What Are Dreams? | Victory in All Things

Well, let's start off with looking at what the Bible says that a dream is. In Job 33:15 NLT, it says:

“He [God] speaks in dreams, in visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds.”

Several things are said in this verse. The first thing that is said is that a dream is specifically a 'vision of the night'. We can also see in this verse, that dreams occur when someone falls into a deep sleep. It also says, that God can speak to us in our dreams while we sleep.

The Bible also makes a distinction between a vision and a dream. A VISION is something that happens when someone is awake (Acts 10:9-23, Revelation 1:9-11). A DREAM is something that happens when someone is sleeping (Job 33:15, Genesis 40:5-19, Matthew 1:20-24).

Dreams are a very powerful part of our spiritual life. They can reveal details of what is about to happen, they can show us what has already occurred, and they can also remind us of events or things that have taken place in the past. Dreams can also reveal situations you are currently dealing with.

A healthy dream life, whether all your dreams are good or bad, shows that your inner spirit is very alert to what is taking place in the spirit realm around you.  

Scripture tells us in Matthew 6:22 that when we absolutely see the ‘truth’, God’s light enters in and fills our whole body. Then we see in Proverbs 20:27 how God uses that light to examine the inward workings of our lives to show us what we need to know about ourselves in order to correct it. 

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Proverbs 20:27 TPT

"The spirit God breathed into man  is like a living lamp, a shining light searching into the innermost chamber of our being."

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When you dream, you are seeing past the natural realm and all of the distractions of life, straight into the spirit realm where nothing can be hidden, and where everything in your life first manifests. Because of this, you can somewhat see that dreams are a very important part of your life. But now you need to know what the purpose of having dreams is...so keep reading!

Dreams are generally used by God, as is His Word, to communicate the following:

1. Correction

2. Warning

3. Revelation

4. Encouragement

We can see several reasons through the Bible how dreams were used by God to communicate a message to someone. Joseph had dreams that basically revealed that God was going to promote him and take care of him. Which was good for him to know because of everything that ended up happening in his life! And in the book of Daniel (Daniel chapter 4), we can see that King Nebuchadnezzar was warned by God in a dream that was interpreted by Daniel. After hearing the King's dream, Daniel told King Nebuchadnezzar that he needed to repent of his sins before it was too late for him to do so.

And if we look again at Job 33, we can see a description of a few purposes that our dreams can have.

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Job 33:14-18 NLT

“For God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it. He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds. He whispers in their ears and terrifies them with warnings. He makes them turn from doing wrong; he keeps them from pride. He protects them from the grave, from crossing over the river of death.”

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PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR DREAMS!

This is why it is so important to pay attention to your dreams! I mean, sure God can tell you good things are on the way, and those dreams are such a blessing. But with some dreams revealing bad choices that we are potentially making that we may not even see as bad choices, we truly need to pay attention to the dreams that we have.

Personally, I have had dreams that revealed that I was doing something that I did not think was a big deal, but that the thing I was doing was damaging my ability to see the harm that was coming my way. So, you can imagine that I made absolute sure to alter the thing that I was doing so I did not bring harm to myself somewhere down the road. The dream that I just mentioned was a dream in which I was parking my car in a parking spot next to another vehicle, and I thought I had parked ok, and in the dream I thought, "nah its fine. No big deal!" but in the process of parking, I had knocked the sideview mirror off my vehicle! What is a side view mirror used for? It is used to see potential incoming hazards while on the road. And if you make a decision that breaks that mirror off, then you will be hindering your ability to see danger coming your way. I took this dream to heart! I definitely don't want anything that i do haphazardly to hinder my ability to see danger coming somewhere down the road in my life.

Now think about that interpretation for a moment! How many times have you had a similar dream? Pay attention to things like this. God may be trying to tell you something.