Understanding the Dreams You Dream

Transcription

1 Understanding the Dreams You Dream Prophet Russ Walden Introduction: When Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost to explain the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:16 he referred to the words of the prophet Joel: [Joe 2:28 KJV] 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: Now this is interesting because the multitude on the day of Pentecost saw the 120 speaking in tongues and this verse in Joel 2:28 says nothing about speaking in tongues (or does it?). Why didn t Peter quote Isa. 28:11-12? [Isa 28:11-12 KJV] 11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. 12 To whom he said, This [is] the rest [wherewith] ye may cause the weary to rest; and this [is] the refreshing: yet they would not hear. This verse in Isa would have given the uninitiated crowd standing about Peter a better understanding about what the heard and saw on the day of Pentecost. Since Peter DID quote Joel 2:28 to explain the baptism of the Holy Spirit and more specifically speaking in tongues what can we learn about the fulness of the Spirit by reading the words of Joel? 1. The Spirit is poured out upon ALL flesh. The word pour here means to gush, to expend with intensity, to cast out like liquid metal. God didn t pour His spirit out in a passive way he did it in such a way as to GALVANIZE us with His power on the inside. It also means to commit slaughter. In pouring out His spirit into our lives he brought an end to the natural man and brought us to life in Christ. This is why he said you will be My witnesses using the Greek word maturos which means martyrs. The giving of the Holy Ghost gives us something we are willing to die for. This is why Peter betrayed Christ before the outpouring of the Holy Ghost but Jesus told Him that after the giving of the Holy Spirit Peter would willingly give his life. 2. The first gift mentioned in Joel 2:28 is not tongues but prophesy. 1 Cor. 14:31 says you can all prophesy. No one is excluded. In fact 1 Cor. 14:30 says let all things be done decently and in order All things being done includes

2 prophecy and the other nine gifts of the Spirit. No matter how organized we are if the gifts are not present we are out of order. If our order of service doesn t make room for the manifestations of the Spirit including prophesy then we have grieved the Holy Spirit of God and how is that working for us? God is calling upon us to relinquish church as we know if for church as he wants it. He wants a vibrant body moving the manifestations, gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost. Everything else is sounding brass. 3. The second gift mentioned is not tongues either but dreams. Your Old Men shall Dream Dreams. This is not talking about chronological age but rather the old man as Paul refers to him in Rom. 6:6. Dreams arise from your natural man when you are sleeping. [Rom 6:6 KJV] 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with [him], that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 4. The third gift is not tongues either but visions. Visions are given to young men. Again this is not referring to chronological age but to the new creation man with whom all things are new as mentioned by Paul in 2 Cor. 5:17. [2Co 5:17 KJV] 17 Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. Visions are God s chosen way to speak to us but when necessary he will speak to us in dreams as well. The seer anointing or the visionary response is the manner in which the Father often communicated with Jesus: [Jhn 5:19 KJV] 19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. This is the ideal manner in which God would speak but how do we get from where we are to this level of revelatory access to the mind of God? We begin by understanding how God speaks to us in dreams. 5. What is the Connection between Dreams and Speaking in Tongues? Two of the manifestations of the Spirit (i.e. the 9 gifts of the Spirit) include tongues and interpretation. Dreams do fall within the nine gifts of the spirit, specifically tongues. They are God s hieroglyphics, his picture language. He revealed this in his conversation with Moses, Aaron and Miriam one day: Numbers 12: 5 And the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth. 6 And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the

3 LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. 7 My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. 8 With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? The term dark speech here means in a riddle. God speaks in riddles in a dream: [Pro 25:2 KJV] 2 [It is] the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings [is] to search out a matter. Now a dream being a riddle or dark speech (like a message in tongues) has to be interpreted. And the interpretation is just that, an interpretation, not a translation. Did you ever hear a short message in tongues and a long interpretation? Or vise versa? It is same thing with dreams. You can have a LONG dream with a very simple, short and sweet interpretation. Or you can have a short dream that you will ponder for years and still get something out of it. You can interpret by gifting or by a preponderance of the written word of God. Just like praying in the Spirit. You can pray in tongues which constitute God s spirit speaking through you or you can pray the word which is equivalent to praying in the Spirit because Jesus said: [Jhn 6:63 KJV] 63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life. Dreams are God s hieroglyphics. So the elements of the dream don t often represent themselves DIRECTLY, but they represent something else. So if you dream your infant grandchild is driving a car, it doesn t mean to wake up and go look for the keys necessarily. What do the elements of your dream mean? How do you find out how to interpret the symbolic language of a dream? Again you can interpret by gifting (just by asking simply God what does this dream mean? And He answers you.) Or, you can go to the word of God and extract the symbols from the word of God that are applicable and equivalent to what God gave you in your dream. For instance: 1. Dreaming about a car or a bridge represents transition. 2. Dreaming about manual labor or doing something physically speaks of the works of the flesh. 3. Dreaming about air or flying speaks of moving in the Spirit (pneuma / spirit / air). 4. Dreaming about the number seven speaks of covenant. 5. Dreaming about the number 12 speaks of government 6. Left or right speaks of things spiritual (left) or natural (right). 7. Being upstairs speaks of the realm of the mind. 8. In the basement speaks of the things of the spirit or the spiritual dimension.

4 9. Being in the living room speaks of personal relationships in your intimate circle. 10. The bedroom speaks of rest and composure. 11. The kitchen speaks of ministry or service. 12. The bathroom speaks of repentance and cleansing. 13. Water represents spirit and also the word. Salt water represents the world and lost humanity. 14. The backyard or something behind you speaks of the past. 15. The side yard is the present. 16. The front yard is the future, the front porch is RIGHT NOW. 17. Look for phonetic meanings of words. Patients speaks of Patience, etc. How to Know what the Dream is About? To know what a dream is about you must consider 1.) the setting of the dream and 2.) the emotions you experience WHILE you are dreaming. 3.) what is on the forefront of your mind when you had the dream? [Ecc 5:3 KJV] 3 For a dream cometh through the multitude of business... Your human spirit like God s spirit never sleeps and never slumbers. Your spirit communes with God on your bed and God speaks in the picture language of dreams. Also the Father will speak to us in a dream about things that are sensitive or uncomfortable to us, or about things we feel strongly about. When you feel very strongly about something and the Lord speaks to your waking mind we often change the subject. Consequently he returns to the matter in our dreams. Job 33:15: In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed;16 Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, Why is it important that the Father speak to you in deep sleep. Because that is when the natural man is in a passive state. Again, refer to Joel 2:28: your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. Paul identifies this old man as the natural man (Romans 6:6). The young man is the Spirit man, the new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). Notice that God seals instruction in your mind when you are sleeping. Don t be concerned if you don t remember what the dream is about. Why don t you remember? Because you were asleep! But your spirit was not! Your spirit man gets it whether your natural man does or not. God opens your ears in sleep to what you close your ears to in your waking life. The Corrective Nature of Dreams:

5 Dreams are the most reliable correction from God you will ever receive. There is not agenda, no lack of insight or maturity, just the pure and loving correction from a caring Father. Job 33:17 That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. Always go first to the bible for the archetype revealed in your dream. Jungian psychology and Fruedian psychology draw from Greek mythology to suggest meanings of dream symbols but if as the bible suggests that God is orchestrating our dreams then we first look the scriptures for understanding symbols and archtypes present in our dreams. It is also important to bear in mind that a dream most often is dealing with YOU; with your internal life, your motives, etc., It is a mistake to give a dream an outward application to someone else before discerning it as it may apply to you, to correct and instruct you. Apply Your Dream First to Yourself and Then Outwardly I ve seen a lot of people get a dream and run out applying it to every body but themselves and make people miserable with hidden accusations and confrontation about things that they thought were shown in a dream. We can t hold people hostage to things the Father tells us in a dream. (The one great exception to this is in the life of a prophet, or prophetic person. When God speaks to him prophetically in dreams, that is what the scriptures seem to refer to when they speak of night visions; which are not therapeutic in nature, but address a wide spectrum of applications.) The Father in verse 17 here is telling us, the dream is to keep US from our (unwise) purpose, and to hide US from pride. The dream, being to the OLD MAN will often be corrective in nature. Job 33:18 He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword. The Lord is looking out for us, to keep us from unnecessary pain, or aggravation. He is showing us in the dream many times areas of our lives where he wants us to be careful to be a part of the solution and not part of the problem. And like we all know, we are our own worst enemy, particularly in matters very personal to us, where we are most vulnerable. Ignoring a Dream Can Result in Difficulty Job 33:19 He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain:

6 When the Father speaks once, yea twice and we don t listen, then we might go through some physical suffering. God is talking to our SOUL in a dream, and he will also speak through our BODY. I m not talking about plague or sickness here. But just acknowledging that the Father will speak to us any way necessary to look out for us and protect us. But his first choice is to speak to our Spirit man in our waking time via a vision. Dreams always reveal KNOWLEDGE but not always WISDOM: Ps 19:2 Day unto day uttereth speech (wisdom), and night unto night sheweth knowledge. Dreams seldom tell you what to do more often they simply tell you what is going on. That is why I believe all dreams are for the most part from God and constitute some form of warning. They tell you what is happening even if you know it or not but they don t necessarily imply what you should do. So you can labor over a dream interpretation and finally get it, and realize it wasn t anything you didn t already know (God was speaking, once yea twice after all, though we didn t perceive it...). Or we can get the interpretation but realize that the Father might be revealing to us what is going on but isn t telling us what to do about it. So be careful not to jump to conclusions about any course of action we might perceive is prescribed in a dream. Other than repent of course (smile). Remember to apply the dream first to any area of your own life, then from that purified standpoint you can filter through things that apply to others (i.e. which may be prophetic in nature). God gives us knowledge in a dream, but Day unto Day he gives us his speech, his WISDOM of what to DO with what we know. Sorting Through the Unnecessary and Unimportant Parts of a Dream: Ec 5:7 For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God. Because a dream comes through the natural man, there is all kinds of white noise. Its like watching TV. You have to fast forward through the commercials, ignore the extraneous stuff and pay attention to the episode the Father has programmed for you that night. Lots of times folks get all wrapped up in the minutiae of a dream and miss the point all together. When the Father is speaking in a dream he is painting with a broad brush and it is not important to us to nail down every interpretive fact. Just get the gist of it and if there is more you need to know he will speak it.

7 In Conclusion When dreams come more than once, or different dreams come with the same interpretation, that is the Lord confirming the thing to us and really trying to get our attention. 2 Co 13:1... In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established How does this help us? That helps us by relaxing about what the Father is saying through dreams, prophesy, visions or whatever. If we are hearing something for the first time we don t have to make a decision or act on it instantly. We are supposed to try the spirits, so it is legitimate of us to ask the Lord, the Angel, whatever to give us a confirmed word. And he will gladly do that if it will help us clarify our understanding of Father s voice. Some of the most precious experiences I have had with the Father have come as he has graciously and patiently confirmed through many sources and means things he was trying to get across.