Did you know that Julius Caesar’s wife had a dream that foretold her husband’s tragic death? In 312 AD, Constantine dreamed about Jesus dying on the cross and as a result, provided protection for Christians through the Edict of Milan. Einstein’s theory of relativity came from a dream, and Handel composed Messiah after he heard it in a dream. Fantastic? Yes!
Author and speaker, John Paul Jackson, has taught a lot on the subject of dreaming with God. He notes that we will spend a third of our lives sleeping, and by the time we are 70 years old, at least six years of that time will be in dreamland.
The Bible has many accounts of God speaking to people in dreams and visions. Jackson says there are 224 references in Scripture, and it comprises a whopping third of the Bible!
For example, Abraham knew about the future 400-year captivity of God’s people from a dream (Genesis 15: 12-14). Joseph, son of Jacob, was shown that he would rule over his brothers (Genesis 37). Even Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, was told about future kingdoms through a dream of a great statue. The symbolism ultimately predicted Christ and the triumph of the Kingdom of God over all earthly kingdoms. Daniel, a Hebrew captive, supernaturally knew the content of the dream and what it meant (Daniel 2). Nebuchadnezzar, stunned by the revelation said, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.” (Daniel 2:47) But these examples barely scratch the surface. Spend some time in the book of Acts to get more!
There is ample biblical evidence of God speaking through dreams and visions. In addition, recorded history contains many accounts of the same. Still countless people believe that dreams and visions—as a means for God’s voice—are far too subjective. Never mind that Scripture teaches us look for these points of contact:
“Indeed God speaks once or twice, yet no one notices it. In a dream, a vision of the night, when sound sleep falls on men while they slumber in their beds, then He opens the ears of men and seals their instruction, that He may turn man aside from his conduct and keep man from pride.” (Job 33:14-17)
Let me tell you a true story. In our church, a man I will call Michael scoffed at the idea of God speaking through a dream. Then one night, he had an amazing dream. (Don’t you just love God!) He saw a ladder coming down from heaven to our town with many angels descending and ascending. The biblical reference of course is Jacob’s ladder. Michael, astonished by the symbolic picture, told our friend Gail who mentioned it to us.
A few weeks later, my husband traveled to London England on business and attended an evening service at Holy Trinity Brompton. At the end of the service, the leader invited everyone to come to the front for prayer. A man my husband had never met came forward to pray for him. He said, “I don’t know where you live, but I see tremendous spiritual activity over your city with angels from heaven descending and ascending.” What a confirmation! The story got back to Michael. I wonder if it disrupted his mindset. Clearly a “thrash” move of God.
There is much more to glean on this topic, and I plan to share many stories here, along with some teaching so you can learn more about it. Stay tuned! In the meantime, take a moment to share one of your dreams, and I’ll chime in to give a possible interpretation.
i love the term “chime in” which makes you a “susan belle’!
i have recurrent dreams about a house we lived in over in hyalite foothills. in the dreams, my husband and i are ALWAYS moving in when the new owner is out of town or just gone from the house for awhile. we often have christmas there! and usually he comes home to find us. sometimes we’ve stayed for weeks or months. it has been 13 years since we sold it and moved. but the dreams just keep on coming. random? or i simply miss living there so very much? chime in, belle!
love
suzee B
Dear Suzee! I’ve had a similar dream about a house where we lived for 20 years. It’s so funny but the last dream I had along those lines, I told the owner that we were done and wouldn’t return. AND I HAVEN’T DREAMED ABOUT IT SINCE! Very mysterious. Anyway, I think there is in you some kind of longing for all the “life-lived-there.” We form attachment to places where significant things happened whether wonderful or tragic. Ask yourself if there is something unfinished about the life that you lived in that house. Are there any symbolic details.
For example, I had a dream about my childhood home. In the dream, I’m in my bedroom, when I discover a bear cub living there. The cub grows up while I’m there and is growly about being kept in a small room. I know I need to leave. To stay with the grown bear would be dangerous. It was a dream about individuating from my family of origin. Though I love them all, as an adult I’ve also had to “leave” and live my life. There was a deep longing in me to be a child again (a cub) in that home. My life as a child was safe and stable. Most of my pain came later in my adult life. God was showing me I had to go forward in my life and quit hitting the replay button. Let me know if there were any symbolic images that might unpack this dream for you a bit more. Susan
Susan-great post! I love dreams, though I don’t remember them super often, God does occasionally use them to speak to me. I usually know pretty quickly what they mean, but I had one a couple of months ago that was a bit scary, weird and vivid, and I didn’t really know what to make of it. I was driving a stick shift car, struggling with it a bit (I don’t know how to drive stick shift in real life). I went through a gate, suddenly I wasn’t in the car anymore. There was a car facing me, about 30 feet away with 2 guys in it. One of them pulled a gun and shot at me. Within the dream, I knew these guys had been after me for awhile. I felt the bullet graze me, turned around and ran. I ran into a store and thought I needed to buy a big towel so I could hide under it. I found one and somehow found myself in someone’s house. I thought I would hide in their bedroom, and the owner of the house came in to warn me where the bad guys were-then one of the guys came in, shot her point blank. I knew I’d be next but thought that given my inexperience, I had done a good job of evading them as long as I had, then everything faded to black.
A lot darker than my dreams normally are, and I have a couple ideas of what the individual components might mean but am stumped on the overall meaning.
Any thoughts you have would be appreciated-thanks for writing such insightful blog posts!
Deanna
Deanna! Yes, a dark dream, but I caution you to not interpret too literally. It seems to be a warning dream pertaining to spiritual warfare. Then enemy is always running a scheme on you and me, but we can be confident in God. The car could represent your work or ministry which may be in an awkward stage (stick shift as oppose to automatic) where moving forward requires more intentionality. Entering a gate without the car is being in a new stage, phase, or chapter of your life and feeling vulnerable or exposed to danger. The towel is possibly about needing “covering” or the protection of someone in authority. Maybe ask your pastor or other believers to cover you with prayer for this new season or arena you are in. I think in general this is a warning dream to ask for intercession concerning your work or ministry. Hope that helps!
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