God Still Speaks in Dreams

God still speaks in dreams. From the earliest recording of Biblical history, man has understood this fact. The story of Job is the oldest book in the Bible. Job, was called a man who “was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.” His walk with God kept Job from turning away even in the midst of terrible tragedy. His perspective on dreams is recorded in this statement: 

“For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.” Job 33:14-18

Job said that God uses dreams to give men instructions. Your conscious mind is bombarded by powerful stimuli all day long, but your subconscious mind is relaxed and open to what God may want to say. The Biblical basis for dreams only starts there. In fact, God spoke in dreams throughout the Bible a total of 25 recorded times. These dreams or “visions in the night” came to both men and women as well as believers and unbelievers alike.

Every Dream in the Bible

1. Genesis 20:3-7 – Abimelech’s Warning
2. Genesis 28:12 – Jacob’s Ladder
3. Genesis 31:10-11 – Jacob is told to return home
4. Genesis 31:24 – Laban’s Warning
5. Genesis 37:5-8 – Joseph’s Grain
6. Genesis 37:9-11 – Joseph’s Stars
7. Genesis 40:9-15 Butler’s Branches
8. Genesis 40:16-19 – Baker’s Baskets
9.  Genesis 41:1-4 – Pharaoh’s Cows
10. Genesis 41:5-7 – Pharaoh’s Stalk
11. Judges 7:13 – Barley Loaf
12. 1 Kings 3:5-15 – God’s offer to Solomon
13. 1 Kings 9:2-9 – God’s promise to Solomon
14. Daniel 2:1-45 – Nebuchadnezzar’s Statue
15. Daniel 4:5-28 – Nebuchadnezzar’s Tree
16. Daniel 7:1-16 – Daniel’s Four Beasts
17. Matthew 1:18-24 – Joseph told not to divorce Mary
18. Matthew 2:12 – Magi’s Warning
19. Matthew 2:13 – Joseph and Family sent to Egypt
20. Matthew 2:19-20 – Joseph and Family sent back to Israel
21. Matthew 2:22 – Joseph warned not to go through Judea
22. Matthew 27:19 – Pilate’s Wife’s Nightmare about Jesus
23. Acts 16:9 – Paul’s Vision of the Night of Macedonia
24. Acts 18:1-17 – Paul’s Vision in the Night of God’s Protection
25. Acts 27:22-26 – Paul’s Vision in the Night of an Angel

This list doesn’t even include the dozens of significant daytime visions of men like Abraham, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Peter, and Cornelius. God spoke in dreams and visions in every period of the Bible, and even more significantly, God promised to speak in dreams and visions in the last days. Joel 2:28-32 records a prophecy of end times, 

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.”

Did you catch that? God’s people will be given dreams and visions before the day of the Lord. Peter preached at Pentecost that those end days were upon them (Acts 2:16-20), and 2,000 years after his sermon, we are most definitely in the last days when the Spirit of the Lord is being poured out on His people, young and old, rich and poor, male and female. So Christian, if you believe we are in the end times, do you also believe that God can and will give you dreams and visions? 

Now, before I continue, let me say that I am not debating the supreme importance of the Bible OVER dreams and visions. Yes, we have a more sure word of prophecy (2 Peter 1:19). But, if God did not lie when He said that the time before the “day of the Lord” would be marked by His people experiencing dreams and visions, then every Christian should be expecting God to speak as the day draweth near. (Mark 13:32-37)

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Important Historical Dreams

Elias Howe – sewing machine needle

Abraham Lincoln’s – Assassination prediction

Open Doors – Berik’s story (40% encounter dreams)

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My Experience with Dreams

I never dreamed much, maybe once or twice a year I would have a dream that I actually remembered for a couple minutes after I woke up. But the details seemed strange and hardly worth remembering. Then, I had my deliverance meeting. In this meeting, I was delivered from years of sleep paralysis and demonic strongholds in my life. God used a special lady named Candice to teach me the importance of dreams. Candice had a dream about me the night before my meeting and in the dream, God told Candice incredibly significant details about my life that no one else knew. I came out of my meeting free from demonic influence and convinced that dreams had real significance. I did a deep dive on dreams in the Bible and repented for my lack of faith and for quenching the Holy Spirit in this way. In my prayer, I invited the Lord to speak to me in whatever way He chose. That night, I had my first “God dream.” The Lord revealed pieces of my life that were still broken and needed to be given to him and gave me promises of a life lived by His side. Since that first dream, I’ve had hundreds more. I haven’t yet been able to attach meanings to all of them, but I have done my best to steward them. The interesting thing is, God gave Joseph a couple of dreams that took over twenty years to come to fruition: with that in mind, I may still have a while to wait for some interpretations. 

I have had dreams about others where I learned specific details the person later confirmed to be true. Here’s one specific story I’ll share: God gave me six dreams over the course of three months about one young lady that proved to be the path to her freedom. These dreams revealed spiritual apathy and a hidden downward spiral into witchcraft. My dreams prompted me to intercede for her and prayerfully watch for an opportunity to bring up the details of those dreams to her. Watch Laikynn’s testimony by clicking HERE. 

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7 Foundational Principles for Interpreting Dreams

(Taken from “Hearing God in Your Dreams,” by Mark and Patti Virkler)

1. Most dreams are symbolic (including biblical dreams), so view them the same way you would view a political cartoon. Throw the switch in your brain that says, “Look at this symbolically.” 
   
2. The symbols will often come from the dreamer’s life, so ask, “What does this symbol mean to me?” or, If working on another’s dream, ask, What does this symbol mean to you?”
   
3. The dream generally speaks of the current concerns in your heart. So ask. “What issues was I processing the day before I had the dream?”
   
4. The meaning of the dream must be drawn from the dreamer. Realize you know nothing about the dream, but through dependence upon the Holy Spirit and the skillful use of questions, you can draw the meaning of the dream out from the heart of the dreamer.
5. The dreamer’s heart will leap and witness” and say, “Aha!” when it hears the right interpretation, so never accept an interpretation that does not bear witness in the dreamer’s heart.
6. Dreams reveal but do not condemn. Their goal is to preserve life, not to destroy it (Job 33:13-18).
7. Never make a major decision in your life based only on a dream without receiving additional confirmation from the other ways that God speaks to us and guides us (Scripture, peace in our hearts, the counsel of others, etc.).

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Seven Dream Categories

There are seven categories of dreams I have observed. The first three all have to do with a person’s own life. Generally speaking, most of your dreams will fit into those first three categories with a much smaller percentage fitting into the later categories.

1. Recap dreams

These dreams are recaps of events or situations you’ve encountered, likely the day before or at some point recently. They are often metaphorical, though not necessarily as such and are simply a way of giving perspective about events in a way that is helpful to your subconscious. You’ve likely had dozens, if not hundreds, of these dreams and their metaphorical language may caused you to dismiss all of your dreams as unsignificant. Remember how Jesus spoke in parables? He still does in your dreams! (Matthew 13:10-13) 

2. Processing/planning dreams

This type of dream functions much like a recap dream, but is coupled to bigger events and higher levels of stress or woundedness. If there was a lot of emotion, stress, or hurt tied to an event your mind will need to process. You process a past event, and plan for a future event. God can use these dreams to give perspective and bring peace to an unstable or fustrating situation.

3. Timeline dreams

Similar again to a recap dream, but these dreams are more overarching in terms of time and less specific to one event. In a timeline dream, you may switch jobs three times, or graduate highschool and college, get married, and have your first child! A timeline dream brings stability in where you have come from and traces it to what brought you here now, and these dreams can also be metaphorical in language or scope. 

4. Word of knowledge dreams

Up to this point, our dreams have all been about us; now we enter the types of dreams God may give you about the people and situations around you. Dreams like these communicate facts that you couldn’t possibly have known outside of God directly telling you. I have had dreams like this, one notable story is that of Laikynn: of whom God told me she was practicing low level witchcraft and had demonic jewelry (all of this was in parable or the language of metaphor). My understanding of the dream prompted me to pray for her at length and wait for an opportunity to bring them up to her. God never just tells you information about another person because He wants to gossip — He shares because He counts you trustworthy to respond in His spirit of love and mercy, exhorting someone to a better way. 

5. Prophetic dreams

These dreams are similar to the word of knowledge dreams but differ because of their tense. Word of knowledge dreams revolve around facts about someone else or what has happened. Prophetic dreams revolve around situations to come, or what may happen for a person. A prophetic dream could prompt you to pray about an upcoming situation for you or someone else or God could be asking you to do something in response. Once again, God never just tells in order to gossip: ask him what you’re supposed to do with the information He shares. Above all, don’t panic. God’s words bring life, not terror. An earthquake may mean someone you know has been “shaken” lately. Seeing a hurricane blow over your church doesn’t mean you need to get the city to evacuate: it could be that God is showing you a storm is brewing and He is asking you to intercede on behalf of your church. He’s showing you the spiritual storm that needs prayed against so it doesn’t tear the ministry apart! 

6. Intercession dreams

An intercession dream is one where God uses your subconscious mind to intercede for someone greatly in need. This sounds like a tall tale to anyone reading who still doesn’t believe dreams mean anything, but I have offered my dreams to the Lord and have woken up on many occasions knowing that I spent the whole night with one specific person on my mind praying and interceding for every part of their life. 

7. Demonic dreams

Nightmares are not necessarily demonic dreams. In fact, a nightmare could technically fit in any of the categories I have described with the exception of number six. If you’ve had a nightmare, God may be highlighting something He wants to deal with so pray into that and ask him to show you what it means. If you are having demonic dreams, reoccuring or regular nightmares, night terrors, sleep paralysis, perverse dreams, or other dreams that scare you, please reach out to me and let me help you get freedom. You don’t have to keep enduring these terrible dreams! God wants your time of rest to be protected! I struggled with sleep paralysis for 18 years before finally finding freedom, and you can find freedom too! Reach out at www.freedominjesusinitiative.org

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Three Reasons you have never had a God Dream

1. You have written your dreams off as unnecessary 

Do not buy into the culturally prevalent lie that your dreams hold no meaning. I implore you to repent for not taking God at His word, and invite Him to begin speaking to you in dreams and visions. I have heard some say, “You put too much importance on your dreams.” My rebuttal is that I have chosen to take God’s word as fact. The outcome of my choice is that my own relationship with God has grown, my faith has grown deeper in our amazing God, and, as a bonus, a few other people’s lives have been miraculously changed. (SERIOUSLY, WATCH LAIKYNN’S TESTIMONY!)

2. You don’t steward your dreams you have