I have a question?

I know that God does sometimes speak to us through dreams but how does one begin to understand what the dream means. Does God sometimes give us a dream that is defiantly from Him but with hold understanding? Even after much prayer I do not understand this dream or why I keep having it night after night?

Thank you
mj

You will know when the time comes!
In my case it was with hindsight.
A terrible tragedy occured where a friend of mine from Church who I sang duets with, was killed in a head on collision aged 22. A vivid dream I'd had 8 weeks prior suddenly meant something. My friend was being swept away across a river and I was reaching over trying to grab hold of her to pull her back, I was shouting and screaming to her as she was drifting away from me. Then as I woke up in a state of panic I heard God's voice urging me to 'keep praising, keep praising no matter what happens don't ever stop praising!'
When our pastor came around to break the news I was suddenly aware of the dream and that I knew this was to happen! God had been warning me, it was in His hands. The 'keep praising' meant a lot to me as I was leading on the worship team at Church the following day.
I realised that the dream had been prophetic and was able to look back and know what it now meant.

My advice is to be careful when it comes to dreams.

While it is true that God can communicate via dreams, it is a very rare medium for Him to use today. The reason for this is that it leaves too much to our own subjectivity. When God speaks to us, He wants to make it known undeniably and in a way that will not leave us second guessing. Most of the time this occurs via a still small voice [i]while we are awake and in full control of our senses.[/i] It is primarily the forces of darkness today that "slip in the backdoor" via dreams to make impressions upon us.

Brother Paul: Perhaps caution and more prayer is what I need to be about. I do not often have dreams that I remember and even the ones I do I pay next to no attention to. This particular one though has been reoccurring for the past 8 nights and always involves the same three images. I think that is why it had been on my mind so much. But I do take your word to heart brother Paul, I do not want to take my focus off of Jesus and get caught up in dreams either.Thank you for this very good reminder!

Ceri: I was sorry to hear of the loss of your friend. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me on this. I will be praying more and trust that if this is from the Lord, He will make all things known in His time.

Thank you both.
maryjane

Dear mj,

While I also believe we need to be very careful about dreams, it is also true that God does still speak through dreams.

Joe 2:28 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:

Act 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

I have been saved 33 years and have had a number of dreams that I knew were from the Lord. Some were warnings, I saw a couple getting a divorce that nobody would have thought that was a possiblility. Unfortunately shortly afterwards they did indeed divorce. I have seen people that I haven't seen in years and the next day came in contact with them. I don't have them frequently, but occassionally, and many I get in between them are probable pizza dreams. But I do prayerfully pay attention.

Most of the time I search the bible for insight, along with prayer for understanding. I also agree with what was shared, if it is from God in time He will show you the reason for it. I have also had some friends help me with understanding parts. This isn't unbiblical as Joseph interperted dreams.

I would be careful not to try to work up understanding, but rest in the Lord and know He will reveal everything in His time if He is the origin of it.

Mat 2:22 But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:

Dear Mary,

Repeated dreams are a frequent thing for many, many people of all walks of life: Buddhists, Muslims, Atheists, Christians, Jews, Hindus, et cetera all experience infrequent reoccuring dreams, and usually they are nothing more than our minds processing bits and pieces of submerged miscellaneous information, mental snapshots, childhood remnants and stewing them all together inside the nocturnal caulderon of our mind during a REM cycle. Many non-believers also experience prophetic dreams as well: dreams that warn of an auto accident, flunking a test, getting pregnant, etc. And they come true! It doesn't mean any of these prognostic dreams are of God in the Christian sense.

My experience thus far is that God as a rule doesn't speak enigmatically via odd dreams to His children in the New Covenant. It is mostly the people of charismatic persuasion that try to mystify God's communications with us; telling us that God is behind every strange dream or shadow or that He requires us to make brash moves during periods of uncertainty and call it "faith". The truth is that no loving father, when he wishes to send a message to his own son or daughter, will do so in a convoluted, enigmatic or mysterious way and expect his dear confused child to "decipher" the code. But this is the very fallacy that many attribute to God, and it is why you find certain confused believers very attentive to decoding dreams like a New Testament Joseph and Pharoah, thinking God is trying to reach or warn them by this medium (you will notice Pharoah came to Joseph and not vice-versa). The fact that you have been prompted to bring this dream into a forum to determine whether it is or is not of God is pretty good indication of the latter.

Brother Paul

The truth is that no loving father, when he wishes to send a message to his own son or daughter, will do so in a convoluted, enigmatic or mysterious way and expect his dear confused child to "decipher" the code.

This is where my real confusion came from. I had been praying about the dream and thought sure it was from the Lord but could not understand why I was not able to understand it if it was from Him. It left me feeling confused and I have even thought perhaps I have been in sin over this, that maybe there was something God was trying to show me but in my flesh I have been unwilling to see it.

God Bless
maryjane

Edit: Thank you also to those others who posted and shared with me.

"For God speaketh once, yea twice, [i]yet man[/i] perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed;"

- Job 33:14-15(KJV)

MaryJane,

I think that in the Scriptures God has spoken to all different sorts of men in dreams in the scriptures, even who also did not at first understand what the dream meant. From Joseph, to Potipher(EDIT it was the baker and the butler that had the dreams(not Potiphar)) and, to Daniel, to Nebechadnezer.

In my opinion, it is presumptious to assume that God will choose to reveal everything to us plainly because He is Father. I think it presumes upon what may be His hidden purposes as well as His Wisdom in knowing how exactly best to communicate. To anyone. Anywhere. Anytime.

That's definitely hard MJ. I believe that God does still speak via dreams, but we must be very careful about attributing a dream to God. I have never had any dreams of this manner, but my younger sister has them often. Oddly enough it is not in a convoluted, enigmatic or mysterious manner as some would suggest. In fact her last one had a voice telling her that her sins were forgiven. (Something she struggles with, I think she has a guilt complex...) And that is obviously Biblical. And I do agree that the Joel 2 passage about dreams is true. Not just for Israel, because we are also His children as believers. And because the time period between Christ's coming to earth and the destruction of the earth is referred to "the last days."
That wasn't really advice... ha ha. I guess my advice would be continue to pray about it and if possible see what the Bible has to say. God's Spirit will never contradict God's word.

Paul:

It doesn't mean any of these prognostic dreams are of God in the Christian sense.

My experience thus far is that God as a rule doesn't speak enigmatically via odd dreams to His children in the New Covenant.

The truth is that no loving father, when he wishes to send a message to his own son or daughter, will do so in a convoluted, enigmatic or mysterious way and expect his dear confused child to "decipher" the code.

In Christ
Veronica

Dear Mary,

I really think it must grieve the heart of God the way we so often try complicate and codify and mystify the way He communicates to His children. It took me so many years to learn that God's method of communication is often wrought in the most sober, calm, peaceable and lucid manner imaginable. He speaks to our hearts and not our heads - the latter being dream factory. The difference between the two is tremendous. If the Lord speaks a Word into your heart, you will know it is God at once, for it will instantly alter your life as though being hit by a freight train spiritually. You won't need anyone to tell you it was God. If it is only in your head (like a dream), you'll spend your time quessing and floundering on whether it was God.

Though God speaks to our hearts in a soft, still voice (while we are awake) most prevalently, the frequency of these communications may vary. Truthfully, I don't know if God has ever spoken to me [i]deeply[/i] via a dream, and if He did, I will never be able to validate it this side of eternity. That's the one problem with dreams. Plenty of people I meet claim that God speaks to them all the time via dreams, and some of these same also claim to see demons and angels on occasion and hear God's audible voice.

I don't share this testimony unfortunately!

Brother Paul

I think it is silly to pass off dreams as only "our minds processing bits and pieces of submerged miscellaneous information" just because you prefer to take the scientific approach.

Brother Paul

I really think it must grieve the heart of God the way we so often try complicate and codify and mystify the way He communicates to His children.

This may be true. I imagine it may greive God [b]anytime[/b] and [b]however[/b] He is somehow interupted from speaking to someone, whether it is by rancor or raucous, by criticisim and synicisim in reaction to those that have abused spiritual revelation, or by the abuse of it itself.

Paul,

I said such occurences weren't impossible, but rare for today.

How would we know that Paul, given that there are 6 billion people on the planet?

In my opinion, it is presumptious to assume that God will choose to reveal everything to us plainly because He is Father.

How would we know that Paul, given that there are 6 billion people on the planet

Brother Paul

Paul,

I think it was worth subsantiating a statment like that.

Everyone, I appolgise for one more post here, pelase forgive me this:

MaryJane, please forgive me for distracting from your situation.

And brother Paul, please forgive me if I have been antagonistic to you in a anway. May GOd richly bless you always brother.

Chris

Sometimes the dream is for a future time and when it unfolds you will recognize its meaning. Your spirit can understand long before your intellect when it is given from God because it is Spirit to spirit.

mj

in my experiences with dreams I give them no aknowledgment after their occurence UNLESS there is a clear Word from God with it. For instance I dreamed the other night I was being chased around my house by a black widow spider. I woke up and heard "a little bit of leaven, leavens the whole loaf." What did this pretain to? Fear. I was letting something small, but poisonous (anxiety) chase me around and terrify me. It started with a little question that turned into a lot of fear and anxiety.

I would say if it comes with a clear, biblical Word that explains it to pay it heid. Otherwise dismiss it. I have had several dreams come true that I did not aknowledge. They were simply dreams of realistic events, and when the event really came up it was a De Ja Vu moment, and I had an opportunity to react in a manner different than in my dream. I could react as Christ or as myself, God gave me grace to react as Christ in those instances.

Just focus and walk with Christ.