What Your Dreams Are Saying About You

I was riding my bicycle downtown. It was a pretty populated time of day … and I had no clothes on …

God is speaking to us all the time. He’s been speaking to us since creation. In fact, it was His voice itself that made us! (See the book of Genesis.)

I didn’t know this as a child, but God was talking to me. It’s just that I’m finally training my ear to hear Him at my ripe adult age.

We hear the Lord when scripture really hits home. He is talking to us when we are moved by what we see in nature. He’s guiding us when we feel that sense to do a certain something, or not to do something. He is loving others through us when we have an encouraging word for someone that seems so right on, it’s got to be from Him. His voice can come out loud, in a whisper inside of you, as words that come up in your mind, or as pictures you all of a sudden imagine. When your spirit is surrendered to Him, you can pick up on all kinds of ways He’s speaking to you.

One of my favorite ways He speaks is through dreams. (See Numbers 12, Joel 2, Acts 2, Joseph and Daniel)

It seems as though most people think dreams are inapplicable, unexplainable and random psychological transactions that run through your brain at night. Or if they do mean something, it’s probably not good. How could it be when it involved things you might not even want to repeat? The more I study dreams and practice interpreting them, the less afraid I am of them.

One time I had a dream that I was riding my bicycle downtown with people all around and I had no clothes on. What do you do with that?  Well, what if riding my bicycle just referred to my personal ministry? And downtown meant the center of God’s will for me? And being naked … just that I am being transparent and vulnerable, and I have nothing to hide. If you take away the weird and simply break it down to what the symbols represent, it is quite encouraging. The Lord just wanted to confirm for me that my ministry was right in His will for me; I was exactly where I was supposed to be, and I had nothing to hide. It was safe to be transparent. If I hadn’t studied about how He speaks to me through dreams, I would have missed that encouragement from my good Father.

There are so many different kinds of dreams the Lord gives. He gives us encouragement as in the one above, revelation of what might be coming, prophetic dreams for other people or organizations, warning dreams, intercession dreams where we get to pray and change what could have happened, etc.

A friend of mine had a dream with me in it.  She felt it could be an encouragement so she sent it to me:

In the dream you had just swum out of a sinking ship/car and were freezing in the water. I had just rushed to the scene and given you my coat. In two seconds after you put it on, you were back in the water risking your life to save the other people who were still inside! You came out alive again after saving multiple people and were even on the news! You didn’t even think twice about going back inside; it was as if part of you was made for that!!

I knew what the dream meant pretty quickly. It was encouraging for me to hear. For practice I’ll mention some of the parts and how I interpret them. The ship/car was a previous ministry, obviously not doing well. I came out first but felt a natural call to help bring others out. The news showing makes me think it was visible to many, and the coat was a covering of what my friend has and is giving to me.

What dreams have you had lately? Is your Father trying to encourage you? Does He have some direction for you?

I do want to mention that bad dreams in general are not from the Lord  If you are having bad dreams, seek the Lord and find someone who can help you be finished with those. If you belong to Jesus, then He has paid for you to be free from anything the enemy wants to throw at you. You do not have to tolerate another night of bad dreams.

When I was a child, I had a lot of nightmares. Even as a young adult I had a bad dream every one in three nights. They brought fear. It seemed as though the enemy did not want me to enjoy the nighttime, and tried to keep me far from what the Lord had for me as I slept. It worked for a while; then God broke the cycle. There was a point at which they stopped. I can’t count more than a few bad dreams I’ve had in 10-15 years. But it wasn’t until the last five years that I have begun to value my dreams enough to try to learn how He is speaking to me through them.

Now I treasure every one of them. I get excited to go to bed. I get to be with Him while I sleep!  My spirit is active and awake with Holy Spirit! I have no idea of the extent of what goes on, but I want to catch as much of it as I can. And I still don’t understand all of them, but I’m learning and getting a lot closer!

“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.”  Proverbs 25:2

Search Him out. He is speaking to you. He wants to be found by you.

John Paul Jackson has been the most helpful resource for me in my studies. If you would like to learn more about how to interpret the dreams God gives you, Jackson has many resources, anywhere from YouTube videos to retreats you can attend.

About the author

 Shelly McCandliss has poured her life into her family, faith and relationships! She is passionate about truth and especially anointed to help people find their freedom in Christ. She is gifted as a teacher and convicted not only to communicate truth but to help people experience transformation in a conference or small group setting. Shelly is the author of Time with Jesus: Help Children Build their Own History with God and the upcoming book, For Brady, You Do Hear His Voice?  She lives in Redding, California, where she loves teaching, writing, running, rock-climbing and enjoying life with her husband, Cory, and their two boys, Brennan and Caleb.