If this is in the wrong place, please forgive & correct me)
Perhaps it's because I'm new here, but I really would like it if people were encouraged to list WHY they thought the dream was prophetic or a warning/msg from GOD before detailing it.
I suspect many of the dreams are just dreams and learning to discern which dreams have significance and a divine message and which are just dreams would be a giant step for many if not most of us.
Yes, I'll admit that there are times when it's not clear. We may have asked God for an answer during prayer, then had a dream and we want to know if that was our answer. Perhaps it is just *me* who needs to learn more about how to discern the origin of a dream. I'd replied to a thread stating some things that led me to believe the dream was from the Lord:
1)VIVID.INTENSE - in color, in detail or in my reaction/emotion(Sometimes I find it hard to know the difference between the dream and real life when I first awaken, it's that vivid.)
2) Sometimes we'll actually hear scripture spoken during a dream or wake up singing/praising or calling out to God
3) Feeling a need to pray and ask God to reveal the meaning (before listening to other people's views)
4) Waking suddenly with a sense of "urgency" to pray about the incident or persons in the dream.
5) God will often reveal symbols/meaning in bits and pieces over weeks or even months thus the message of the dream becomes more and more tuned for my ears.
I'd love o know what others use as their criteria
Has this already been addressed somewhere & I just don't know where to look?
Last, I love the sections in the index on the OLIVE TREE and COMMUNION. Both help to ground us and bring us closer to seeing things from the Lord's perspective which is our ultimate goal.
PS. Might also be good to have some WARNINGS like the one that was recently posted about how dreams can be just dreams, from satan or from GOD. EXCELLENT thread.
Perhaps these are addressed, but a section about:
1) How to differentiate dreams
2) Encourage people to pray and ask Holy Spirit for revelation BEFORE posting, so they can be receptive to the answers that apply
3) Praying Spiritual Warrior Prayers to protect our dreams BEFORE retiring for the night.
Surely there are more...these are just a suggestion/start.
I just feel it can be dangerous & actually affect ego negatively if we assume every dream is from God. We can become prideful OR feel that others have more/better/etc dreams thus we are not as important to the Lord. (He uses us all in unique ways). Divine dreams are both gifts and responsibilities (in my opinion) and must be treated with respect.
And now a confession. (Maybe we need a section on that?)
I can often see patterns in other people's dreams, but it's more
from a psychological viewpoint. For others who are similar, I believe it important to either ask questions like, "do you think this might mean..." OR to say that "It seems to me, or in my opinion,etc). If we feel the Holy Spirit is insipiring our answer, then mention that. Or if it brings scripture to mind, mention that.
I guess I just don't wish to treat this gift of the Holy Spirit without the reverence and awe due Him-I want to be careful to not give the impression that my *thoughts* as His unless I have confirmation from Him.
Am I making *any* sense or have I lost those of you reading this?
Suggestion -
Hi Starfire,
You're right on track.
We get the reminders every now and then (been on this board for over ten years now), but lots of people are new, so the reminder is great.
And sometimes people just want to post ALL of their dreams and hope someone else will interpret them. This can be good and bad...
I like someone else's viewpoint, in case I've missed something. But everyone posts for different reasons.
You'll notice that some dreams just don't get responses. That can be (not the only reason) because God is not giving anyone else an interpretation for a good reason.
And when I post a reply, I do as you also suggested ... I'll say straight out ... "I believe God is showing me this" or "I believe this is a psyche dream" or "This is not an interp, but just sharing what I see". I think this is a VERY IMPORTANT part of interpreting because (1) it shows humility ... because we DON'T have all the answers, even if we like to think we do and (2) it gives the receiver a context and (3) and most importantly, it gives the dreamer the opportunity to accept or reject an interpretation.
You're right on track.
We get the reminders every now and then (been on this board for over ten years now), but lots of people are new, so the reminder is great.
And sometimes people just want to post ALL of their dreams and hope someone else will interpret them. This can be good and bad...
I like someone else's viewpoint, in case I've missed something. But everyone posts for different reasons.
You'll notice that some dreams just don't get responses. That can be (not the only reason) because God is not giving anyone else an interpretation for a good reason.
And when I post a reply, I do as you also suggested ... I'll say straight out ... "I believe God is showing me this" or "I believe this is a psyche dream" or "This is not an interp, but just sharing what I see". I think this is a VERY IMPORTANT part of interpreting because (1) it shows humility ... because we DON'T have all the answers, even if we like to think we do and (2) it gives the receiver a context and (3) and most importantly, it gives the dreamer the opportunity to accept or reject an interpretation.
- discerning
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Hello starfire and thanks for sharing. Many, if not most of your suggestions are addressed in the guidelines. Plus a number of more specific teachings are posted throughout the board as noted by bella. Lots of treasure here if one takes time to go digging.
Long past my bedtime now but I'm making a [sleepy] mental note to bump a few key teachings up for you as soon as I get a chance. In the meantime, if you're looking for something in particular, the search function is a wonderful thing.
blessings on you,
Long past my bedtime now but I'm making a [sleepy] mental note to bump a few key teachings up for you as soon as I get a chance. In the meantime, if you're looking for something in particular, the search function is a wonderful thing.
blessings on you,
discerning
I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning...
Ezekiel 3:17![Image](http://www.americanponders.com/forum/Smileys/smilies_smf/fish.gif)
I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning...
Ezekiel 3:17
![Image](http://www.americanponders.com/forum/Smileys/smilies_smf/fish.gif)
- ElijahsTask
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Thank you for the suggestions.
We have needed more permanent teachings to go along with our discussion topics for quite a while now. Usually we just post as the questions and needs arise which actually gets quite repetitive over the years and the posts get lost over the years and then the threads make the rounds again. I have been secretly working on a new outer website shell for a month now and I am looking at incorporating some of these more often used teaching topics into the website for teaching purposes. It just seems that there are so many different resources and teachings on this area out on the internet that I was trying not to duplicate efforts by others Example site I found today with great info on it. http://www.squidoo.com/understanddream Although I must publicly say that many of the better sites that I find today are going away from free information and going to a for profit basis which I do not agree with at all. ( ref Matthew 10:8-10 ).
The next topic I want to discuss is the one about discernment of dreams... As was discussed earlier this week, dreams come from one of three sources 1) soul 2) God 3) enemy. We seek to only interpret the dreams that the dreamer know come from God. However, this does not always work so well in an Internet environment.
For example, when I am in church and somebody comes in to see the dream team for ministry it is because they have had a dream that is puzzling them and they want more clarification on it and they want to know what message God could have for them through the dream. i.e. they already know the dream is from the Lord. They do not bring every single daily dream they have every night, they only bring the most impressionable and the biggest and the best forward that they feel was from the Lord. Most often It is not up to us as ministers in this church type setting to say that was a pizza dream or a flesh dream... they are most often God dreams that need interpretation.
This is totally reversed in an Internet ministry such as this one. We do not know the person presenting the dream at all, we do not know if this is a daily dream or a pizza dream or a dream that they feel is special or what... so as well as them using their own judgment on what to post, we also have to have discernment to know from the Lord how to answer a dream post. Some people use the board to keep a record of all of their dreams, some only the dreams they feel are from the Lord (my personal goal), and some only post once or twice or post questions. That is all part of this ministry. Should there be some additional teachings or guidelines in this area? Yes, most definitely, and I will take this suggestion more seriously as it has been on my heart for a few years now to do so.
The last topic I want to cover is the usage of the Holy Spirit. All Godly dream interpretation comes from the Holy Spirit. Some of us are better at saying that than others and some not so much so they type and express it in statements as feelings. I must also say here that we have a long standing policy of NO ABSOLUTES in our dream interpretations here on the board. The reason for this rule is in the past when the board was young we would sometimes get these strong personality prophetic types that want to post thus saith the Lord... your dream means this period and they would get highly offended if another person posted a different interpretation or especially if another person posted a contradictory dream interpretation. What they would forget is that as well as the Holy Spirit working through the person giving the interpretation of the dream, there needs to be room for the Holy Spirit to work through the dreamer who posted the dream as the original dream was to them and it needs to be God speaking to them in the interpretation. Hope this makes sense as well.
in Christ,
We have needed more permanent teachings to go along with our discussion topics for quite a while now. Usually we just post as the questions and needs arise which actually gets quite repetitive over the years and the posts get lost over the years and then the threads make the rounds again. I have been secretly working on a new outer website shell for a month now and I am looking at incorporating some of these more often used teaching topics into the website for teaching purposes. It just seems that there are so many different resources and teachings on this area out on the internet that I was trying not to duplicate efforts by others Example site I found today with great info on it. http://www.squidoo.com/understanddream Although I must publicly say that many of the better sites that I find today are going away from free information and going to a for profit basis which I do not agree with at all. ( ref Matthew 10:8-10 ).
The next topic I want to discuss is the one about discernment of dreams... As was discussed earlier this week, dreams come from one of three sources 1) soul 2) God 3) enemy. We seek to only interpret the dreams that the dreamer know come from God. However, this does not always work so well in an Internet environment.
For example, when I am in church and somebody comes in to see the dream team for ministry it is because they have had a dream that is puzzling them and they want more clarification on it and they want to know what message God could have for them through the dream. i.e. they already know the dream is from the Lord. They do not bring every single daily dream they have every night, they only bring the most impressionable and the biggest and the best forward that they feel was from the Lord. Most often It is not up to us as ministers in this church type setting to say that was a pizza dream or a flesh dream... they are most often God dreams that need interpretation.
This is totally reversed in an Internet ministry such as this one. We do not know the person presenting the dream at all, we do not know if this is a daily dream or a pizza dream or a dream that they feel is special or what... so as well as them using their own judgment on what to post, we also have to have discernment to know from the Lord how to answer a dream post. Some people use the board to keep a record of all of their dreams, some only the dreams they feel are from the Lord (my personal goal), and some only post once or twice or post questions. That is all part of this ministry. Should there be some additional teachings or guidelines in this area? Yes, most definitely, and I will take this suggestion more seriously as it has been on my heart for a few years now to do so.
The last topic I want to cover is the usage of the Holy Spirit. All Godly dream interpretation comes from the Holy Spirit. Some of us are better at saying that than others and some not so much so they type and express it in statements as feelings. I must also say here that we have a long standing policy of NO ABSOLUTES in our dream interpretations here on the board. The reason for this rule is in the past when the board was young we would sometimes get these strong personality prophetic types that want to post thus saith the Lord... your dream means this period and they would get highly offended if another person posted a different interpretation or especially if another person posted a contradictory dream interpretation. What they would forget is that as well as the Holy Spirit working through the person giving the interpretation of the dream, there needs to be room for the Holy Spirit to work through the dreamer who posted the dream as the original dream was to them and it needs to be God speaking to them in the interpretation. Hope this makes sense as well.
in Christ,
- ElijahsTask
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- ElijahsTask
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discerning, thanks for bringing up the fact that this info in the "guidelines" is available.
It can be accessed, should be accessed and needs to be accessed.
![Like :like:](./images/smilies/icon_like_btn.gif)
It can be accessed, should be accessed and needs to be accessed.
![Like :like:](./images/smilies/icon_like_btn.gif)
Joel 2:1 Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on My holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming. It is close at hand--
You'll notice that some dreams just don't get responses. That can be (not the only reason) because God is not giving anyone else an interpretation for a good reason.
Thought I should clarify this comment... sometimes God does not give another person an interpretation because he means for the dream to be sorted out between himself and the dreamer only.
Also, I know for myself, I've posted dreams, not being sure if God was trying to show me something, and there's been a sense of darkness over the dream. When no-one posts a reply, it's been a confirmation to me that the dream just needs to be tossed and not thought about any further.
And this comment is to all, not Starfire in particular: we all have very different personalities, and different beliefs about what is right and acceptable etc, and we all approach things from varying perspectives. One person's idea of what is right can simply be their own personality, and not right at all. And things can come across differently in writing compared with the same subject which can be discussed face to face with people, and then body language seen to complete a conversation. So it's good to give people the benefit of the doubt and go with listening to God on a matter. So easy to jump to judgements about things when really we just need to extend grace to others. For example, I've learnt to be very direct in my writing because of my profession and because God spent many years teaching me about people and their quirks and communication preferences. I have been judged as being harsh and to the point, when in fact, I'm very soft and caring towards people. But because I try to be pointed and clear in my writing, am judged as harsh and critical. This is one reason why I see it as important to be extending grace to others... you just don't know if a person is a bruised reed or not. And God says "a bruised reed He will not break". Don't be quick to judge.
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