingdom of Heaven. As we explore many of God’s dream principles and promises together in this series, we will soon find out that the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is overflowing with dreams and visions [8].

In fact, when we sum up all dreams, visions, stories about them, and actions resulting from them, we find that approximately one-third of the entire Bible is supernatural visionary encounter! That is equal in size to the New Testament, which demonstrates, God spoke through spiritual pictures consistently and continually. Far from being random occurrences, dreams are, in fact, God’s modus operandi [9].

Sources of Dreams

We are dream receivers, and every receiver needs a transmitter. In human experience, dream transmission originates from any one of three different sources. They are God, the soul, and the devil/demons.

God

The first of these sources is God Himself. God is a personal God who transmits dreams to individuals. These, of course, are spiritual dreams inspired by the Holy Spirit. Throughout the Bible, we see God giving people dreams, believers and unbelievers, alike.

It is particularly important to acknowledge God as a primary source of dreams, as we live in a culture where many people either dismiss dreams as irrelevant in the modern age or dismiss the quaint notion that God still speaks today or both. People who take dreams seriously are assumed to be “New Agers” or at least regarded as somewhat weird or even “spooky”. Even within the Church many modern believers are suspicious of dreams as being too far out or too “mystical” [10].

However, God never changes, He is the same God yesterday, today, and forever. He has always employed dreams as one of His primary means of speaking to His people. Dream language is just as viable a vehicle for divine communication today as it has ever been. It is high time for the people of God to reclaim dream language from the “New Agers” and the occultists, and restore it once more to its significant place as one of God’s modes of speech [11].

Soul/Natural man

The second transmitter or source of dreams is natural man. Natural or “soulish” dreams and visions are produced by the natural processes of our mind, will, and emotions. Dreaming is a normal part of human brain function when in a deep sleep state. Sights, sounds, smells, and other sensory stimuli from the day provide the raw materials from which our brains create natural dreams. Sometimes, if we are not careful, we can confuse a natural dream with a dream from God. This is particularly dangerous when the dream is presented to others as being of divine origin. Scripture cautions us against making such a mistake [12].

Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; they speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord [13].

Not every dream is significant. Some could be wishful thinking [13a] (Psalms 126:1, Isaiah 29:7-8)

Demons

There is also a third source of dream transmission, originating in the realm of demonic darkness. False and occultic dreams fall into this category. These are dreams that are demonically inspired, deceitfully crafted by evil agents. The nature of demonic dreams is that they breed fear, panic, and intimidation. Also, the content of the dreams are predominantly dark in theme [14].

Dreams could come without being God’s Word (Jeremiah 23:28). Jeremiah lumped dreamers together with soothsayers, sorcerers, and false prophets  (Jeremiah 27:9) [14a].

However, it is very important to know the source of dreams and if they are divinely inspired, you strive for the meaning. Understanding dreams can save an individual, families, nations, and continents from things such as deaths, natural disasters, and losses in different shapes and forms.

Types of Dreams

It is worth mentioning, that not every dream needs to be interpreted. Being cognisant of this, we can distinguish three types of dreams:

Simple Message Dream/Vision of the Night

A simple message dream does not need interpretation. For instance, Joseph, in Matthew 1 and 2, understood the dreams concerning Mary and Herod even though no mention is made of interpretation [15]. The bible makes mention of both a “dream” and a “vision of the night” in the same verse of Job 33:14-15:

For God speaks in one way, and in two, though people do not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on mortals, while they slumber on their beds,

A vision of the night or a simple message dream must be taken literally. No interpretation is needed. Usually, such dreams are not parabolic in nature.

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Simple Symbolic Dream

This type uses symbols, but the symbolism is clear enough that dreamers and others can understand. Joseph in the Old Testament had this kind of dream in Genesis 37 [16].

Complex Symbolic Dream

Complex Symbolic Dream needs interpretive skills of someone with experience or an unusual ability in interpretation [17]. Such dreams are highly parabolic in nature. It comes encoded by God, therefore, someone with the special grace to decode such a signal could decode it.

Thank you for stopping by. Watch out for my next blog in this series. Subscribe to my newsletter from below, and get notified of new posts. You may also drop a comment or question in the comment section below.

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References

[1] Dictionary.com, “dreams”, accessed on December 17, 2021, link: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/dream.

[2] Mark Virkler, Hearing God Through Your Dreams: Understanding The Language God Speaks At Night, (Shippensburg: Destiny Image          Publishers, 2016), 39

[2a] James W. and Michal Ann Goll, Dream Language: The Prophetic Power of Dreams, Revelations and the Spirit of Wisdom,                        (Shippensburg: Destiny Image Publishers, 2006), 

[3] 1 Thess. 5:17

[4] Mark, Hearing God Through Your Dreams: Understanding The Language God Speaks At Night, 37

[5] Anonymous

[6] Matthew 13:13

[7] Mike Bickle, Growing in the Prophetic: A practical biblical guide to dreams, visions, and spiritual gifts, (Lake Mary: Charisma House, 2008), 25-26

[8] Mark, Hearing God Through Your Dreams: Understanding The Language God Speaks At Night, 36

 [9] Mark, Hearing God Through Your Dreams: Understanding The Language God Speaks At Night, 36

[10] James and Ann, Dream Language: The Prophetic Power of Dreams, Revelations and the Spirit of Wisdom, 28

[11] James and Ann, Dream Language: The Prophetic Power of Dreams, Revelations and the Spirit of Wisdom, 28-29

[12] James and Ann, Dream Language: The Prophetic Power of Dreams, Revelations and the Spirit of Wisdom, 29

[13] Jeremiah 23:16

[13a] Trent, “Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary”, 442

[14] James and Ann, Dream Language: The Prophetic Power of Dreams, Revelations and the Spirit of Wisdom, 29

[14a] Trent, “Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary”, 442

[15] Trent, “Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary”, 442

[16] Trent, “Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary”, 442

[17] Trent, “Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary”, 442

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