UNDERSTANDING DREAMS & VISIONS

Do you dream? Have you ever had a dream that you knew meant something but didn’t know how to interpret it? Have you ever had a vision during prayer or meditation and didn’t understand what you saw or why you saw it? These are experiences that believers and non-believers have quite frequently and are commonly challenged due to a lack of understanding about dreams and visions.

 

There is actually a lot that’s been written about dream interpretation. I have read a few articles and heard a variety of perspectives on the topic myself although, over the years, I have found that my personal experience has served me best and I believe I can say the same for the many others who have shared their dreams with me and have grown to trust what the Holy Spirit has led me to perceive. The Bible illustrates in 2 Peter 1:20-21, and Deut.18:22 that the way to confirm if a Prophet is from God is if the prophecy comes to pass!  Well, that’s pretty straightforward, isn’t it?  If all our dreams were prophetic this would be quite easy however, I’m willing to bet that the majority of your experiences is that your dreams and visions are much more than foretelling something about the future. Our ability to dream and have visions is a gift from God, uniquely bestowed upon us as His prized created beings and when we become Children of God, He uses these supernatural abilities to communicate directly with us and share the mysteries of His will and purpose in our lives and about the world we live in.

 

I can clearly pinpoint the time in my life when God specifically began training me in the prophetic gift of dream interpretation. It was predominately during 2003-2006. Then from 2006-2012, I could see how the revelatory message of God began manifesting on new platforms such as through writing. This spiritual skill is now as common and familiar to me as any of my five senses (seeing, hearing, smelling, touch, taste), it’s instinctive, a way of life…it just flows and so consequently, I consider the sixth sense, our SPIRIT.  My season of prophetic training by the Holy Spirit was the most tumultuous time and the most prophetically intense time in my life where God was frequently speaking to me through revelation, dreams, visions, and prophecy (conveying to me of things to come).  Looking back I can better understand why God needed the backdrop of crisis and unstable circumstances for this kind of move.  You will find that this context is quite common biblically as well.  It seems God uses crisis in order for revelation, dreams, and visions to play a divine and distinctive role in our lives. The fact that I was a novice (new) in this prophetic walk of faith caused me to be desperately dependent on God and consequently, a good student.

 

The prophetic walk of faith is often a precarious road to journey partly, because of our dependency on the practical steps of faith that we are more accustomed to (goal setting, strategic planning). The prophetic walk of faith is much more biblical.  It is a kind of faith that trust in things you cannot touch, and often not connected to anything you would have the luxury to easily put your trust in…apart from God’s word. It is a faith that is led by a God you cannot see who compels you to do things and go places you would personally never consider or consider “logically correct.”  So in this blog, I want to share with you what I learned about dream interpretation during my personal prophetic journey and how God proved and perfected this walk of faith in my life.  It is my hope that by laying this foundation for you, that you too will become more prophetically equipped, spiritually encouraged and open for God to utilize this prophetic platform in your life.  No longer will you be fearful, intimidated or overwhelmed by your dreams and visions but rather, competent, confident and fully surrendered to God; trusting He is leading and speaking to you in this way.  You see, a surrendered heart is a receiving heart and a receiving heart is a seeking heart.  Visions and dreams should not be spiritually marveled after as they frequently are. They should be a normal part of our spiritual experience, as common as worship and prayer.  Visions and dreams are merely one of the many supernatural platforms, given to us by God, to experience a deeper and more intimate relationship with Him through our walk of faith and also in our relationship with others. Therefore, you should eagerly desire to learn how to receive from God in this way or look within the Body of Christ to assist you in your experiences.

 

One of the first things I realized in particular with dreams is that they all have a common structure through which God speaks to us.  It also appears that they all respect a defined law of nature much like what we recognize in the earth. These spiritual laws set the boundaries upon which this realm (dreamland) of existence allows us to engage.

 

For example, I’ve concluded that a common structure would be that dreams have four basic categories from which God speaks to us through their unique message. I’m defining them as Revelation, Regurgitation, Prophetic, and Trash. I’ll explain these in more detail further along.  The set boundaries are many, yet also clearly defined. Dream and Vision boundaries reflect the “realm” of reality or context of its environment such as Dreams in color, dreams in black and white, seeing people we’ve never met before. Some of the most common boundaries would be our supernatural abilities in dreams like flying, dying and coming to life again, ascending into the heavenlies, feeling pain, scene changes like in a movie, observing your own dream while also being a participant in it, instant understanding of complex details, narrative voices and writings in the atmosphere, the absence of the sense of time and space, engaging with supernatural beings from other realms, seeing angles and walking and talking with Jesus. I could probably go on but I think I’ve shared enough for you to say, “Yes, I’ve experienced that!” These dream activities define the boundaries of this realm of reality.  Although, what is most important to understand about dreams, and why it is that God chooses to use it is because it is indeed, ANOTHER “REAL” REALM of reality, and the blessing is that you will have the ability to never die or remain there…We Wake Up! Hallelujah!  However, in some cases, their reality will transcend into our present one through the power of their revelatory and prophetic message.

 

Now, in regards to symbols in our dreams and visions, this is often an intimidating facet of our dreams and it causes us to quickly dismiss the dream or vision as irrelevant because it was too hard to understand. Realize, symbols have a significant role in the word of God and therefore, is a part of the language of God.  This language is not designed to distance us but rather, invites us into the spiritual realm of God’s kingdom. Remember, James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” So, it is the will of God for us to pray and ask for wisdom pertaining to things we do not understand about God. Realize, God understands our dilemma. He told us in Isaiah 55:8-9 that His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and in this, He must be reverently honored and feared. If your dream or vision contains symbols illustrated by something seen, said or experienced then consider this is your invitation to search the scriptures for common references or models, research for general definitions and information. All this is pleasing to God according to Matthew 7:7. As you gain more understanding about these symbols you will find you will understand the symbolic aspects of your dream or vision and will be able to perceive the message God is conveying to you.

 

I must also mention that there may be times when a dream or vision may seem so complex that you will simply need the anointing of God to ascertain its message. To some degree, I believe all interpretation contains this element because the ability to comprehend spiritual things is not naturally within our human nature and it is no different with our dreams and visions.  In such cases, the Spirit of God will either move through a word of wisdom and you will instantly comprehend or you will need to share your dream with someone gifted in this area to interpret in your behalf.  Realize, this is how God used the prophets in the lives of kings, however, because we are now reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, the prophetic spirit of God now lives inside every believer, enabling all of us to see visions and dream as the Spirit leads.

 

Joel 2:28-30

 “And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
²⁹ Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
³⁰ I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.

 

 Jeremiah 31:33

 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,”

declares the LORD.

“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.

I will be their God, and they will be my people.

 

Like everything of God, Satan comes to mimic, rob and pervert what God intended for our good (2 Corin. 11:13, John 8:44).  We see this through the popularity and use of psychics, mediums, and astrology to deceive the world and lead them away from their inherent gifts from God.  To this I say, BEWARE!  So to lay a good foundation about dream/vision interpretation, I simply want to outline dream structures and boundaries in more detail so you can use them to interpret your own dreams more effectively.  As you prepare to grow in this specific area, the most valuable point I believe I can share with you today would be to allow time to prove and affirm the message conveyed through your dreams. Doing this will require you to be responsible in writing down every significant dream and allowing God to prove its message and truth in your life. God will often affirm your dream with an immediate confirmation within our own spirit.  He may affirm through an acknowledgment of other witnesses whom you have shared your vision or dream with. He will affirm it through the scriptures of His holy word. He will also affirm it through time because if the word is prophetic it WILL come to pass.

 

I encourage you to look to the following as a “Dreams and Visions Interpretation Guideline.”  Understanding and implementing these prophetic disciplines will secure, aid and enhance your prophetic walk of faith.  Know that before you even have a dream or a vision you will have to decide to be intentional about receiving from God.  Therefore, your first step of faith to demonstrate to God that you respect and honor this spiritual platform is to simply write down the dream, pray for understanding, share with others (as the Spirit leads) and at ALL times, WAIT ON GOD.

 

 

WHAT SPECIFICALLY ARE VISIONS & DREAMS?

 

VISION:

An experience of seeing someone or something in a dream or trance, or as a supernatural apparition.

“the idea came to him in a vision”

synonyms:

apparition, hallucination, illusion, mirage, specter, phantom, ghost, wraith, manifestation

 

 

DREAM:

1. a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person’s mind during sleep.

 

synonyms:

REM sleep; More nightmare; vision, fantasy, hallucination “I awoke from my dreams”

• a state of mind in which someone is or seems to be unaware of their immediate surroundings.

 

synonyms:

daydream, reverie, trance, daze, stupor, haze “she went around in a dream”

 

So, by definition, dreams and visions are a consciousness experienced in another realm of existence. Because it is apart of every human being’s biological makeup, we can trust it was designed and given to us by God, our creator.  Now, it becomes our responsibility to understand more responsibly the ways in which God wanted us to use it.  I believe one of the main distinctions between visions and dreams is in the nature from which we experience them.

 

A vision is predominately something we SEE.  It occurs while we are conscious and awake and often during prayer or meditation.  It will play out much like a dream, however, its form is not as tangible as in a dream.  A vision plays out like you are watching the sketching of an unexposed film strip or watching a black and white movie clip.  You might also feel like a participant in a video game…you are a part of this virtual reality, but well aware it is not real.  A trance, on the other hand, is a form of a vision that will play out very much like a dream. You are literally transported to another realm of existence and often without warning and while you are there, you have no foreknowledge of any other realm of existence.  Often people have shared stories of these experiences when they were between sleep and awake.  Many will have divine encounters (some godly and others demonic).  Many speak of seeing heaven or hell or having an intimate encounter with Jesus through these occurrences.  I have had my full share of all these experiences in my lifetime. From what I hear from other believers, heavenly trance-like visions generally are rare, and I would agree. I encourage you not to be afraid of these supernatural encounters. You are sure to gain more confidence as you gain more understanding about them. In any case, they remain to be a much-needed reminder to us that this world and our human nature is NOT all there is in this life and it demands our faith, humility and respect as it pertains to our relationship with our living God.

 

Dreams occur while we are sleeping.  It is a realm that feels as real as our life on earth. It appears we live and breathe in the realm of our dreams which is why they are so impactful. Dreaming is something we can’t quite control, everyone does it and it is not privy to believers only.  Because we dream so much, it is more than likely that God is communicating to us through them and all we have to do is be open to learn and receive from Him in this way.

 

 

DREAM & VISION STRUCTURE:

 

 

1. Revelation: A revelatory dream is where God speaks a personal message to you, either about you or maybe for someone else.  A revelatory dream will often be an illustration of something that will encourage and affirm you. It will testify to what is actually going on in your life. It will reveal to you how God sees you and what He wants you to understand about your present circumstance. It will reveal how Satan (your adversary) sees you or how you are seeing yourself, often in the realm of the spirit. It might also reveal these same messages about someone else if you dreamed about them. Dreams of this kind may also play out as a word of wisdom and warning from God and therefore should not be taken lightly. Revelatory dreams provide blessed opportunities to share your dreams with others in an effort to love and prophetically encourage one another as a family of God.  A revelatory dream is, in essence, a “Message from God” and it will often encourage and support your walk of faith in a profound way.

 

2. Regurgitation: A regurgitation dream is simply a dream that seems to be an “overflow” of your current emotional state of being. These are dreams and visions that will often reflect the things you are concerned, fearful or worried about. Commonly, when we experience trauma, loss or dealing with a crisis we will internalize many emotions and they will play out in our dreams. The medical field has defined this as PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). To some degree, we shouldn’t be too alarmed by these dreams because they will often diminish with time as we are made whole. However, when Satan wants to have a field day on our vulnerable seasons in life, we might become overwhelmed and even tormented by these types of dreams in which case, strategic prayer, and professional counseling would be extremely valuable.

 

3. Prophetic: Prophetic dreams are recognized quite easily because they come to pass! Prophetic dreams are distinct because they play out like a movie and then almost literally in your life. Prophetic dreams are unlike Revelatory dreams that are more like a dream template overlaid upon our life circumstances.  Prophetic dreams are compelling and they play out like a well-directed movie. They are detailed and even while they may change scenes, there is continuity and a seemingly clear message. These dreams get a hold of you in your spirit and you know there is a message even while you may not be able to fully understand it. These dreams will also reveal scenes and details that clearly reflect the future and so it will require time to bring it about and confirm its authenticity.  So writing down this kind of dream and vision is of critical importance. These dreams will cause you to remain alert and conscious of the ways in which God will confirm the prophetic nature of your dream, either in segments or all at one time. The fact that He has given you this type of dream is a sign that He is entrusting you with the responsibility of the information. Understand, your greatest challenge will be to hold this information until it’s appointed time. The enemy will often weigh on your pride by tempting you to exploit the dream in an effort to glorify yourself. This will endanger you; falling into prophetic error and lose the trust of your Heavenly Father to use you in ways like this again.

 

4. Trash: Have you ever heard someone say, “OMG! I think I ate too much pizza last night!” LOL. Well, that’s what these dreams are like. They are fragmented and inconsistent. Many times you may wake up and only remember a few details or none at all. So these are dreams you do not want to waste your time on and if anything at all, you can chalk it off to getting a “good night’s sleep” because this dreaming happens in the deep, most restful REM levels of sleep. This is the rest our bodies gladly welcome.

 

  

DREAM & VISION BOUNDARIES:

 

1. Pay attention to what God is emphasizing to you: Our dreams have so many details and sometimes we can get confused and caught up on the details and lose the central message. So it is important to only pay attention to what God is wanting you to pay attention to and that is determined by what He emphasizes in your dream or vision. So pay attention to the “God-inspired details” realizing that the other things that happen in the dream are simply there to give life to the dream experience. Some of these God-inspired details might be significant people, colors, symbols and images, your emotions, your thoughts, your discernment, the unique actions, reactions, comments, words and phrases from you and others. This kind of detail will often stand out in your dream so it is important to make note of them and as you put together all the important points, you will find that your dream or vision is speaking a powerful message to you.

 

2. Symbols: Visions and dreams often have a lot of symbols or the characters portrayed in a dream may represent people in real life. What becomes overwhelming is trying to figure out the “what” and “who’s, who.” First, if you accept that the dream is from the Lord, then trust that He will also interpret if you are sincerely seeking to understand. Second, symbols will often carry their own message within the dream.  So seek to understand what the symbol relates to or represents in real life.  When you understand the symbol from the context of the dream or it’s meaning in real life, understanding of God’s message will unfold. When there are symbols in a dream that are unfamiliar to anything you know or able to researched than know that these are symbols that will be revealed to you in time in particular, if the dream was prophetic, and if the dream was revelatory, the symbol is likely being defined in your life with the same characteristics and impressions it was represented in your dream. Remember, revelatory dreams and visions will speak a message to you regarding something currently happening in your life, so you will usually sense its confirmation and relevance in your life immediately.  Allow this unique template with all its symbolic parallels to gracefully overlay your life.

 

3. Visions and Dreams are not your HARD REALITY: Visions and dreams are a virtual reality.  While our dreams may seem very real, nothing in them will ever be able to actually hurt you as in real life. Yes, we may see, feel, fight, and experience everything and more that could be experienced in our real world, yet, it will always remain an extension to that which is REAL. Therefore, we should approach our dreams and visions as instruments of God. So as you lie down each night and say your prayers, anticipate God to commune with you through your dreams and visions. Because He will be intentional to speak a message to you through them, this is all the more reason why you should be intentional to expect to receive from Him in this way.

 

4. Wait on God: Practice patience! Not every dream or vision has to be interpreted right away. Consider, God may desire your seeking, searching and wrestling. So, commit your spirit to the fact that it is God who holds the message and He will reveal it to you in His way, according to His will, and in His time. This is what makes Him your sovereign God. You may discover even now that there were symbols or images in a vision or dream that at the time, conveyed limited understanding. However, as you look back, you can clearly see that they reflected something or someone very significant in your life although, it required your walk of faith to be played out in order for it to communicate God’s message to you.  We must wait on God to prove, test and verify our dreams and visions. This guards us against getting caught up on the supernatural experience and focus more on the heart and purpose of God who is speaking to us in this way.

 

5. PAY ATTENTION: Because our dreams and visions are instruments of God, realize we must pay careful attention to what God is saying. Like everything pertaining to worship, each instrument is designed for us to commune with God. His loving kindness will reach us in the depths of sin and on the heights of our greatest faith. Understand though, His dreams and visions are purposed to be His instrument to encourage us, warn us and reveal to us His mysteries. Therefore, we must pay close attention and respect the sacredness of this supernatural ability and heed God’s divine presence and profound messages.

 

6. Don’t be afraid of your dreams and visions: Remember, the supernatural became a part of your life and spiritual DNA when you became a Child of God. As a created being we reflect our creator and He is God (Gen. 1:26). We know Him personally through the person, Jesus Christ and through His power in the person, the Holy Spirit (John 1:1-5, 16:13-15).  So we shouldn’t be afraid of the magnificent way in which God created us to live and manifest His glory on the earth. These spiritual instruments are simply a few of the many ways God will communicate with His creation and more intimately with His people.  Realize, dreams and visions are not “Spiritual Gifts” (1 Corin. 12:1-11). Consider them more like God’s supernatural deposit in every human creation as a sign to remind them that their existence is much more than flesh and blood; that they are a spirit and were meant to belong to God. This has been and will always be our spiritual purpose, inheritance and glorious destiny when we become a part of the family of God.

 

Conclusion:

Keep it simple! Maintain a “dream foundation,” like this one.  Spiritual foundations are meant to keep you safe and guard you against Satanic abuse and prophetic deception. So, beware and be wise as you seek further knowledge about dreams and visions. Trust God, His word and discern who His teachers are. Spiritual foundations like this one are intended to help you begin your journey so that you may grow more effectively in your own prophetic walk of faith as it pertains to dreams and visions.