Understanding Your Dreams: Tuning In

“My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings” (Prov. 4:20, ESV).

… And we’re back! Can you tell that this is one of my favorite subjects? I get so excited, talking about the ways the Father loves to communicate with us as we sleep! Here are some more helpful hints as you explore His night parables, personalized just for you. (For the beginning of this list, check out Part 1 of this series here).

14) Consider making a voice recording of your dream. This strategy comes in handy on the days when you don’t have time to write your dream down immediately. Speaking your dream into your phone as a voice memo is a faster way of making a record of it. Then you can transcribe it into your journal on a later date when you are less pressed for time.

This is an effective way to ensure you don’t lose any of the precious value of the dream. If you wait until later to document it, you may remember the basic gist of the dream. However, some of the details probably will have faded away… and every detail is packed with meaning, when it comes to God. You don’t want to miss any of them!

15) Capture your first impressions of your dream. Even upon waking, there may be parts of it that are hazier in your memory. Go ahead and write down the first thing that comes to your mind about those indistinct memories. Don’t second guess that first impression. As you practice this, God is training you to follow His soft voice. You know what those less-than-clear parts of the dream are? His whispers to you. Lean in as well as you can to your memory of them, and write down a description to the best of your ability.

One of the lessons I learned in parenting, interestingly enough, applies to dream interpretation. It’s this: whispering can be an effective way to catch my children’s attention. They get quiet and move their ear closer to catch what I am saying. This can end up being much more emphatic than raising my voice. Holy Spirit does the same thing with us. How it delights His soul when we quiet ourselves to listen extra closely! Can you feel His heart here? “Listen… to what I say. Listen carefully. Keep these thoughts ever in mind; let them penetrate deep within your heart…” (Prov. 4:20-21, TLB).

Recognizing and responding to His softest whispers reflects spiritual maturity. As a mom, I experience great joy when my children listen well. In contrast, I really don’t enjoy having to raise my voice to get their attention. In the same way, Daddy God’s heart is delighted when He can speak softly to us and immediately have our attention. He would much rather communicate this way, than have to do something dramatic to get our attention.

I love how The Message renders the above verse: “Dear friend, listen well to my words; tune your ears to my voice.” Tuning our ears to His voice. Isn’t that perfect? Just like you tune the dial of a radio carefully until you are precisely receiving the signal being sent out… this is what Holy Spirit is training us to do with His voice and His pictures.

What we have here is a general principle about hearing from God, that also pertains to the area of dream interpretation. You will be surprised at what He will show you through even the fuzzier parts of your dreams. I will add, don’t worry about pieces of your dream that you can’t remember at all. Don’t strain at the effort of remembering, either. In a posture of inner rest, simply record what you do remember, thoughtfully and thoroughly. Tune your spirit’s dial to His voice, and peacefully transcribe the message He is transmitting to you.

16) Underline key words and phrases. Once you have written down your dream, this is a wonderful way to begin digesting the meaning. Read back through everything you wrote, slowly and carefully. “Incline your ear” to Holy Spirit, practicing awareness of His closeness as you do so (Prov. 4:20). Enjoying the fellowship of His intimate presence, notice what sticks out to you as you read. In each section of the dream, underline words that encapsulate the main point of your sentences.

Here is an example excerpt from one of my dream journals: “I was with David leaving a store. I saw others checking out with tremendously discounted items.” As you can see, I underlined what I recognized as the central idea in each sentence, in as few words as possible. Once you have done this exercise with the entirety of the dream, it’s much easier to skim back over the whole text. The underlined concept words jump out, helping to point to a cohesive bigger picture.

Yep, you guessed it. Our series continues tomorrow! Stay tuned 😊.

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Has God communicated to you via subtle, indistinct pictures in your dreams? Have you ever wished (as I have) that He would speak louder?