Should we take every dream seriously? How can we know for sure that God is speaking to us through a dream or if it is just "junk mail"? These are good questions. First, we need to discover whether the dream is given from the Lord. For this reason, I believe it is wise to not discount any dream initially, nor swing to the other side of the pendulum, assuming that it is from the Lord. This is where the testing of the spirits, checking it against scripture combined with prayerful consideration comes in.
There is one caution: if the dreamer does not know the Word of God well, then it is wise to take the dream to a mature and trusted believer who can help test the spirit behind the dream. This is not to suggest to seek them for interpretation, but to seek the input of their experience and knowledge of the Word. If there is a problem deciding which it is, continue praying about it. If the dream consists of some disaster, such as a car accident or other danger, it is possible that the Lord is directing the dreamer to intercede. Regardless, if it is unclear whether it is from the Lord, intercession could never hurt, and may actually save life and limb.
I have experienced a couple of dreams that I knew were not from the enemy, but was unsure whether they were from the Lord or not, because either they were so bizarre, or were just nothing out of the ordinary. Upon deciding that the dream is from the Lord, the next question is this— what is He communicating? There are times when it is just plain obvious that God is speaking because the dream is so straight forward and needs no interpreting. This has been my, as well as many other's, experience with most of the dreams that have come from the Lord.
What about those dreams which seem to have some type of symbolism? At this point I will mention that there are several Christian books written on the subject and after reading more than one, it is likely that you may find they contradict each other. After reading a few of these books, I have found one in particular that I feel is the most helpful. However, I still go through the steps mentioned earlier in this article. The Lord knows how to communicate to His people.
With these types of dreams, it has been my experience that the Lord uses symbols that mean something to me. Its doubtful that many parents would talk to their toddler on a college level, but would talk to them in way they would understand. A good starting place for symbolic type dreams is to ask yourself what the symbols mean to you. Check the Bible for these symbols to find what it meant to the dreamer. Check out the parables that the Lord spoke. This does not necessarily mean that this applies to your dream, but it can be helpful. I have found that by applying the steps given in this article and with experience over time, these have been the most helpful to me in this awesome way that the Lord speaks to us today.
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