Very few people can say they have never had a dream. Almost everyone has woken up in the middle of the night in panic from a dream that felt so real that your heart is racing, and you are all clammy. Then we toss and turn mulling over the crazy dream we just had. Our mind actively tries to put meaning to this vivid experience as it seems to be telling us something, yet we haven’t quite grasped or understood what.
To truly understand and interpret what our dreams mean, you need first to understand why we dream, and where this phenomenon comes from.
Dreams are a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person’s mind during sleep. They are made up of metaphors, symbols, colour, objects and people. They are generally symbolic, and may represent all kinds of interpretation. Some research suggests it’s self-induced therapy where the mind is processing unusual information.
Whether we remember or not, on average, people dream six to eight dreams a night. Most dreams occur during our rapid eye movement (REM) cycle. The REM cycle takes place during sleep when the muscles are temporarily paralysed, giving the body time to rest and be restored. The area that processes information and transfers information from short-term memory to long-term memory is less active during sleep. Certain areas of the brain switch off totally during sleep.1
David Cohen’s theory shows that we are more likely to remember nightmares, logical plots, emotional, vivid and recurring dreams, and the last dream before waking.2
Science can’t explain the mystery of prophetic dreams. Premonition or precognitive dreams3 are considered the most common form of psychic occurrences in humans. These are dreams related to future events. It can be positive, like the birth of a child, financial blessing, insight, answers, solutions to problems, a warning or foretelling of a major event to take place. A common occurrence is to dream of people we have never met only to bump into them the next day. The negative can be someone’s death, an accident, a world event or a natural disaster.
For many years, I disregarded my dreams and put no value on them because my dad is a prolific dreamer and often based his decisions on dreams. He places great value on his dreams and boldly shares his dreams as prophetic word. Einstein, scientists, mathematicians, Leonardo de Vinci and other inventors have shared that mathematical equations, blueprints for inventions or new theories came to them in their dreams. Like these iconic men, my dad has proposed many innovative solutions, amazing wisdom, and foresight beyond his learned knowledge and experience from his dreams. He also has many precognitive dreams that come freakily to pass. Unfortunately, he
muddles up some of this valued wisdom and information with his own personal issues and, in a rather brazen immature manner, delivers them inappropriately to everyone and anybody in a very raw way. Some of the wisdom gained from his dreams should rather have been kept private and used for personal development. This confusion of private and public information caused and still causes misunderstandings, doubt and reluctance to hold any value to the wisdom he shares.
We see an example of this in scripture of how an immature Joseph (Gen 37) shared with his brothers his prophetic dream of wheat sheaves and stars representing his brothers bowing to him. This triggered an avalanche of mayhem in his life.
James Goll says in his book ‘The Seer’ that “Some words are just for you. They are not meant to be shared. They are God’s words to you as one friend speaking to another.”4
I’ve always been aware that I have precognitive dreams and that they are of a higher spiritual value than my other dreams. I was reluctant to share them with anybody or deliver the messages in the manner my dad did.
God has taken me on a journey where He has dealt with childhood hurts and shown me how much wisdom and insight I’m missing out on by ignoring my dreams. I’ve therefore, purposely taken the time and gone on a quest to research and understand dreams and their function.
Scripture says it took Joseph many years to learn how to apply his interpretation of dreams accurately (see Gen. 37, 40, 41). As Psalm 105:19 NL says about Joseph, I too have spent years maturing, moulding and honing my skills in interruption and listening carefully to God on when to release or share dream information and how to apply this valuable information to my life.
Dreams are mentioned 68 times in the Bible, usually as a warning, direction or prophecy. They hold vital information and are blank canvases on which God can reveal secrets, wisdom, knowledge and warnings. God reveals deep secrets and hidden things to us during the night. (Daniel 2:19–22)
God uses our dreams to break down our defensive walls as they allow us to see the true condition and motives of our heart. Dreams are produced by our subconscious mind on an unconscious level. Because of this, they normally bypass our self-defence mechanisms and our preconceived notions about our strengths and weaknesses. Our dreams go right to the truth of a matter. We, thus, have the opportunity to listen to God without interference and enter a whole new place of healing and understanding.
In Daniel 1:17, it says God gave Daniel the ability to understand dreams. The interpretation of our dreams activates and accelerates events. It gives direction, increases faith, reveals the future prophetically, has an impact on future events, serves as a warning, highlights blind spots or weakness, and gives insight and wisdom. There is no single perfect way of interpreting dreams, as most are symbolic and usually pertain to the dreamer. Praying and asking God for an interpretation is vital, as most dreams are connected to our own life. Having a good symbolism book or dream dictionary will help you to understand and interpret the metaphorical language used within dreams.
The key to most dreams is becoming curious about the source and reason for the dream, as it generally holds vital information. The secret to unlocking your dreams lies in asking the right questions. By answering the who, what, where, when, and why questions you will be able to find a theme emerging. Keeping a dream journal enables us to explore these questions. We can ask God to help us recall our dreams, increase the frequency of godly dreams, and teach us how to interpret them so that they fulfil their purpose.
For a more in-depth explanation, information and resources on understanding dream symbolism and interpretation, have a look at my book “Keys To Unlock The Treasures Of Heaven.”https://www.colleenkeys.com
2.https://doi.org/10.1037/h0037616
3. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-6726143/Scientist-says-future-dreams.htmlwww.mindbodygreen.com/articles/can-dreams-predict-the-future
4.Goll, James W. The Seer: The Prophetic Power of Visions, Dreams and Open Heavens. Expanded Edition. Shippensburg: Destiny Image Publishers. Kindle Edition, 2012. 83 )