While attending a psychic fair, I came across a woman who had a booth that combined equine therapy with energy work. She showed me her success stories, but what we really started to discuss was an event she had put on called Dream Theatre. It’s where people come to her, tell her about their recurring dreams, and then she has people act out the person's dream. For example, she told me a dream that this gal kept having where animal creatures kept coming around her.
She had a bear give her a hug, a deer came up, and all these woodland creatures.Within this gals' troop, someone would act out the bear, someone the deer, and different people would act out the woodland creatures. When the dream is ready, the person who had the dream will walk through it, interacting with the characters within the dream and interpreting what the dream meant. The gal told me that she does not specifically interpret the dreams; it’s the person who had the dream who interprets it. She also reported that they don’t just do fun dreams; they do nightmares and sometimes traumatic dreams, but those are rare. This made me become really skeptical about this process. Would the person really be able to interpret what their dreams mean by walking through the experience? Or are they just deceiving themselves?
The Truth of the Matter:
Dreams are something that we think about all the time. Some people believe that each dream has a meaning that requires interpretation. Now, the thing is, I think that is half true. Dreams sometimes replay recent thoughts and events, and our brain can create scenarios based on our fears, hopes, or desires[1]. So, the reality that every single dream has some kind of meaning, the chances of that happening are slim to none.
Now, going to the source: the Bible does discuss people having dreams and interpreting them. Joseph is one of the more famous ones in the Bible for interpreting dreams and having dreams that God had given him (you can read his full story in Genesis 37-47). In Genesis 41, Joseph is in Egypt and is brought to the Pharaoh by the cupbearer, due to him interpreting the cupbearer’s dream while they were in prison together. Genesis 41:15-16 states, “And Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”
Joseph stated that he alone didn’t interpret the dreams; it was God who interpreted the dreams. Now God does speak through dreams, Joel 2:28 states, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.” But this is if God chooses to give a dream because not all dreams are from him.
If there is belief that God has given a dream, then the appropriate action would be to confirm if it was from God or not. 1 John 4:1 states, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” Now, how do we apply this and test the spirits? We pray and ask God to confirm that the dream was from Him and to reveal what we should do about it.
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[1] GotQuestions.org. “Home.” GotQuestions.org, March 16, 2010. https://www.gotquestions.org/lucid-dreaming.html.