How Do I Know If My Dream Was Spiritual?
Q: How can I know for sure if a dream is spiritual or not?
A: In the Bible, there are instances of God speaking to people through dreams. At one point, I counted up all the times in the Bible that I could find when God spoke to somebody through a dream. What I noticed was that two-thirds of the time, those dreams were given to unbelievers and pagans.
I don’t think that we should seek for God to speak to us or give us guidance through a dream. But I’m not going to say that it’s beyond God’s capability. So, how do you know it’s from God? Just like everything, you test the spirits (see 1 John 4:1). How do you test the spirits?
First and foremost, you test it through the word of God. Take the message, guidance or principle from the dream and test it against the word of God. Measure it against the word of God. If it goes against the word of God, it’s not from God. Secondly, go to a couple of trusted, mature, healthy Christians and ask what they think. Tell them, “Hey, I had this dream. I think maybe God is trying to communicate something to me. Here’s the dream, and here’s what I think God’s communicating. Would you please pray about it and let me know if the Spirit of God testifies to your spirit that this is really from Him?” I think that’s another valid way to do it. Finally, simply to ask God to give you confirmation. I have found that the Lord has a way of bringing confirmation, especially when the issue has some real urgency to it.
Believers should not seek a word from God in a dream. I say this to people all the time: if you want a word from God, read your Bible. Again, I don’t think it’s impossible for God to communicate His truth in other ways. In my own life, I believe God has communicated to me through words of prophecy, through spontaneous words that God has inspired other people to tell me. I believe that God has guided me through those words. But I wasn’t asking God to speak a word of prophecy to those people. No, I was simply seeking God through His Word. When God has my attention in and through His Word, then He finds me much more receptive and in sync with Him, no matter what else He might want to communicate to me.