Nightmares: Distressing or Directional?

Charity Kayembe's picture

“Indeed God speaks once, or twice, yet no one notices it. In a dream, a vision of the night, when sound sleep falls on men while they slumber in their beds, then He opens the ears of men and seals their instruction, that He may turn man aside from his conduct, and keep man from pride; He keeps back his soul from the pit and his life from passing over into Sheol.… Behold, God does all these oftentimes with men, to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of life” (Job 33:14-18; 29-30).

At times God has repeatedly warned me that something is dangerous, but I’ve been a little rebellious and didn’t believe Him. I think, I’ve got this. I decide that maybe I can actually play with fire and not get burned. So even though God keeps telling me, “Hey, don’t spend too much time getting involved with this person. This path leads where you don’t want to go!” somehow in my pride and selfishness I think I know better and that I might be able to handle it just this one time.

In addition to many spoken warnings during the day, God also gives me picture warnings at night through my dreams. Dreams are much harder for me to ignore, escape, or deny—especially intense dreams, like nightmares. Can God speak through them? Sure He can. God will give me the same message: “Hey, danger. Watch out.” But the difference is, I’m living it. I am not just hearing Him say, “Going any farther down this road will lead to trouble and pain.” Instead, I’m dreaming it. I am actually going down that road—or in my case, it was a river.

Whitewater Terror

In my dream, I’m being carried quickly down a violent river. I was not in a raft; I was all by myself, and I was being tossed about the whitewater from rapid to rapid. I was totally out of control and could do nothing about it. It was scary and dangerous, and I was terrified. My heart was pounding; my hands were shaking, and I knew it was going to end very badly.

I wake up. God says, “See, told you.” I’m clearly distraught, and He calmly explains, “Well, if you would have listened to Me the first ten times I told you in waking life, I wouldn’t have had to scream it in your heart at night.” Point taken.

Dreams are pictures that we live. We feel them. We can’t tell the difference between something we are dreaming and something that happens in waking life. That is why we sometimes wake up with sweaty palms and racing hearts. For all our bodies know, we really did just live that experience.

Not only are our physical bodies influenced by dreams; our emotions are also fully engaged. God can even fast-forward and let us experience during our night visions the future consequences of the path we’re considering taking. He does this as a blessing for us, to help make the message palpable so that we don’t miss it and disobey. He wants us to get on His best path and stay on it, following His perfect plans.

Pictures evoke emotion, and emotion moves us to action. Experiencing emotion is an extraordinary benefit of dreams, and we should always be mindful of the feelings we have in them. Dreams exaggerate to get our attention. They will also reoccur if we ignore their messages to us.

Face the Fear

Another reason we may experience nightmares is because they are the cry of an unhealed heart asking us to apply the prayer ministries of inner healing and deliverance to the areas of need within us.

The next example illustrates this and comes from one of our Christian Leadership University students who took the online course, “Wisdom Through Dream Interpretation.” Karyn Pearson shares a disturbing night vision along with the powerful message God gave her through it.

PRE-MINISTRY DREAM: “I had a frightening reoccurring dream for over thirty years. The dream was always about me running and hiding from a man. Sometimes it would be someone else who was running and trying to hide; however, by the time I woke up, the person running would have morphed into me.”

SETTING: “The dream changed for me after receiving prayer in waking life during a revival meeting at my church. The Lord ministered to me powerfully, and upon leaving the church, I knew I had been delivered from a spirit but didn’t know which one—until my dream that night.”

POST-MINISTRY DREAM: “It started out the same way with someone chasing me; however, this time I turned around to face him and pointed to him, saying, ‘No! I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.’ I have not had that dream since!”

ACTION: “Running”

EMOTION: “Intense fear”

INTERPRETATION: “The dream was revealing the scream of my heart. I grew up in an alcoholic home with lots of fighting and violence. My father would physically beat my mother while he screamed at her. The Lord showed me that when the beatings would start, I would run for cover to get away from him. This traumatic time opened a door in my life to the spirit of fear, which was often played out in this nightmare. However, after the Lord delivered me from fear the dreams completely stopped!”

Job Was Right

Praise God for His revelation through our dreams – even the “bad” ones. We want to remember that just because a dream is frightening doesn’t mean it’s not from God. When the Lord established His covenant with Abram, the Bible says that as deep sleep came upon the patriarch, “terror and great darkness fell upon him” as well (Gen. 15:12). Likewise, when Jacob awoke from his dream of the heavenly ladder, he, too, was afraid (see Gen. 28:17). Obviously those dream encounters, scary as they may have been, were most certainly from God.

Job was right: While we are asleep in our beds God opens our ears and instructs us through our dreams at night to turn us back from the pit of destruction and to enlighten us with the light of life.  
 

Want to learn more?

For more on how God can speak to us even through nightmares check out our dream book, Chapter 10 on The Blessing of Nightmares & Other Surprising Revelations, as well as the corresponding video teaching sessionWhy All Bad Dreams Aren’t.

Related Resources: 

Dream Your Way to Wisdom   

Related Blogs: 

Christian Dream Interpretation   
Add new comment

Add new comment

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Results

Results 91 - 100 of 488

Pages

How to Walk by the Spirit Complete Discounted Package

How to Walk by the Spirit Complete Discounted Package

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 1 Workbook | 6 DVDs | 6 CDs | Total Value $133.85

Are you like many western Christians who have been taught little about how to sense their spirits? Do you have trouble even defining what spirit sensations feel like within you, much less recognizing them? This training was birthed from Mark’s passion to live out of his spirit, and thus release the anointing of God. The problem he faced was lack of clear biblical definition as to what his spirit felt like. So Mark looked up every verse in the Bible on heart and spirit.

Includes Revised & Expanded 15th Anniversary Edition CDs & DVDs

Price: $124.95
Naturally Supernatural Complete Discounted Package

Naturally Supernatural Complete Discounted Package

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 2 Books | 6 CDs | 4 DVD | Save 15%

Now with Revised & Expanded 30th Anniversary Edition CDs and DVDs!

A step-by-step guide on “abiding in Christ” or how to let go and let God live naturally and powerfully out through you. Disarmingly simple. Mind-blowingly powerful.

Price: $122.95
Overcomer's Complete Discounted Package

Overcomer's Complete Discounted Package

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 5 books | 3 CD sets | 3 DVD sets | Save $37!

So you just encountered the Holy Spirit in a whole new way, and now you want to deepen your spiritual sensitivity and release of His power? How do you go about doing that? First of all, you want to clearly and biblically define living by the Spirit. Secondly, you want to press into intimacy with the Holy Spirit with understanding and persistence.

Price: $160.00
Overflow of the Spirit Complete Package

Overflow of the Spirit Complete Discounted Package

12 Sessions CDs & DVDs | Book 284 pgs | Workbook 50 pgs | Teacher's Guide | by Mark Virkler and Charity Kayembe

Mark and Charity have teamed up again to create a training series on how to easily manifest the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit. It took us several years to break through all the confusion and present a clear, simple understanding of how to release the nine-fold manifestation of the Holy Spirit everywhere you go and with everyone you touch. It is not hard! It can’t be since these are gifts of the Holy Spirit, not things you have to work for.

Price: $109.95
Overflow of the Spirit - USB Flash Drive

Overflow of the Spirit USB Flash Drive

Save over $150 on a HOST of resources by Mark Virkler and Charity Kayembe

Mark and Charity have teamed up again to create a training series on how to easily manifest the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit. It took us several years to break through all the confusion and present a clear, simple understanding of how to release the nine-fold manifestation of the Holy Spirit everywhere you go and with everyone you touch. It is not hard! It can’t be since these are gifts of the Holy Spirit, not things you have to work for.

Price: $89.00

Prayers That Heal the Heart Master Package USB Flash Drive - Revised & Expanded 20th Anniversary Edition

2 PDF eBooks | 15 MP3s | 15 Videos | 181 PowerPoint Slides | More...

Prayer counseling that breaks every yoke! Everything you need to experience deep healing of your soul and spirit.

Did you know that you don’t need to be continually plagued by negative thoughts, feelings, pictures or memories?

It is not part of the "human condition" to feel the constant nagging of doubt, insecurity, or anger. No matter what sin you are trying to overcome, what lie you think you’ll always believe, or what traumas your heart has suffered in the past, you will receive total freedom and restoration by praying these prayers in faith. 

Price: $89.00
Secrets of World-Class Teachers Package

Secrets of World-Class Teachers Package

6 Books, 2 CDs, 2 DVDs all at a 15% Discount

Spirit-Anointed Teaching Materials designed to strengthen ALL teachers including parents, Sunday school teachers, cell group leaders, pastors and educators in every field! These materials will give you the tools to become a Spirit-anointed trainer!

“They were amazed at His teaching; He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” (Mark 1:22)

Price: $69.95

Spirit Born Creativity Package

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 1 book | 1 CD | 1 DVD

God made man creative, and, in addition, He has given man the ability to draw upon the eternal creativity of God. Locked within you lies a divine reservoir of creative energy that can transform your life.

God spoke to Marc Huddleston in his two-way journaling, "The quietness of a man's mind in My Presence is the birth place of the release of My limitless creativity."

Price: $24.95

Take Charge of Your Health Complete Discounted Package

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 1 book | 12 Video Sessions | 12 Audio Sessions | Save 15%

Discover how you can take charge of your own health — keeping yourself young, energetic, attractive, and free of degenerative diseases! Discover the biblical injunctions on diet and health, and the amazing correlations between them and modern scientific research. Updated in 2015 with 20 years of fresh insights since recording the previous "Go Natural" series!

Price: $99.95

Through the Bible 1: Pentateuch Complete Discounted Package

3 CDs and 2 DVDs by Dr. Andrew Hardy | 1 Book by Mark and Patti Virkler | Save almost 15%

Dr. Andrew Hardy takes you from Genesis through Deuteronomy in 10 sessions. This is part one of our Through the Bible series, which gives you an overview of the entire Bible. It contains CDs and DVDs of Pentateuch as well as Through the Bible workbook

Price: $60.00

Pages