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God And Your Dreams
God Is Speaking In Your Dreams – Do You
Understand What He’s
God Himself still comes to visit His kids. Insights, revelations,
warnings, and prophecies from the Lord may come in supernatural visual dreams
or in actual dreams. Visual symbolic dreams are visual revelations that do not
involve as much active participation on the part of the dreamer as with an
actual visitation from the Lord. The dreamer simply observes and receives the
message. Actual dreams are those in which God’s tangible presence is evident in
some way. To see the Lord in a dream is visual, but for the Lord to manifest
Himself to you in a dream is actual. If you dream something angelic and sense
that same presence when you wake up, it was more than just a visual symbolic
dream. The angels were probably actually present.JAMES
GOLL
Did
you know God uses a language that is tailor-made to speak directly to
you?
After
all, He created you, so that shouldn't come as too big a surprise.
The
inventor of language is a master communicator.
Not
only does He reveal Himself plainly to all of mankind in Scripture, but He also
speaks to us personally in dreams and visions.
Do
you understand what He is saying?
Dreams
and visions are often the language full of emotions and therefore contain much
symbolism.
We
must learn to take our interpretations first from Scripture and then from our
own lives.
Throughout
Scripture God is consistent with His symbolic language.
The
symbolism He uses in Genesis will be similar to that found in Revelation.
In
fact, one of the fundamental principles of biblical interpretation is the
"law of first use."
This
simply means that how a word or image or symbol is used in its first appearance
in Scripture is a key to how it should be interpreted throughout the Bible.
This
consistency in symbolic language runs true in our own lives as well.
The Language of Symbols
Let me explain a little further.
In
the Bible, the number six often is used as a symbol for mankind. How do we know
this?
Refer
back to the first chapter of Genesis. What happened on the sixth day of
creation?
Man
was created. Day Six is the day of man.
Now
let's go to the other end of the Bible, to the Book of Revelation.
There we find the reference to the number 666, which
is plainly identified as "the number of a man"
(Revelation 13:18).
In the Greek, there is no definite article preceding
the word for "man" in this verse, so it could also be translated
simply as "the number of man."
The
number 666 represents a false Trinity, the exaltation of man — humanism being
worshiped as a god.
In
both Genesis and Revelation, therefore, the number six is associated with
mankind.
Here
is another similar example.
What
happened on the seventh day of creation? God rested because He had finished His
creative work.
Therefore,
the number seven is the number of rest or completion.
According
to the four Gospels combined, how many statements did Jesus make from the
cross? Seven.
The
last of these was, "It is finished!" (see
John 19:30).
Jesus
had finished His work; He had completed His mission.
Now
He could rest.
Throughout
the Bible, the number seven is symbolically associated with rest and
completion.
Handling Personal Revelation
A similar principle applies when God speaks revelation
to you.
When
He first introduces a word or a symbol or an image to you in a dream, you may
not understand it in the beginning.
But
you will get it eventually, and that word, symbol, or image will become part of
a pattern.
Once
it is introduced into your spiritual alphabet, it will become consistent in its
meaning for you.
For example, let's say that you have a dream in which
an apple appears and you discern through the Holy Spirit that it symbolizes
Israel because Zechariah 2:8 refers to Israel as the "apple" of
God's eye.
Once
the image of the apple has entered your spiritual alphabet as a symbol for
Israel, you can be confident that whenever that image appears in a future
dream, the dream has something to do with the nation of Israel.
God
is consistent with His revelatory symbolism.
Three Realms for Interpretation of Symbols
When seeking interpretation of symbolic dream and vision
language, the first place you should look always is
in Scripture.
The
Bible is full of parables and allegories from which to draw types, shadows and
symbols.
Here
are some examples: The mustard seed as a metaphor for faith (see Matthew 13:31-32);
- incense representing the prayers of the saints (see Revelation 5:8; 8:3-4);
- seed as a symbol for the Word of God (see Luke 8:11)
and
- candlesticks symbolizing the church (see Revelation 1:20).
If
your dream has the same symbolic image as one found in the Bible, chances are
it has the same meaning.
After
Scripture, a second place to look for interpretation of your revelatory symbols
is in colloquial expressions that fill our memory bank.
The
Holy Spirit turns these into pictorial language.
God
takes these "sayings" and idioms and uses them to speak spiritual
truth.
One
example of this is found in Judges 7:9-15 where a barley cake appears to Gideon
in a dream.
Since
Gideon had spent much of his life as a thresher of wheat and barley, the barley
cake was a symbol from his colloquial spiritual alphabet and had distinct
meaning to him.
In
the same way, God will speak to you with colloquial expressions that are
familiar to you but might not be to someone else.
If
you are from the northern or northeastern part of the country, your
colloquialisms will be different than those of someone from the Deep South, and
God will speak to you accordingly.
The
third realm for interpreting these prophetic symbols comes from our own
personal revelatory alphabet.
This
is similar to the second realm in that the objects or symbols do not mean the
same thing to you as they would to someone else.
Even
in the Bible, the same symbol or image sometimes means something different
depending on how it is used or who receives it.
These
exceptions, however, do not violate the law of first
use.
God
often works more than one way at a time.
And
sometimes the symbol or image involved has more than one facet or aspect, which
allows for some variations in meaning.
Context
determines interpretation.
The
Bible uses the image of a lamb in several different ways.
In
Isaiah, the Messiah is presented as a Lamb led to the slaughter.
John's
Gospel presents Jesus as the Good Shepherd and His disciples as little
lambs.
The
Book of Revelation reveals Jesus Christ the Lamb as
a conqueror.
Spiritually
speaking, all three of these images are true to a lamb's nature: it is led to
the slaughter, it follows its shepherd and it conquers in the end by walking in
humility because the meek will inherit the earth.
Actual Versus Visual
Insights, revelations, warnings and prophecies from
the Lord may come in supernatural visual dreams or in actual dreams.
Visual symbolic dreams
are visual revelations that do not involve as much active participation on the
part of the dreamer as with an actual visitation from the Lord.
The
dreamer simply observes and receives the message.
These
visual dreams may contain more symbols, mysteries and obscurities than do other
types of revelation.
Actual dreams
are those in which God's tangible presence is evident in some way.
To
see the Lord in a dream is visual, but for the Lord
to manifest Himself to you in a dream is actual.
If
you dream something angelic and sense that same presence when you wake up, it
was more than just a visual symbolic dream. The angels were
probably present.
Quite
often this will reveal itself in the form of a riveting awareness all over your
body of a divine presence in the room.
But
if there was no such manifested presence when you
awakened, then the dream was simply visual, although it may still contain
a wonderful message from God.
A
manifestation of blessing, healing, deliverance or endowment of power requires
an actual visitation from the Lord in some form.
Such
manifestations involve an impartation of God's anointing, which will manifest
in the natural realm.
Therefore,
an actual impartation occurs, and the person actively participates,
although his or her body is asleep.
A Very Special Personal Encounter
I have vivid memories of a very special dream
encounter that I refer to as "the Bread of His Presence" dream.
In
one of them, I was carrying loaves of bread and searching for the little mint-green
blanket that belonged to our daughter Rachel.
Rachel
loved that blanket and for quite a few years, carried it with her just about
everywhere she went.
In
my dream, I found Rachel's blanket and wrapped the loaves of bread in it.
I
held them closely to my chest and noticed that the bottom of each loaf was a
little satin napkin that looked like a diaper.
This
was more than a symbolic dream only because
there was an actual presence in the room.
I
was asleep, but the Holy Spirit was very active. Even asleep I was talking out
loud and prophesying.
This
was more than just a message I passively received.
I declared, "Just as we parents learn to love, nurture, care for and cherish our
newborn child, so should we as believers care for, love and cherish the bread
of God's presence; then revival will come."
When
I woke up, my arms were outstretched over my chest as though I were clutching
those loaves of bread tightly to my chest as if they were my very own babies,
wrapped in my daughter's blanket.
Even as I woke, I heard myself prophesying, "When we as parents will care for,
love, and nourish the bread of His presence, like a parent does his newborn
child, then we will have revival."
In
fact, I was the one who was being revived. I loved God's presence just as I had
our newborn child.
Though
I did not see any angels in the room upon waking, the manifested presence of
God was so strong you could almost cut it with a knife.
Yes, let's love the bread of His presence!
Some
of our experiences are full of symbolism and others ... well, they are just
flat-out in another dimension.
God
shows up and shows off. When that happens, how do you write it down?
With
as much emotive passion as possible.
Yes,
God Himself still comes to visit His kids.
So open
up your heart and receive from the God who loves to encounter you in your
dreams.
He
is speaking your language!
Dr. James W. Goll is the president of God Encounters Ministries
and has traveled around the world sharing the love of Jesus, imparting the
power of intercession, prophetic ministry and life in the Spirit. He has
recorded numerous classes with corresponding study guides and is the author of
more than 40 books. For more information, visit his website at God Encounters Ministries. James is the father of four wonderful children with
a growing number of grandchildren, and makes his home in Franklin, Tennessee.
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