Dreams
Our good and perfect Heavenly Father communicates with us in various ways, one of which is through our dreams. While we sleep, our bodies are at rest but our spirits are awake. This means we can receive visions from heaven without deterrence from our own fleshly instincts. The Holy Spirit will convey a message, warning, guidance, or revelation while we are asleep and help us interpret and understand it once we are awake and conscious.
Job 33:14-18 NKJV For God may speak in one way, or in another, Yet man does not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, When deep sleep falls upon men, While slumbering on their beds, Then He opens the ears of men, And seals their instruction. In order to turn man from his deed, And conceal pride from man, He keeps back his soul from the Pit, And his life from perishing by the sword.
Even dark dreams and nightmares have meaning. The Lord may show us areas where evil spirits have access to our lives, alert us if someone needs help, or give us a pre-warning of challenges that lie ahead, just as God warned Abraham in a dream about the upcoming afflictions of his descendants. Such dreams should always lead to intercession.
Genesis 15:12-13 NKJV Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.
One type of dream we need to beware is when evil spirits try to deceive us into forming covenants with them, either through sex, signing papers, or making agreements. Just as God made covenants with Jacob (Genesis 28) and king Solomon (1 Kings 3:5-14) in their dreams, evil spirits can also attempt to do the same thing with us in order to gain legitimate footholds in our bodies.
A prayer to dedicate our dreams to God
“Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you that You are ever present, even while I sleep. Please forgive me if I have ever neglected to seek You while I dream.
Psalm 139:7-10 NKJV Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.
I submit my dreams and my heart to You. I will choose to be loyal to and love You with all my heart and soul even in my dreams.
Deuteronomy 13:2-3 and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
In Jesus’ name, I renounce all dreams where I signed a contract, performed a ritual or oath, had sexual relations, been in a wedding ceremony with some stranger, eaten food offered to idols, or done anything that might have formed an agreement or covenant with an evil spirit, whether knowingly or unknowingly. Please forgive me, Lord. Today, I cut all spiritual ties to what was done.
Please come speak to me through dreams and night visions. My soul will mediate on You while I am in bed. Show me the path You’ve laid out for me, help me understand Your message, and give me the strength to follow Your counsel from the night before.
Psalm 63:6-8 NKJV When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches. Because You have been my help, Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice. My soul follows close behind You; Your right hand upholds me.
May You reveal Your love and purpose for me even while I sleep.
In Jesus’ name, amen.”