What Does The Bible Say About Dreams? Never Be Ignorant
Could you be hearing from God through dreams without being aware? Let’s find out what the Bible says about dreams. It’s a common human experience but sometimes reveals God’s special message to believers.
Dreams are a very important part of the life of every child of God. Here, I will share with you what the Bible says about dreams, with examples and my personal experiences of getting messages from the Lord through them. It is time you learn about the spiritual connection your existence on earth has with the Holy Spirit who reveals secrets to us and directs our paths.
What Are Dreams?
Dreams are events, symbols, or messages that appear in the subconscious mind when having a deep sleep. The Bible sometimes calls it night vision.
Understanding The Bible’s Viewpoint On Dreams
Dreams occur in the lives of every human. It is very natural for anyone to have such experiences. It doesn’t matter whether you are a Christian or not. Even scientists with some of their weirdest researches have found out that animals also dream when asleep. Well, we are humans and there is deeper truth hidden in our dreams. Many are asking to know what the Bible says about dreams. Since God speaks to humans through this medium, it is imperative for every Christian to know what God says about dreams in the Bible.
If we carefully take a look at the Bible, we can see that more than half of the entire book is filled with dreams and visions. For instance, Paul and Peter were led and directed by dreams that came from God. God is still speaking to us through dreams.
The verses below tell us what the Bible says about dreams:
“For God speaks, the first time in one way, the second time in another, though a person does not perceive it. In a dream, a night vision, when deep sleep falls on people as they sleep in their beds. Then he gives a revelation to people, and terrifies them with warnings.” (Job 33:14 – 16)
The above verses give the best definition of dreams in the Holy Bible. God sends warnings, and directions and reveals future events through night visions.
Some dreams occur without any religious or spiritual significance. They happened because of what the person has been thinking about or engaging himself in.
The Bible gave reference to this kind of dream by saying:
“Just as dreams come when there are many cares, so the rash vow of a fool occurs when there are many words.” —Ecclesiastes 5:3
So out of one’s busy life, he might go into what is called a soulish dream which has nothing to do with the spiritual connection of God-consciousness. This is a dream that comes as a result of our emotions, thoughts and other activities we engage in. It often has no spiritual significance.
God Promised The Future Generation To Have Dreams
God gave a prophetic message to pour out His Spirit on all flesh:
“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions.” (Joel 2:28)
This message got fulfilled during the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost day. Apostle Paul testified to that. (Acts 2:16 – 18)
This wasn’t the beginning of how God started communicating with people through dreams. In the Old Testament the Bible recorded that sometimes God speaks to people directly through dreams:
• “But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Look, you are a dead man, because of the woman whom you have taken. For she is a man’s wife.” (Genesis 20:3) You can also find other similar events throughout the Bible.
• God appeared in the dream of Laban with a strong warning not to bless or curse Jacob. (Genesis 31:24)
• God spoke to Israel (Jacob) in a dream 46:2-4.
• “In Gibeon, the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.” (1Kings 3:5)
• In Matthew 1:20-24 An angel of God appeared to Joseph through a dream. The angel told him about Mary’s divine conception of the Saviour Christ Jesus.
Remember that all dreams have their own meanings. Even those who knew not God had dreams that required the servant of the Lord to interpret.
Such people include Pharaoh’s butler and baker, Genesis 40:1-23 (The prisoner’s dream); and Pharaoh himself and Nebuchadnezzar —the notorious king of Babylon.
In the situation of Nebuchadnezzar, he had a disturbing dream (nightmare) that no one by any power was able to interpret. Daniel explained it to prove that God is the ruler of the world and he has absolute power to establish and destroy kingdoms according to his will (Daniel 2:1-49).
Well, the above are a few examples of what the Bible has recorded about dreams.
How The Bible Warned False Prophets And Their Dreams
Sometimes astrologers, sorcerers, magicians, and false prophets can trick people to believe in false dreams.
In the days of Moses, he warned the people of Israel to be careful in believing those who claimed that the Lord had spoken to them through dreams.
The Bible recorded that such people were mainly false prophets who misled people (Deuteronomy 13:1-3; Jeremiah 23:25. Moses was well aware that sometimes God speaks to the true prophets through dreams. Interestingly, the Bible classifies such dreams as visions.
“He said, “Hear now my words. If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known to him in a vision. I will speak with him in a dream.” (Numbers 12:6)
God condemned to death all those who pretended to have prophetic dreams from Him. God never changes. He is the same yesterday, today and forevermore. God still gives prophetic dreams to his children because the Holy Spirit is still at work.
Does God Answer Prayers Through Dreams?
God sometimes answers the prayer request of people through dreams. They might appear in reality afterward. An example is how King Solomon asked for wisdom and God appeared to him in a dream with the answer.
Unfortunately, most dreams are often raw with symbols so it becomes hard to understand. For example, dreaming about a house represents the human body. This is a direct interpretation from the Bible and it is in relation to 1st Corinthians 6:19 which says your body is the Temple (house) of the Holy Spirit.
The one who dreams a dream may need the help of someone with the ability to interpret dreams. The person could be a fellow Christian, Pastor, Prophet, etc,
However, some dreams are also very direct and so you wouldn’t necessarily need an interpreter. Whatever the case might be, every Christian must pay attention to his dreams; God might be warning you, directing you, or preparing something for you in the future.
We can revisit Job 33:14 – 16 to understand. Events that happen in dreams can come true in reality right before your eyes. If the dream is a warning in the form of a nightmare, pray against it. If it’s a good omen, pray for the Lord to bless it.
According to the Bible, the prophets do sometimes receive their messages from God through dreams.
If you pray to God about anything, pay attention to your dreams. He might answer you through that —just like the story of Solomon.
Most often, I will ask God something just before I sleep and in my sleep, He will answer me. I will wake up knowing what the Lord has spoken. He answered in less than 24 hours.
When we are talking about dreams, I am the kind who dreams at least 10 times a day. Oh yes, let me repeat myself; I dream at least 10 times every 24 hours. This isn’t an exaggeration but to give glory to the Lord who reveals deep secrets to me and does the unimaginable. I may doze off for about 30 minutes and wake up with a couple of dreams. It’s supernatural and a lot of them are prophetic dreams.
I know it’s because of the anointing of the Holy Spirit on me. He, the Spirit of Truth reminds me of almost all the dreams I get when asleep. This is my personal experience. I become very active in the spirit when I am in an unconscious state (asleep) to the point that I could sense it when ungodly spirits are nearby.
There is no single day that the Lord will not speak to me through dreams. But hey I may wake up without any understanding of what God spoke to me. Ops it puzzles me when God continuously speaks to me in dreams without getting the true meaning. “I need you to explain this and that to me Oh Lord… I pray…”
Dream interpretation is the business of God —says the Bible so I would pray and ask for the meaning or seek help from a dream interpreter.
“They told him, “We both had dreams, but there is no one to interpret them.” Joseph responded, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Tell them to me.” (Genesis 40:8)
On other occasions, I will wake up with full knowledge of the dream. Oh yeah, the Lord gives me the meaning while I experience some night visions. It’s simply amazing. This is one of the mysterious ways the Holy Spirit walks with any true Christian who has Him indwelling in him
There is no doubt that God still speaks to us through dreams. On my side, I don’t want to go too deep… They are plenty… If I were to record each dream I have —I may write a complete book each week.
Without sounding a little selfish, let me cite one spectacular example here. One night, I dreamed of writing an article about Vladimir Putin.
In the dream, I spent enough time and passionately wrote down a very long content. I was happy to see it done and ready for editing. Suddenly, I woke up from sleep realizing it was a dream. Honestly, I felt very disappointed… Huh… I forgot about it. But in the morning, I was searching for some content ideas to pen down something for my readers.
I found myself preparing an article about Vladimir Putin’s Bible quote to defend his invasion during a rally in Moscow. I had almost begun writing and quickly the Holy reminded me of the dream… I paused for a while… In amazement, I realized the Lord’s will was miraculously taking effect.
What happened next? After publishing the said article —it gained a lot of views from Google search than all the content I already have. The traffic continued like that for about a week. Perhaps you would be interested to read it by visiting what Putin quoted in the Bible to justify his invasion of Ukraine.
There are more experiences I have had through dreams that would sound very strange to many of my readers here… Let me remind you that, God is the Creator of Heaven and Earth and everything within (the seen and the unseen). He rules over everything and with Him all things are possible.
Power glory and honor belong to Him. If you need wisdom or understanding of your dreams or your Christian journey here on earth —ask Him! ( James 1:5). Stay blessed!
I welcome your comments, contributions and feedback.
