Rabbi Schneider - How to Interpret Your Dreams
We've been most focused on interpreting our dreams at night, especially the dreams that we're receiving from the Lord. I've been very careful in this series to make it plain, that not every dream we have is from the Lord, because there are people that walk around talking about their dreams all the time. And sometimes many of the dreams that they're talking about, that they're claiming are from God are not from God and it turns people off. But the fact is God speaks to His children in their dreams at night. I really want to encourage you, go back and watch this entire series. It's very practical and it is profound. Dreams are weighty, because dreams carry the voice of God. We find as we do a study through scripture, that very often the Lord has communicated with His people through their dreams.
And now that we've received the Ruach Hakodesh, now that we've received the Holy Spirit through the new covenant in Messiah Yeshua, we should expect to receive communication from our Father to us through our dreams at night. I want to continue today by talking about how do we interpret dreams? I made the point last time that most of the dreams that we have come to us in symbolic language. In other words, even as Jesus spoke in parables, He spoke symbolically; so also many of the dreams that we have are not straight on, direct meanings, but they're symbolic and we have to interpret them. How do we understand the meaning of the dreams?
We think for example, how Joseph had to interpret the dreams of the leader of Egypt by showing the leader there that there was gonna be a big famine in Egypt and then Joseph gave him a strategy. Joseph listened to the dreams, then he was able to interpret the dreams and come up with a concrete strategy. He had to take the symbolism and then from the symbolism he got the mind of the Lord and knew how to proceed. How do you interpret dreams that are coming to you symbolically? You're confident that you just had a dream from God, but you don't know exactly what the dream means and how to interpret it.
Well to begin to focus on how to interpret dreams, I want to just say loud and clear this, that the same one that gave you the dream. Let me say it again. The same one, Hashem, Father God, that gave you the dream, beloved one, will also give you the interpretation as you look to Him prayerfully and consistently for the interpretation. Let me give you an example of this. I'm going to the book of Daniel chapter 2, verse 25 through 28. We know the situation here. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. He didn't know what the meaning was. He knew he had a dream from the Lord, but he was perplexed and he didn't know what the interpretation was. So let's pick up there.
"Then Arioch hurriedly brought Daniel into the king's presence and spoke to him as follows: 'I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can make the interpretation known to the king!' The king said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, 'Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation?' Daniel answered before the king and said, 'As for the mystery about which the king has inquired, neither wise men, conjurers, magicians nor diviners are able to declare it to the king. However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter days. This was your dream and the visions in your mind while on your bed.' And then Daniel interpreted to the king what the dream was all about". And what did Daniel say? "It's not in me to know the interpretation, but God will reveal the mystery to you".
So the first thing I want to say to you, beloved ones, is just that God will give you the interpretation to your dream. When you have a dream, sometimes it's good to talk it over with people; especially a spouse or a very close loved one, someone that has spiritual discernment and believes. It sometimes is helpful to relate to them the dream and as you relate it and as they talk back with you, sometimes the interpretation will come in to clear focus. But ultimately and at the end of the day, the one that's gonna give us the interpretation of the dream is the same one that gave us the dream in symbolic form. I have shared on a previous broadcast that sometimes when I have a dream that's from the Lord, my first understanding of what I think the dream meant isn't correct and it's only through prayer and perseverance in inquiring of the Lord for the interpretation, that the Holy Spirit brings the interpretation in to clarity.
Over the last six weeks, depending on whether you're watching this all at once, or whether the series has been broken up the way it's aired, but there's been six episodes; Over the last six episodes on this subject, hopefully you've become convinced that dreams are real and they're for today. There are some people out there, they think God no longer is working in miracles, God no longer speaks in dreams. I mean come on. God is the same yesterday, today and forever. The same God that spoke to Joseph in a dream spoke to Paul in a dream and that same one is speaking to His children today in dreams. I have talked so often about the fact that sometimes we need information, we need direction, we need counsel about areas in our life that the written Word of God does not speak to.
And I don't want to be redundant, but I'm talking about the Holy Spirit doesn't tell us in the written Word of God what home to buy, who to marry, what school to go to, what job to take, etc. etc. etc. But God's concerned with these things. He's concerned with the details of our lives and sometimes He'll give us direction, beloved ones, through our dreams. I want to encourage you number 1: if you're gonna receive counsel from the Lord for your dreams, if you're gonna be warned by the Lord through your dreams to prevent you from making wrong decisions, as I explained to you in some of the previous broadcasts how I've been saved from making wrong decisions through dreams, if you're gonna be counseled, warned, directed, you're gonna receive revelation through your dreams; The first thing you need to do is believe that God does speak in dreams today and He will speak to you. Not every night, but over the course of your life, if you believe He speaks in dreams, if you're looking to Him to speak to you in your dreams, if you're asking Him to speak to you in your dreams, He will.
How do I know that? Because dreams are not a gift that are meant for a select few. We know that some of the gifts of the Spirit, they're for a select few. For example, the Bible says not everybody has the gift of miracles. Not everybody has the gift of a supernatural, I'm not talking about faith in general, but I'm talking about an extra level of faith that moves mountains. Not everybody is always moving in that level of faith, to one's given the gift of miracles, the other the gift of faith, other a gift of healings. These are specific gifts, for specific people, for specific times and the same gifts are not given to everybody. But when it comes to dreams, dreams are not gifts for select individuals to be used for the body of believers world wide, but dreams are for the purpose of Father and Jesus communicating, beloved one, to you and I individually. Dreams are about the Father communicating to us and He wants to communicate to all His children.
So dreams are for you and you need to believe it. Secondly, when you wake up every morning, the first thing you should do upon waking up, is don't get real busy and start thinking about the day; then you'll lose any dream that you had the night before. Instead, when you wake up in the morning, the first thing to do is, to say, "God did I dream anything last night? Father did You speak to me in my dreams last night? Jesus did You speak to me in my dreams last night"? First you believe that God does speak and is speaking. Secondly, when you wake up in the morning, you get out of bed slowly. You don't rush and run around like a chicken with its head cut off, getting ready to rush out the door to work, or go where ever you're going. You start the day slow. Give yourself time to spend with the Lord. Have a journal ready. God did you speak to me in my dream last night? Don't talk to other people first when you wake up in the morning, other wise you'll lose your dreams. Talk to the Lord first. It's the law of first fruits. Put Him first.
Seek first the kingdom of God and everything else will be added unto you. So you wake up in the morning, the first person you talk to is the Lord. You take your time. Then you have a dream journal and you begin to write whatever you could remember, you begin to write. What you'll find is that as you begin to write any memories of your dreams the night before, as you begin to write, often times more information will come. Now I know some of you are objecting and you're saying, "Well I don't dream". But we all know scientifically speaking, medically speaking, everybody dreams. The difference is that some can recall their dreams easier than others. But here's what I'd like to say to you. The more you practice seeking to recall your dreams, the more you will remember. You may be thinking you don't dream. But the truth is you do dream, you're just having a hard time remembering.
If you'll follow my instructions, I believe even those of you that say you don't dream, you're gonna begin to recall your dreams. Not all of them all at once at first, little bit at a time. But more and more you'll be able to have recall and begin to extract what God said to you in your dreams the night before. And unless you extract it sometimes and write it down, you'll forget it; because I have found that if God speaks in my dream and I don't take time to think about it the next morning and talk to Him about it and write it down, I'll forget about it. And it will have little impact. But if I'm not lazy, if I say, "God I value Your voice. I value Your word to me. I value Your instruction to me. I value You speaking to me. I don't want to take it lightly. I don't want to treat it flippantly. I don't want to just go on with my day. I want to hear what You said and take whatever action is required, whatever response is necessary for You to have my full allegiance and for Your word for me to have its full effect".
I have found that when I take the time to put Him before me and honor His word to me through my dreams, what happens is the dream is transferred, listen, from my short term memory to my long term memory. So when you take time to speak to the Lord about it and then write it down, it goes from your short term memory into your long term memory. And then when you go back and review your dream journal a month from now, or a year from now, or two years from now, all of a sudden you'll say, "Aha I remember that dream. Father I see how You fulfilled it. Father I am again reminding myself of the revelation that's in it. Thank You for speaking to me. I know that was from You". And then the impact of it will become greater and greater in your life as you continue to review the dreams that you wrote down in your dream journal.
Don't be lazy. I know it takes work to get up a little bit earlier for some of you that are on a tight schedule going to work. I know it takes work to get up a little bit earlier to spend time with the Lord. But you know what? Value God. Value your relationship with Him and He is gonna bless you for it, because He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. The Bible says, "Those that are gonna please God, must believe number one, that He is". And I believe that believing that He speaks in dream is really part of the whole package; Must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. Don't be lazy. Make time for God. Put Him first in your life. Wake up early. Write it down. And then pray for revelation, because again, dreams are symbolic. They're not sometimes straight forward. They come in symbolism form. So we need to say, "Lord, Father, Yeshua, Jesus, what does that mean? Spirit of God what does that mean? Help me to understand the truth that Father's imparting to me in this dream".
Oh I could go on and on, so many dreams Hashem, Father God has given me. So much information, so much direction, so much revelation has come to me through my dreams at night, but I've had to pray about the revelation. I've had to pray about the dreams. I'm telling you beloved ones, I can't stress it enough, dreams are life changing. As I said in an earlier broadcast, if you lived to 75 years old and you sleep an average of eight hours a night, that means over 75 years you'll have spent 25 full years sleeping. And out of those 25 years that you spent sleeping, six of those 25 years that you've spent sleeping will be specifically be time where you've been dreaming, that REM state where we're dreaming. If you live 75 years, you'll have spent six years dreaming. And when you go through a dream it changes you and it can change you for the better if you'll harvest the meaning of your dreams.
In fact, even when the dream wasn't directly from God, you can still learn a lot about yourself and about spiritual warfare by paying attention to your dreams. And then review your dream journal from time to time. I've already said that, but it's important not just to write the dream down, but to review your dream journal. I do that at the end of every year. I go through the dream journal. I say, "Father, Jesus what did you say to me this year"? And it's been amazing to me how God has spoken to me and yet with the impact and the weight of some of the things that He's spoken, over months I tend to forget them. So by going back and reviewing, I'm ensured to get greater benefit and have greater transformation, because I've taken the time to review.
You see I came to faith supernaturally in 1978 through a vision of the night. I was awoken from my sleep at 3:30 in the morning. I was 20 years old. Suddenly I was aware that something supernatural was happening. And Jesus appeared to me. He appeared on the cross. It was in color. A ray of red light came through the sky and beamed down on His head. There was people in the distance looking at Him, just as I read about later in the New Testament, that they looked down from the distance. And when I saw that ray of red light come down on Yeshua's head, I knew that God was saying to me, "Jesus is the way to Me". And beloved, that dream, that vision of the night, it changed my life. You see, to disregard your dreams is to disregard God.