Sometimes people have a stockpile of significant dreams. However, unless there is a commitment to embrace their meaning along with the longing to understand the dreams, the dreamer can be robbed of awesome insight. Let me emphasize again, there must be commitment, not just curiosity. I don’t know if curiosity actually killed the cat, but I do know it will drive everyone else crazy! Curious people tend to flippantly walk up and say, "Oh, you interpret dreams. Here’s something for you to think about. I dreamed thus and so." What I hear in that statement is that the dreamer might regard my efforts in their behalf and then might not. So, if I prayerfully consider their dream, (which can take hours) I will very likely be wasting valuable time. Just wondering if a dream says something important is not enough. There also has to be the commitment that if the dream is saying something significant, I am prepared to embrace the truth and/or act upon it! The commitment begins with prayer. Ask the Lord for insight and don’t assume it is a mystery beyond your capabilities. Faith can unlock our understanding. Pursuing the interpretation is an act of faith that God can and will bless.

One classic mistake to avoid is getting more excited by the fact that God spoke in a dream than about WHAT He said and WHY He said it. A person can dream something dramatic, traumatic, prophetic or possibly revealing about someone else. Whereas God’s purpose for the dream was probably intercessory prayer, a dreamer caught up in a quest for self-esteem will likely find it top priority to broadcast the dream. The gory details without prayerful understanding can do more harm than good in one short conversation. For example, graphic dreams of life and death that are purely symbolic can be taken literally and stir up fear or frustration. Agreement is a powerful scriptural principle, (the key alignment that determines consequences regarding dreams or any other intercessory matter). Fear and frustration are emotions that make us vulnerable to the enemy because they move us out of agreement with God. Though the emotional atmosphere of a dream is impacting, we must examine it rather than embrace it - thereby agreeing with it. My daughter, Melissa, recently dreamed that an acquaintance was killed in a car crash. The emotional atmosphere was obviously upsetting and disturbed her when she awoke. However, knowing sadness and fear would bear no good fruit, she realized the dream was intercessory in nature and she needed to understand "WHAT" it was saying.

Let’s consider two possibilities: (1.) If the dream was symbolic, this particular young woman left Texas to pursue her destiny in California, which symbolizes going from spiritual birth to fuller revelation. She was in a vehicle, representing her grace, enabling, facilitation, or gifting. Then she is suddenly thwarted, robbed of destiny. So, as a peer of Melissa, the dream could be reflecting Melissa’s own blossoming potential and gifting being threatened. Or the dream could simply be expressing Melissa’s intimidating feelings and fears that her future would be thwarted in some way. Intercessory prayer should then involve proclaiming God’s word: Jer 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future," and then be a matter of keeping all thoughts and emotions aligned with that truth.

(2.) If the dream was literal, and Melissa was seeing hell’s immediate plans for the friend, she should pray that the friend be physically protected and kept safe for God’s destiny and purpose for her. She could also pray for her not to make wrong career or life choices either by being in the wrong place at the wrong time or by going the wrong direction. She could also pray that the enemy’s assignments have no success concerning her altogether. Symbolic or literal, the "WHAT" in the dream was a revealed threat. The "WHY" of the dream was intercession to interrupt hell’s tactics and targets. So there was no need to share the dream with the acquaintance. Usually when the possibilities are taken to God, the exact prayer needed will bear witness in the dreamer’s spirit and release faith.

Getting to the "WHAT" and the "WHY" is most often a treasure hunt. One exception to the norm is that an interpretation can sometimes be a gift of the Spirit. "For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom," I Cor. 12:8. From Thayer’s Dictionary, the gift of the Spirit, the "word of wisdom," encompasses more than prudence, full intelligence and skillful management. The Greek word for wisdom, sophia, includes in its meaning: "the act of interpreting dreams and always giving the sagest advice and the intelligence evidenced in discovering the meaning of some mysterious number or vision."

I have experienced times when a dream’s symbolism was opened as soon as I heard it. As the dream was recounted, it seemed like I was simultaneously seeing its meaning, like reading subtitles in a foreign movie. The wisdom and message of the dream was immediate, a gift. In fact, in one such experience where the interpretation was a gift, I could see the scenes so vividly as it was recounted that I mentioned details that the dreamer had forgotten. As with all God’s gifts, a word of wisdom for a dream’s interpretation is exciting and inspiring to both the receiver and the mailman! As previously stressed, this type of interpretation is more the exception than the rule since most dreams are layered treasures that will require digging and prayerful research; but both avenues to interpretation are rewarding and for all believers.

There are methods of digging that we can learn in pursuing dream interpretations. A friend recently gave me an excellent paperback book on dreams, Exploring the World of Dreams, by Benny Thomas, Whitaker House Publishers. The book is the best I have read concerning dream interpretation. As the author explains, "the book is a scriptural guide to hearing from God in the night season." He lays out a strategy for interpreting dreams: "First, divide the dream into sections. Then divide each section of the dream into small pieces. Next, use the following methods to glean all you can from your dream. 1) Ask God to tell you what each piece means. 2) Ask yourself questions about each piece of the dream. 3) Relate the dream to your circumstances."

Following is an example of a piece by piece break down of a dream that Melissa had in January. As the puzzle came together, I discovered a confirming witness to what is happening in the Kingdom in this year of Jubilee. The bold print is her dream and the breakdown follows each section in italics. The church was full of people. I was on the worship team, but the team members were not in their usual places and some new members had joined the team. Also, there was some sort of group in attendance, a military group. First I noted they were in the praise position. And my primary impression about praise is that it is the first phase of warfare, as in "send Judah first." I believe Melissa was seeing God’s army being called into rank and order, symbolized by the people on stage re-positioning, moving to their place of calling and obedience to minister, and by the military group’s presence. Before we began singing, one lady in our worship team jumped off the stage and started talking to the crowd, like a revelation just hit her. She said, "Let me tell you about a puma." That got everyone’s attention. An essential in readying an army for WAR is that the enemy be clearly identified. My research revealed a puma to be the "largest of the New World cats," also called a Mountain Lion. As in one of Melissa’s previous dreams about cats, the symbolism is a "mindset". Here the puma represents the greatest, most dangerous mindset of this new age. 1 Peter 5:8 says that our adversary walks about like a roaring lion. Since "adversary" means an opponent in a law suit, we begin to get the picture that our enemy is like a cunning lawyer attempting to intimidate and manipulate the way we think, knowing that as a man thinketh so is he. Research also indicated that the puma can jump 18 feet." The number 18 seemed significant. It is the sum of 6+6+6, which symbolizes complete humanism, the fullest extent of fleshly thinking. Also, the puma dwells in high places, signifying the ability to affect the high places, the mind and imagination, a principality out to conform man’s thinking to this present age. Then she said, "I want my mother to explain to you about pumas." She called the previous generation to explain the foe; thereby demonstrating, though a plaguing foe in this current time, it is not a new foe, but an old, familiar one. Then her mother came from the left side of the stage and took the microphone. She was talking, but the only part I heard was something about the female puma. While she was talking, people were walking in a big circle around the walls of the sanctuary. Then when she finished, she turned and looked at me and said, "Now. I want Melissa to sing for at least 15 minutes." The army responded and began to move out in rank and unity, in a circle. This reminded me of Jericho, the first city taken when taking the promised land! Melissa was to sing out, signifying a prophetic voice with a prophetic sound, to break the stronghold, like the shout after they had circled the city. The 15 minutes is significant. 15 is the number of complete Divine grace, signifying "the time" that the army is God-enabled to take the land, to take inheritance and promise! At that point my cousin, Georgia, was standing on my left and she started singing Amazing Grace; so I started singing it too. Georgia was a second prophetic voice, two is the number of witness that confirmed (with Amazing Grace) the time of Divine grace to break forth. As I sang, I could not remember the full verse, so I just started singing a new song about His amazing grace. I was thinking how easy it was to hit notes that usually strain me. It was like I had no control, it was just happening. When I finished, I opened my eyes and saw that everyone had tears streaming down their faces and so did I. Break through! The song went forth beginning with past testimonies but proceeded to new proclamations, bridging the past to present, unifying the generations of God’s army. There was no strain because of the anointing and divine grace to break barriers with a prophetic sound and take the land, take the promise! Someone made an altar call. An older preacher came up. He was wearing a pink embroidered shirt. He was very thin. He looked somewhat preoccupied, but when they started praying for him he doubled over. A call to arms went out. The older preacher represents the past reserves coming forward to the new sound. His shirt, as often indicated by garments in a dream, has to do with his identity and condition. The pink here shows a faded impact of salvation (Red). The embroidery is elaborate and intricate, showing effort and investment; but it was still faded, having lost passion. But he was doubled over, his response to the presence of God bowing him low, expressing a contrite heart that God can bless. As he went completely to the floor, I sat down beside him. There was a television there beside him. He reached to turn it on, but service was still going on so I hurried to turn it off. Humbled and hungry for God, he was seeking vision, but he reached for the television - someone else’s vision. Television can be a literal tool, but also is symbolic here of all the tools the enemy can use to influence our meditations and imaginations, to fill us with vision other than that birthed out of relationship with God and with the Body of Christ. As in all the puma’s mind games, the goal is to keep us distracted from purpose, passion and promise; because if we can’t see it, we will never occupy it! Melissa turned it off in a prophetic action that declared war against conforming to mindsets of the age, that declared we will have fresh vision, fresh passion and full redemption of promise and inheritance. In summary, the dream is a visual confirmation that NOW is the time of God’s enabling (grace) to overcome on the battleground of the mind and heart; and it is confirmation that the means to wage war and occupy inheritance is to be in rank and unity. The prize is restoration and promise realized for every generation - Jubilee!

It is so exciting to search out the pieces, to glimpse God’s view in Technicolor snippets! It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter. Proverbs 25:2 Dreams flit through the night, but they can become an awesome equipping if we capture them in the daylight. The adventure begins with catching the scenes and holding them until they can be examined before the Lord. Something I always stress and one of the main things Benny Thomas stressed is to record and date your dreams. By recording a dream, we are more likely to describe the scenes fully. Writing allows us time to sequence events and remember the scenes comprehensively, so that we do not omit important details of setting and atmosphere. Recording the dream keeps a record that memory recall alone can lose if the interpretation is long in coming.

Benny Thomas on page 142 of his book states, "Recording and studying your dreams on a consistent basis takes persistence, determination, and discipline. Your diligence will be rewarded. The night season can become a very important part of your spiritual life. God can talk to you about your business, your finances, your family, your marriage, your decisions, your ministry, and all aspects of your life in the night season. It’s up to you! The potential benefits of hearing from God even while you sleep are immeasurable."