'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
According to the above bible verse, God has made it clear that the plan is to pour out the His Spirit. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit will result in more visions and dreams for all mankind!
Let's look at two men in the bible who were dreamers and understood their dreams. The first one is Joesph, and the second one is Mary's husband Joseph. The first Joseph is in the Old Testament and the second Joseph is in the New Testament. Each one was used by God to interpret dreams for themselves and for others.
Let's start with the first Joseph. As a young man, the Spirit of God revealed his purposes for Joseph through his dreams. Here is a sample of his dream:
Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He told them, "Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it." His brothers asked him, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?" And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me."
When he told his father and brothers, his father rebuked him and said, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?" His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. Genesis 37: 5-11.
Principles of Dream Interpretation!
Here are some principles of interpreting Joseph's childhood dream to help us understand our dreams. I want to thank Mark Virkler and Charity Virkler Kayembe for the excellent book, "Hearing God Through Your Dreams". I will use their approach into understanding Joseph's dream and how it can help us gain insights into our dreams.
Joseph’s Childhood Dreams (Genesis 37:1-11) Answers by Mark Virkler.
vs. 6 Do you believe Joseph showed indiscretion in sharing his dream? Yes, I believe so.
What lesson is in this, concerning sharing our dreams? We should be sensitive to the proper people and time when we share our dreams.
vss. 7-9 Note what each of the following items in Joseph’s dream represent:
Joseph’s sheaf = Joseph
Brother’s sheaf = brothers
Sun = father
Moon = mother
Bowing down = bowing down
Eleven stars = 11 brothers
Is the language literal, symbolic or both? mostly symbolic
vss. 8,10,11 What is the response? Hatred, rebuke, and jealousy comes from the brothers, His father, however kept the sayings in mind.
This negative response may be another indicator that Joseph shared his dreams with indiscretion. Gen. 42:6-9 Note the accuracy of the interpreted dream. Years later his brothers did bow down before him.
What truths concerning dreams and visions have you discovered from the answers you have given? Are there additional insights? God spoke through dreams, using mostly symbolism mixed with a bit of literality. Discretion should be exercised when sharing dreams. It may take years before dreams are fulfilled.
Now let's us look at a dream from Mary's husband Joseph.
Joseph’s Dream (Matthew 1:20-25)
Notice that the background to this dream experience is that Joseph is considering how to resolve a problem in his life.
vs. 20 Who appeared to him in a dream? An angel of the Lord.
vss. 20-23 What does the angel do? Delivers a message to him.
vs. 24 What is Joseph’s response to the dream? He got up and did what the angel of the Lord commanded.
What truths concerning dreams and visions have you discovered from the answers you have given? Are there additional insights? An angel can speak to us in our dreams and give us instruction for solving life's problems. We are to act upon the instruction.
A great tool I use to work on my dreams is an app called Dream Keys by Leo and Charity Kayembe. Charity teaches a dream interpretation technique called DAESI. DAESI method is to record the Dream, Action, Emotion, Setting, and Interpretation. When we receive a dream from the Holy Spirit write down. In the dream, what was I doing? (Running from something? Hiding? Fighting?) That is the key action. In the dream, how was I feeling? (Scared? Angry? Joyful?) That is the key emotion. In our waking life, what issues is my heart processing? (What was I thinking about when I went to bed and praying for as I fell asleep?) That is the waking world setting. In the interpretation of the dream, we match up the dream's action and emotion with similar actions and emotions in our waking life which show us what area of our life the dream is speaking to, and we journal out God's message to us through the dream.
This information is just a small taste on what we can learn about dreams from the Lord. To explore the topic more checkout the websites https://www.cwgministries.org and https://www.glorywaves.org