Understanding Your Dreams: Light Bulbs and Puzzle Pieces

Old Treasures on Tuesdays 👑

“The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the foot, ‘I don’t need you!’” (1 Cor. 12:21, NCV).

Now you’re ready! Having done all the groundwork, you come to the glorious finale, where Holy Spirit downloads to you the meaning of your dream. Here’s what that final process looks like… (Find the beginning of this study here.)

29) Add any additional relevant notes into your dream journal. As you prayerfully process your dream symbols with Holy Spirit, He often will begin to expand on the meaning of each one. New light bulbs will turn on. As you get impressions from Him, jot them down in the space following your list of symbols. This is also the place to add notes from any research that you did.

30) Prayerfully write up a brief summary of your interpretation. Once you have identified the most impactful imagery from your dream… compiled your list of symbols… sought the Lord about the meaning of each… and done whatever research He has nudged you to do… you are ready for this step.

Leaning into Holy Spirit, thoughtfully read over your dream once again. Do the same with your list of symbols and additional notes. What is God saying to you? Listen. Then do your best to write a one or two sentence summary of His main point. Add this synopsis to the very end of your journal entry.

31) When in doubt, consult other spiritually mature people. God has created us, His body, to need each other. He delights in setting up interdependence amongst us. Frequently, He will give other people in your life missing pieces to your puzzle. As you bring together different insights from different sources, the whole picture will come together in a powerful way.

Do you have other spiritually-minded individuals in your life? Ask the Father if He might have you share the dream with them. In this too, be Spirit-led. These messages from Him are your treasures, and they should only be shared wisely. Shared with someone not chosen by God for this purpose could run the risk of having your pearls “trampled on” (Matt. 7:6).

32) Revisit your dream at a later date. Go back over to see if Holy Spirit provides additional insight.  Again, the timing of this should be led by Him. He’ll bring it to mind when He means for you to do so. When He brings you back to the dream, He often will shed light on some of the smaller details featured in the plot. Since you already have the main point, the “outline,” He may flesh out some of the specifics more fully for you. It’s like you got the overview of the forest, and now you can zero in on the bark found on individual trees.

On your first go-round with processing and interpreting your dream, He often may leave some details unexplained. For that matter, He may leave most or all of them unexplained. Do not feel pressure to figure out the dream immediately, or completely. One of the most important keys to receiving revelation from Holy Spirit is remaining in an inner posture of rest. Snuggle in. Trust. He will show you what you need to know at just the right time.

Daddy loves to maintain the element of mystery in our lives. There will always be things we don’t fully comprehend. He sets it up this way, to keep us in a position of complete dependence on Him. Why? For our own freedom. How liberating it is to not have to know or understand everything, to relinquish that role to Him! How glorious it is to let Him be the One who has it all figured out; to cuddle deeper into His bosom, and to trust!

That said, as time goes by, He will often give you more and more puzzle pieces, each time you revisit your dream. I frequently add notes into the margins of my dream journals… days, weeks, months, and years after initially processing them. This is our promise, beloved:

“Those who have understanding will be given more, and they will have all they need” (Matt. 13:12, NCV).

Before we pull this series to a close, I’ll be adding a couple of posts with pointers for enhancing your memory of dreams, and about spiritual warfare during the night. Come visit me again next Tuesday for these!

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Have you had the experience of God gradually explaining something to you, giving you one puzzle piece at a time?