According to the Bible, God helps us to derive our dream interpretations and uncover their deeper meaning. Also, the Bible is known to record several dreams across its compilation consisting of seventeen books in all. The Old Testament, as well as the New Testament, are the living sources narrating stories about dreams seen by Jacob and Joseph. They were interpreted as conversations with God.
Genesis 20:3-6 documents the first dream in the Bible. The interpretation of the first dream; however, is not provided. Jacob’s dream, which was also the second documented dream, was a part of Genesis 28:10-17.
Different dreams have different intricate details to decipher if the Bible is considered the main reference. For instance, seeing snakes in dreams according to the Bible can have both positive as well as negative connotations. On the one hand, they might symbolize a devil or a demon. And on the other hand, it could also represent good things such as fertility or even confirm the existence of God to encourage you to keep going in life.
Some biblical dreams
Jacob dreams
In his dream, Jacob sees a long ladder between heaven and earth with angels moving up and down the ladder and God situated at the peak of it. God tells Jacob that He is the Lord and He will give Jacob and his descendants the land on which he was lying. He said Jacob and his descendants will also be shielded no matter what as they spread out in all the different directions.
God promises to stay with him at all times and never leave his side. Jacob wakes up to this dream realizing that God was with him on that land and he even calls the place Bethel, which means House of God.
In Genesis 35:9-12, God reaffirms this promise to Jacob and renames him Israel and the land God promised him in his dream became the Promised land. As you read the bible, you will see that this dream finally came true as Moses rescued the people of Israel from Egypt to lead them to the promised land.
It took 40 years for the people of Israel to get to the promised land and Moses died before that so Joshua, his successor finally led Jacob’s descendants to the land that God promised him.
Joseph’s dreams
Joseph witnessed a dream according to Genesis 37:5-10 wherein he and his brothers were bundling the stalk of grains reaped from the field. All of a sudden, Joseph’s stack of grains stood erect on its own and began floating high up in the air right in front of Joseph. To this, the piles bundled by his brothers bowed in respect and reverence. Joseph narrated his dream to his brothers, who were not happy at all.
Further, they were anguished and embarrassed, thinking that Joseph was going to control them or rule over them. The dream Jospeh saw made his brothers hate him to the core. The Bible interpreted this dream just like Joseph’s brothers that he would eventually reign over them in the future.
Who has the ability to interpret these dreams?
These narratives might explain to a certain extent that Christian dreams are biblical. Also, it must be understood that not everyone has the ability to interpret these dreams in the right way.
Decoding the meaning hidden in the dreams or deciphering the final message that the dream is trying to convey is not a straightforward process. It is said that uncovering such dreams is a distinctive knack only conferred upon you by God.
If God wants you to understand the dream, then no matter how hard it is to make sense of it, you will eventually find the actual meaning of the dream. It is ultimately God’s will and wishes that will decide whether or not you have the ability to interpret a dream.
For example, King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, as mentioned in the Bible in Daniel 2:2, was never understood by his men. This means that God never wanted the men of the kingdom to interpret the king’s dream. It is believed that the king invited the best of his seers and magicians to find the meaning of his dream. But none of them could successfully interpret or make a head or tail of it.
So, according to Daniel 5:12, the prophet Daniel was bestowed God with the unique gift of decoding the complex meaning of dreams, understanding the underlying emotion in the dream to interpret conversations with God, or the messages sent to the dreamer by God and capturing the intuition. Daniel was therefore called Belteshazzar by King Nebuchadnezzar.
Only the chosen one appointed by God and the Holy Spirit can gain complete insight into these dreams. It is said that Daniel truly understood the dreams because of his continuous urge to keep looking for the truth and connect with the divine power of God.
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How to interpret dreams?
Now, how can you solve the mystery presented to you in your dreams?
Joseph mentions in Genesis that you should say prayers to God and summon the Holy Spirit to dive deeper into your dreams. Your instinct and gut feelings would also matter, but they would not be sufficient to derive the correct interpretation of your dreams.
So, the Holy Spirit would always guide you till you have figured it all out, and the chances are that you could never go wrong.
Since the dream you witness is like a gift from the Almighty God, the best way to decipher what it symbolizes is to rely on sincere and deep praying to God, asking for help from the bottom of your heart.
After demystifying or understanding the real meaning of your dream, the next step is to find a solution to your problem or think of the perfect response to that dream interpretation.
Why Christians must pay attention to their dreams
Dreams can have various meanings. A dream can be a warning like King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, an encouragement, or a promise as seen with Jacob’s dream. Dreams can serve as guidance to direct you on what to do. In Matthew 2:13, Joseph had a dream in which an angel told him to get up and run with Mary and the baby Jesus.
As a Christian, it is therefore very important to pay attention to your dreams. God communicates a lot to his people through dreams. It is only by paying attention to your dreams can you find out what God wants to tell you.
Now, think about prayer. Why do you pray regularly?
You pray because it relaxes you, satisfies you, and makes you a calmer individual with better clarity of thought. You might pray for help and seek guidance too, or some days you might even turn to God for motivation.
There are several reasons why you pray to God every day and since prayer is communication between you and God, when you pray and talk to God, you need to listen to Him talk to you too.
So how does God talk to us or reply to our prayers?
There are so many ways that God talks to us or reply our prayers to Him and one of such ways is through our dreams. Therefore, whenever you see a dream, it is a chance to communicate with God and capture the teachings or learnings delivered in the dream to practice them in your everyday life. This helps you become a better and more sustainable individual as you take the learnings of God and inculcate them into your lives.
By so doing, you can stay connected with God, be creative, encouraged, and guided at all times to avoid remaining stagnant and achieve constant spiritual growth. The Bible says that God has a plan for you and if you pay close attention to your dreams and you pray often, God will direct you to his purpose and plan for you.
Dreams can help you find the purpose of your life and can even lead you to inspiration. Therefore, it is truly a golden opportunity to introspect, learn new things that you were not consciously aware of, think about your feelings in a deeper way, be a more spiritual person and live a better life, much closer to God.
