Dreams

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?

I have had prophetic dreams and dreams with other meanings..

There are people who are given the ability by Gods Holy Spirit to interpret dreams.. But i believe they are rare.. I think i have only had contact with one person whom i would vouch for as a person with the gift of interpreting dreams..

Of course a general rule is to compare ones dream to the Holy Bible.. If the dream is giving a message that is counter to the message of the Gospel then that dream should be discounted..

I have had dreams that didn't come true or materialize or were just absurd. I have had dreams that did come true and were accurate in predicting what happened later on.

I understand dreams as originating from the spirit world; they are either from a positive source, or they are from a negative source.
Dreams from the positive source are relevant for a spiritual purpose, while dreams from a negative source appear to be carnal.

What about nonsense dreams? I once had a dream that I was getting my citizenship from a cash register lol

I also get nonsense dreams, especially if I had a little too much wine.
I understand these type of dreams originating from my carnal side.

As for your cash register dream of citizenship;... it may be you had to pay dearly or surrender something you valued in order to attain citizenship, or belong to some organization.

The Bible says that people can cause their dreams to happen..

Jeremiah 29: KJV
8 "¶ For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed."

I think people take too much stock in dreams, and when I dream I do not even try to remember them, but move on, and some people can go overboard with dreams, especially those of the occult, nature worship world, and people who attribute nature to God.

Although God can give someone a dream, for the most part they do not mean anything but a dream of you doing activities, which some will not make sense, but I do not try to make sense of them.

I think it is a waste of time to worry about trying to interpret your dreams, and if you do not your mind will be clearer, and Paul said among the saints he only wanted to know Christ and Him crucified.

Like I read where Albert Einstein did not want to fill his head with information that he could get from an encyclopedia.

That is the trouble with the world, and their self benefiting, and nature outlook, is they go through all kinds of things, and understanding things, thinking it is some kind of benefit, when it is not but in their mind.

The occult, and nature worship, and evolution, and the new age movement, go through so many things, and trying to understand things that it is ridiculous, which I think they give themselves a spacey mindset, and then they think it is something positive.

Like people that want to clear their mind, and meditate, and chant phrases, which is not a good idea, for they will give themselves a spaced out mindset, and the mind is meant to think.

Some people might not know what I am talking about, but people go overboard from the world with their thinking there is some kind of benefit by their silly so called spiritual practices.

But such is the way of the world that wants to be spiritual without God.

I believe people go overboard with the dreams, and a waste of time trying to interpret dreams.

My mind is clear, worry free, and my life great, for I only focus on the word of God, but the world is I got to understand this, and that, and do all these practices that think they are being spiritual.

1Ti 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
1Ti 4:2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
1Ti 4:3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
1Ti 4:4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
1Ti 4:5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

God warns us of the new age movement, and their false interpretation of the Bible based on the occult, and nature worship, and evolution, hence why they took prayer out of school, and taught evolution, and people can still evolve, and Jesus is not Lord and Savior, but a good teacher in the evolutionary process and love, but not the final teacher, who do not acknowledge a personal God, but honor the God of forces, or the power of nature as their higher power, and the New Age Christ is the final teacher in the evolutionary process.

2Ti 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
2Ti 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
2Ti 4:4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

Which many people will start looking at the Bible according to the new age movement, and the new age movement is the future for this sinful world, which when the nations come together and say Peace and safety it will be international law that a man and a woman cannot marry for population reduction, hence the reason they are pushing it in society, and to be a vegetarian.

The new age movement will lead the world to rebel against God, and then He will end this sin business on earth.

And they are all about dreams, and all that other nonsense that they do, by way of their fleshy ways thinking they are spiritual.

But without the true God in their life, and believing the truth, they will come up with something that they think is a benefit to them, and of course they will think it is through nature, the God of forces.

Dan 11:36 And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
Dan 11:37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
Dan 11:38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.

And here is their leader that will cause them to rebel against God.

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.1 Cor 2:14

Well, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Son of God
for he is a rewarder not of them who only believe
but rather of those who believe and diligently seek him;
yet whosoever receives not him who he sends
receives neither the Spirit of truth from him who he sends
who sowed not in vain, but received himself the seed he sowed.

Here is some salt cha ching.

Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have. Luke 8:18

44 Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men.
45 But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not: and they feared to ask him of that saying.
Luke 9:44-45

I have a question was the human mind designed to dream?

I'm wondering if the dreams the false prophets and diviners had was what they wished for to occur, and so dreamed when they were in a semi conscious state of sleep?
I have also had semi conscious dreams (in a REM 1 state), where I have been able to manipulate some dreams.

It’s a good thing that God didn’t place the responsibility of taking the child to Egypt in a dream in any modern day hands for it wouldn’t have happened he would of been slain before reaching 3 years old.

I think it might be a case of pre-prepping your mind to dream dreams that lead the person to believe they are prophets.. The desire to be of use or to be of importance can lead to false dreams..

You can have good motivations or bad motivations, But it is best to not have any motivations when it comes to the gifts of the Holy Spirit.. That way if God wants to use you as a conduit then it is up to Him and it will happen for real without faults / mistakes..

If the LORD put the responsibility of saving someone's life in anyone's else hand then obviously the LORD relinguished any responsibility for saving that person out of his hand.

That's rich, thanks for the x-mas present.

Do you mean like perceiving the Son of God walking on the frozen water that covered the earth from Genesis 1:2 wherein it is written that the Spirit of God moved upon the water seeing that in Job 38:30 The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.

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.

Dreams is one of the many manners Christ did bring new prophecy .

Today because we have the whole word of prophecy, interpreting dreams can be dangerous depending on who and how they come to their conclusion. Everyone dreams.

There won't be any consistent response to this. How Christians interpret the usefulness and meaning of dreams will vary.
Some, often of more charismatic persuasions, but not exclusively, place a Lot of emphasis on dreams as being spiritual in nature, or at least some of them. A smaller few claim all dreams are spiritual.
Others see dreams as rarely having any significant spiritual value.

For myself i see the potential for having dreams from God, but view it as something not common and needing to be verified before labeling one as actually from God.
As far as most dreams, i imagine there is some meaning to them, but i find the majority of dream interpretation coming from New Age/eastern views, which contradict Christian views. Knowing that much of it will be skewed to this belief system (and in many cases the interpretation requires it) i bypass those as well.
Also, as with many such things, the interpretation is too open to be proven as valid. Much like a newspaper astrology (totally blanking on the right word at the moment) predictions making such broad claims that we can find ways to fit an answer into them, rather than them being detailed enough that the answer couldn't mean anything else.

It's pretty rare for me to look for meaning in a dream, be it spiritual or otherwise. That said, ironically, i had a dream a day ago that i felt i had a natural, easy interpretation of. At least part of it. But such moments are rare.

I accept no "spiritual guidance" from dreams. I believe in the sufficiency of Scripture.
... that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. 2 Timothy 3:17

In general most Christians dismiss dreams. I think people do take an interest in their own dreams but just dismiss them as nothing important.

Personally I take my dreams rather seriously as being spiritual. My dreams let me know how close or far from God I've strayed. I also use them to learn lessons bc God is trying to teach me something. For example Ill believe something that is incorrect and God will correct me in my dreams. He also tests me in my dreams. Often I fail the test, but sometimes I pass. I know they are from God. They are biblically based.

God talks to us in dreams. In particular the point before or after you enter a dream. In the darkness I will hear from him in different ways. When I'm lucid I talk to him directly. I'll say "My Lord tell me...." and his voice will respond. I test it by making sure it's biblical. when I'm not lucid I'll still hear from him. It might even be simple like a song I wake up singing.

I'm not sure why other Christians don't believe God speaks to them. Our subconscious is the easiest to mold bc it's completely honest and open. That's why people use hypnosis. Why wouldn't God use it? Or why would he create it to not use?

I try to pay attention to my dreams. I don't always think they're from God. Rather that God is a part of it in some way. Sometimes testing, sometimes my desires....sometimes being near me by loved ones but always a part of it. That's why when I say "Jesus help me" in my dreams I wake up. I guess it could be argued that God is everywhere...dream or reality.