Healing Dreams: Their Power & Purpose in Your Spiritual Life

by Susan Dyer
Jul/Aug/Sep 2012

Dreams are a gift from a loving Father and are intended to draw you into an intimate relationship with Him. This verse is an endearing description of God coming to His Beloved in the night season and speaking words of encouragement and healing. God uses dreams to align our hearts, thoughts and intentions to His eternal purpose. He may use dreams in a variety of ways: to answer our questions; to appoint us to a new mission; to command changes in how we are to live; to commune with us concerning secrets of His heart; to promise us something yet to come; to teach us vital truths that we might have missed, and so much more. If you don’t already know this, what an exciting prospect to which you can look forward with great expectation!

My own interest and growth in understanding dreams happened because of a dream which was dramatically life changing. Shortly, after I divorced, the Lord gave me a dream to heal brokenness and to restore hope in my life. Like inner healing, this dream took me to a new place in life.

After that dream, I started to read about and study the dreams in the Bible. The following dream is a calling dream; but before the Lord could release me, there were issues He had to heal.

The Holy Spirit began speaking to my spirit as I prayed and asked for an interpretation. He revealed latent issues in my soul of fear, abandonment, and loneliness. I sensed His purpose for this dream was to heal hurt before He could reveal His future plan for my life. “I was grieved in my spirit and visions troubled me. I asked for the truth of all this. So he told me and made me know the interpretation of the things.”(Daniel 7:15–16).

I was surprised that feelings from past experiences started to surface. These memories came from early childhood and experiences I had when I was newly married. I had put a wall around my heart to protect myself from disappointments. That wall sheltered me from future hurt, but opened the door for hopelessness and independence. This dream was a gift from God. It helped me confront issues I couldn’t face when I was awake. The dream also revealed that transition was soon to happen and I was to stay in prayer.

A dream with a calling brings a greater responsibility to take action. There’s also a possibility for a greater resistance until its fulfillment. Therefore, I was determined to fast for a year to draw closer to Him and to get specific directions as to how to proceed. “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.” (Romans 13:14) God was faithful. He restored, instructed and promoted me due to my decision to act on a calling, healing dream.

Types of Dreams

The Hebrew word for dream is harlam and comes from a word meaning “to make whole or healthy,” a clue to one of the functions of dreams. It is to add to our growth in wholeness and completeness as individuals. “It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night… for God gives rest to his loved ones.” (Psalm 127:2)

Scripture depicts dreamers being strengthened (Gideon, Judges 7:13–15), warned (Joseph, Matthew 2:12), corrected (Abimelech, Genesis 20:3–7) and encouraged (Philip, Acts 8:5–10). In the book of Job, insight is given as to why we dream and how our dreams develop. God is always speaking, but sometimes we don’t hear the message. “For God does speak…now one way, now another…though man may not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men as they slumber in their beds...” (Job 33:14–15)

God’s heart is for us to live an abundant life and to protect us from harm, “to turn man from wrong doing and keep him from pride, to preserve his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword.” (Job 33:17–18). There could be issues in our soul of which we’re not aware; God uses this time to get our full attention and to deliver us from future destruction. Good examples in the Bible are when the Lord spoke in the night to prevent future mishap in the stories of Pharaoh’s dreams (Genesis 40–41) and also in the dreams of King Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2–4).

God speaks through dreams to:

• By–pass our logic, our preconceived notions, and other obstacles of the conscious mind to connect with our spirit.
• Heal our spirit and soul to find balance and real purpose in life, in an atmosphere not dominated by our mind.
• Show us where we have yet to take on a Christ–like attitude in life.
• Give divine impartation to overcome our issues, problems, or fears.
• Take us back in time to reveal further healing.
• Impart the required grace, mercy, and power for healing afflictions.
• Bring repentance and healing when and if we submit to it. (Acts 10:9–16)
• Release a dreamer to become the voice of proclamation in a dream to decree a healing or deliverance on earth.

Dream Intimacy and Power

The ability to understand dreams, as well as having God speak to you through dreams, is to be in a position of spiritual intimacy and power. Both Joseph and Daniel are recorded as saying that their ability to interpret is a gift of God. Daniel said, “Praise be to the name of God forever and ever…He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him…You have given me wisdom and power…You have made known to us the dream of the King.” (Daniel 2:19–23)

Intimacy and spiritual power increase when we know the Word of God, and this is a key in dream interpretation. It promoted Daniel and Joseph into positions of prominence and power within their communities. Prophets were respected because they too received God’s Word. They were also called ‘dreamers.’ “If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord will speak to him in a dream.” (Numbers 12:6)

One of the greatest promises ever given to an individual was through a dream. God promised Abraham to make his descendants a great nation which would include a deliverer, and to do this he came to Abraham as he slept. (Genesis 15:1) This promise of God’s blessing for a nation was repeated in a dream to Jacob as he slept outside Bethel. (Genesis 28:12) It was during a dream that King Solomon was challenged by God to ask for what he really wanted as the new king, and it was in his sleep that he worshipped God and asked for the gifts of wisdom and understanding. (I Kings 3:5–14)

How to Respond to Your Dreams

God’s major purpose in giving dreams is for us to respond appropriately on earth to what He is doing in Heaven. One should pray for wisdom over all the symbols, events, and persons within a dream to gain understanding of its meaning. The following steps will help you interpret your dream. Pay attention to whether God is warning, calling, encouraging, healing or guiding. “For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was anything kept secret, but that it should come abroad.” (Mark 4:22)

• Prepare your heart to hear from God.
• Set aside a time and a place.
• Release yourself from personal limitations.
• Write and date the dream.
• Ask the following:
• Where am I in this dream?
• Am I an observer, a participant, or the main focus?
• What are the sub–focus(es)?
• Are there any emotions/feelings?
• Is there any color?
• Note the attitude of your heart.

The most common type of dream contains more than one scene: a progressive message unfolds as the dreamer is carried along.

The first scene usually gives the setting. Like the backdrop of a play, it sets the stage so that the sealed message it contains can be understood.

Subsequent scenes enlarge upon the plot and carry it forward. Dreams can cover several different subjects and areas of our lives.

• Friends and family members are often used as symbols.
• Sometimes they represent ourselves,
• Sometimes they represent another friend or family member.
• Sometimes they simply represent the person.
• Questions to ask yourself about someone you know:
• How are they connected to you: family, work?
• What is their name and the meaning in the name?
• Describe the person with three adjectives.
• Do you like/dislike or feel indifferent toward this person?
• Do you admire this person?
• What personal characteristics of this person stand out?
• What role do they play to sustain or change the dream?
• What spiritual quality do they have?
• Have they been in another dream? Similar or different?
• Questions to ask if you do nott know the person:
• From their activity, how would you know them?
• Is this person in other dreams?
• Look at the context of the dream (there can be two meanings behind every thought).
• What is God dealing with in your life?
• What is the tone of the dream: harsh, hope, peace, etc.?
• Symbols connect the spirit with the soul. Ask, “What does this symbol mean to me?”
• Receive Revelation: “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter.” (Proverbs 25:2)

Once you have identified what each symbol represents, put the dream aside and summarize now what you have received from the Holy Spirit. Write this final summary and let it flow not from your intellectual thinking, but by using the anointing the Lord has given for revelation.

Do not use the same formula on every dream you interpret. Allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you and give you additional visions and revelations to back up what you feel the dream means. Here is where you are going to give the subject (or yourself) the direction and answers for which you are looking.

Find a scripture to confirm what God is speaking to you.

Get counsel from gifted interpreters of dreams. Best friends might like you too much!

Spiritual Connection in Dreams

God’s desire has been to enter into an intimate relationship with us. He uses dreams to align our hearts, thoughts and intentions to His eternal purpose. The objective in communicating through dreams is to establish a heart–to–heart connection. He also desires for us to experience the realities of who He is, even on our worst days. He wants us to have a living encounter with His character in an atmosphere uninfluenced by mind–set so we can appreciate His true attributes.

You can live the desires that are born in you as He teaches and encourages you in your dreams. May the Lord continue to awaken your spirit and give you fresh revelation as you connect intimately with Him. “I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.” (Psalm 16:7)

Susan has been trained through John Paul Jackson’s Streams Ministries, and the steps provided to assist in Biblical dream interpretation are taken from Streams Ministries courses.

Susan Dyer is a teacher, mentor, prophetic intercessor and school administrator.