Christian Dream Interpretation – Is it from God?
In 32 years of walking with Jesus, I have seen fads come and go many times. One of the fads that is currently making it’s rounds across the church is Christian dream interpretation. As with most fads, Christian dream interpretation takes a biblical principle or teaching and runs with it and stretches it way beyond what the bible or God intended. Because it is my job as a pastor to lead people to a place of maturity in their Christian walk, I feel I must address this issue.Joel 2:28
28 “ And it shall come to pass afterward
That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your old men shall dream dreams,
Your young men shall see visions.
A balanced approach to Christian Dream Interpretation
Let me first off state, that I am the type of person that does his best to be balanced and only speak where the bible speaks and be silent or at least be honest enough to tell people it is an opinion, when the bible is silent or not clear on a subject. That being said, the bible is clear that God has and does use dreams to communicate with people. From the Patriarchs to the Prophets, to the Apostles and early church God has used dreams to communicate to His people. As the scripture clearly states in the scripture from Joel, dreams will be given in the last days, and we are definitely in the last days.
Is Christian Dream Interpretation from God?
So the question is not if dreams are a valid way that God communicates with people, but the method used to interpret dreams. Is there such a thing as Christian dream interpreters or a “ministry” of interpreting dreams for people? Honestly I have grave concerns about this. The thought that people have a specialized ability to interpret dreams is a common practice in the New Age movement. Anytime something comes from this movement, I screen it heavily before I will allow it even close to me or those God has entrusted me with. It is a movement that masquerades as spirituality, but is filled with deception and darkness.
Is there a biblical mandate for a ministry of dream interpretation?
There is unfortunately no mandate. There are a couple of instances where God gave the interpretation to someone but there is no ministry of dream interpretation. Joseph, when he was in prison was given the interpretation to some peoples dreams, but there is no record he became the official dream interpreter. Instead he became the Pharaoh’s second in command. Daniel was given the interpretation to a dream but he never was considered a dream interpreter, but instead he was a prophet, and Paul was given a dream to go to Macedonia but he was never an official dream interpreter. In fact he went to his ministry team and shared with them the dream, and together they interpreted the dream as God telling them to go to Macedonia.
Is your Dream from God?
So before you go run off and follow another Christian fad, that distracts you from the real purposes of God in your life, consider these things concerning dream interpretation.
- Not all dreams are from God. Just because you had a dream does not mean it is from God or that it even needs interpreted. I call this discerning the difference between late night pizza dreams and God dreams. I have found that when God gives a dream, it is accompanied by a strong sense of His presence.
- Many times God will speak to you personally about the dream. You do not need an interpreter. God is more than capable of letting you know what a dream means. You have the Holy Spirit, you have His word. Many times He will confirm the dream directly to you.
- Instead of chasing after some person who claims to have a gift of dream interpretation (which is not listed as a spiritual gift in 1 Corinthians). Go to the elders and leaders of your church. They are the ones that are entrusted with the care and well being of your soul. Get wise counsel from them, not some person who is claiming to have a gift. If you will look hard, those claiming to have a gift, are also looking to advance financially by this so called gift. Never do you see in the bible a person truly gifted by God, charging for the use of that gift. Even under the guise of donations.
- Hear me very well here. If you chase after someone claiming to have a gift, to interpret a dream, you are walking very close to seeking after divination. The bible clearly and explicitly forbids us to use divination. We are not to try to seek after those that would predict the future or unexplained mysteries. We are to seek after Jesus. All the dream interpretation talked about in the bible, was given by God in a natural way, not because the believer sought after the explanation. God revealed it, they did not seek it.
How to Intepret your own dream from God.
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Duke,
Great Post. Early in my Christian walk, I went to a dream conference to see what all the hype was about. The interpretation part didn't sound any different to things that my mother as a Wiccan was doing–this color means that, that animal means this, etc.
I have my undergraduate, Master's degree, and most of my PhD in English with several classes in literary criticism, and the truth is if we rely on our own understanding with dreams or even the Bible, we can interpret it to mean anything we want, which is why Peter writes: "But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." (2 Peter 1:20-21)
I think this same principle applies to any dream given by God. Just like scripture given by God, it needs the Holy Spirit for a correct interpretation. It's called "author's intent" in the literary criticism world, but much like that world, we rarely care what the author meant, just what it means to us.
But I wouldn't say that we should avoid seeking dreams from God. We spend a third of our life asleep, do we really want to spend that time not hearing from Him?
Manifest Blog
Yeah, I saw a guy doing dream interpretation a while back in a church in Bakersfield California. I went Pfft! then and I still do today. I think sometimes we are so caught up in trying to manufacture a move of God, rather than getting to know God intimately enough to have a real outpouring, that people chase all kinds of craziness.
Very thoughtful post. I look forward to reading more of your thoughts on Christian dream interpretation and discerning the truth in this matter. Thank you!
Hi Pastor,
I enjoyed this latest article. http://bit.ly/qrtPdQ Is it possible for you to add your photo to your profile and be more active as a religion curator on the site.
I am so thankful to hear someone discuss this subject, I feel exactly as you do. I know someone who believes strongly in dream interpretation and she went to her church for help. They lines of christians lined up to have the meanings of their dreams revealed. The persons interpretating were baby christians who had "learned it from a class / course". She went through two lines, each one gave her a different meaning to her dream. I cannot for the life of me believe that so many christians are so ignorant of the bible.
Pastor Duke,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and for your Biblical knowledge as well as Biblical balance on this subject of Christian Dream Interpretation. I just went to a community event where there was a church group doing dream interpretation for anyone who wanted it. This totally reminds me of people who would go to a palm reader to find out what their future is or their past means. I find absolutely no place in the New Testament where someone needed to go to someone else to find out the meaning of their dreams. Each instance clearly shows the Lord giving the interpretation to the individual via the Holy Spirit. Even in Paul's instance where he has a vision in the night in Acts 16:9 "…of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us.(NIV)" It says they got ready at once to leave for Macedonia. There was no question what God was speaking. Our God is not a God of confusion. He doesn't leave his children baffled and confused about what He wants to say. He speaks simply and makes it clear so there is no need for the help of another. Sometimes indeed the dream does need to be prayed through, but I strongly believe the Lord will give the individual the interpretation.
I had a dream, from the Lord, but before I knew the exact meaning of what the Lord was showing me, I shared it with my Pastor. He completely interpreted it in his own way and not only was it wrong, he used it as if it was a dream for him and the church. Soon after the Lord lead me to leave the church, but heard later that he was sharing my dream from the pulpit and using it as actual direction for what was taking place in the church. That is completely out-of-hand. Now this church is going full force into dream interpretation. How off balance and sad is that?
I do agree with everything you shared and feel it is so important to focus a relationship Jesus and making him known vs. figuring out what a dream means.
Pastor Duke, I wish to humbly thank you for your common sense and biblical directions regarding dream interpretations, it seems sound advice to me, and being I wish to do no more than honor my precious father and his Golden son, your advice resonates with me on this subject as being of absolute value, thank you for taking the time to share such discerned wisdom.
Thank you for your kind words Luke. I am glad that this ministered to you. Blessings to you!
I like your advice – From South Africa…
Thanks Phillip, I appreciate that. Dreams are from God, but people who capitalize on people's superstition and fear, and make money from it. That isn't from God.
Thanks for this! I have crazy dreams about every night and it's nice to know they don't all come from God and that I don't have to dig for their meaning!
You are welcome Valerie, I am glad that my article shed some light on the subject. Thank you for stopping by my blog. Blessings to you!
Great word about dream interpreting. when i decided to see what people were saying about the subject. Of course i was looking for a spirit filled persons response. I had remembered that when God gave my interpretation its because i asked. Your biblically right on..
Thanks Carol. I tried to take a balanced approach. Dream interpretation is the latest fad, but interpreting dreams has been around for century. God is more than able to give the interpretation to the person He gave the dream to. I mean really! If He is big enough to give a dream, He is big enough to give the interpretation!
Wow reading this really freed me. I had been having quite a few distrubing dreams and I didn’t know what to think about them. But this has helped me ALOT! Thank you for your wisdom…..
You are welcome Malea. I am glad that you found the answers you were looking for about dream interpretation. I know at times nightmares and bad dreams can be really unnerving. Normally nightmares and bad dreams are not from God but are the result of something we are upset with emotionally.
Julie: United States:Dreams and Visions I had just had closed my eyes to rest because I was very sick. When I asked what are you doing,, I must have sensed a presence and an answer standing before the mercy seat of GOD, waiting to send or receive, send or bring. So I got up and wrote this down trying to figure out what this meant. Then I laid down again and shut my eyes, and I received a thumbs up sign that read, “Love Jesus.”
See He is more than capable of giving you the meaning of your dream!
I would also like to ask a question about “DREAM BOOKS.” I see more and more Christians using these so call dream books to help them interpret their dreams. I may be wrong but this is insane to me. Why would GOD give you a dream that you have to now go seek the meaning of symbols in a dream book? Also how in the world would one person (the author of the dream book) accurately be able to say that something in a dream always equals this particular meaning for everyone. We have Christians that I know personally saying that they use the dream book as a guide. I’m shaking my head because it seems even more ridiculous as I type this. If I’m wrong then I am ok with that, but everything in me just says a dream book, people that interpret your dreams, or even someone who always claims to have a “Word” of the Lord for it is not what God intended for us as Christians. Its taking the cheaper way out versus spending the time necessary to develop a relationship with God for yourself to know what HE is trying to convey to you. Please share your insight. Thank you
You are absolutely right. A dream book that has the meaning of symbols is no better than astrology or palm reading. It is not the way to interpret a dream from God. It might help if it is a dream from your sub-conscience but not from God. Tell me, what dream symbol was in the dream of the guy from Macedonia? God is more than able to give a person the interpretation if they will spend more time talking to him than they do reading the latest and greatest Christian fad.
Blessings to you for bringing this up and for having enough maturity to see the fallacy of it all.
Pastor Duke
Hello: Thanks for the article. I have been having a recurring dream and woke up this morning asking myself what is God trying to tell me? I thought first to call a pastor friend of my who believes he has a dream ministry, but the check in my spirit said no, To seek God and let God tell me. I hesitated and did a Google search on christian dream interpretation and your article came up. I read it and doing what I felt God wanted me to do, to seek him for the answer. Thanks again for the article.
You are more than welcome Paul. I am glad you are taking the time and initiative to grow and learn how to let God speak to you personally rather than through someone else.
Hi! Thanks for the article! I had a dream last night that I know was not from my thoughts, so
You are welcome Elizabeth. I am sure God will reveal the meaning of the dream.
I could not agree more. Everyone’s dream is specific to that individual and situation. When God speaks in a dream to anyone he will not leave one without the interpretation. In fact, I think this is just another opportunity to fellowship with Him, that is, seeking Him for interpretation.
I remember a dream that I had and could not understand. I told it to my pastor and he interpreted it the way he understood. But I kept praying to God for the meaning and one day while on my bed communing about it with the Holy Spirit He gave me the meaning which was vastly different than what the pastor said – I mean quite the opposite. I believe unless God directs one to another person for interpretation we should always go to Him first. It is the Holy Spirit of God who leads one into all truth!
I am, therefore, in agreement with this article.
Thanks for directing people to God.