7 things I’ve learnt about God through interpreting dreams

How dreams can bridge the gap between bible knowledge and knowing God personally.

Do you know many things about God, but long to have a more genuine personal relationhip with Him?

This article explores from personal experience how dreams can help bridge the gap between biblical knowledge of God and having first-hand knowledge of His ways.

I approach dream interpretation from a biblical perspective. My belief is that our dreams can come from God, and understanding them is best understood within the context of an ongoing relationship with Him.

Knowing God through dreams

I have followed Jesus for over 40 years, and during that time I have read the bible most days. I have also spent the past 15 years learning to interpret my dreams in the light of my relationship with God.

Through this journey I have learnt many things about God’s character and the way He relates to me. It has been my delight and joy to discover that the God I read about in the bible is the same God I meet personally through my dreams.

The wonderful message of the bible is that each of us can have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ; in fact, we are encouraged to do so. We are exhorted not to be like some people – who liked to study about God but refused to come to Him personally.

• John 17:3, NASB And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 
• John 5:39-40, NASB You examine the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is those very Scriptures that testify about Me; and yet you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.

We all need our own personal story and journey with God, and it is through that genuine experience of Him that faith and trust are built. I have been on that journey for some time now.

In this article I share 7 biblical truths about God’s ways – that I know to be true from relating to Him through my dream journey. My hope is that they will inspire you to make your own dream journey with God – and thus write your own story of faith through them.

1) God loves us personally

The bible tells us that God is love, and that He loves each one of us personally.

As followers of Christ, we believe that Jesus chose to die on the cross because of His great love for us. That is a historical event we can look to as evidence of His love – and is an awesome truth. If you haven’t heard about Jesus before, do get in touch and I will be happy to tell you more.

• John 4:10, NCV This is what real love is: It is not our love for God; it is God’s love for us. He sent his Son to die in our place to take away our sins.

But even that incredible event is not the same as experiencing the love of God personally on a day-to-day basis. In fact, Jesus went to the cross precisely so we can have a daily relationship with Him. And dreams are a way for this to happen.

I have literally prayed through thousands of my own dreams, and have witnessed that God has crafted them for me personally, night after night. The fact that God chooses to communicate with me in this way makes me feel loved by Him in an incredible way.

The fact that God chooses to communicate with me daily through my dreams makes me feel loved.

I have seen how God chooses the illustrations and scenarios in my dreams according to the relationship I have with Him. He makes them personal! He includes things that are important to me, and things that will make me laugh – and He relates them to things happening in my daily life.

Through my dreams, He lovingly draws me into conversations, leads me, and mentors me; but He never lets me get complacent to the point where I can manage without Him. All of this makes me feel like I have a true relationship with Him – and that He cares about me.

I remember dreams most nights, which means that if I pray through them and think about them during the day I can feel connected to God much of the time!

You, too, can experience this love.

Dreaming is something we do every night, and if we take the time to listen to their messages, we can have that daily experience of being loved by God.

2) God is for us

The bible tells us that God is for us. King David wrote many times in the Psalms about how God was His rock, or ‘strong tower’: A safe place to hide when things were difficult, or when people seemed against Him.

• Psalm 32:7, NASB You are my hiding place; You keep me from trouble.

There are times in life when it can feel like everybody is against you. I’ve been there. Oftentimes I’ve been hurt or let down by people, and gone running to the secret place of my relationship with God to find solace.

In those times I have discovered that God is the only one who is truly for me. When all the world seems against me, I have this amazing supporter who believes in me, and is committed to my success.

I know this, because He demonstrates it though my dreams.

Through dreams I have discovered that He is willing to correct me – yet does it lovingly. He tells me who I am, why l am here, and how He sees me. He is honest and realistic, but in a way that inspires me to press on higher. He lifts my view of myself towards His level and helps me see myself how He does.

I have had calling dreams, destiny dreams, correction dreams, identity dreams, dreams giving insight to my situation, and dreams where God has personally met with me – plus much more.

• Jeremiah 29:11, NASB For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, plans for prosperity and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Over the years I have become confident though all these dreams (and the benefit of hindsight) that I can trust God completely for my life. In fact, He is the only one I can trust – far more than I can trust myself; and moreover, He is my most fervent supporter!

Truly, He will be the same for you too.

As we track our dreams and see how God uses them, we grow in confidence that God is for us and committed to our success.

3) God keeps us on track

The bible tells us that if we trust God with our life, He will guide our steps and keep us on the right path.

• Proverbs 3:5-6, NASB Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.

Sometimes I have got the impression from church culture that I can mess things up very easily if I don’t listen to God extremely carefully. There is a feeling of stress that comes with this, with a pressure to continually make good choices. I sometimes feel that I’m certain to derail God’s plans for my life and those around me.

It is important to listen to God and make good choices, but not to the point of carrying that burden ourselves.

We’re not meant to carry this burden ourselves.

I have discovered through my dream journey that God somehow keeps me on track despite my incompetence! Like the barriers on either side of a bowling lane, God constantly nudges me back onto the right path if I start to go wrong.

I have tracked this over many years. As I have reviewed my dreams with hindsight, I have seen that God gave me dreams about things that were going to happen and situations I would face. Without fail, God fulfilled everything He said through them (up to this point in time).

More impressively, He got me there despite my ignorance and misunderstanding! He gave me dreams that would nudge me in the right direction, and He enabled me to understand them at the right time. I have no idea how He did this, but He did. I know I can’t take credit for it!

I do desire to walk in His ways, and I faithfully seek to obey His living word and guidance as best I can. But now, I do it all from a place of trust. And I let Him carry the burden.

• Psalm 37:5, NASB Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.

God will keep you on track too, if you commit your way to Him.

As we journey with God through dreams, we can see how He keeps us on track despite our flaws. This realisation takes much of the stress out of the Christian life.

4) God can get our attention

This leads nicely onto the next point.

Jesus clearly said that His sheep (followers) would hear His voice; that He would lead them, and they would follow Him. This paints a picture of a God who is perfectly capable of communicating with us when He needs to. The onus is on God to do the leading, not on us.

• John 10:3, NASB …he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
• John 10:27, NASB My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;

Often, I find myself stressing and straining to understand what my dreams mean, or to find direction. I go through periods of frustration, feeling sure I am on the wrong track. But time and time again, God has demonstrated that He can get my attention.

Looking back, I can identify a number of times where God suddenly got my attention through my dreams.

Sometimes this has been through a clear dream, or from a dream that wakes me up in a sweat in the night! Other times I just realised something, and then remembered some dreams that confirmed it. Sometimes something happened in real life that grabbed my attention and alerted me to something in one of my dreams.

The bottom line, is that I have seen God do it in the past, so I know He can do it again: He can make me hear and understand – when it is important.

It is frustrating during the times when God seems silent, because that’s when I start to wonder if I’ve gone wrong. But my dream journey has taught me to trust. This means that I can relax and be at peace – when I choose to remember this truth! If my heart is open towards God, I don’t need to fear missing His voice or not hearing Him.

You too, can trust God to get through to you.

When we have experienced God getting our attention through dreams, it gives us confidence that He can do it again in the future if necessary,

 5) God sees everything

The bible tells us that God is all-seeing, all-knowing and all-present, and that He knows the end from the beginning. It says that He even searches the depths of our hearts and knows everything about us.

• 2 Chronicles 16:9, NASB For the eyes of the Lord roam throughout the earth, so that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.

But it doesn’t always seem like that. God often seems far away and difficult to connect with. It is easy to think that everything is random, and God mainly leaves us to get on with things. It is easy to feel abandoned or alone in this life.

But dreams changed that for me. I have discovered that dreams contain details of things that are going on in my life and in the lives of those around me. They include big things, but also little details and answers to the daily questions on my mind.

They include things going on in my heart and subconscious that I didn’t even know were there until I see them reflected in my dreams. It turns out that God sees every worry, every emotion, every hurt, every niggle; in fact, He knows every aspect of the situations I am involved in.

• Jeremiah 17:10, NASB I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind…
• 1 Samuel 16:7, NASB …man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

I have witnessed that He also knows my flaws and failures and is not afraid to bring those things up in my dreams. Yet, He still shows up lovingly and engages in conversation with me! One dream might be corrective, yet the next is an expression of His love and the plans He has for me.

It is wonderful to have such a friend: To think that Almighty God sees every detail of my life – for good and bad – and takes the time to talk to me about those things! Truly, God looks at the heart, and yet He still loves me. My dream messages have proved this to me.

God sees you too, and loves you unconditionally.

As we examine our dreams over time, we become aware of just how involved God is with us, and how well He knows us. We discover that we have a wonderful friend who sees us, yet loves us, and is accompanying us in every aspect of our life.

6) God is in control

Not only does God see everything, but the bible also tells us that He is actively involved in the world – and is ultimately in control; it depicts a God who is able to bring all of His good plans to pass.

• Isaiah 46:10-11, NASB  My plan will be established… Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, I will certainly do it.

The bible contains many prophetic words and heavenly messages that were given at the time to explain why certain events were happening. The biblical narrative, as a whole, paints a picture suggesting that nothing was an accident, and more was going on behind the scenes than was immediately obvious.

But when we look at the world around us, it does not appear to be going according to plan; it does seem rather out of control! Because of that, l used to think that God was behind everything in bible days, but since then has left history for us to navigate ourselves! That was obviously an illogical thought, but I had no evidence to suggest otherwise.

The world can appear to be out of control on the face of it!

I now realise that God is still working in the same way as He did in the bible. I know this fact because He has demonstrated it in my life: I have tracked the evidence through my own dream messages.

• Isaiah 46:9-10, NASB I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done…

I have reviewed, with hindsight, every dream I recorded over the past 15 years. In them, God has accurately foretold situations that I would be facing: Some relating to the time of dreaming, but many relating to events later on, even years later. These were things I could not have known about at the time, and did not understand until later.

In those dreams, information was hidden that I would need when the time came. In every instance, the events unfolded as the dreams predicted, and the dreams were able to help me and confirm I was on the right path.

I also have dreams recorded that refer to future situations, and I have confidence that God will bring those things to pass – because I have a track record with Him to build that faith upon. I have confidence that my life is not out of control. But I also have confidence that the world is not out of control, however it may appear!

I have witnessed the reality of the following words in Proverbs:

• Proverbs 19:21, NCV People can make all kinds of plans, but only the Lord’s plan will happen.

You too, can have this assurance that God will be faithful to do what He says!

As we see God’s faithfulness over time through our dream messages, it gives us confidence that He is still in control, and we do not need to fear.

7) God always brings hope

When I first learnt to interpret dreams, a key value instilled in me was that God always brings hope. I close my article with this aspect of God’s character, because we can so easily get this wrong.

Jesus Himself explained that God doesn’t come to condemn or to punish us. Rather, He comes to lovingly correct us, set us free, and empower us to live our best lives. With Him there is always hope for change.

• John 3:17, NIV For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

When I first started on this dream journey, I tended to leap to the worst conclusion from a dream. If there was a negative aspect to it, I would assume the worst: i.e., that I had done something wrong and was being reprimanded. There were certain dreams I didn’t want to think about, because I was sure they contained bad news about me.

Over time, I gained courage to look at those dreams and wrestle through them. As I became more confident of God’s love, I would look at them through those eyes – and look for the hope. I found that my fears were always unfounded, and the real message was something totally different to what I thought!

I discovered that even the corrective dreams were there for my benefit. I have seen God transform my character over time, in a way that would not be possible without the insight He gives in my dreams. For if we are unaware of our failings, how can we change for the better?

• Hebrews 12:6, NIRV The Lord trains the one he loves. He corrects everyone he accepts as his son.

The relief that I have found from this process has been huge! It has reframed the way I perceive God, and the way I interpret dreams for other people. I am confident of His goodness and kindness – and I always look for the hope.

You too, can find real hope for change.

If we dare face our more difficult dreams through the eyes of hope – we can experience God’s goodness and kindness for ourselves, as He reframes our understanding and demonstrates His commitment to our success.

Conclusion

Through this article, I have demonstrated from my own experience how dreams can bridge the gap between biblical knowledge of God and first-hand experience.

Through my own dream journey, I have become confient that God loves me personally and is for me; He keeps me on track and is able to get my attention when necessary; He sees everything and is in control; and He always brings hope for change.

You too can make your own dream journey with God, and biblical realities can become a real experience for you. Why not make a start today?

Are you already on a dream journey? If so, I’d love to hear what truths you have learnt about God through it so far. Leave a comment below!

I hope you have found this article helpful. If you want to know more, do subscribe to my emails below to receive regular dream interpretation tips.

The purpose of this blog is to provide solid biblical foundations for interpreting dreams, change mindsets in the church, and encourage others to make their own dream journey with God. I am primarily a writer and bible teacher – who loves dreams, and I hope you will be inspired to learn to interpret your own dreams.

It is not currently my aim to routinely engage in dream interpretations or provide training, except through writing blog posts. You can read my most up to date position on interpreting dreams here: Requests for dream interpretations.

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