Judging the Sources of Dreams

by Mike Wong
God lives. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. We see He spoken to people in the ancient times in the Bible, therefore, we know that He still speaks today. One of the ways which He speaks is through dreams and visions. When we talk about this, the most frequently asked question is: How could we know whether the dream or vision was from God or just our own imaginations?

The answer to this question is of vital importance, because if we lack knowledge about this issue, we are likely to fall into two extremes which are serious mistakes. One is to discard all the dreams or visions we see, disbelieving God is willing to communicate with you by these means. Then we might be ignoring importance messages from God. 1 Thessalonians 5:20 "Despise not prophesyings." This commands us to treat every revelation seriously. The other extreme is equally bad, if not worse, which is to treat all the dreams or mental pictures as divine revelations. Jeremiah 23 clearly rebukes the abuse of dream interpretations. If anyone treated a normal dream as the word of God and preach it. He is called a false prophet. The sentence is death. We fear God and we receive His every message with a fearful heart.

If someone suspects that he had a dream or vision from God, he should first review it with biblical truth and principles, preferably with the help of spiritually mature mentors. One special characteristic a divine dream should possess is a strong intensity. A divine dream is likely to cause special feeling or engagement of the soul. Normally, our whole body including the brain rest during sleep. The brain is only partially awake even upon the occurrences of dreams. As a result we experience irrational, confusing and discontinuous visual animations and other senses. Also, we often find dreams to be difficult to recall once awake. This is due to the weak activation of processing ability and memorization of the brain during sleep.

In contrast, when divine dreams happen which are supposed to be caused by supernatural power of God, we enter into a different realm. The power is a kind of intrusion in nature, although God is tender and He does it gently. The intrusion of information carries divine power that would engage the whole person and affect his deepest being. We see this happened in the book of Genesis chapter 28. Jacob, the son of Isaac met God and saw the ladder to heaven in Bethel.

The power of the messages from God is likely to cause the receiver to react emotionally. Dreamers of divine dreams often find them more vivid and real then normal dreams. They could remember them clearly even after a long time, especially the message which God tries to communicate through the vision.

Dreams and visions are the means. The aim is to communicate the heart of God. When God reveals his heart to people who love him, the person who open his heart would be touched by the Holy Spirit. This could change a person's life. Real revelations would raise people's love towards God. If a dream or vision does nothing or the opposite, we could conclude that it is not from God.


About the Author
For more Information about Christianity and Dreams, visit: Dreams Handbook