Hi,
I'm a psychotherapist and part of my work involves working with dreams.
There seem to be different types of dreams: some are a playing through and processing of the days events; some dreams are symbolic and may solve problems, reveal unconscious processes etc.; some dreams offer guidance and offer a way forward out of a situation or towards growth.
Other dreams seem predictive and seem to show something of the future or a possible future. Some dreams offer clear spiritual guidance...
My question is about dreams in the Bible and now:
There are mentions of people being guided or warned by dreams in the Bible, and also prophecy coming via dreams. How valid do Christians today feel it is to pay attention to their dreams now? (for secular or spiritual purposes)
And what is the process of understanding a dream that a Christian may use?
To be honest unless you know Jesus for yourself you will never get it .
Not even all Christians understand how God speaks in dreams unless they have
experienced it for themselves.
I wouldn’t really wish to discuss this subject with someone who isn’t a Christian
as people just either assume it’s a load of baloney (which it isn’t) or they put people
who do have Godly dreams in the same catogory as those who are spiritualists and
part of the occult.
I would say though there are several reasons for dreams in my experiences.
The normal run of the mill ones we all get. No one really knows why but as the
brain is full of electric circuitry, it’s not surprising that memories and events, get
tangled up with emotions and feelings while asleep, while the brain is still working
and neurons firing.
Hormonal and medically induced one. Many women have more vivid dreams at certain
times of the month. Also when I had Graves’ disease i definately had more. Suggesting that
dreams can also be triggered by hormonal responses on the brain.
Then this is where you will enter into the realms of disbelief if you don’t believe
we are body, soul and spirit. But there are dreams originating from evil, the demonic.
Not always but they can be triggered by occult practices, by opening yourself up to such things.
Sometime even Christians have demonic dreams, we worship a holy God but Satan does
not like that and some times makes his presence felt in dreams.
Then there are Godly dreams, I’ve had loads, I keep a file of them. They have an entirely
different feel to them than normal every day dreams. It’s some thing hard to explain.
I’ve had dreams which show me things I didn’t understand or know before. I’ve had
dreams of warnings, ones which came true. Dreams where God has shown up in them.
I’ve had the same Godly dream 3 nights in a row. I’ve had a series of Godly dreams like
watching a TV series, where you get part one, then part two then part three. Sometimes
all in the same night, sometimes spread across different nights.
The Holy Spirit cured me of my sleep walking in a dream approx 15 years ago!
Though I doubt you will have the capacity to understand even if I were to tell you
about them. Best thing you can do if you are really interested in spiritual matters, is to
seek God with all your heart and ask Him to reveal Himself to you. Otherwise
you will just end up in an intellectual desert where you have a lot of head
knowledge but no first hand encounter with God, no personal revelation.
One other point if you wake up in the middle of a rem cycle, that’s when you
are most likely to remember dreams. But you can also train yourself to
remember dreams.
Matthew 7:6-8 NKJV
[6] "Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine,
lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.
[7] "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it
will be opened to you. [8] For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks
finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.