Dream language is a huge subject. There are many types of dreams. We all have dreams in our sleep. Some people are more attuned to these dreams than others. If we look at this subject in the Bible we see that God spoke through dreams often. Today He still speaks through dreams. God made us dream in our sleep. We have been created with this capacity, as we are more spiritual than we are simply physical. Dreams are very much a connection to the spiritual realm. All that was created came out of God’s realm. Just as Jesus said, God is spirit.

God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

John 4:24

Most people would obviously embrace the fact that God is spirit. The most amazing reality I would like to throw in here is that God came in the flesh in the Person of Jesus Christ. God was made flesh and dwelt among us. That is mind-blowing!

But as many as received Him (JESUS), to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became 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.

John 1:12-14

With that as a preface, dreams are a very common mode of how God speaks in particular to His people. For those who don’t know God and are seeking after the truth, He is still speaking to them through dreams and drawing them to Him. Those who know Him experience the very highest realm of dreams that are filled with amazing encounters of Jesus, heaven’s atmosphere and other elements of the leading of His Holy Spirit. With this in mind I will go into the different types of dreams.

Soul Dreams

This first type of dream is common to all people. When we go through our days we encounter people, situations and things that come into play in our dreams. I’m not one to say that every dream has meaning. I really think you will drive yourself bonkers if you try to interpret every dream that you have  thinking it is important. There are pizza dreams for sure! With that, don’t take everything you get too seriously at this level of dream. I will get into the reason why later in this post. But you can have a dream about someone simply because you meditated on something that is related to them in your day. We pick up stuff that way at times.

Warning Dreams

Dream to Pharaoh

Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do.”

Genesis 41:25

A Dream to Nebuchadnezzar

Now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him.

Daniel 2:1

This is a higher type of dream where God invades a person who does not know Him with some kind of revelation to awaken them to Who He is. This is the grace and mercy of God flowing many times through the prayers of other people or the divine purposes of God. For those who know the Lord Jesus Christ, we have access and authority to bring the Kingdom of Heaven on earth into the lives of others through our prayers. Through our prayers God will visit those who do not know Him to bring them to the light of the gospel of Christ.

Spiritual Atmosphere Dreams

This type of dream is where those who do know the Lord are sensitized to the spiritual atmosphere around them because they live in communion with God. With this sensitivity believers are able to pick up on atmospheres that are either evil or the Holy Spirit. In their dreams they will receive a level of discernment of what is happening in the spiritual environment they have engaged in through the day. This can happen through interaction with people or other things. The following is an example of being attuned to God and realizing evil being present:

Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour.

Acts 16:16-18

For those who know Christ dreams are a good thing and should be paid attention to. Many believers live without operating in spiritual discernment. Dreams are one of the best ways to know what is going on spiritually with others. These dreams can help give direction in how to pray for people, know what you are actively engaging in, maybe you should reconsider and get wisdom from God to live closer to Him. Your dreams can reveal that the interactions of your life are in need of change.

Anointed Dreams

These are the highest levels in the types of dreams we are talking about. In most cases, these dreams are only experienced by those who have a firm, ongoing commitment to following Jesus with all their heart. These dreams come through a hunger and thirst for God’s Presence. In these dreams it is common to experience the atmosphere of heaven, angels, Jesus and other things that are associated with God’s heavenly realm. We see that Paul, the apostle, had these kinds of encounters with God where it was beyond anything He could describe. In this verse that follows he is speaking of himself:

It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord: I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago–whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows–such a one was caught up to the third heaven.

2 Corinthians 12:1-2

Jacob had a dream where he experienced the Lord and the gate of heaven.

Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep. Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it. And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”

Genesis 28:10-17

In these dreams we as well experience God’s voice, His direction and wisdom. We see that Joseph, Mary’s husband, was visited in a dream by God to direct Him to Egypt to protect Jesus as an infant.

These are just some of the types of dreams we can experience. As believers in Jesus Christ, dreams and visions are just part of the package for those who are filled with His Holy Spirit. Dreams from God are a portion of our inheritance in Christ.

And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.

Acts 2:17