This is written as a series of Dream Interpretation Helps concerning dreams from God. I will cover the things that I feel are mandatory for correct dream interpretation and application of the truths revealed in the dream. © 2013, Elizabeth Elam. All rights reserved.
A FEW SYMBOLS TO CONSIDER
I will just list a few of many symbols I have personally encountered in dreams of my own or in the dreams of others who I know personally which may be helpful to consider if you have seen these same symbols in your own dreams. I am picking things that at first glance wouldn’t obviously have these meanings. This is not an exhaustive list by any means. Almost all of these symbols are also in the Bible. As I’ve noted, God speaks in the same way yesterday, today and forever. So dream language often matches Bible language. Just another of many proofs that the God of the Bible is very real and alive!
-Shoes: The gospel
-Huge rock or foundation: Jesus
-Small sharp stones on land: Idols or the demonic in the heart
-Lion: Jesus or the devil
-Bread or lack of: The Word of God
-Oil (pure): The Holy Spirit
-Tornado: Usually an attack from the enemy which we may be able to prevent or ‘survive’ through prayer or repentance
-Trees: Often symbolize people or groups of people, family ‘tree’; possibly the Tree of Life (Christ)-has fruit, especially if you lost temporal things in the dream- Paul said, “I count all things as loss to gain Christ.”
-Angel about to blow a trumpet: Are we ready for God’s timetable of events?
-Field or vineyard: Can represent the people of God
-Donkey: Have you birthed an Ishmael? We birth Ishmael, not Isaac, when we get ahead of God and do things ‘for Him’ OUR way because of lack of faith. It is the vain help of man. Solution: Repent and let God do His things His way.
-Land: Can represent our heart
-Horse: Strength of the flesh usually… or spiritual horses of Israel which deliver us
-House: Your personal spiritual condition or a church- what is the condition of the house? Is it divided? Read Mark 3:25. Is it open to the elements (powers of darkness)? Has the thief (satan) been able to enter? Is the foundation firm (Jesus)?
-Furniture missing: Understanding of some of God’s ways is missing. Also, after God delivers you (the house) of demonic influences; the Holy Spirit must fill your house. Beware of an empty house.
-House sinking down: Harlot’s house –house of folly (double-mindedness, having an idol in the heart before God…opposite of wisdom’s house). Cry out to God- only He can get you out!
-Stairs: Are they safe? Complete? If so, then perhaps there is no impediment to getting closer to God. If something is wrong with the stairs, you need to know the cause. Has there been judgment against a brother or sister? Judging others will damage your access (your stairway) to God.
-Cracked foundation: Relationship with the Lord not healthy or generational /childhood brokenness needs attention and healing/ deliverance
-Cups or vessels: People…are they broken or cracked? A need for prayer and healing.
-Mountain: City of God or obstacle that needs faith to remove it
-Ocean, going to see it: Spiritual freedom’s path
-Highway (not too wide or curving): Highway (path) of holiness
-Narrow path: Probably God’s path unless there are demonic things or fences keeping you from God’s things- then it would be lack of freedom to do God’s will
-Restaurant: Usually a church where we are spiritually fed or not fed, fed the same thing over and over or fed junk food (a false word rather than the true Word), or too much grease (false Holy Spirit), etc.
-Sword or knife: Judgment or speaking evil with the mouth or represents the Word of God
-Carrying bags of ‘things’ that keep you from doing God’s will: Lay them aside. Hebrews 12:1, 2
-Running a race: Hebrews 12 again. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Don’t change direction. Don’t quit. It is the ‘faith run’.
-Church people asleep: Wake up and do the will of God!
-Nakedness: You’re not doing all that God has asked of you and it is causing you to feel shame. Wake up! Put on your clothes… Rev 16:15 says, “Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.” Also, Rev 19:7 says, “…for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride (that’s us if we’re a true believer in Christ) has made herself ready. It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.” Nakedness could also signal a need to be saved, because Isa 61:10 states, “For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness.”
-Finding the correct clothes for a wedding: Putting on the Righteousness of Christ… getting ready for His coming
-Baby: Literal or a ministry or promise or not growing in Christ
-Car: Your life or your ministry or, if it’s a ‘family’ car, that of your entire family. See also the mention of cars in the article, ‘MODERN DAY IMAGERY IN DREAMS’.
-Purse or wallet: Provision or identity, including one’s identity in Christ
-Fall down or fall off of something: Sin or literal fall or demoted
-Start to fall, but catch hold of a pillar or spiritual person catches you: Almost fall into sin
-Pillar: Spiritual father or elder or five-fold-minister
-Dirt on a person: Sin and/or shame
-Showering: Usually a type of spiritual cleansing or baptism
-Flooding: The flooding could be bad or perverse words from the world system or the enemy
-Overflowing toilet: Negative, hurtful words coming out of the mouth of someone, potty mouth
-Three or four rows of chairs, three or four stories to a building: Third and fourth generation of certain iniquities visiting again. Solution: Repent for ancestors and your own sin. Break ungodly generational ties. Cover iniquities with the blood of Jesus. It speaks louder!
-Unable to lock a door: The enemy (devil) has an open door to your life because of some iniquity or sin or unforgiveness. Repent. Ask the Lord to give you the key to lock the door.
-Open window: Similar to unlocked door. The thief of our soul can get in that way. We need to be alert and awake to the Lord so that our ‘house’ doesn’t get broken into.
-Animal marking territory or running around an object: Shows where demonization has gained legal ground. Repent to break legal right and ask the Lord to come in, instead.
-Dog: In America where they are pets, a friendly or familiar dog could symbolize relationships. In our family we’ve had at least ten dreams where our personal family dog, a wonderful sweet golden retriever, represented our family ministry and the obvious relationships which are represented. We’ve seen our ‘dog’ be lost, be found, be undisciplined, be hurt, look dead and then come back to life, wandering the streets unprotected, in danger of being stolen, about to be bitten by a snake, glow, turn white, etc. All the dreams were showing the state of our family calling and ministry. But a dog that is not people-friendly could represent a demon. If a dog in a dream licks up something off the floor, it is probably demonic and needs to get out of your house and off your property. A dog returning to its own vomit is representing the demonic- let that dog OUT!
-Cows: Prosperity, plenty. What is the ‘state’ of the cow/s you see? I saw many cows belly up (dead) before the most recent financial crisis.
-Muddy water: A polluted ‘Word
-Walking in a river: Following the Holy Spirit (unless something is wrong with the river- polluted or red). Part of the walk of a true believer includes the Lord miraculously making a way where there seems to be no way, i.e., the walk of faith, as when God parted the waters of the Red Sea. So look to God, not the easy way out. In other words, His River has some strong currents up ahead that only He can see you through. The answer is not to look for another river. The answer is to look to Him!
-Baby making messes: Foolishness, need for repentance
-Red: Could be the blood of Jesus OR harlotry (unfaithfulness to the Lord- being double-minded)
-White: Could be God’s purity and holiness OR the devil masquerading as God
-Late for a ship or not ready for something of importance: Get right with the Lord and finish what He’s asked of you. Get ready for the Lord. Many in our church fellowship have had versions of this dream including me, my husband, my mom (her dream is recorded on this website) and our pastor. Our pastor emphasizes that the ‘John the Baptist ministry’ is sent to prepare us for the Lord’s coming (both the first and second coming). Remember that John was the voice crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord”. John the Baptist preached a message of repentance. That is the first step in preparing, getting ready to meet the Lord. We must preach this, too, or people will not be ready to meet the Lord.
-Empty chair next to someone: Important relationship (marriage?) severed in some form, possibly through death.
-Couch: Healthy or broken family togetherness. Is the couch broken or not accessible?
-Marriage bed: Is there a hole above it or by it? Possibly some form of unfaithfulness to the Lord or spouse
-Standing on firm, solid ground while the earth is shaking all around you, but you are not affected: Praise God! You are in His will. You have said, “No” to being double-minded.
-Being at the bottom of very deep water with a wounded heel or foot: You have experienced a deep betrayal or someone is very much against you. Can you forgive them and let the Lord heal you? Forgiveness is not optional according to the Bible (Matt 18:21-35, Matt 6:14, 15). Knowing that God knows your hurt and wants to help you (by giving the dream) may help make it easier to forgive. The Lord experienced this type of wounding, too. He forgave. He forgave US.
-Deep water that is beautiful: May represent the Word of God
-Falling into a deep, narrow pit or sinking down into slimy mud: Possible harlotry, loving something else more than the Lord (double-mindedness). Pray to the Lord in repentance. Only He can get you out. He wants to help you out. That’s why He gave the dream.
-Fake jewel: Not of the Lord or His Kingdom- the spirit of harlotry (Jezebel) wants us to find the fake gospel (trying to save, defend or promote ourselves, the kingdom of self). We find the fake when we don’t love the truth or are not willing to deny self in order to gain Christ.
-Real jewel such as a pearl or diamond: The true gospel. Finding the Lord or can represent people. Is the jewel broken from its setting? Broken relationship with the Lord or those that have once been dear to us. Or our own heart is broken. The context of the dream would reveal which of these meanings applies.
-Seeing someone in your dream ‘up close and personal’ may be seeing some truth about yourself even if the person is not technically ‘you’.
-In a warning dream concerning physical danger of some kind (which the Lord gives for us to pray for His protection, for His blood to cover the situation), a certain family member might represent a different family member or all of the family collectively. God sees families and their members as being much more interconnected than we do. (Remember that King David and Jesus were sometimes used interchangeably in scripture, as if they were the same person, Jesus would come from King David’s lineage.) Because of this, it may be wise to cover the entire family in prayer.
-A horn, similar to an animal’s horn: Authority in the spirit, evil or good, over an area or a group of people, in a situation or in a person’s life. Is the horn attached to a demon? Then that demon has some authority (but not as much as we do in the name of the Lord!). Ask the Lord what has given the demon his authority. God says, “Don’t give place to the devil.” That is, don’t give him a way, a ‘legal’ right to take authority in a life or a situation. Has someone given the devil ‘place, made room for him, allowed him access?’ If so, then you can be assured he has taken what has been relinquished. Repentance, forgiveness and then taking back the lost ground in the name of Jesus are needed.
A FEW SYMBOLS TO CONSIDER
I will just list a few of many symbols I have personally encountered in dreams of my own or in the dreams of others who I know personally which may be helpful to consider if you have seen these same symbols in your own dreams. I am picking things that at first glance wouldn’t obviously have these meanings. This is not an exhaustive list by any means. Almost all of these symbols are also in the Bible. As I’ve noted, God speaks in the same way yesterday, today and forever. So dream language often matches Bible language. Just another of many proofs that the God of the Bible is very real and alive!
-Shoes: The gospel
-Huge rock or foundation: Jesus
-Small sharp stones on land: Idols or the demonic in the heart
-Lion: Jesus or the devil
-Bread or lack of: The Word of God
-Oil (pure): The Holy Spirit
-Tornado: Usually an attack from the enemy which we may be able to prevent or ‘survive’ through prayer or repentance
-Trees: Often symbolize people or groups of people, family ‘tree’; possibly the Tree of Life (Christ)-has fruit, especially if you lost temporal things in the dream- Paul said, “I count all things as loss to gain Christ.”
-Angel about to blow a trumpet: Are we ready for God’s timetable of events?
-Field or vineyard: Can represent the people of God
-Donkey: Have you birthed an Ishmael? We birth Ishmael, not Isaac, when we get ahead of God and do things ‘for Him’ OUR way because of lack of faith. It is the vain help of man. Solution: Repent and let God do His things His way.
-Land: Can represent our heart
-Horse: Strength of the flesh usually… or spiritual horses of Israel which deliver us
-House: Your personal spiritual condition or a church- what is the condition of the house? Is it divided? Read Mark 3:25. Is it open to the elements (powers of darkness)? Has the thief (satan) been able to enter? Is the foundation firm (Jesus)?
-Furniture missing: Understanding of some of God’s ways is missing. Also, after God delivers you (the house) of demonic influences; the Holy Spirit must fill your house. Beware of an empty house.
-House sinking down: Harlot’s house –house of folly (double-mindedness, having an idol in the heart before God…opposite of wisdom’s house). Cry out to God- only He can get you out!
-Stairs: Are they safe? Complete? If so, then perhaps there is no impediment to getting closer to God. If something is wrong with the stairs, you need to know the cause. Has there been judgment against a brother or sister? Judging others will damage your access (your stairway) to God.
-Cracked foundation: Relationship with the Lord not healthy or generational /childhood brokenness needs attention and healing/ deliverance
-Cups or vessels: People…are they broken or cracked? A need for prayer and healing.
-Mountain: City of God or obstacle that needs faith to remove it
-Ocean, going to see it: Spiritual freedom’s path
-Highway (not too wide or curving): Highway (path) of holiness
-Narrow path: Probably God’s path unless there are demonic things or fences keeping you from God’s things- then it would be lack of freedom to do God’s will
-Restaurant: Usually a church where we are spiritually fed or not fed, fed the same thing over and over or fed junk food (a false word rather than the true Word), or too much grease (false Holy Spirit), etc.
-Sword or knife: Judgment or speaking evil with the mouth or represents the Word of God
-Carrying bags of ‘things’ that keep you from doing God’s will: Lay them aside. Hebrews 12:1, 2
-Running a race: Hebrews 12 again. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Don’t change direction. Don’t quit. It is the ‘faith run’.
-Church people asleep: Wake up and do the will of God!
-Nakedness: You’re not doing all that God has asked of you and it is causing you to feel shame. Wake up! Put on your clothes… Rev 16:15 says, “Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.” Also, Rev 19:7 says, “…for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride (that’s us if we’re a true believer in Christ) has made herself ready. It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.” Nakedness could also signal a need to be saved, because Isa 61:10 states, “For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness.”
-Finding the correct clothes for a wedding: Putting on the Righteousness of Christ… getting ready for His coming
-Baby: Literal or a ministry or promise or not growing in Christ
-Car: Your life or your ministry or, if it’s a ‘family’ car, that of your entire family. See also the mention of cars in the article, ‘MODERN DAY IMAGERY IN DREAMS’.
-Purse or wallet: Provision or identity, including one’s identity in Christ
-Fall down or fall off of something: Sin or literal fall or demoted
-Start to fall, but catch hold of a pillar or spiritual person catches you: Almost fall into sin
-Pillar: Spiritual father or elder or five-fold-minister
-Dirt on a person: Sin and/or shame
-Showering: Usually a type of spiritual cleansing or baptism
-Flooding: The flooding could be bad or perverse words from the world system or the enemy
-Overflowing toilet: Negative, hurtful words coming out of the mouth of someone, potty mouth
-Three or four rows of chairs, three or four stories to a building: Third and fourth generation of certain iniquities visiting again. Solution: Repent for ancestors and your own sin. Break ungodly generational ties. Cover iniquities with the blood of Jesus. It speaks louder!
-Unable to lock a door: The enemy (devil) has an open door to your life because of some iniquity or sin or unforgiveness. Repent. Ask the Lord to give you the key to lock the door.
-Open window: Similar to unlocked door. The thief of our soul can get in that way. We need to be alert and awake to the Lord so that our ‘house’ doesn’t get broken into.
-Animal marking territory or running around an object: Shows where demonization has gained legal ground. Repent to break legal right and ask the Lord to come in, instead.
-Dog: In America where they are pets, a friendly or familiar dog could symbolize relationships. In our family we’ve had at least ten dreams where our personal family dog, a wonderful sweet golden retriever, represented our family ministry and the obvious relationships which are represented. We’ve seen our ‘dog’ be lost, be found, be undisciplined, be hurt, look dead and then come back to life, wandering the streets unprotected, in danger of being stolen, about to be bitten by a snake, glow, turn white, etc. All the dreams were showing the state of our family calling and ministry. But a dog that is not people-friendly could represent a demon. If a dog in a dream licks up something off the floor, it is probably demonic and needs to get out of your house and off your property. A dog returning to its own vomit is representing the demonic- let that dog OUT!
-Cows: Prosperity, plenty. What is the ‘state’ of the cow/s you see? I saw many cows belly up (dead) before the most recent financial crisis.
-Muddy water: A polluted ‘Word
-Walking in a river: Following the Holy Spirit (unless something is wrong with the river- polluted or red). Part of the walk of a true believer includes the Lord miraculously making a way where there seems to be no way, i.e., the walk of faith, as when God parted the waters of the Red Sea. So look to God, not the easy way out. In other words, His River has some strong currents up ahead that only He can see you through. The answer is not to look for another river. The answer is to look to Him!
-Baby making messes: Foolishness, need for repentance
-Red: Could be the blood of Jesus OR harlotry (unfaithfulness to the Lord- being double-minded)
-White: Could be God’s purity and holiness OR the devil masquerading as God
-Late for a ship or not ready for something of importance: Get right with the Lord and finish what He’s asked of you. Get ready for the Lord. Many in our church fellowship have had versions of this dream including me, my husband, my mom (her dream is recorded on this website) and our pastor. Our pastor emphasizes that the ‘John the Baptist ministry’ is sent to prepare us for the Lord’s coming (both the first and second coming). Remember that John was the voice crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord”. John the Baptist preached a message of repentance. That is the first step in preparing, getting ready to meet the Lord. We must preach this, too, or people will not be ready to meet the Lord.
-Empty chair next to someone: Important relationship (marriage?) severed in some form, possibly through death.
-Couch: Healthy or broken family togetherness. Is the couch broken or not accessible?
-Marriage bed: Is there a hole above it or by it? Possibly some form of unfaithfulness to the Lord or spouse
-Standing on firm, solid ground while the earth is shaking all around you, but you are not affected: Praise God! You are in His will. You have said, “No” to being double-minded.
-Being at the bottom of very deep water with a wounded heel or foot: You have experienced a deep betrayal or someone is very much against you. Can you forgive them and let the Lord heal you? Forgiveness is not optional according to the Bible (Matt 18:21-35, Matt 6:14, 15). Knowing that God knows your hurt and wants to help you (by giving the dream) may help make it easier to forgive. The Lord experienced this type of wounding, too. He forgave. He forgave US.
-Deep water that is beautiful: May represent the Word of God
-Falling into a deep, narrow pit or sinking down into slimy mud: Possible harlotry, loving something else more than the Lord (double-mindedness). Pray to the Lord in repentance. Only He can get you out. He wants to help you out. That’s why He gave the dream.
-Fake jewel: Not of the Lord or His Kingdom- the spirit of harlotry (Jezebel) wants us to find the fake gospel (trying to save, defend or promote ourselves, the kingdom of self). We find the fake when we don’t love the truth or are not willing to deny self in order to gain Christ.
-Real jewel such as a pearl or diamond: The true gospel. Finding the Lord or can represent people. Is the jewel broken from its setting? Broken relationship with the Lord or those that have once been dear to us. Or our own heart is broken. The context of the dream would reveal which of these meanings applies.
-Seeing someone in your dream ‘up close and personal’ may be seeing some truth about yourself even if the person is not technically ‘you’.
-In a warning dream concerning physical danger of some kind (which the Lord gives for us to pray for His protection, for His blood to cover the situation), a certain family member might represent a different family member or all of the family collectively. God sees families and their members as being much more interconnected than we do. (Remember that King David and Jesus were sometimes used interchangeably in scripture, as if they were the same person, Jesus would come from King David’s lineage.) Because of this, it may be wise to cover the entire family in prayer.
-A horn, similar to an animal’s horn: Authority in the spirit, evil or good, over an area or a group of people, in a situation or in a person’s life. Is the horn attached to a demon? Then that demon has some authority (but not as much as we do in the name of the Lord!). Ask the Lord what has given the demon his authority. God says, “Don’t give place to the devil.” That is, don’t give him a way, a ‘legal’ right to take authority in a life or a situation. Has someone given the devil ‘place, made room for him, allowed him access?’ If so, then you can be assured he has taken what has been relinquished. Repentance, forgiveness and then taking back the lost ground in the name of Jesus are needed.
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