Dream Interpretation

So... whatsup everyone... heres a little background information: I am a believer in God and Jesus being God in flesh that died for our sins. Ive just returned from job training in a different statet was a very blessed time... it was the first time i truly felt the Holy Spirit dwelling within me; it was a very warm, fulfilling, joyful experience, one that i will always remember. Ive been praying for the gifts of prophecy and asking God to show me His plans in my dreams... And now, i am here asking fellow members to possibly discuss and interpret my two dreams so that i could benefit from others wisdom and insight.

First Dream:
It was very hazy experience, as all my dreams usually are, i remember was that I was in a castle-like corridor with grey stones... I am standing and brought to this corridor with an elderly woman in front of me... The elderly woman says to me with a inquiring facial expression, " Isn't it time to go to church?"
immediately, something in me, im guessing the holy spirit, wasn't feeling comfortable and i stare into the woman's eyes and something wasn't right about them....
she felt my discomfort and took a step towards me, i took a step back. our eyes met and had another stand off.
i took a step toward her and she took a step back. after taking the step forward, i say to her: "You don't believe in Jesus Christ, do you?" she has this shocked expression on her face and scampers away behind the grey stone corner; i immediately feel sorrow and i look for the woman behind the corner. i see that she is hiding herself to the point where only her eyes can be seen. i thought nothing of it, turned around, and walked back. i turn around and the woman comes running out of the corner, with her face upside down and her right eye was replaced by black and white static that a TV would show... looked quite demonic and i was scared to be honest... then a loud voice proclaimed: DONT LOSE FAITH. and then i woke up....

Second Dream:
I am in an after school SAT prep training facility and am accompanied by a friend... as i go to take a drink of water from the water fountain, i was really thirsty in my dream weirdly lol, i see someone's wallet filled with money and a pearl necklace. my friend turns his back for one second and what do i do? i take a 20 dollar bill from the wallet before my friend saw what i did. well after i took a drink, an old woman with her husband asked me if i had seen her wallet and pearls, and my friend pointed that i was on the water fountain. right before i told her that i stole money, i woke up from the dream.

Dreams are unfilled desires. Throughout the day you put energy in a certain direction, but then you stop and put attention in a different direction. While you're no conscious all this energy thats going in different directions is still present. They are fulfilled in your dreams

and i cant help it but "If we had no belief, what would happen to us? Shouldn't we be very frightened of what might happen? If we had no pattern of action based on a belief either in God, or in communism, or in socialism, or in imperialism, or in some kind of religious formula, some dogma in which we are conditioned, we should feel utterly lost, shouldn't we? And is not this acceptance of a belief the covering up of that fear - the fear of being really nothing, of being empty? After all, a cup is useful only when it is empty; and a mind that is filled with beliefs, with dogmas, with assertions, with quotations, is really an uncreative mind; it is merely a repetitive mind. To escape from that fear - that fear of emptiness, that fear of loneliness, that fear of stagnation, of not arriving, not succeeding, not achieving, not being something, not becoming something, is surely one of the reasons, is it not, why we accept beliefs so eagerly and greedily? And, through acceptance of belief, do we understand ourselves? On the contrary. A belief, religious or political, obviously hinders the understanding of ourselves. It acts as a screen through which we look at ourselves. And can we look at ourselves without beliefs? If we remove these beliefs, the many beliefs that one has, is there anything left to look at? If we have no beliefs with which the mind has identified itself, then the mind, without identification, is capable of looking at itself as it is, and then surely there is the beginning of the understand of oneself." jiddu k

ok i got the first part where "dreams are unfulfilled desires." i agree with that... during the timespan of the two dreams listed above, i was having dreams of very explicit sexual nature... ( i wasn't getting any hanky spanky during my job training).... and i would feel myself just give in to the sexual experience. although i was dreaming, everything felt real: sensations, emotions, etc.

thank you for your input but it does not answer the OP... what do these dreams mean?

reply to post by DelayedChristmas

Hi, DelayedChristmas,

I saw your post just after you put it up but I wasn't able to study it in detail then so I bookmarked the thread to check back later. So as you're still waiting for actual interpretation, I'll do my best.

I'll start by saying that I don't draw on any of the many lists of dream subjects and meanings that are available; I find that while they're interesting it's best to take each dream within its own complete context and also with regard to the one who dreamed it.

Okay, now down to details. You have given witness to your faith in your introduction and also said that you have asked to be shown what God's plans are for you. So, I will look at the dreams with those key points in mind.

In the first dream you give the location as in a "castle-like corridor". So, seeing as castles weren't built just to be cold and draughty places to live in, but were often also for defense from attack and a place for some of the district Lord's soldiers to stay, I'd say your location symbolizes you being within the Lord's house. Simply put, you dwell (live) in and through your faith in God. You could even see yourself as a soldier for the Lord.

The elderly woman could be symbolic of an "elder" within a church. As you know, not all elders or lay leaders in a church are old, but symbolically that would fit. And as you also know, not all of those who exhibit the outward signs of their faith (eg going to church) actually live with that faith within. What we perceive is not always what is really there, and the reality of some of them is far from pleasant.

And, you recognized this! Her face turning upside down symbolized her "real" face, rather than the one she shows publicly. In other words, her real self: the opposite of what we usually see. Ditto the eyes. As they are the "window to the soul", what we see there gives us a good idea of what is truly within that person.

Summary: even within your Lord's house, you are not free from attack by those who seek to deceive you, though they go to church and seem to worship with you. "Don't lose faith" is both a warning and a command: hold firm to your faith and don't be led astray, even when those who lead you that way seem to be among the most faithful themselves. Place your ultimate faith in the One who is above all of them.

The second dream is about temptation. Temptation itself is not the problem, it's what tempts us and how we respond to it that can be! Temptation is just a development of desire, and in a way, stems from the natural levels where we have "needs", such as for food, clothing, shelter, being valued and loved and so on.

Ask yourself this question and then after thought and (if you wish) after prayer, answer it: "What has tempted me recently, and how did I respond?" (No need to tell me. The answer is for yourself, not us.)

You saw a wallet filled with money and also containing a pearl necklace. You were tempted by the money and you took $20. Even though you had to act cautiously so your friend wouldn't know, you gave in to that temptation.

But two points here: the first is, why did you take only $20 and not more? Secondly, why did you not take the pearl necklace? The answer to the first is that you are not greedy. Just temptable.

And the second? DelayedChristmas, do you know the parable of the "Pearl of Great Price"?

I can almost hear you say, "Ahhh...Right!"

You were drinking of the waters that are Life, then you were tempted by a material thing of this world, but the pearl necklace, that symbolizes the Pearl of Great Price, you ignored and left where it was.

And then, when the couple returned, you repented: "Right before I told her that I stole money, I awoke from the dream."

In other words, you had already realized that what you did was wrong and wished to return the money and seek forgiveness. But while that is good, it means more than that!

In summary, the dream says this: you know what your source of Life is and you drink from it thirstily, but still you are tempted by the material things of this world and sometimes you falter. (As we all do!) But next time you are tempted this way, look instead to the Pearl of Great Price (that is one with the waters of Life) and remind yourself of where your real riches are.

So, both dreams give guidance. Putting the two messages together, it's possible that you may be offered the chance to do something that on the surface seems very attractive (and perhaps lucrative), but be wary, and make sure that if the offer comes from a fellow believer in your faith, this person is not one who has "two faces". And also, could accepting the offer perhaps take away your focus on the Pearl? If it could, then you know that it is probably not within the plan God has for you.

Best regards,

Mike

Very nice interpretation JustMike. I feel the same way give or take a few things. Thanks for saving me a page of typing :3 to OP you get what you aak for from god so if these dreams stick out to you they prob do have a really important meaning to you. But only you will know in the end what its suppose to mean for you.

reply to post by JustMike


hmm... for the first dream... i forgot to account my interaction with my recently ordained female reverend and spiritual godmother... she said God told her that her church would be the start... before i had this dream, i had a debate with her concerning revelations; she questioned if revelations was a prophetic book, how she was trying to address revelations as highly imaginative as is all of God's visions, telling me humility is the best quality to draw sound interpretation, all in the guise of trying to raise questions within me... i said revelations is the MOST prophetic book while the "imagination" of John was the way John can interpret what he saw through the eyes of his time.. i felt personally attacked by her telling me humility is the best quality to draw sound interpretation... how does she know that i do not pray before reading prophecies claiming that i do not know what these prophecies truly mean, and praying that the holy spirit leads me to clarification of the word... i felt like she was attacking me when she brought up that during exegesis and hermeneutics in seminary school, that the professor addresses the reader's presupposition and how when we overlook, we can never be a good exegetic. i thought she was being passive aggressive and telling me i'm wrong. im not proud of this, but i replied with: let no man deceive you. people for thousands of years didnt have to graduate from seminary to teach the truth of Christ and the word. how her fancy reverend title was given by people that she had to pay in order to receive and how that reverend title is given so she could have and set up a church BY LAW.

would this debate symbolize the interaction me and the elder had? the " she took one step forward, i took one step back, i take one step forward, she takes one step back." and then me saying to her, you don't believe in Jesus, do you? and her scrambling away and coming back up with her face backwards with the right filled with black and white static that you would see on a tv.

reply to post by DelayedChristmas

Seems to me so. Its sad when relifious leaders cant even get faith in their own following. Illusion to our governement. But your interprestation seems right on.

reply to post by DelayedChristmas

Short answer to your question in the 2nd par of your post: yes, I think it does. I am also glad that you did not give all those details about the reverand beforehand; the interpretation I gave seems more plausible as I didn't know about her and her stance on the Book of Revelation.

I find it hard to understand why she would question (ie doubt) it being a prophetic book, seeing as Rev 1:3 says: "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand." (Italics mine.)

John was instructed to write what he was shown into a book (viz Rev 1:11), and the book, according to the above-noted verse 3, is about prophecy. Even a person who has no knowledge of either the Christian or any other religion would, I think, find that statement inarguable. They don't even require faith in any religion for that. True, from an academic or legalistic standpoint they might argue over whether the statements made in the book are, in their opinion, actually prophetic and they might even say that prophecy is impossible and does not actually exist, but that does not deny the fact that the author states it is a prophetic book -- and that for those of that faith, it is to be accepted as such.

If this reverend argues that all of God's visions as reported by various prophets are highly imaginative -- meaning embellished by their own imaginations -- I would be curious how she explains the writings of Ezekiel, for example, when he attempted to describe the beings that visited him while he was in captivity. I say "attempted" because these creatures looked so strange and moved so oddly that he had difficulty even finding adequate words to decribe them. I think that if they were simply derived from his imagination he could have done a better job, but my impression is that they were simply beyond his imagination.

And what about Daniel, who was able to describe the king's forgotten dream when all of that leader's astrologers and other learned men at court could not? And he not only described it, he then gave an interpretation of what was, in fact, a prophectic dream. This process of describing and then interpreting the dream clearly did not derive from his own imagination!

Clearly, the reverend's stance on this matter of prophecy is one that troubles you deeply. And seeing as much of Christianity is founded on prophecy, for a reverend of your faith to question avowed prophetic writings to the point of dismissal is something you are justified in being troubled about -- especially as Revelation is the key book to virtually all eschatological study and belief!

Exegesis of the Bible requires a foundation of understanding, and for a believer, the key to interpreting the Book of Revelation is an acceptance that it is a book of prophecy. If it is not accepted as such, then there is little point in taking much notice of what it presents. For without that acceptance, how can one then "keep those things which are written therein"?

Here, "keep" means "uphold and preserve". If I ask you to keep something for me, I expect you to look after it and respect it and do nothing that will degrade its value.

I am not going to advise you what to do in any detail. I don't need to, because it comes down to your own faith and your understanding of its foundation, and then you doing what you think is right on that basis. You know what is absolutely fundamental to your faith. You have the second dream as a reminder of that.

Best regards,

Mike