UNDERSTANDING

Understanding Dreams There are seven common categories

and Their Meaning
Dreams are the brain’s way of processing data and events.
We know that God needs no rest and is as active when we
sleep as when we are awake. Therefore, we may suppose
that divine influences may fashion our dreams as well as
direct our waking thoughts.
You can see it in both the Bible and history that from the
times of the Old Testament, cultures were obsessed
with connecting with their gods through dreams. The
interpretation of dreams was a significant form of divination
in the ancient world. As believers, we need to be very
careful that our obsession with dreams does not lead us
into deception. Deception is very prevalent among people
who are obsessed with dreams.
of dreams:
1. Dreams to reach your destiny. They are prophetic and
revelation dreams, calling dreams, courage dreams,
direction dreams, invention and word of knowledge
dreams.
2. Dreams to change your path. These are correction,
warning and self-conditioning dreams.
3. Dreams for healing and transformation.
4. Dreams from the enemy.
5. Dreams that are caused to be dreamt.
6. Dreams to train you in spiritual obedience, i.e., spiritual
warfare and intercession dreams.
7. Dreams caused by changes in our body.

Interesting Statistics About Dreams There are three types of dreams:

1. Message dream – where God clearly speaks to you in
• We forget up to 95% of all our dreams shortly after
the dream. (Interpretation is not needed). We see this
waking up.
in the dream God gave to Joseph to take Mary as his
• We have between 4-6 dreams every night, which is 1460 wife. There is no analogy there. It is very clear and God
dreams a year. speaks directly.
• A typical dream lasts between 5 to 20 minutes. 2. Simple symbolic dream – where God uses symbols
• Blind people can dream. well known to you. (You get interpretation right away).
Joseph’s dream of the stars, sun and moon bowing to
• Animals dream too.
him is an example of this type of dream. This is how the
• There are many common dream experiences, many of Lord talks to you in a way that you understand.
which I believe to be demonic, including: being chased,
3. Complicated symbolic dream – where God uses
attacked, feeling frozen and unable to move, arriving late,
symbols that others can understand. (You need help
flying, being naked in public or falling in a dream.
with the interpretation).
Biblical Facts About Dreams: Now let us compare the Old and New Testament
regarding dreams.
• 120 references to dreams in the Old Testament: 52 come
from Genesis and 29 from the Book of Daniel.
• There are 21 recorded dreams in the Bible – 10 in the
book of Genesis, 6 dreamers were Kings, 1 was a woman,
2 were named Joseph and 6 were in the Gospel of
Matthew.
• During the approximate 1,000-year gap between Joseph
and Daniel, only two dreams were recorded in the Bible,
being Gideon’s and Solomon’s dream. The fact there
is such a large gap shows that the divinely significant
dreams do not come as frequently as some portray
them to.
• God still talks to people through dreams today.

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New Testament Dreams
In the New Testament, dreams were mostly directions and
warnings.
• Joseph was given a dream not to divorce Mary (Matthew
1:20-21).
• Wise men were warned not to return to Herod
(Matthew 2).
• Joseph was warned to run to Egypt with his family
(Matthew 2:13).
• Joseph was instructed to return to Israel but not Judea
(Matthew 2).
• Pilate’s wife warned her husband Jesus was innocent
due to her dream (Matthew 27:19).
Ten Things You Should Know About Dreams:
1. Dreams can come from three main sources: the devil,
the soul – our will, mind and emotions - and the Lord.
2. Dreams can also come from much activity,
(Ecclesiastes 5:3). This activity can result in our souls
being burdened, overwhelmed or on the contrary,
peaceful which will produce similar results.
3. Dreams can come through incubation. This is where
due to the value of dreams, an individual attempts to
induce a dream by spending a night in a temple or holy
place. In the Bible we see the activities of King Saul,
Solomon, Ahaz and Hezekiah which may be similar
attempts to incubate a dream, (1 Samuel 28:6, 15; 1
Kings 3:4-15, 2 Chronicles 1:3-12, 2 Kings 16:15 and 2
Kings 19:1,14ff). Incubation is not solely about where you
sleep at night. If you watch too many movies, you can
start to dream that kind of stuff that you fill your mind
with. Samson fell asleep on the lap of Delilah and had
the world’s most expensive haircut. Jacob fell asleep
on the rock and had a vision of God. The question is
when you are sleeping, are you sleeping on the lap of
Delilah or the Rock of Ages? During the day what are
you doing? How are you incubating – preparing your
mind and soul? Before you sleep, are you spending
time in the Word and prayer?
4. False prophets deceived people from devotion to God
through dreams, (Deuteronomy 13:1-5, Zechariah 10:2
and Jude 8). This shows we have to be discerning
towards dreams. Demonic dreams can also come
through somebody else who is connected to the
demonic or a familiar spirit. The emphasis of the
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warning God gave the children of Israel was to avoid
falling prey and becoming too desperate to hear
God through dreams because then, false prophets
can entrap you to the kingdom of darkness and
bring distraction or destruction upon your life. It is so
important for us to have our own relationship with the
Spirit of God. Allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you.
When you learn to hear His voice and differentiate His
voice it will be easier for you to not be deceived.
5. The Lord God does indeed speak through dreams,
as He declared to Israel in Numbers 12:6. Dreams are
also one of the ways the Holy Spirit communicates
with believer’s today, (Acts 2:16-17). I believe there is not
so much emphasis on dreams in the New Testament
because now, we have the Holy Spirit who can guide
and lead us. Although our basis is the Word of God,
the Holy Spirit and the community of believers, but
the Lord still communicates to His people through
dreams, visions and prophecy. One way to differentiate
between a dream and a vision is dreams are often seen
in first person perspective as if it is real time but visions
are often seen whereby you would see yourself in third
person view.
6. Through dreams God can bypass our walls of self-
defence, (Job 33:14-18). This is to turn men from their
evil deeds, turn your life back from the pit, warnings,
protection, deposit instruction and directions in your
soul and protect you from pride.
7. Having dreams that come true does not mean that
you are a Christian. (Matthew 27:19). Even if you get
a dream from God, it doesn’t mean you are walking
with God, in the same way that Nebuchadnezzar and
Pharaoh got prophetic dreams from God but were
not walking with Him. Equally, if you get attacked by
demons in a dream, that does not mean you are on the
same side as the devil.
8. Jesus can visit people in dreams. I have heard
testimonies, particularly from former Muslims who saw
Jesus Christ appear to them in dreams, and tell them
where they could go to be prayed for and find a church
community.
9. God can minister to you in a dream. God can use a
minister you know to deliver you in a dream. God can
warn you in a dream. We saw this in the case of Job
33:17. God can reveal your calling in a dream. God
confirmed the calling of Gideon and Joseph in their
dreams. You can also experience spiritual warfare in
dreams. The difference between spiritual warfare and
demonic attacks – spiritual warfare in dreams is not
a consistent thing. It brings awareness that you are
 in a spiritual warfare and need to pray, fast more and
increase your devotion. When a person has a demonic
attack, there is a sense of fatigue, exhaustion and
giving up.
10. The devil can attack you in your dreams. Nightmares,
sleep paralysis, horror dreams, snakes, spiders and
sexual dreams (Matthew 13:25). Attacks don’t mean
possession any more than a dream from God doesn’t
equal salvation. However, a consistent recurring
tormenting dream could be a sign that you have a
demon. You cannot get a demon in a dream but you
can have a demon torment you in a dream if you have
one. You can get demons through generational curses,
getting involved in the occult or through abuse.
Steps To Take If You’ve
Been Attacked In Dreams:
Take time before you go to sleep, even if its 20-30 minutes
to saturate yourself in the Word of God and prayer. Go to
sleep on the Rock of Ages, not the lap of Delilah.
Pray over your house and bed. You can even anoint them
with oil to sanctify them. A lot of times, there are demons
connected to people’s houses or belongings that cause
people to have nightmares and the moment they sanctify
and dedicate everything to the Lord, they no longer
experience those torments.
When you wake up, I would encourage you to uproot
everything by repentance if sin during the day has created
nightmares during the night. Then actively renounce and
resist the dream. Remove it from your mind and continue to
live for the glory of God.
How To Understand Your Dreams
I believe God wants to speak to us through His Word and
by the Holy Spirit. I do not see as huge an emphasis on God
speaking to us through dreams in the Scripture as it is given
in Christian circles today. However, I am a fervent believer
that God communicates to people through dreams. For
people who don’t have their Bible open, don’t live in the
Word of God or prayer and just want to sleep their way to
revelation, I really encourage you to change that approach.
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Six Instructions To Help You Understand
Your Dreams.
1. The same God who gave you the dream will give you
the interpretation, (Daniel 2:25-28). Joseph and Daniel
are the main two dreamers in the Bible. Both Joseph
and Daniel received and interpreted a lot of dreams.
When each man stood before the King, they answered
that it is God who gives the interpretation.
2. Write down your dream and your initial interpretation,
(Habakkuk 2:1-2).
3. Pay attention to symbols, numbers, colors and objects,
if you saw people and what you felt. Then ask God
what they mean, (James 1:5).
4. Allow the Holy Spirit to assign meaning to those
symbols and parables in your dreams. So many people
are too dependent on everyone else that they depend
very little on the Holy Spirit.
5. If you can’t figure out interpretation, ask someone for
help and if they don’t know, move on. Don’t get stuck on
a dream you don’t understand.
6. Pray about what this dream is trying to tell you to do.
I believe that God gives us daily manna but the Bible does
not state that daily manna means dreams. Daily manna is
God’s Word. God wants you to live in His Word, not in your
bed. When God does speak to you through dreams, He will
bring direction and action - something you need to do.
Sometimes, God can speak in a dream to someone to
give directions for a country or company but He does not
usually do this through random people. If you receive a
dream about a country, or your own country, it is often for
you to intercede and pray with for country, not for you to
share with the masses.
To summarise everything, the Lord speaks through
dreams. We have to be careful that we walk in discernment
concerning dreams. If you become obsessed with dreams,
you can lose your discernment and end up in the shady
waters of deception. You should be obsessed with the Holy
Bible. God can minister, bring healing and deliverance to
you in dreams. You can be demonically attacked and you
can know if you have a demon by what happens in your
dreams.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I ask for ever person who reads this, reveal
Yourself to them and speak to them through dreams in
Jesus’ name.
Give them prophetic dreams and dreams which boost their
faith and encourage them to take the step that they need to
take and bring them close to you, precious Holy Spirit.
For people who struggle with sleep, sleep apnoea, sleep
paralysis, need to take medication before they can sleep
and if you have children who can’t sleep, Lord, restore
their sleep. Let their nights be a time of peace, not a time
of pressure. Let their nights be a time of rest, not a time of
stress.
I break every grip of Delilah that seeks to cut their anointing
and vision as they sleep, in Jesus’ name.
I stop every work of the enemy that seeks to sow tares as
they are sleeping in Jesus’ mighty name.

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