Meeting God the Father in your dreams

How we can meet our heavenly Father God in dreams today, both literally and symbolically, plus real dream examples.

As Christians, we often reflect on the love of God, who is portrayed in the bible as our heavenly Father.

But have you ever met God the Father personally? Would you like to? Is that even possible?

This article explores how our Father God could appear – either symbolically or literally – in our dreams.

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.

If you have just come across this post and are new to dream interpretation, you might find it helpful to see my free ultimate guide to Interpreting dreams from God.

Introducing God as a good Father

For many people, the image of a father is not a good one. I know people who have been hurt or abandoned by their earthly fathers – to a greater or lesser degree.

I am one of the lucky ones who had a good experience. My dad wasn’t perfect, of course, but I knew he loved me, and he did many things to support and protect me. He ensured that he gave me the best start in life that he could.

In this article I want to introduce you to a really good father. The ideal Father – that all of us wish we could have had; the true father of us all.

Who is this father? How do we know we can trust Him? How can we meet Him? what does He do?  This, of course, is our Heavenly Father; our Father God. And we can meet Him personally in our dreams.

Father God introduced by Jesus

It is important to understand who God the Father is, so we can recognise him in our dreams. Plus we need to know his character, so we can interpret his appearances in our dreams correctly.

I searched for the word father in the bible, and I discovered that it was Jesus who primarily introduced us to God as our Father. In Matthew’s gospel alone, Jesus mentions Father God more than 30 times.

Jesus consistently spoke about God as ‘My Father.’ We find that:

• He came from the Father (John 1:14)
• His Father loved Him (John 3:35)
• He talked to the Father in prayer (Mark 14:36)
• His Father guided and instructed Him (John 5:19)
• His Father was His source (Matthew 26:53)
• He was going back to the Father (John 16:10)

Sometimes we have an image in our minds of a rather distant God; one who issues commands and gets angry if He’s not obeyed. Maybe your natural Father was we that – so it’s easy to imagine Father God being like that too

But Jesus blew that image out of the water. His Father is revealed as someone incredibly good and kind; someone all powerful and able to help; full of love and compassion. We can see that clearly displayed through Jesus Christ – whose life revealed the Father God He represented.

God is our Father too

Jesus also said that His Father is our Father. He told us to pray to our Heavenly Father. The Lord’s prayer (which is said in churches around the world) is the most famous example of this. This heavenly Father is our Creator God. What he did for Jesus – He will do for us.

Here are some examples:

• 1 John 3:1, NASB See how great a love the Father has given us, that we would be called children of God.
• Matthew 6:8, NASB ..your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
• James 1:17, NASB Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
• Luke 6:36, NASB Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
• Ephesians 1:3, NASB .. the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ… has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

God the Father as source and sustainer

The Hebrew understanding of Father is both as source and sustainer.

So, our Father God is both our source (the originator of life) and our sustainer (ongoing provider and protector). He is someone who knows everything – yet is full of compassion and constantly helps us get back on the right path.

In general, the title Father signifies God’s role as the life-giver, the authority, and powerful protector.

Wikipedia

These are all characteristics that we can recognise a good father should display. Who wouldn’t want an all-powerful loving father looking out for them?

Further reading: Here is another article by Don Stewart at Blue Letter Bible that I found interesting: In what sense is God Father?

So now we know more about the Father’s character, we can discover how He might appear in dreams.

Meeting Father God literally

In the New Testament we see God revealed in three distinct personalities: Father, Son (Jesus) and Holy Spirit. So where does the Father fit into the picture, and how can we meet Him?

The New Testament writers often seem to use the word God when they are referring to the Father. It is the Father we mean when we picture God sitting on a heavenly throne, with Jesus at His right hand.

So when we talk about meeting ‘Father God”, we are meeting God who is in heaven. As Jesus taught us to pray:

• Matthew 6:9, NASB “Pray, then, in this way: Our Father, who is in heaven…”

Because He is in heaven, Father God usually communicates with us through His Spirit. But it can be rather vague, and reliant on thoughts and impressions. Although these are important, His personal messages can often seem hard to grasp for many of us.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could somehow have face-to-face conversations with Him? But to meet Him in that kind of way, we would need to go into the heavenly places.

To meet the Father, we normally need to go into the heavenly places.

Bible characters such as Isaiah, Ezekiel and John were able to encounter God in a more face-to-face way in the heavenly realms.

• Isaiah 6:1, NIV In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.
• Ezekiel 1:1, NIV while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.
• Revelation 4:1-2, NIV There before me was a door standing open in heaven… and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.

I know people who have had similar visions/experiences today – and some who have actually visited the heavenly throne room!

Accessing heaven in our dreams

Thankfully, Jesus came to bring access to heaven for all of us, and we don’t need to wait until we die to take advantage of it. Jesus is the door (or gate) through which we can safely approach our Father in heaven.

• Hebrews 10:19-22, NIV Therefore… since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus… let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
• John 10:7, NIV Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.

I have discovered that one way we can access heaven now through our dreams! In fact, dreams can be very similar to visions, and some dreams are described in the bible as night visions. Daniel had a dream of God as the Ancient of Days, seated on a throne.

• Daniel 7:1-2, NIV Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying in bed.

Another great example is Jacob, who saw the heavens opened in a dream, and Father God speaking to him personally from heaven:

• Genesis 28:12-13, NIV He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac…”

Literal appearances of the Father in dreams

This type of literal encounter with Father God in the heavenly realms can happen to any of us in our dreams.

What I mean by LITERAL appearances of the Father is that we are aware that it is Him IN THE DREAM.

In my own experience literal appearances of the Father in dreams have been rare. To my conscious knowledge, it has only happened to me once, a number of years ago:

I dreamed I went into a spiritual realm where I met a man who I knew was the Father. He showed me a blue bead that was for me (representing heavenly revelation), and He also gave me some advice that was relevant to the church I was leading at the time.

I’ve always been intrigued by that dream, because I felt as though I was in a heavenly place. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that I was actually somewhere in heaven talking to the Father!

Meeting Father God symbolically in dreams

If you are new to dreams, then you need to know that dreams are symbolic. They are like parables or illustrations which convey a message. This is also true for meeting the Father, and most of the time he appears disguised in symbolic form in our dreams.

It’s easy to picture Jesus, because He lived on earth as a man. But it’s harder to imagine what the Father looks like. Therefore, the Father often appears in the form of a person that we can relate to and understand.

Jesus told a famous parable about a loving Father – otherwise known as the parable of the prodigal son! You can read this in Luke 11:11-32. If you know it – take a moment to reflect on the story, and the attitude of the father; that’s our God! If you’ve never read it, check it out now! It’s a wonderful illustration of God’s heart towards us, His children.

But this parable also gives us a great precedent for using a father figure symbolically – to represent Father God. We can use this insight to identify Him in our dreams.

This parable illustrates using an earthly father to symbolise Father God.

The Father symbolised by another person

As I previously explained, to my knowledge I have only met Father God once in my dreams in a literal encounter.

But I have had a great many symbolic encounters with him in my dreams. I do believe that these encounters really are Father God speaking to me – through His Spirit. He is appearing in a non-threatening form that enables me to understand His message.

In these instances, He appears as my natural earthly father, or sometimes another person’s father. In these types of appearances, it is only on waking and reflecting on the dream that I realize it was Father God.

Father God often appears disguised as our natural father or another father figure

Our earthly dad does not always symbolize Father God in a dream, so it takes some discernment to know if it is Him. The context and feeling of the dream will let us know whether it was or not. Having said that, most of the time, in my dreams, I find that it is!!!

If your father was absent or not a positive symbol for you, Father God might appear in your dreams as someone who was (or is) a positive figure. Here are some examples:

• My mum’s father died when she was young, but her older brother was like a father figure to her – so he sometimes symbolises Father God in her dreams.
• My uncle is also my godfather, and sometimes he represents the Father in my dreams.
• A good stepfather, or a friend’s father who was a positive role model for us, might be Father God in our dreams.
• A spiritual father / spiritual parent might repesent Father God in our dreams.

In all of this, bear in mind what we learnt about the Father in our bible search earlier: Understanding His character as a good Father will help us spot Him in our dreams.

I have found that mostly a male father figure is used to symbolise Father God in my dreams, and a female/mother figure is more likely to be the Holy Spirit. But that’s not to say it might be different in your dreams.

A male father figure will often symbolise Father God in dreams.

In the book and film, The Shack, Father God is portrayed by a mother figure – as she explains in one scene that a father figure would not be a positive image for him at that time. That might be the same for you in your dreams!

• The Shack – Meeting the Trinity scene – YouTube

Real dream examples of meeting Father God

I can still remember the first time I met Father God disguised as my natural dad in a dream:

I dreamed I was walking around our church building with my dad, and he was telling me what he thought about some of the different areas of the church.

On waking, I suddenly realized that I had just had a conversation with God the Father about our church! It was a symbolic message, but I understood what He was saying. I was overwhelmed and quite emotional – because I had never heard from God so clearly about anything before!

And the thought that the Father would take the time to walk and talk with me in my dream… well, you can probably imagine how wonderful that felt. That moment changed my life – and I was hooked on listening to my dreams thereafter.

I have compiled a table of some more symbolic appearances of Father God in my dreams. Look to see how the character of our loving Father shines through:

Table of symbolic appearances of the Father in dreams

Description of the dream	Interpretation	Explanation
I dreamed I was driving with my dad looking for a café. He said we could go out for a meal at Easter. I said I’d like that.	Father God was inviting me to spend some time with Him / praying over the Easter holidays, because He has something to share with me.	This is the Father as source of information (meal = God’s word) and guide (with me in my car = life journey). You can also sense that He enjoys our relationship.
I dreamed that I couldn’t see, and it was hard to open my eyes, but my dad was leading me around.	This was at a time when I was confused about what I was meant to do; but Father God was reassuring me that He was still guiding me and I would be OK.	This is the Father as leader and guide. Being blind is about lack of clarity, or lack of spiritual direction.
I dreamed mum was laying a new floor which looked dodgy. I asked my dad about it and he said he hated it. He pointed out a few problems with it. At the end it was being pulled up.	This was Father God letting me know that one of my latest assumptions / beliefs was not right. I already had doubts about it – and this dream confirmed it.	In this dream my mum represented me trying to figure things out, but my basis of reasoning was wrong. My dad represented the Father bringing correction, which was very helpful.
I dreamed I was at university and given a writing assignment. I went to my dad to ask for an idea, and he gave me a topic (I won’t include the whole answer here). My tutor loved the idea!	This was Father God giving me instruction – and letting me know I needed to start writing. It was a very encouraging dream and helped me believe I could do it.	This is the Father as source of creativity and ideas, and also the one who instructs and guide me. It also shows the heart of a loving Father, supporting me and helping me believe in myself.
I was walking up Hope Street to my friend’s house. His dad was there and said. ‘Hello Jenny’ in a kindly way. He remembered me and was expecting me, much to my surprise.	At that time I was harbouring some disappointments from the past. Father was God was encouraging me to keep going. Some point soon He would meet me and restore my hope.	This was my friend’s dad – but I recognised Him as being Father God due to His kindly attitude. The key here is that it was Hope Street: This was the Father who restores hope.
I dreamed I had a baby in a buggy. I met my dad and he took me to a store where everything was available for the baby and already paid for.	I had a new idea for the church I was helping to lead. God was saying that He was in this idea, but would provide everything I needed – I wouldn’t have to do it myself.	This was the Father as provider. This actually happened a few years later; we combined with another church who had everything we needed already to fulfil my dream!

I have had numerous other dreams (many more than I can count) where my dad is helping me in some way, or he gives me a lift or picks me up from somewhere. These occurrences constantly remind me that God is with me and Fathering me; always intervening on my behalf; protecting and guiding me.

He does the same for you whether you are aware of it or not!

Conclusion

We have seen how meeting God the Father is not exclusively for biblical prophets like Isaiah, or for modern ‘super-prophets’. You and I can meet our heavenly Father God regularly in our dreams. If, like me, you struggle to connect with God in other ways, this is an incredible blessing.

• Sometimes we can meet God the Father literally in our dreams, which usually involves accessing the heavenly realms, as He is our Father in heaven.
• Most of the time, Father God appears symbolically disguised as a person in a dream. This is usually as our natural father or a positive father figure in our life – although that might be different for you.

Mostly, we do not realise it was Father God at the time of dreaming. This means that we need to record our dreams and think about them afterwards – to consider whether or not it was Him! It takes a bit of effort – but the reward of connecting more deeply with our Father God – and knowing He is with us and for us – is so worth it!

So keep a lookout in your dreams and see if you can spot Him – imagine how encouraged you will be when you discover He is there!