THE MYSTERIOUS LAND OF DREAMS AND HOW TO PROFIT THERE

There is a strange land we all visit, howbeit, when we are asleep, though many have no recollection of being there when they wake up. It is the land of dreams. It is a wonderful place, if it is our good God that takes you there; but it can be a land of horrors, if the devil takes you to his counterfeit dreamland.

Divine dreamland is a place God takes us so that He can share certain crucial secrets with us, secrets which He wants to hide from others, especially the devil; and therefore He would mostly speak to us there in drama form, using parables and metaphors which can usually be quite easy to decode but only if we solicit the help of the Holy Spirit of God and that of the Word of God, our loving Saviour.

1Cor.2:9,10

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (…him that waiteth for him. See Isa.64:4) 10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

Jn.1:1,14,18

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth… 18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. (he has made clear what God is. BBE version)

Without being Spirit-filled, it is virtually impossible to interpret our dreams. Without a working knowledge of the Word of God, it is impossible to interpret our dreams correctly because God will use the same language and metaphors He used in Scripture. He will never speak outside His Word. Our dream-life is a place where we see the Godhead literarily having a conference with us to iron out issues which we have brought before God or to warn us of the devilish plans of the enemy. In our dreams, God will show us what is hidden and this then gives us the perfect ingredients for formulating the next set of prayers which are now targeted towards finally and permanently resolving the issues which we have been praying about. In dreamland, God may also give us specific instructions on what physical actions to take to resolve the issues; that is, apart from the more targeted prayer-points. That is how crucial our dream-life is, Beloved. It is literarily our compass for the journey of life, especially out of stormy waters!

It is the God’s way of saying to us ‘’Beloved, we have heard your cry and this is the way we see the matter and this is the way out’’. Or God may be saying, “Hey, My Child, watch out! Look at what that old serpent has planned for you!” Let’s hear how God said that to the Prophet Jeremiah –

Jer.33:3 –

Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

It is those very hidden things we knowest not that will be the key to unlock the mystery surrounding a challenge, chronic or recent, which we have at hand. However, it is all mostly said in coded form and we need help to decode the message; so, the Holy Spirit will now say, ‘’Come, let Me teach you what the Father means by this drama He has shown you. Let’s look into His Word for the meaning’’. Neat, isn’t it? The three divine Personalities in the Godhead working perfectly together in harmony to help us out of thorny places!

The land of dreams is a wonderful place where our loving Father can draw us to Himself without distractions, and show us great and wonderful things in His spirit realm. It is a mysterious secret place where He informs us of future events; a spiritual place which is out of ear-reach of the demonic eavesdropper, Satan, the devourer of promises! God does that to deny Satan the opportunity to get set and immediately begin to obstruct, intrude, distract and strive with us over His promises for our lives. After all, Satan sarcastically queried Eve, Yea, hath God said, meaning, ‘’…did God really say…’’. This means he must have been eavesdropping when God was giving Adam instructions about how to live and have good success in the Garden of Eden.

Let’s read the whole conversation by which Satan the serpent, seduced the first couple into that fatal rebellion against God. Gen.3:1-6 –

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 

There you have it – a clear example of what the devil does with us if he has been able to eavesdrop on God’s conversation with us and is able to get our attention and seduce us to take a second look at the instructions of God from his warped perspective! This is why we are told in Job33:14-18 –

For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not.15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; 16 Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, 17 That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. 18 He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.                                                                                                                                                                     Underline added

God says it clearly here that when He speaks to us in dreamland, He will confirm what He said in another way and thereby put His final authenticating seal on our instructions; and this way, He guides us lovingly away from making grievous mistakes. This means that whatever God says to us in any form – dreams, visions, word of prophecy – must be confirmed in another form – usually from Scripture, Godly counsel – for us to get the full picture of what God is saying.

The reason God uses dreams and visions to talk to us is simple, Beloved. The Lord Jesus Himself said,

Matt.6:22,23a (AMP)

The eye is the lamp of the body; so if your eye is clear [spiritually perceptive], your whole body will be full of light [benefiting from God’s precepts]. But if your eye is bad [spiritually blind], your whole body will be full of darkness [devoid of God’s precepts]…

That means, the eyes, both physical and spiritual, are the most important gates into the body; and God prefers to use them to bring in His Light, His Truth, into any life situation which may be shrouded in darkness. Whatever we see physically or in dreams and visions make such a deep impression that cannot be easily forgotten or disputed. This is why teachers use visual aids in teaching. Whatever God shows us is, as it were, seared into the consciousness of our minds, engraved upon the tablets of our hearts with God’s iron pen and they just cannot be erased! Even today, I can clearly remember dreams and visions which I had decades ago. The Holy Spirit just brings them up at the right time to assure me of God’s promises whenever they seem to be delayed or to guide me along the right path if I want to derail. Beloved, God has His timing for every promise and we need to patiently wait for His timing. And we shall be glad we did!

However, do not miss the divine warning which is right there in that Job 33 passage quoted above – that we may not perceive or understand God’s instructions, for the reason we have shared earlier – it is likely to be in coded form. It is also pertinent to note here that we are told that God will repeat His instructions if He notes that we have not paid attention to them or understood them. He will show us in another form, hoping that it will bring more light into the darkness of the matter at hand.

A case in point – Pharaoh had two dreams which point to the same impending disaster – a grievous famine which would affect the whole known world then…

Gen.41:1-7 NKJV

Then it came to pass, at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh had a dream; and behold, he stood by the river. Suddenly there came up out of the river seven cows, fine looking and fat; and they fed in the meadow. Then behold, seven other cows came up after them out of the river, ugly and gaunt, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the river. And the ugly and gaunt cows ate up the seven fine looking and fat cows. So Pharaoh awoke. He slept and dreamed a second time; and suddenly seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, plump and good. Then behold, seven thin heads, blighted by the east wind, sprang up after them. And the seven thin heads devoured the seven plump and full heads. So Pharaoh awoke, and indeed, it was a dream.

He was told about Joseph who had a gift of the interpretation of dreams and had had plenty of opportunities to put that into practice both at home and in prison in Egypt. Pharaoh sent for him and this is what Joseph told him –

Gen.41:16,25,32

So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “ It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”… Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do:… And the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.’

This is a beautiful Scripture where we learn quite a lot about dreams and their interpretation from what Joseph said –

1. The ability to interpret a dream is a gift from God which he bestowed on Joseph. However, in the Church Age we are in now, every Spirit-filled Child of God who is familiar with Scripture, should have the ability to interpret his own dreams. However, a deeper ability to interpret dreams is given as part of the Utterance and Revelation Gifts of the Holy Spirit, enumerated in 1Cor.12:10, ‘’…to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits;…to another the interpretation of tongues:..’’ (Underline added) These three gifts are given as part of the Prophetic gift, bestowed on those who stand in the office of the Prophet so that they can help us when we have difficulty in interpreting any dream. They can also be given to any child of God who desires them, either temporarily or permanently…

Matt.7:11

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? 

2. When we get the true interpretation of a dream, it brings peace from God. Remember that we are told in verse 8 that Pharaoh was troubled when he woke up from his dream. Even though the interpretation brought some bad news, there was still peace in knowing the truth because the truth always brings in light into a dark situation and we are able to find a way out of the darkness. That is why the Lord Jesus is The Truth as well as The Light of the world! He is the Answer, the Solution to every problem of life! Now, note verses 33 to 36 where we are told that Joseph proffered a workable solution, based on the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams. That is by the Wisdom of God which is still the same Lord Jesus! …Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.1:24
3. A dream is God showing us what He is about to do. I will want to put it this way – a dream is God showing us what He is about to do, or warning us of what the devil is about to do or has done secretly. In this case, we have a perfect scenario where God was warning Pharaoh that the devil was about to unleash terrible famine on the land but that He had pre-emptied that plan by granting that the preceding seven years would have abundant harvest which would be great enough to feed the people during the famine. The key out of the looming famine was given by Joseph – to store up the excess food in the seven years of abundance.

4. When God repeats a dream, it means that we need to pay attention and pray, pray, pray and seek His Face for the interpretation because the matter will surely come to pass and it will come to pass soonest! As well, we need to know what urgent steps to take to forestall the impending disaster or to prevent it from affecting us adversely even if it has to happen. God will also repeat a dream if we have not prayed through or taken the right steps He expects us to take.

God’s different modes of communicating with man in dreamland –

God is sovereign and does not have to wait until we are asleep before He can bring us into His realm and talk to us. Therefore, in the land of dreams, there are other ways that God communicates with us, so before we go any further, let us look at some terms we shall be using to define those methods God uses –

1. Dream – A dream is what God shows us and we see with our spirit eyes when we are asleep. The Bible says…

 Nu.12:6

…. If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.’’

 Job 33:14-15

For God may speak in one way, or in another, Yet man does not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, When deep sleep falls upon men, While slumbering on their beds,’

Now, in the Old Testament, a man or woman would be anointed with oil and placed in a particular ministry office, such as that of the Prophet, who is also called The Seer. The Holy Spirit would then rest on him and empower him to fulfil his ministry. If anyone needed to find out what God was saying about a particular matter, they would visit the Seer on whom rested the anointing of the Prophet. Remember that this was what brought Saul, the son of Kish, to Prophet Samuel – his father’s asses were lost and he needed the help of the Seer to find them. See 1Sam.9:1-6. As well, if anyone had a dream that needed interpretation, they would seek out the Seer, just as Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar did.

However, in the Church Age which we are in now, the Holy Spirit is given freely to all Believers who would desire Him, and one of the promises for a Spirit-filled Believer is that the Holy Spirit will show us secrets of God.

1Cor.2:6-10

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: 8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (for him that waiteth for him Isa.64:4) 10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

 Having said that, we know that even now, there are Believers who are called to stand in the office of the Prophet; and clearly, it means then that they will have more dreams and visions than most Believers and also have the ability to interpret them more readily than others. In fact, this is how you recognize that a person has the Prophetic gift now.

Eph.4:8,11,12

Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men… 11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

It is also interesting to note that God can show someone else a dream with a message to us as He did for Gideon to encourage him in the war of 300 divinely chosen men against a host of enemies that came against Israel –

Judg.7:9-15

And it came to pass the same night, that the LORD said unto him, Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand. 10 But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy servant down to the host: 11 And thou shalt hear what they say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go down unto the host. Then went he down with Phurah his servant unto the outside of the armed men that were in the host. 12 And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude. 13 And when Gideon was come, behold, there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along. 14 And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel: for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host. 15 And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the LORD hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian. 

2. Vision – A vision is what God shows us when we are awake. The person is awake and suddenly the real world disappears and he begins to see with his spirit eyes what those with him cannot see. A good example is that of Paul the Apostle’s encounter with the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus. He had an earth-shaking discussion with the Lord – which the others with him heard – but only Paul saw the Lord. Acts9:7 – And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. It is not always that others may hear the voice of the vision as in this case; it may well be that the Lord wanted there to be witnesses who heard His Voice when He called Paul.

In the case of the vision Daniel saw during his fast, the men with him did not see the vision he saw but the awesomeness of the moment fell upon them and they fled even before the Angels began to speak –

Da.10:7

And I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves.

A vision may last for a few seconds or minutes and may continue later in the day or the next day(s) until the whole message is passed on to us. I imagine this is because it is easier to be distracted from a vision than from a dream because one is awake when one is having a vision. Another difference between a dream and a vision is that it is virtually impossible to forget a vision when you come out of dreamland; whereas one may forget a dream especially if one is woken from sleep suddenly or with a loud noise. I usually have to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to remind me of what I saw in the dream, especially if I have the deep impression that the information therein is crucial. There are demons known as “dream-erasers” and “dream-swallowers” whose work is to quickly erase from our sub-conscious those satanic plans which God reveals to us to warn us in dreams.

You remember that dream Nebuchadnezzar had and he forgot? Even though he had forgotten the dream when he woke up, he had no rest in his spirit because it had made such a deep impression on him. He had to threaten his seers with death and destruction if they did not come up with the dream and the interpretation as well –

Da.2:1-5:

And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him. 2 Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. 3 And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream. 4 Then spake the Chaldeans to the king in Syriack, O king, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will shew the interpretation. 5 The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill. 

It was that bad, and God had to send Daniel to the rescue. He called for the help of his prayer-partners and God showed Daniel the dream and the interpretation. Wow! See Da.2:16-23 –

Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would shew the king the interpretation. 17 Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: 18 That they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19 Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. 20 Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: 21 And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: 22 He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. 23 I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king’s matter. 

3. Angelic message – God could send a message to us through an Angel either in a dream or through a vision; and on rare occasions, they may appear physically. The Angel will come and deliver the message and leave. That encounter is a spiritual one because Angels are spirits and we can only see them with our spirit eyes. There are dozens of examples of Angelic visitations in Scripture and God is still doing that today. An Angelic message is likely to be in plain language and not in parables. Let us see a few examples in the Bible –

• Angelic message to Abraham in Mamre – Gen.18:1-end. This ended up being an encounter with God Himself, with Abraham having to intercede for Sodom and Gomorrah when he learnt from God that He had come to supervise the destruction of the two cities.
• Angelic message to Manoah and his wife, the parents of Samson, to inform them about the decision of God to give them their long-awaited child. Judg.13:1-end.
• The Angelic message to Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, telling him of the impending birth of their long-awaited son. Lu.1:11-20.
• The appearances of Angels to the earthly parents of the Lord Jesus to inform them of His birth and what they must do to prepare for Him. Lu.1:26-39; Matt.1:20-24. Note that Mary saw the Angel while she was awake, in a vision, but Joseph saw the Angel while he was asleep, in a dream…

Lu.1:26-31

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. 29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. (Underline added)

Matt.1:20,21,24

But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. 21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins… 24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: (Underline added)

 Now, Angels may not look like our human conception of them – having wings, wearing long robes and all that – and we need discernment to know that it was an Angel that spoke to us. We must be ready to ask God questions later, to confirm that the spirit we saw was from Him.

1Jn.4:1,2

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

An Angel may take the form of a man or a woman; and the Angel of a loved one can be sent to us; or that of a Servant of God and so the Angel will look like that person. There is an occasion in Scripture where two Angels took the form of women – Zech.5:9 –

Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.

There are a few tests we can subject an Angelic visitation to – an Angel will never touch humans sensually and is unlikely to give his name unless he is Gabriel or Michael, the two Angelic names we already have in Scripture. There is usually a sweet gentle aroma around Angels and they will not allow you to stare at them and get an impression of their faces. This is to prevent us making an image of them for worship. Some Believers have had Angelic encounters where they had full discussions with Angels but I believe this is rare. The important thing is to test their message with Scripture – it will not violate Scripture if it is a message from God.

4. Encounters with the Lord Jesus – One Personality we will surely meet in the land of dreams is the Lord of Glory Himself. Let’s face it, He is called The Everlasting Father in Isa.9:6 and a loving father does visit his children! The Lord will visit us at crucial times when He needs to give us very important messages, and whenever we are at certain milestones or at baffling crossroads in life. Or He may just come to comfort us in times of illness or if we are in any form of trouble or if we are in pain, either physical or mental.

In Scripture, there are some pre-incarnate appearances of the Lord, a significant one being near Jericho when the Israelites were preparing to enter the Promised Land. They had a great battle ahead and the Lord came to join forces with them, dressed as the captain of the Hosts of Jehovah. Jos.5:13-15 –

 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? 14 And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? 15 And the captain of the LORD’S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.  (Underline added)

From the way this Man spoke, He alluded to the fact that He has had many appearances in the past but this time, He came in the form of the Captain of the Hosts. And this Man who came as the Captain of the Hosts proved that He was not Angel Michael who is normally the head of the hosts of warrior Angels, but this is now the same as Jehovah God, the I Am Who spoke to Moses on Mount Horeb in Exodus chapter 3, by telling Joshua to remove his shoes, just as I Am told Moses in Ex.3:5.

In Scripture, we have accounts of occasions when the Lord appeared to His followers after His death and resurrection; and He has appeared to many for centuries since then – to save in dire situations or to comfort, even at the point of death as He did Stephen. He has come to personally convert many to Himself, as He did Saul of Tarsus on the way to Damascus. I have heard the testimonies of many radical Moslems that the Lord Himself came and converted even as they were making plans to go and slaughter Christians.

One of the ways I know it is the Lord visiting me in a dream is that He will touch me in a place that is hurting and I will wake up healed. If He visits me when I am ill, He may not even lay hands on me, but I will wake up strong and start to recover rapidly from that day on. Or He would visit me when I am under spiritual attack and the war would be over. On one occasion, I was following a familiar person in a dream, quite unaware that it was a demonic summoning. Then the Lord appeared in the form of a loving uncle to me, and the evil man panicked, ran into a nearby building, dismantled the outer wall and ran off through the hole he made! Now you don’t get such a panic and stampede at the appearance of an Angel, so I knew it was the Lord Himself that came. Blessed be His Holy Name forever and ever!

The Lord may appear bearing the face of someone called Emmanuel; or, in my case, He would sometimes appear to me bearing the face of my brother, Olumide, which is a Yoruba name meaning ‘’My Saviour has come’’. (This name is usually given in Yoruba-land to a son born after a long period of waiting for a son). Beloved, do not expect the Lord to be exceedingly handsome and dashing! We are told in Isaiah 53 that ‘’…he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.’’ The Lord is not a film star or a cartoon hero, but the Saviour of the world; so He will come in a form that will get our attention, calm our fears, and, as well, earn our confidence in His capabilities to deliver to the uttermost, no matter how simple He looks.

As well, do not expect His skin to be of a particular colour in all your encounters with Him – black or white or whatever we humans conceive skin colour to be. He is the Saviour of the whole world and intends to gain the confidence of us all, whatever tribe or race we are. My grand-daughter told me of her encounters with the Lord when she was about six years old. She said, ‘’Oh, I’ve seen Jesus many times! Sometimes his skin is white, sometimes brown….’’ What can I say? Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings…! Psa.8:2.

And He speaks all languages as well. Glory! Also, do not expect Him to be dressed always in the long robes of the era when He was on earth as a Man. I’ve seen Him dressed in long robes, yes, but also in sharp grey or black suits, in the dress of an 18^th century British prince reagent, in white linen shirt and trousers with black belt (I always like to see the black belt! It reassures me that He is a black belt karate warrior par excellence!). I have seen Him dressed as a Doctor many times, with white coat on white shirt and dark trousers. And so on. Be ready for a surprise! The main thing about the appearance of the Lord is that He is clothed with a quiet dignity and power and love and tenderness all rolled into one! He could look angry, but it is likely to be at what is giving us distress rather than at us. What a glorious Lord!

5. Encounters with God – The most common personal encounters with God the Father involve hearing His Voice, either in a dream or in a vision or when we are awake. These are quite apart from hearing the still small voice of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, constantly guiding us on a day to day basis. Personal encounters with the Father in the land of dreams are earth-shaking; and one would wake up from them with a deep sense of awe, almost holding one’s breath in reverence and wanting to fall on one’s face in worship! God is an awesome Spirit Personality, and we are just not allowed to see Him, because of the reason He told Moses in Ex.33:20 – ‘’…Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.’’

However, in dreamland, we do hear the Voice of God, telling us what to do on certain occasions. One could fall into a brief vision and would hear Him speak in a powerful rumbling but loving Voice that cuts through all other noises, no matter how loud. When the Voice of God comes to us like that, it comes with a power that vibrates through our whole being and we will have no doubt that this is God talking. God comes to talk to us when He wants us to do something so strange and so difficult that it is the assurance that ‘’God said it’’ that will keep us at the task. The cases of Abraham and Moses come to mind quite readily here.

There was also this story I was told by a Liberian student when I was teaching in a Bible School in Ghana in the mid 90’s – This was at the peak of the war in Liberia and he was with a large group of people, including children, running through the forest for many days and had found some respite, hiding in a Church for a short while. One day, at some point, he said all the noise of distressed and frightened persons around him, all the noise of bombs exploding not far off, all the noise of gun-shots, were suddenly cut off and he heard the Voice of God say to him, ‘’Tell everybody to get out of this place NOW!’’

 ‘’What?! Who will believe that report?’’, he thought in himself; however, the Voice was so compelling and there was an overwhelming awesome Presence that came with It, that he simply could not do anything else but yell, ‘’Hey everybody! God said we should get out of here NOW!’’ The next surprise was that nobody argued with him but they all ran out of the assumed safety of the Church – just in time! Within a few minutes of getting to a safe distance, a bomb fell on the Church, flattening it beyond recognition! What a God!

On very rare occasions, one could be taken on a visit to The Throne Room. I love those visits! One would have an impression of magnificent royalty sitting on a Throne afar off at one end of a massive hall with no walls and no roof; and, on one occasion, I saw that the floor was made of glass and I could see what was happening on the lush field below! The Father would be surrounded by all manner of people and there will be so much going on in the place; and a radiant light would emanate from Him, hiding His form of He would be shrouded in grey darkness. Such visits may be for a time of refreshing or for us to bring a pressing long-term case before The Throne for judgement or for us to receive instructions for a mission. (See the post on ‘’The Throne of God, The Target of our Prayers’’ for more.)

Another encounter with God which may well be more frequent than the above, are His appearances as The Ancient of Days. Some have claimed that it is the Lord Jesus who appears as the Ancient of days, but I doubt that Theology because I have seen BOTH of them together on rare occasions! I believe it is God Himself who would come as an Old Man with grey hair Who surprisingly looks upright and very strong physically! He would have gentle loving eyes and come at crucial times to take us somewhere or to deliver us from trouble. One unforgettable time I saw Him like this was in mid-2016 when the Lord Jesus came to take me to my next mission field and the Ancient of Days was there to receive us on a large land which has just been cleared and ploughed. He was dressed in white singlet on pale khaki trousers; having been busy supervising the men working on the field.

That appearance of the Divine Father and Son heralded a series of challenges which tested my faith to the maximum as I battled terrible forces of darkness that were determined that I would not go on that mission! As though Satan and all his hosts can stop what God has determined to do…

Now, whenever I see the Ancient of Days wearing that white sleeveless singlet, I remember this Word in Isa.52:10

The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

I did see His amazing salvation in that terrible situation which almost took my life. Blessed be His Holy Name! Hallelujah! Amen!!

Interpretation of Dreams –

All these experiences in dreamland are well and good but we must know how to profit by them. We must be able to decode divine messages and discern the meaning behind the signs and tokens we see in the revelation. A sign or token in a dream is something that would ring a bell in our heart and it is likely the key that would unlock the dream or be a significant part of the promise in that dream. It may even be a colour, because each colour has a meaning in Scripture. An example of a token is seen in the first dream that Joseph had as a teenager…

Genesis 37:7

There we were, binding sheaves (of harvested grain) in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.

Right there we see the token which pointed to what will make him so great that his older brothers would come to bow down to him; and that token was the grain he stored for Pharaoh which other nations came to buy during the grievous famine which happened twenty years later!

Genesis 42:3,6

So Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt… Now Joseph was governor over the land; and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the earth.

 

Another thing we must know is the meaning of the metaphors God uses, or we may end up praying at cross-purposes to His message. Let me give you an example here –

I was praying with a couple who have been married for about two years and the wife had been bleeding from the womb since their wedding day! By now she was anaemic and I insisted we must go to the hospital; and investigations began and  she was placed on blood enriching tablets. Next, the Lord showed me a revelation of three dragons, in the form of men whose legs were simply long thick snake-like tails! And one of them had an abdomen which was obviously bloated up with blood. Their tails were coiled up together, which means this was a conspiracy, usually of familiar spirits from different sides of the family – paternal, maternal or in-law side. As we prayed and warred against them, I saw some small flood-water come from nowhere and it was surprisingly able to sweep them all away!

Immediately I woke up from that revelation, the Lord ministered to me that we are to use Na.1:7-9 to continue to war against those dragons and we all did. It says, The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him. 8 But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies. 9 What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.

Praying with a Scripture given to us always enforces the will of God in that Word on the situation. To our surprise, the bleeding still continued even though we had prayed and warred, so we kept her hospital appointments and a date was finally set for some kind of surgical intervention. However, by now the lady was much stronger physically.

 Next, I had another revelation, a vision this time: I saw two babies sitting in a closed place, eating the red earth walls that surrounded them. Remember David spoke of his mother’s womb as the earth in Psa.139:15 ….when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.  I first thought that these were the couple’s babies sitting in some spiritual prison, seeking a way out, and so I prayed for them, that God should help them out. I noted that they immediately became quite happy and got fatter! But God has taught me to always pray both ways, somewhat like this, ‘’Lord, if I am wrong and these are demonic children, strange children, please do something!’’, so I did. In a flash they became agitated and desperate and began chewing harder at the walls but were rather becoming lean!

 I sought understanding afresh and the Lord told me that these were strange children, evil seeds deposited in the woman’s womb by the dragon and that they were the ones causing the bleeding by chewing at the walls of her womb! What! We railed and cursed at them with Scriptures and I saw them fall down dead and flushed out of the womb. The bleeding stopped without any more intervention from the hospital and the couple had a baby boy within two years of that warfare prayer session we fought by revelation. What a glory!

 So, when we see anything in dreamland, what do we do?

• We seek God’s Face to find out what it all means. We may have to fast for a few days as led by the Holy Spirit, depending on the seriousness of what we saw; and we must take note of further revelations and instructions from God during the fast. We must pay extra attention to the Word we hear in Church or even the words of anybody in a conversation, whether the person knows of the matter at hand or not. God can speak to us through any medium. Most especially, we must take note of any Scripture that comes to mind or which arrests our attention as we read the Bible during the time of seeking the Face of God for the meaning of the revelation. These revelations and Word would now form the next set of prayer-points to use to either open the scroll further or bring a solution to the problem.

• We should also take note of the most prominent item in the dream and seek it out in the Bible. If we see a pit or fall into one, for instance, it is a serious warning of evil determined against us. The word ‘pit’ is in Gen.37:20-24 where the brothers of Joseph conspired against him and threw him into a pit. So, the next step is to find the Scriptural prayer-points to forestall that plan of the devil to make us fall. Readily, using a concordance or an electronic Bible word search or even Google, we will find many, but I have chosen a few which can be turned into prayer –

Psa.7:15 He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.

Psa.9:15 The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.

Psa.30:3 O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

Prov. 26:27 Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.

• Next, we must ask God what physical measures we need to take so that, for instance, we do not fall into the pit dug for us. It may be a trap set at work or at home, and we need to solicit the help of the Holy Spirit so that He will help us to be discerning and vigilant so that we do not fall into it.
• The next step is to have a dream book and record our dreams because it is by recording them and decoding them with the help of the Holy Spirit and The Word of God, that, over time, we actually learn to enjoy and profit from our visits to God’s dreamland.

Let’s look at a few common dream metaphors –

 About yourself and your family –

• If you see a family member die in a dream, it is a serious warning and you must pray against the spirit of death, fast. If someone shoots at you or a loved one, it is an arrow of death and you must command it to come out, in the Name of Jesus; and ask the Lord to neutralise the poison with His Blood and break the bow being used to shoot arrows at you. Psa.46:9 says He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.
• If you see yourself and or those in your dream wearing black, or attending a funeral or singing funeral songs or you see a dead person in the dream, it is the same warning that death is hovering around. If you see a loved one naked in the dream, whom you should not see naked in real life, it means he has been prepared for the mortuary. If you see a grave or anything to do with death, the message is the same. Pray hard against the spirit of death. A good Scripture to use is Isa.28:14-22 and this has been turned into prayer and posted in our “Personal Intercession” page, titled “Prophetic war against the spirit of death”

• If you see yourself naked, it means shame is coming, and it usually relates to not having enough money to meet some crucial need, for the Bible says in Eccl.7:12 …money is a defence…. For a woman, it means your marriage may be heading for trouble, for the Bible says in Gen.20:16 of Abraham in relation to Sarah …he is to thee a covering…

• If you see yourself without shoes, it means you are not well prepared for what you are about to undertake, or it may mean there is no peace between you and the person you are with in the dream and you must make efforts to restore peace. Eph.6:15 talks of …your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

• If you see a flood coming at you or your family, it means the dragon has failed to steal a breakthrough from you as he did with the woman about to give birth in Rev.12, and he now wants to carry your joy away with a series of problems so you will not have the fullness of joy a breakthrough should bring. First thank God for the breakthrough and then simply use Rev.12:16 to pray, asking the earth to help you as it did the woman – And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

• If you follow a person to a suspicious place – a jungle or swamp or anywhere creepy – or to a place where strangers are gathered, you might have been summoned to a witchcraft coven. You may even recognize one or two of the people there. You must command hail stones of fire on that coven, when you wake up and break any covenant you may have entered into unknowingly.

• Eating in the dream is a serious matter because witches use it to enter into a demonic covenant with the person or to seed disease into the person’s body. You must break covenants when you wake up and ask the Lord to give you His Blood to drink to neutralise the demonic food.

However, we may be fed by Angels or the Lord Himself in the dream, but it is always in the form of baked pastry without any filling, or an oily cereal, which is called Manna, Angel’s food. Definitely Manna is never served with meat! Ezekiel was fed a roll (Eze.2:8-3:4); John was fed a book/scroll (Rev.10:8-10); the Lord ate with His disciples in some of His appearances after His death (Lu.24:30,42,43; Jn.21:9). Another divine meal we may be fed with in the dream are fruits of the Tree of life! They are usually strange fruits which may vaguely resemble those we have on earth. Those are the fruits from the Tree of Life which Adam and Eve were allowed to eat in the Garden of Eden and which we shall be eating in Heaven… He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. Rev.2:7

• If you are praying about a difficulty in life, and you keep dreaming of a place you have lived or worked before, or you keep going back to your native town or village, it means there is a bondage you entered into in that location which is responsible for the problem at hand. You must pray and break covenants and curses associated with the place, using Gal.3:13 and Col.2:13-15, declaring them broken by the atonement work of the Lord Jesus on the Cross at Calvary. God may also indicate that you visit the place there for a prophetic action with a couple of prayer-warriors familiar with such.

 Animals –

Being attacked in the dream by an animal means one of the four strongmen of Satan is after you. Even if the animal is just loitering around and has not attacked you, you must war against it and break covenants and curses which gave the strongman the legal right to attack you. Just call it by the name of the animal whose form it chose to take, and confidently say, ‘’You tiger strongman, what has light to do with darkness? In the Name of Jesus my Saviour and Lord, I break every covenant or agreement with you by the atonement Blood of the Cross and I bind you with chains and fetters of iron that can never be broken. Be gone! I shut the door through which you came into my life and my home…Go back to hell where you came from and I will see you no more, in Jesus Name! Amen.

• If it is a lion, tiger, cat, dog, snake, crocodile, lizard, caterpillar, dragonfly, they all belong to the dragon family and have come to steal a breakthrough or a child. Use Eze.29:1-9 to pray.

• Specifically, cats are witchcraft animals and you must use Isa. Ch. 47 or Na. Ch. 3 to war against the spirit of witchcraft.

• If you see snails, tortoise and other slow animals, it is a warning of delay of expectations. You must command them to be consumed by the fire of God and then bind the spirit of delay.

• If you see a fox in your house, Beloved, it has come to kill your marriage. Songs2:15 says Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes. Your vineyard is your Garden of Eden, your home. Command fire on the foxes, in Jesus Name, and ask God to take control of your marriage. Also be careful not to get into unnecessary quarrels with your spouse.

Beloved, the scenario is endless! The wonderful secrets you could see in dreamland cannot be enumerated in a weblog post or even in a book. What I have discovered from years of counselling is that the key to the troubles that many are going through is clearly revealed in their dreams, and I have learnt to simply ask them, ‘’What dreams have you had at any time that made a deep impression on you? What dreams have you had lately? What dreams have you had repeatedly?’’ And I have found without fail that the answer holds the keys which we would then use to unlock the riddle of life they have been battling with.

Many counselees would have had warning dreams but did not know how to decode them and pray appropriately before disaster struck. This has been very distressing to me. Lately, one of my spiritual daughters – a frequent visitor to God’s dreamland herself – who has been blessed by my divine gift of decoding dreams, suggested that I write this post because she knows that many will be blessed too. I told her she has just confirmed what the Lord has said to me lately, and that this may be the time to do it. God bless her!

What I would suggest now is that if you have any dreams that you cannot decode, and which you wake up from feeling troubled and fearful, please write to me directly – [email protected] or use the Whatsapp button – and I will pray over them and write back to you whatever the Lord reveals to me concerning the interpretation. Of course, you are free to discuss any form of revelation you wish, whether fearful or not.

Now, pray like this –

Holy Father, I have heard about this wonderful dreamland where You take Your children to reveal great and mighty things to them as you promised, and I thank You that You have taken me there before. Father, I ask You now to set me apart to Yourself for a deeper and closer walk with You, and to anoint my eyes and ears with the Blood of Jesus so that I will only visit Your dreamland and never the devil’s dreamland. Let me see what You want me to see and remember them when I wake up; and also grant me understanding of what I see. O wonderful Father, as well, give me the wisdom from above so that I will always know what to do with what You show me. I ask all this in the mighty Name of Jesus my Lord and Saviour. Amen.