The Purpose and Significance of Dreams: Interpreting the Whispers of God

What exactly is the purpose of dreams?

Dreams are simply one of the hundreds of ways that God uses to communicate with his children.

Many people discount their dreams wholly as the product of their previous evening's meal. Others say that dreams are simply a function of the brain during sleep. If you do research about how dreams work, you're likely to find that there are a large number of theories, but few certainties. Like many areas of science, the study of dreams (Oneirology) is a field with many diverse opinions. In this post, I'm not going to discuss how dreams work. I'm going to discuss the purpose of dreams, and why our minds were designed to dream during sleep. I'm also going to give an example of a dream that I had and discuss how dreams can and should be interpreted. 

It's important to know that dreams are not always mere inconsequential fancies of the brain. Put plain and simply, dreams can often be an inlet through which you hear the voice of God. That is their primary purpose. Dreams are not always loaded with deep revelation and spiritual content, but oftentimes, they are. Because of this, it's important to be able to decipher and interpret dreams that you have.

Remembering Your Dreams: 
Possibly the greatest difficulty in listening to the voice of God through dreams is that many people are not able to recall their dreams to memory after they wake up. I've done experimentation with this. I've found that I am able to more clearly remember my dreams BEFORE I open my eyes after waking up. If I wake up in the middle of a dream, as long as my eyes stay closed, I am usually able to recall it to memory. The second my eyes open, the dream begins to fade and deteriorate from memory. If you have difficulty recalling your dreams, try to keep your eyes closed after you wake up.
I've also found that the sooner I try to remember a dream after I wake up, the more easily it comes to mind. If I lay conscious in bed for a long time, the dream begins to fade. I've also found that consciousness has less to do with actually being awake, and more to do with how your mind is functioning when you're awake. For example, there are times for me when I'm awake, but I haven't allowed my mind to begin planning and thinking about the day. During these times, I can recall my dreams of the previous night with ease. However, if I allow my mind to begin thinking about the day and all I have to do, the area of my brain in which dreams take place seems to shut down. If you're struggling to remember your dreams after you wake up, prevent your mind from beginning to think about your day while you lay awake. It's also important to note that, after you remember a dream, that dream becomes easier to remember the more you rehearse it in your mind. Write it down if you're afraid you'll forget it.

Interpreting Your Dreams:
Oftentimes, dreams can be a little on the bizarre side. Do not discount them as unimportant simply because they seem strange. As I mentioned earlier, strange dreams can be an inlet that God uses to communicate with you. For example, this is a dream that I had several months ago in which God was trying to tell me something.


My Dream:

I was driving down the road. My gym class teacher's son, Ian, was driving behind me. (If you know me, you are probably amused at this point, because you would know that in real life, Ian is under-aged and cannot drive.) As I rounded a corner, I saw my gym class teacher (Mr. Homer) standing on the side of the road. Mr. Homer began shouting for someone to "get to the box!" In the dream, I didn't really know what that meant or what was going on, so I just pulled off the road underneath an overpass. However, Ian knew what was going on and what his dad meant. He immediately pulled off the road behind me and rushed as fast as he could for a small, square parking-lot. Seeing him do this, I just followed suit. After we reached the parking lot, a big, ugly, mean, black truck came roaring down the road and pulled in front of the lot where Ian and I were standing. Out of the truck stepped a cruel-faced man in black. In each hand, the man held a child; a boy in his left and a girl in his right. Both of the children looked about 3-years-old, but they were as naked and helpless as if they had just been born. The man set the boy down in front of Ian and the girl in front of me. Ian received the boy with open arms. I picked up the girl and for a brief instant, held a sweet, innocent child in my arms. But in a flash, the man in black snatched her out of my arms and intentionally dropped her to the ground and killed her. With a cruel sneer, he left; driving away in his black car, leaving the boy alive in Ian's care. In the dream, I knew that he brought two children to that parking lot every week. If nobody was there to receive the children, he killed them both. When there was someone to receive them, he sometimes let them live and other times he killed one out of cruelty and spite. 

My Mother, being a very prophetically gifted person who knows me well, immediately told me what she believed the dream meant. Dreams are often highly symbolical and contain quite a bit of representational imagery. It's often very beneficial to share your dreams with others who know you well, so that they can give you insight and ideas that you haven't considered. Dreams are best interpreted by those who know you well, because they are able to help you link the symbolism in the dream to various aspects of your life and personality. (Interpretation can also be done very well by people who don't know you, as long as they know how to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit.)

I encourage you to practice remembering your dreams and sharing them with others. If you do, you will understand a great deal more about yourself than you did before, and you won't miss out on any subtle things God is trying to tell you through your dreams.