We dream for different reasons.  One important purpose for dreaming is that it is the brain’s way of processing information that pass through our mind each day. We process mental and emotional data through our dreams and we need that “rem” sleep stage to really get a good night’s rest. I don’t believe dreams are ever memories re hashing the past. I believe they are “processing” the past. Under The Vista of Dreams category there are two articles called God Speaks Through Dreams I and II. It would be good to start with these articles as a foundation in learning about prophetic dreams.

When you have a dream that has meaning to it, you will want to write down all the details of the dream. Where you were at, what you were doing, who you were with. You will want to record colors that you noticed in the dream. If you dream of a house, write down whose house it is. What rooms you were in. Makes and models of cars, past or present settings. All of these things mean something in a dream. A spiritual dream is a decoupage of symbolism. You have to ask yourself. Why did I dream I was in this make and model of a car, with this person driving? It is your dream so ask your self why these characters are in it. They may represent themselves, they may not. Why these particular props? Why this setting? All of these things are what is needed to present to you a parable, or story, to help you in one thing, and that is to obtain understanding. That understanding may be a warning for you or others. It may be instruction for you on how to navigate through different challenges you may be experiencing in your life. It can be revelatory. Revealing to you “hidden” information that will assist you in unraveling emotional enigmas, for you or your family, giving you an understanding of yourself, or others, to help you through life. They may be for yourself, your family, or church, or maybe for nations.

The key is who you seek out to interpret your dreams.  If your source is a psychic or medium, then you must be warned that they communicate with spirits that are unknown. God’s people should know to whom they are listening to in the realm of the spirit. Jesus said,” my people know my voice and a STRANGER they will not follow.” There is only one whom we should ever go to, to teach us the meaning of our dreams, and that is the HOLY SPIRIT! The Holy Spirit knows all things, teaches all things, and leads us and guides us into all truth. The Holy Spirit also empowers his servants with gifts. One of those gifts is called a gift of prophecy, and interpretation. These gifts can give you a message that God has for you without even hearing the details of the dream. A man or woman of God who is a disciple of Jesus Christ, can be given understanding by spiritual discernment, even with out the gift, and they are far better to go to, than any one who receives messages from lying spirits from the spirit realm. It would be better to go to your God-fearing neighbor across the street, just to ask for prayer than a renown spiritualist, or psychic. For every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God, and is a lying spirit. Lying spirits serve a great deception that is beginning to pull together all false religions in the earth. They have one agenda and that is to seduce mankind away from his creator God, so that men and women will die in their sin forever separated from Him. And they will do that with a little bit of truth to candy coat the lie. Furthermore, any one who ever tells you that a dead loved one has a message for you, run!  You can read more about that in my article: When Nirvana is Finished it Brings Forth Death.

There are two ways a prophet can give you the meaning of your dream. The meaning can be revealed to them by the Holy Spirit out right, or by the wisdom of God that gives them the ability to interpret symbolism in the dream. In the latter form the prophet will rarely be able to give you a full interpretation, but will be able to provided enough revelation for you to see that it is a dream from the Lord, and that you need to seek God for understanding.

Dreams are a program if you will, that rehearse scenarios of how victories and failures are played out. Fears, and traumas, hopes, and desires, moral choices, verses immoral choices. Whether all dreams have meaning is not known. But they all have purpose as I stated before, it is the brain’s way of processing data.  In the previous articles I and II there is a list of what kind of dreams to pay attention to. The following list is the details one should remember when writing down, or telling their dreams to an interpreter.

1. If you dream of someone who  you have not seen in years and remember their name, the name may be important. Look it up in the etymology of names.

2. Animals- look up the animal’s attributes in an encyclopedia, research where they are mentioned in scripture.

3. Vehicles- think about what kind it is, what it is used for. Ask yourself why was I not driving the car I have now? It will be because there is something about that make or model that is speaking to you. Ships sail, airplanes fly, trains are on rails, etc … all of these variations point specifically to what your dream is trying to portray to you.

4. Color- Again scripture reference colors in your dream. Think about what they mean to you. All know that green represents living things. Blue often depicts peace, depending on what shade. Purple royalty. Yellow glory, the sun, light. Orange may mean warning; red, passion, love, stop etc. Ask yourself why these colors?

5. If you dream of sitting at a table, ask your self why was it round? Or square? Unless, it is your actual table at home, then those variation wouldn’t necessarily count. Where is the table, is it in your house or somewhere else? Note details. Was it set? Was it covered?

6. Rooms in the house all have special meaning. In the kitchen you cook, prepare, serve. In the living room, you relax, entertain company, play, and fellowship with family and friends. In the bathroom you bathe, clean up, eliminate waste, it is private for you, alone. In the bedroom you sleep, rest, are intimate with your spouse. Windows, doors, no windows, no doors …

7. Occupations, work dreams, things you are doing, building, taking apart; how you are dressed.

8. School dreams, what are you doing, are you in the present or is it a dream referencing the past?

9. Season of the year, time of the day. Weather. Storms etc …

10. Emotions, yours or others. The feel of the dream, happy, sad, angry. Are you in the dream or watching it?

All these are details that are important to note in your dreams. You may have one about friends that drive up in your driveway in a car, but the car is not the same as the one they have in real life. You’ve got to ask yourself, “why were they driving the make and model of a car they do not have?” There is a reason for these details. They’re there to paint a picture that relay specific parallels or parables to you; so make sure you leave nothing out, when writing down your dreams.

Numbers also, are significant in dreams. Numbers are so important that a book called Numbers is included in the bible. The first chapter of Genesis begins with numbering the days of creation. For a quick run down on numbers let’s look at the following list.

1. One means first, alone, singular.
2. Two means to divide, separate.
3. Represents redemption, the Godhead, resurrection, new life.
4. Four is one complete revolution. Fullness of seasons, one complete cycle of time.
5. Five is grace, five wounds of Christ.
6. Six the number of man. Man made, works or effort.
7. Seven is the Fullness of time. Rest, sabbath, perfect work, complete.
8. Eight a new day. Change, new beginnings.
9. Nine is gifts of the Spirit, nine fruits of the spirit. Fruits and gifts.
10. Ten is justice, one full unit.
11. Eleven to take away from, to cut off. To remove as to prune for more fruit. Judgment.
12. Government, Apostolic, tribes of Israel, 24 elders around the throne.

Numbers also, can represent themselves in days or lots. “In four days, three cars are sold”.

The best way to understand symbolism is to study how it is used in the bible. Obviously, there are objects that are modern and not mentioned in biblical times. But the key to any thing is to understand how it is relevant to you and why. How an object may relate to nature or what it’s nature is. For instance a rose is fragrant, and lovely, yet it has thorns. Of all the flowers in the world one would want to pay attention to why that particular flower was in their dream. Unless, for example, it is your favorite flower, or it reminds you of something on a personal level. The yellow rose has always been my grandmother’s favorite, So I often think of her when I see one. God knows this so uses the yellow rose to speak in my dreams regarding grandmothers.

I once dreamed of a person who I was becoming friends with as having porcupine needles coming out of their body, I found that the closer I got to this person the more difficult the relationship was becoming. I realized that they had many acquaintances but very few close friendships, and began to understand why. This is an example of how dreams can use things in nature to speak to us.