What Every Dream Means

What Every Dream Means

by

Scott M. Shafer

Smashwords Edition Copyright ©2010 by Scott M. Shafer

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version Cover Photography

Cover Design by Ty Walsworth www.TyWalsworth.com

978-1-58909-463-5

Published by Bookstand Publishing Gilroy, CA 95020 Record 2116_8

Original © Copyright 2009 by Scott M Shafer

Published in the United States of America

Love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised Him from the dead, and set Him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.

—Ephesians 1:15b-23

Acknowledgements

This book is a first for me and hopefully something that will help aid in the process of changing the current paradigm among leaders in the body of Christ about dreams and night visions and their relevance today. It is not intended to be an exhaustive study of dreams but rather offers practical insight and idea’s to help those interested in the topic. My hope is simply to plant seeds and to impart the Spirit of God, who is the ultimate source of a greater depth of understanding of dreams, night visions and their meaning for our lives. I want to first thank those who have prayed and encouraged me in this process of writing. Though others don’t see your labors, I am grateful and extend my gratitude for you and your service to God. I want to thank Denice Johnson for your work on the final stages of the manuscript. Finally, I want to thank and honor above all, the one true source of all light and understanding, Jesus Christ.

Table of Contents

Introduction Worldviews and Paradigms

Chapter 1 Dream Recall: Remembering Your Dreams

Chapter 2 Creative Journaling: Writing Your Dreams

Chapter 3 The Source of Dreams and Night Visions

Chapter 4 The Language of the Spirit

Chapter 5 Models of Dream Interpretation

Chapter 6 Meditation: A T ool For Understanding Dreams

Chapter 7 The Dream That Changed History

Chapter 8 Lucid Dreaming and Christianity

Chapter 9 The Application of Dreams

Chapter 10 Reaching Pre-Christians Through Dreams

Chapter 11 Dreams: A Doorway to the Supernatural

Index Dreams and Night Visions In Scripture

Introduction

Worldviews & Paradigms

Paradigms are powerful. They create a lens through which we view various aspects of the spiritual life. As you read this book, my hope and prayer is that you would experience a divinely given paradigm of dreams, night visions, how they are interpreted and their relevance today. In this process of change in our thinking, it is important first to understand what paradigm we have previously had and the influences that may have shaped this old paradigm, before we begin to move toward a new paradigm. Let’s first explore the meaning of this word paradigm and look at where it originated.

The word paradigm, dating from the 15th Century, came from Latin and Greek root words and was originally used as a scientific term. It was used to describe a philosophical or theoretical framework of a scientific school or discipline within which theories, laws, and generalizations and the experiments performed in support of them are formulated. Today it is more commonly used to mean a model or a pattern or an outstandingly clear or typical archetype. A paradigm then proceeds or originates from one’s theories, and assumptions, or pertaining to ones perception, or frame of reference regarding a particular matter: not in terms of visual seeing but rather in terms of how we perceive, understand and interpret them.

In order to move toward a new paradigm with regards to dreams and night visions, this transition may require that we break with tradition or traditional mindsets and break with old ways of thinking based on prior knowledge (or lack thereof). It is to have a radically new view of the work of the Spirit and its application to our lives and in our understanding of the kingdom of God.

One major problem today is the sheer lack of practical, biblically based material written on dreams, night visions, and dream interpretation. There is very little instruction available that is written from a clear perspective of hearing God’s voice, in order to feed this generation’s spiritual hunger for understanding the ways of God and the things of the Spirit, including dreams and night visions.

Contemporary Thought

Most modern Christian authors avoid the subject of dream interpretation altogether. Unfortunately, others approach the topic from an unbiblical mixture of beliefs and perspectives that elicits a secular or humanistic mindset. Some writers today blend their formal psychological training which in essence is rooted in a Freudian and Jungian methodology and theory of dream interpretation with isolated biblical texts to support their opinion and viewpoints. At best this blend creates a complex yet diluted form of dream interpretation that is not grounded in scripture or in the concept of an intimate relationship with the living God. These interpretive theories fall short or miss the mark of those practiced by the true biblical dream interpreters of old, such as Daniel and Joseph the Patriarch.

These authors’ purposes are very different from what the scriptures declare about God’s purposes for dreams and night visions. Their primary intent is to understand the so-called subconscious mind or hidden aspects of one’s personality. Though I appreciate the attempt to heal and understand various aspects of humanity, their diluted expression is severely limited and doesn’t even compare or come close to the original or root intention of why God uses dreams to speak to people in scripture. In fact, for many, this change of focus has twisted, and quite possibly even obscured the whole concept of the gift and process of interpreting dreams from a godly perspective. Call me a purist if you will, but I want the real thing as I’m sure you do.

I believe the gift or anointing for interpreting dreams is quite rare in its mature form today in the church. The lack of instruction needed to achieve maturity is missing and this contributes to its lack of credibility overall. Thankfully, paradigms are slowly beginning to change as we’re seeing a resurgence of interest and further study on dreams by prophets and teachers, and even apostolic figures across the body of Christ in some circles.

Counting the Cost

For some time now, God has created within me a passion to help people gain an understanding of how significant dreams and night visions really are for all who receive them. It has come at a price; including years of misunderstanding and ridicule, sometimes even from those closest to me. Some of these struggles have come to develop my character, but yet others are due to the prophetic nature of dreams and visions. For example, consider the Patriarch Joseph and years of suffering and separation from his family.

It is my desire to see others become ignited with this same passion to understand and appreciate deeply this multi-faceted dimension of God’s grace and His unfolding redemptive purpose in the earth during the last days. But we must understand that like many things of God, this passion is not without cost. It is my conviction that God is deeply interested in our sanctification and character development in order to get us to a point where we are trustworthy in His eyes. With all the gifts of the Holy Spirit we must be motivated by love (1 Corinthians 13). This love sets us free from the contamination of the most corrosive and damaging element of life; the corruption of pride in our hearts and minds. The apostle Peter stated it this way ,

And all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

—1Peter 5:5

Counterfeits

Like so many other gifts of the Spirit, Satan has tried to counterfeit dream interpretation. In doing so he has successfully surrounded the realm of dreams with doubt and confusion. The enemy is well aware of the seven spirits of God, or these seven burning lamps before the throne of God (Isaiah 11:2; Revelation 4:5), including the Spirit of knowledge and understanding. Therefore, the deceiver has sought to discredit, devalue, and distort the power and validity of this ‘Spirit’ of understanding (Isaiah 11:2) and its operation within the realm of Christ-centered dream interpretation. Satan has tried to veil this gift throughout history especially in periods of intellectualism, including today’s postmodern philosophical quagmire. We need to see clearly the perversion and deception that is in some contemporary interpreters in this field today, who are unfortunately quite prolific. I can’t warn or express strongly enough just how devaluing their approach to dream interpretation is for the Christian.

My goal prayerfully is to help recover and restore what I believe is a part of the destiny of the people of Godin these last days. I do not presume to be the only one called to do this. But I intend to be a voice in the overall process of restoration. I want to explore all that the Lord has done for us as His people. Dream interpretation is part of our inheritance as the people of God. We must take hold of it and I would be the first to admit that we must express it in its fully mature form, recovering this ancient practice that has been long lost and forgotten. We must respectfully insist upon it before God. With resolve we must insist on having dream interpretation in the midst of our gatherings, cultivating it in our own personal lifestyle and as well utilizing it in our evangelistic efforts. We do this by creating an environment for it. We must continue growing in it (yes, there is a growth process involved) and taking it back from Satan by sanctifying it for God’s glory and redemptive purposes for the last day’s church.

As I previously alluded to, we must be creative in using dream interpretation to win the lost and minister to pre–Christians in every place of influence we find ourselves, from friends and family to government and business relationships and so on. This is why it is vital to change the current paradigm to one that is truly biblical and illuminated by the Holy Spirit. We must change our minds before we can be effective and seize the opportunity that is before us in this time in history.

Identifying the Flaw

For this shift in our mindset to occur, we need to identify and rid ourselves of the flawed insights that the counterfeit or false dream interpreters offer those who are sincerely searching for answers from God. This is my purpose in identifying the approach of the occult and of secular psychology. If we allow ourselves and our understanding to become influenced and tainted by the false interpreters, it will only hinder our own maturity and accuracy levels when interpreting. Our understanding, at best, will become darkened understanding, twisted and unreliable. Their approach to interpreting is rather enticing because one may feel like there is power in it, but it is an ungodly power. The occult is not void of power, including the dream interpretation perspectives they are offering