Sleep, dreams and deepening your relationship with God

iStock_000003625833Large (1)iStock_000003625833Large (1)If I was to share with you a way to have an extra 6-8 hours per day on deepening your relationship with God and with very little effort, you would be interested. Right. Well there is a way.

We sleep ~ 6-8 hours per night. It is mainly ‘wasted’ time for productivity except for refreshing the body and it being essential for normal body functioning. Imagine finding ways where we can use that time to communicate with God and deepen our relationship with Him.

I truly believe that we haven’t yet fully understood all the ways that God wants to communicate with us and our spirit connecting with His Spirit. Dreams are one of the ways that God uses to communicate with us, but I am sure that there are more.

When you are dreaming, you are quiet. You are not distracted. You are not trying to figure out in your head whether this is really God, although that may well occur when you awake from a dream.

The Bible has a bit to say about sleep:

  • Genesis 15:12-16 Abraham fell into a deep sleep…God gave a promise to him.
  • Job 33:15-16 “When deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds, He opens the ears of men and then seals their instruction…”
  • Psalm 4:8 David says, “I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety”. Thus prepare with positive habits in your preparation and a clear conscience. Relax into God’s arms.
  • Psalm 17:3 “He visited me in the night.”
  • Psalm 91:9 “Angels have been given charge over me whilst I sleep”.
  • Psalm 127:2 “For He grants sleep to those He loves.”
  • Proverbs 3:24 “When you lie down, your sleep will be pleasant/sweet.”
  • Jeremiah 31:26 “At this I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been pleasant to me.”
  • God speaks in dreams and visions – see Joel 2:28, Acts 2:17, Daniel 7:1. Dreams occur whilst asleep. Visions are vivid images whilst praying and awake.

Practices to implement for hearing God overnight:

  • Be expectant. Expect God to speak to you.
  • Pray as you lie down to go to sleep.
  • Confess any known sin.
  • Worship Him and focus your thoughts on Him.
  • Ask God to show Himself to you throughout the night.
  • Ask God to communicate with you through new ways, how He wants to, whilst you are asleep.
  • Ask God to give you new strategies for problems you are facing in the daytime, strategies to save you time the next day.
  • Ask God to romance your soul and spirit overnight with His love, His goodness and His mercy.
  • As soon as you awaken, record any dreams, thoughts, new ideas.
  • Focus on God, not on the dreams.
  • Take note of the words you say about your sleep. Isaiah 55:11 says that your words will not return empty. Therefore, if you are saying, “I don’t sleep well”, “I have trouble sleeping”, “I don’t dream”, then that will come true. Change your words to a positive declaration about how great a sleep you have and how God speaks to you at night.

Dreams:

Dreams & visions may reveal direction & guidance, future ministry & destiny, protection & promises, information, unresolved issues in our heart, or carry a warning of sin or trouble to be aware of. God can make us aware by bringing such matters to our mind when our defences are down, especially in relation to hurts and suppressed issues, so that the healing process can begin and/or continue. Whilst asleep, our conscious mind can’t get in the way. We can build walls around areas of emotional pain to shield us from more perceived hurt but God can use dreams to bypass those walls. Promises revealed in dreams give us the determination to push through difficult circumstances so that we will continue until we see the promises fulfilled.

Repeated dreams may be God really wanting to get your attention or it may indicate an unhealthy soul tie that you have towards another person/place/object.

Interpreting dreams:

There is no one formula for interpreting dreams. There are some keys that do help though.

  • Focus on a healthy relationship with the Holy Spirit who is the author and interpreter of dreams.
  • Seek Godly counsel from experienced interpreters of dreams.
  • Pay attention to how you feel when you first wake up, and the time.
  • Record your dream but don’t write too much detail. Just the main points and any significant people in your dream.
  • Go on a journey of discovering what the symbols in your dream mean. A great book to consult is “The Divinity Code” by Adam F. Thompson and Adrian Beale. John Paul Jackson’s website (www.streamsministry.com) has a fantastic dream course you can do to understand dreams and dream language.

Remember our focus is on God and what He wants to communicate to us, not our dreams. Enjoy the journey of discovering the more of God each night as you spend 6-8 hours resting comfortably and safely in the arms of your Father God, the lover of your soul.

Prophetic Activations / Exercises to incorporate into your week:

The purpose of these exercises is to help us hear God’s voice in a clearer manner. They sharpen our senses to hear and recognise God’s voice and way of communicating with us. This enables us to grow in our relationship with God and also to impart to others what God tells us for them.

Remember that whenever you give another person a prophetic word or picture etc, please make sure that it is encouraging, edifying (strengthening) and comforting (1 Corinthians 14:3)

1. Children / Families Activation: Everyone chooses a person to partner with. Ask God to show you a colour that represents something about that person. Then ask God what He thinks about that colour and why He showed you that colour for that person. (God loves being asked questions so encourage your children to ask questions of God.)

2. Group Activation: Find a creative way of getting into pairs. Once in pairs, each person asks God for a book title for their partner. It may be an actual book title or a made up title that God wants to give to that person to highlight something about them. Capture the first thought that goes through your mind and go with that, as long as it is encouraging, strengthening, comforting. Keep asking God questions about the book – fact or fiction, children or adult, what the title means, what you would find in the book etc.

3. Beginner Activation: Ask God to reveal to you an aspect of nature and what He would like you to know about Him through that nature scene.

4. Intermediate Activation: Ask God to show you a vivid nature scene with some aspect of it moving. Focus on the object that is moving and ask God to show you what it is He wants you to know about it and how it applies to you. Ask God to highlight to you the colours, sounds, smells, taste, feel and what it means at this time. You could also do this activation asking God who the picture is for and then sharing it with that person.

5. Advanced Activation: Ask God to identify a particular person to you who is struggling with an issue. Ask God to then reveal to you the key that will unlock the answer to the issue that person is struggling with. Share the key with this person at the appropriate time.