How to Interpret Your God-Given Dreams

How Do You Know What Your Dreams Mean? | Millennials with Meaning
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This post was originally written in May 2020 and is now updated with new information.

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Do your dreams mean something? Do they mean anything? How do you know for sure?

For the past couple of years, I’ve been learning a lot about how God speaks to his people through dreams and how he can help us interpret them. This was demonstrated in the Bible with Joseph and Daniel, and it’s still true today.

Now, I’m specifically talking about Biblical dream interpretation here. I don’t condone or recommend any other forms of dream interpretation, because I believe if they don’t come from God, they’re counterfeits of the real thing and can be dangerous.

I think I’ve always known in the back of my mind that dreams might mean something, but I never knew how to interpret my dreams in the past and I didn’t want to open myself up to anything demonic. I felt like most of my dreams were either scary nightmares from childhood, or they were so random I assumed they weren’t significant.

As I’ve written before, dreams are one of many ways God can speak to us. I’ve typically been more of a “knower” or “hearer,” but once I clued into the fact that God also speaks and is speaking through dreams, my dream life has completely transformed.

“Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”

Each night before I go to bed, I pray, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.” And he does! I don’t think he’s ever failed to answer that prayer for me, and I’ve prayed it nearly every night for about two years.

In the morning when I wake up, the work begins. I jot down every key point I can remember from the dreams I’ve had, starting with the basics and filling in more details as they come to mind. I write down the date of the dream, any emotions I felt, any people who stuck out in my dream, and anything else that strikes me as important.

“God, what is this?”

Later or whenever I get time, I ask God one simple question: “God, what is this?”

I learned to do this from a James Goll book and it has proven very helpful. Sometimes God’s just waiting for us to ask.

And asking is key, because God is the person we want our interpretation from. Although not every dream comes from God – dreams can also come from our own souls or from the enemy – God does give us dreams, and he can interpret them for us, too!

As I mentioned before, I think we need to be careful about who we get our dream interpretations from, because anyone who’s not seeking God for the interpretation is likely dabbling in some demonic or New Age stuff that goes against the Bible. Thankfully, I have found many helpful Christian resources on dream interpretation, so here are a few I trust!

Books

Dream Language: The Prophetic Power of Dreams, Revelations, and the Spirit of Wisdom by James Goll. This book is a great place to start learning about dreams, because it includes a mini dream dictionary at the back, plus it covers some common themes in dreams and the author shares strategies to help you receive dreams from the Lord.

Top 20 Dreams: What the 20 Most Common Dreams are Telling You by John Paul Jackson. This is another great Biblical resource that outlines 20 common dreams and what they often mean.

The 20 Categories of Dreams by John Paul Jackson. Another resource from John Paul Jackson (Streams Ministries) explaining 20 different categories of dreams to help you interpret your own dreams.

Understanding Your Dreams: How to Unlock the Meaning of God’s Messages by Sandie Freed. A great book that includes a small glossary at the back to help you interpret common dream symbols.

Exploring Your Dreams and Visions: Receive and Understand Your Dreams, Visions, and Supernatural Experiences by James Goll. This is part journal and part book. It builds on what you learn in Dream Language, so I’d recommend starting with that one first.

Dreams and Visions: Understanding and Interpreting God’s Messages to You by Jane Hamon. This is another book for people just beginning to learn about dreams.

The Seer: The Prophetic Power of Visions, Dreams and Open Heavens by James Goll. This book is about seeing in general, not dreams exclusively, though they are mentioned. You’ll be more interested in this one if you also want to learn about visions.

Articles

“The Simple Method This 8-Year-Old Uses to Accurately Interpret His Prophetic Dreams” by Charity Kayembe. This article outlines the DAESI Dream Work Method, which stands for Dream, Action, Emotion, Setting, and Interpretation. These keys can help you narrow down which details are important about your dream.

“15 Keys to Simplifying Dream Interpretation” by James Goll. Another great article to make dream interpretation easier for you and help you discern key details.

Dictionaries

A-Z Dream Symbology Dictionary by Dr. Barbie Breathitt. Once you’ve gotten a good grasp on how God speaks through dreams and some of the common themes, I recommend this: the resource of all resources. This dictionary is SO useful for interpreting those random things that have you stumped. I want to reiterate that the interpretation should ultimately come from God – we never want to rely too heavily on other people’s interpretations and miss what the Holy Spirit himself is saying. God speaks to us individually, and he is well aware that certain things have different meanings for different people. Keep that in mind as you’re interpreting dreams! But this dictionary has been a wonderful resource for me and has helped me interpret some of the really odd objects or actions in my dreams that I was stuck on. It’s well worth the splurge.

The Bible-Based Dictionary of Prophetic Symbols by Dr. Joe Ibojie. This is a smaller (and more affordable – yay!) dictionary that I also highly recommend. It isn’t as comprehensive as the A-Z Symbology Dictionary, but it still includes a lot of information and specific Biblical symbols that may appear in your dreams.

The Divinity Code to Understanding Your Dreams and Visions by Adam F. Thompson and Adrian Beale. This one is just as good as the gigantic A-Z Dream Symbology Dictionary, but it’s slightly smaller and contains some things the other dictionaries don’t. At $20, this dictionary probably gives you the most for your money. It contains a substantial amount of information, plus a whole section on names with information I haven’t seen anywhere else. I use both this and the A-Z dictionary regularly.

Courses

Understanding Your Dreams Online Course (Biblical Keys to Dream Interpretation) from Dare to Believe Ministries. My mom gifted me this course for my birthday this year, and it’s such a helpful resource! In addition to the teaching, it includes sample dreams that you can interpret on your own and then see how your interpretation lines up with the instructor’s. Highly, highly recommended.

Prophetic Personalities from Truth to Table. I’ve mentioned this course many times before, because it’s so helpful in discovering how you hear God uniquely. This is not a dream class specifically, but it is a great resource if you’re not sure how God speaks to you, and it covers four categories: seeing, hearing, feeling, and knowing. (This class is also on Bethel TV if you already subscribe to that.)

Websites

Disclaimer: I am not overly familiar with any of the following sites, but they offer free resources and seem to be Biblically-based, lining up with several of the other resources I recommended above. Use discernment and make sure you’re only getting dream interpretations from godly sources!

Biblical Dream Dictionary – Unlocking Your Dreams

Christian Dream Dictionary – Prophetic Dreamers

Dream Symbols Dictionary – Joshua Media Ministries

Stewarding Your Dreams

The final thing I want to mention about dreams is how they can multiply when you steward them. In my own life, I’ve discovered that the more I record my dreams and spend time interpreting them, the more dreams I have. I believe that as you steward the dreams God gives you, he will give you even more of them. Ask him to speak to you through your dreams, be diligent about recording them, and you might be surprised by just how many dreams you begin to have!

I guess there’s only one thing left to say…sweet dreams! 😊

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