Audio and Written Versions: Dreams Interpretation Session 5

Dreams and Visions Interpretation Course Session 5

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Session 4

My name is Basie Martins. I trust that you are all well and I want to thank you again for listening to this series. For you who do not know, this series is about dreams and visions. In the previous session, we discussed whether satan and demons can cause us to dream or whether they can make us see a vision.

In this session, we are going to discuss different general aspects that will give us the ability to interpret dreams and visions more effectively and successfully.

People often ask me the following:

Is there a golden key that can and will guarantee that dreams and visions are interpreted correctly?

What is the most important rule that ensures correct dreams and visions interpretation?

What is the most detrimental factor that causes dreams and visions to be interpreted incorrectly?

What can I do to ensure that I interpret dreams and visions correctly?

How can I limit errors or prevent errors when I interpret dreams and visions?

Yes, there is a GOLDEN KEY: Connect the dream to the relevant incident, event, trauma, experience, discussion, circumstance, query or pondering and you will interpret the dream correctly!

I have mentioned this aspect of dreams and visions interpretation a few times already but I just cannot emphasize it enough. It is the single-most-important rule or principle about dreams and visions interpretation that you need to understand

It really increases your chances of interpreting dreams and visions dramatically. I am sure of the fact that generally more than ninety percent of all dreams and visions are interpreted incorrectly and this is all because of people failing to connect their dreams to the incident, event, trauma, experience, discussion, circumstance, query or pondering that triggered the dream in the first place. This is the secret to successful dream interpretation.

As a dreams and visions interpreter, my biggest challenge is to help people connect their dreams to the incident that triggered the dream in the first place. If there is no connection my first attempt to interpret a dream for someone is usually incorrect because of me being obliged to interpret the dream in a general sense or a spiritual sense. If we are lucky the person may recognize something that reminds him of the original incident that triggered the dream resulting in the interpretation to be spot-on with the second attempt.

See also
Audio and Written Versions: Dreams Interpretation Session 7

It does not have to be like this. We can ensure that we always connect our dreams to the incident that triggered it. It is a matter of us being consciously aware of things, events, and incidents that might trigger a dream or a vision.

Something that I started doing a few years ago is to go through the day’s incidents, discussions, occurrences, concerns, prayers, people I got involved with during the day and whatever else I suspect may trigger a dream or a vision, just before I go to sleep. This works for me. I am almost every time able to connect the dream to the correct incident in the mornings. This habit has helped me a lot in the past.

We also need to remember that dreams and visions cultivate a deeper and more intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. This is one of the reasons why God communicates with us in this way. Dreams and visions interpretation is supposed to be difficult. We are supposed to seek God’s face and to speak to God. God wants us to have a two-way dialogue with him and He wants us to know what He is talking about when He talks to us. He wants us to be consciously aware of his interactions with us in this regard.

This is why we must be serious with him. This is why we need to honor and respect God when He speaks to us. Imagine the following: Your wife speaks to you during the day. She discusses a few things with you that concerns her. You see her getting involved in an argument with your eldest son. You see her losing her bracelet. She asks your help with a decision that needs to be made and announced before midday the next day. You hear that she struggled with a new kid at the school where she is teaching. That night just before you go to bed you ponder on all these things. You realize that although the argument with your son was probably the most traumatic incident for your wife, the other matter regarding the decision that she needs to announce before midday the next day will have serious repercussions if she makes the wrong decision. You need to assist her with this decision. Just before work, whilst she was still sleeping, you write her a letter guiding her on what to do and what to decide. Now imagine her waking up (you already off to work) reading this letter and she has no idea what you are talking about. She stares at this letter with a blank expression on her face. When she realizes that the letter does not make any sense to her, she carelessly throws it into the dustbin and prepares for work.

See also
Discipleship - Session 4

This is what happens with most people every day of their lives. They fail to connect the symbolic dream with the incident that triggered the dream. Then they completely forget about the dream and they fail to seek God’s face about the dream. They never get the message and that is a great loss. You should see the dreams that I have interpreted through the years for people years after they received it from God. If only they knew how important or wonderful or valuable those messages were they would have put in a huge effort to find the meanings of those dreams or visions. Remember, Christ is our husband and the church is the wife. Christ loves us. He died for us. He wants to get involved in every little detail of our lives. We cannot ignore him and we cannot ignore what He says to us.

Do not forget, although it seldom happens, dreams can sometimes be literal and not symbolic. God may tell you exactly what He wants without using symbols. As I previously said, occasionally one or two particular objects in dreams, although it normally should, sometimes should not be interpreted symbolic but should be regarded as literal as the Holy Spirits leads us. It can even happen that a whole dream is to be taken literally and not symbolic at all. I once had to wait for a certain person to deposit much-needed money into my bank account. A few days before the money was supposed to be paid into my account, the Lord showed me in a dream how the person pays the money into my account before we even needed it. The next day I told my wife not to worry because the money will be in our bank account in time. Sure enough, this person deposited the money into our bank account two days before we needed it.

Please take note that the revelations gifts of the Spirit, words of wisdom and words of knowledge, play an important part in dreams and visions. As I mentioned before, sometimes we supernaturally know very important information in a dream or a vision. When this happens, the information does not come through symbols but it is straight forward information that we supernaturally know.

There are two other ways that information comes to us. The one way is when we are sometimes in a semi-sleep and we “hear” a word or a short sentence. This happens to me quite often. This is, of course, a word of knowledge. The funny thing is that sometimes this word of knowledge comes in symbolic language. Remember that a word of knowledge usually comes literally. A good example was one morning when I was half awake and pondering on spiritual things when I heard the following words: “Ewaldt wants to know where the toilet is.” Ewaldt is my eldest son. I immediately knew that he was involved in a traumatic incident and that he needed to deal with emotional garbage or sin in his life because of this (See “Toilet (Passing solids).” God revealed this to me because He knew that this time, Ewaldt needed additional prayer and counseling to be emotionally restored. This information came to me through a word of wisdom whilst I was half awake in symbolic language. I also know of a person that had the same experience even whilst he was completely awake.

See also
Previous Dream Analysis Reports

Symbolic language usually comes to us when we are dreaming or when we see a vision. It does not come to us any other way except through a word of knowledge as I mentioned above. Real-life incidents should not be regarded as a symbolic language. When we see literal things whilst we are awake, like a white dove landing on our window sill, we should not “read” anything into it. These types of incidents are just random incidents. Symbolic language is for dreams and visions. We should not allow for misunderstandings in this regard. I know that God is sovereign and He can do what He wants. I do not say that God has never talked to someone through a literal real-life incident like this. It is possible but I would be very careful about this.

Another example of information coming to us is when we hear words or a sentence, similar to the above example but this time not in symbolic language but rather like us talking to ourselves. One morning, a few years ago, when I was in a semi-sleep, I clearly heard the following words: “Yes, yesterday I was so busy and so involved with my work that I did not assist my wife when she asked for help. I also did not pray when God called me to do that.”

This shocked me! I was immediately wide awake and of course, I felt very guilty. The emotions that I experienced during those few seconds was feeling of sadness. I pondered on this incident and God explained to me what happened. It was my spirit who was talking to my soul (The spirit is the lamp of God searching the inner parts of the belly). It was almost like a wife “complaining” that the husband did not do what he was supposed to do. It was somewhat sarcastic but also an accusation. My spirit knew that my wife needed my help the day before. My spirit also heard God calling me to take a break to pray. My soul was however so involved with what I was doing that when he heard my wife’s request and when he heard God calling, he considered it for half a second and then just ignored those requests as if it did not happen. He also ignored my spirit who appealed to him to listen to those requests and to be obedient to God. I know this is what happened because I could clearly remember making excuses when my wife asked for help and I could vaguely remember God calling me to pray the day before.

See also
Audio and Written Versions: Dreams Interpretation Session 4

To hear the voice of God is not easy. To understand the language of symbols is also not easy at first. It takes an effort from our side. We do need to seek God’s face for him to develop us in this regard.

Dreams and visions and the interpretation of dreams and visions are very important aspects of our faith-walk in Christ. God gave us this powerful language to help us to grow spiritually. He gave it to us to equip us, to develop us and to form us. This is what Job says about it:

Job 33:14-20

14 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 slumbering 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.

19 He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain:

20 So that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat.

So God uses dreams and visions to “keep us from the pit” and our lives from “perishing from the sword”. He also “chastened us with pain upon our beds” and the “multitude of our bones with strong pain” so that we can repent.

According to this Scripture, people did not listen to these dreams and visions, so He “opened our ears and He sealed our instruction” so that He can “withdraw us from our purpose” and “hide pride from us.”

God gave us dreams and visions and the interpretation of dreams and visions to help us and to keep us in his will.

However, we should not forget that this Scripture was written in the Old Testament. It was not written for or to Christians. And although still true, there is a big difference between Old testament people and New Testament people. We are living in the Kingdom of God under a new covenant. The kingdom of God was established after the crucifixion of Christ. The covenant of grace was sealed by the Spirit of God. We are born of the Spirit and we have the Spirit of God to lead us. This is something that Old Testament people did not have.

See also
Audio and Written Versions: Spiritual Warfare Session 10

As from this time (the crucifixion of Christ) we have the Holy Spirit to lead us. He leads us through the word of God. We have the word of God. So the primary method that God uses to lead his children is through his word and the Holy Spirit. God is capable of leading us solely through his word and the Holy Spirit. He does not need dreams and visions and the interpretation of dreams and visions at all.

However, God did give us dreams and visions too to help us and to make things a bit easier for us. After all, He is a living God and He wants to have a two-way dialogue with us. However, Christians should primarily be led by the word of God and by the Spirit of God. Not by dreams and visions! Whenever a person relies too much on dreams and visions, he or she will suffer bad consequences. We need to have the proper balance here. The proper balance is that the leading of Christians through the word of God and by the Holy Spirit should be way more, much heavier, and far more important than dreams and visions.

Do not go overboard by only pursuing dreams and visions. It will be a grave mistake. We should pray for wisdom and we should pray for guidance. God might give it through a dream but He might give it by one of many other methods, ways, and means.

Do not be emotionally attached to your dreams. You are in Christ and you live and move and have your being in Christ. He is your joy and strength. Rejoice in him and be glad. Do not be influenced by your dreams. Do not allow negative dreams to make you sad. Dreams should not have a negative impact on your life. Keep your eyes on Jesus and stand on his word. Live above your emotions. Do not allow your emotions to dictate your life. Learn to enter into the rest of God. Find peace in his love and He will keep you and guide you and bless you always.

I need to discuss a relatively new practice that has been adopted by many people in the body of Christ. This new practice is not Biblical and it opens many doors for serious deception in the church. More and more people are starting to consider real-life situations as symbolic. They see objects like animals and numbers and then they apply the Biblical meanings of symbols to these objects. This is a grave mistake. The Biblical language of symbols only applies to dreams and visions and of course to the parables that Jesus shared with people in the New Testament. This means that the Biblical language only applies to messages that God created. Dreams come from God. Visions come from God and parables came from God. Real-life situations and occurrences are random incidents that have no symbolic meanings. When a white dove flies into your room it is extraordinary, I agree, but that has no symbolic meaning. If God wanted to give you a message about the Holy Spirit He would have caused you to dream or to see a vision about a dove flying into your room.

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Dreams Dictionary On Your Cellphone or PC

People see numbers around them and they start to give such numbers symbolic meanings but again, this is not Biblical. Never forget this important principle with regard to this aspect. Any object has symbolic meaning only when it is observed in a dream or a vision. There is not even one Scripture that supports the practice of giving symbolic meanings to real-life situations or incidents. There is not even one incident or example of such a practice in the Old Testament and the New Testament. God gave us his protocol concerning communication in the kingdom of heaven. He communicates with us through prophecy, the interpretation of tongues, a word of wisdom, a word of knowledge and through dreams and visions. The moment these things manifest we are aware of the fact that God is speaking to the church or individuals.

People who decided to use real-life situations and incidents and build a divine message from God around such incidents has adopted a dangerous practice. There is just no way that they can decide which incidents in life are messages from God and which not. On the other hand, dreams and visions and the gifts of the Holy Spirit clearly determine when the message starts and when the message ends. There are just no gray areas in this regard. God does not use real-life situations as a symbolic method for communication. He clearly informed the church how He communicates and that does not include this practice.

This practice probably originated with people who wrote books about the end times. In the New Testament, we read that when people see certain things happen around them, that they will be able to recognize the time of the end. It specifically says that when people see wars or hear rumors of wars and other signs, that they must be ready for the end. It did not say that they need to apply symbolic meanings to those signs, it says that when they see those things happen, they must be ready.

There is absolutely no instruction or indication or suggestion or any example ever in the history of Christianity that we are to give symbolic meaning to real-life situations or objects. This is a dangerous practice. I can imagine the chaos and false information that would have come into existence if this practice was a reality. It would have opened many doors for deception and error.

The reality is the more people that adopt this practice the more people will be deceived. It differs not at all from the false prophets of the Old Testament who started having false dreams and who started to give the people false information. This will hurt the church tremendously if people do not stop this practice.

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Substitution/Sizes In Dreams And Visions

I know such people believe that they are on the right path and that they are doing the right thing and they feel that they can prove that this method works and that it is authentic but, it is not. It is not from God. When there are no Scriptures to support any practice in the body of Christ and there is absolutely no example of such a practice in the Bible, it is not from God. We are talking about a very serious matter here. We are talking about God communicating with people. And the bottom line is that God did give us very clear information on how He communicates with us. And the God-given methods do not include this erroneous practice.

Another area of concern is erroneous human influences when it comes to the interpretation of dreams and visions. Many of us have heard testimonies of people who experienced visions of Jesus Christ appearing to them and revealing profound truths to them. Now I have no problem with this. There are prophecies in the Bible that predicted that when the Holy Spirit falls on all flesh that this will be the case. This is exactly what we experienced in the church since the day of Pentecost when ordinary people were baptized in the Holy Spirit and began speaking in tongues. We can also see in the Bible that the other gifts of the Holy Spirit also began to manifest in these people’s lives after they received this anointing from God. The apostle Peter testified in the book of Acts that what the people saw on the day of Pentecost is exactly what the prophet Joel predicted.

Acts 2:14-18

14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:

15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;

17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy

See also
Audio and Written Versions: Victorious Living In Christ Session 3

Even today we are still experiencing the same anointing on ordinary people. People are daily receiving divine messages from God in dreams and visions. God is alive and He wants to communicate with his children.

The problem that I, however, experience with testimonies of people who have had such a divine visitation from God, is the fact that some of these dreams and visions do not conform to the Scriptures. I do believe that, although the devil can appear to people in a vision pretending to be Jesus Christ, that by far most of these visions are authentic.

As children of God, we as Christians always have the responsibility to check if the statements made by such people do conform to Scripture. Too many times I have noticed that people ignorantly believe anything and everything that these people say, just because they testified that Jesus appeared to them in a vision or a dream. These people might have been deceived in some way. On the other hand, we should always bear it in mind that these people may have erred interpreting what Jesus said. He may have said one thing but, considering their own doctrinal beliefs, people may have heard another thing. Some people also, digesting what Jesus meant by what He said in the vision, start adding things to what He really said.

People who are involved in law, like investigating officers, public prosecutors, attorneys, magistrates, and advocates exactly know the argument that I am trying to put across here. What a person states to be the words that Jesus Christ communicated to him are often not what He really said. Most of these people do not deliberately present a lie to their fellow Christians. No, they most often do wish to testify exactly what happened to them and they do want to communicate exactly what Jesus told them in the dream or the vision. The truth is that people do not stick to the exact words that were said in a dream or a vision. They do add to what has been said and they do make their own interpretations. People do bring their own doctrinal beliefs into the equation.

The reason why I mention this is to appeal to the children of God to be careful when they listen to such testimonies. Firstly, make sure that the statements made by such a person are in fact according to the word of God. Secondly, never be caught off-guard by the following words: “Jesus told me in a vision…” Immediately remember that every word that the person says after these introductory words may not be exactly what Jesus told the person.

See also
Audio and Written Versions: Spiritual Warfare Session 3

I do not think that we should be skeptical about testimonies like these. It can be a great blessing and truly be wonderful revelations from God that could change people’s lives. All I ask is for you to be careful not to believe everything people say unless it does conform to the word of God. Secondly, when you experience such a divine visitation from God, immediately write down the exact words that God said. Exactly as He spoke to you, word for word, including punctuation as if you are copying a verse from the Bible. Thirdly, only tell people what God said (the words that you recorded) and not what you “think” He said. Always leave the interpretation of the exact words that God said up to each individual to interpret themselves. I am sure that this is what God expects from us if we want the purpose of these messages from God to be what God intends it to be, a blessing and not false doctrine.

What I am discussing in this session, and the previous session, cause a lot of problems for the body of Christ. Ex-satanists and ex-witches brought a lot of false teachings into the church. Exorcists injured the body of Christ just as much through the erroneous methods and practices that they embarked upon when delivering demon-possessed people. As I said, not only ex-satanist and ex-witches but also exorcists mostly have very good intentions and they really want to be a blessing to the body of Christ. The reality is however that they have hurt the body of Christ tremendously and they still do. This is also true when it comes to people who are involved in dreams and visions interpretation.

People make a lot of mistakes in this regard. The practice of applying symbolic meanings to real-life situations and incidents and the practice of interpreting dreams and visions through their own doctrinal or denominational glasses have the potential to cause a lot of damage to the church.

The only way that we can protect ourselves is to be aware of the pitfalls in this regard. Do not believe everything that you hear from the groups of people that I mentioned. It does not matter how authentic some of these people are. They sometimes unintentionally deceive people. I have a lot of respect for many of these people and some of them truly bless the body of Christ tremendously but they also do hurt the children of God with their practices.

Another thing that we can do is to refrain from these practices. Only take part in practices or deal with issues according to the word and the will of God. Only get involved in practices that are supported by the Scriptures. We cannot do things because we see other people do those things. We need to question everything and we need to please God in this regard. We need to be well-equipped interpreters of dreams and visions in the body of Christ.

See also
Audio and Written Versions: Dreams Interpretation Session 8

Interpreters can compromise or destroy or defile the message and the purpose of the message by adding false information when they assist people with their dreams and visions. Too much information increases the risk of adding false information.

All interpreters need to make a decision when it comes to this aspect of dreams and visions interpretation. Do I clinically and technically interpret the dream or vision without giving people any advice on how to address the instruction or how to act in a particular situation or do I include additional information? Do I tell them how I addressed this same situation or problem in my life? Do I tell them what I have seen people do in their lives which seemed to be a good option for the circumstances that they now face in their particular situations?

Have we got the right to decide what to do in this regard? We all think that our doctrines and our teachings are correct but in fact, many of our doctrines might be wrong or even be doctrines of devils for that matter. None of us is immune to deceit. All of us are capable of misunderstanding certain facts about the ways and the word of God. Many of us are not only capable, but many of us do also, in fact, misunderstand a lot of Biblical matters and teachings. How do we address this aspect of dreams and visions interpretation?

My opinion is that we should interpret the dream or the vision to the best of our ability. I also do feel that we may give advice and we may tell people what we think God wants them to do and how He wants them to do it. Many interpreters are teachers and many are counselors. However, we need to make it very clear what parts of the material are the technical or clinical interpretation of the dream or vision and what is our opinion or our advice. There should be no gray areas in this regard. We can never tell them what to do and how to do it as if it is or was an instruction from God. That would be a lie and it has the potential to cause serious harm in the body of Christ. We should always be responsible dreams and visions interpreters and we should strive for excellence in this regard.

This concluded the first part of the dreams and visions interpretation course. In the second part, we are going to discuss the symbols and the meanings of the symbols and how to interpret the symbols correctly and successfully. We are also going to discuss certain problematic areas and gray areas that complicate dreams and visions interpretation. The goal of the first part was to give you the foundation that you need to be a well-balanced and well-equipped dreams and visions interpreter.

See also
Audio and Written Versions: Dreams Interpretation Session 11

The goal with the second part of the interpretation course is to make sure that you do understand the symbols correctly and that you know how to apply the meanings of the symbols correctly and also that you know of the deviations and the exceptions and all sorts of little problematic aspects that complicate the interpretation process. Rest assured, that at the end of this course you will be in a very good position to interpret dreams and visions correctly and successfully.

Thanks for listening. See you next time.

Session 6

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